What is SEND? (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities)

The Children and Families Act 2014 implemented a new legal framework for SEN Law and reformed legislation relating to children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). The Act placed new duties on local authorities and partner organisations to ensure that children and young people with SEND are supported to achieve the “best possible educational and other outcomes”.

We now have statutory guidance for organisations supporting children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities. This is known as The Code of Practice and provides statutory guidance on duties, policies and procedures relating to Part 3 of the Children and Families Act 2014 Children and young people in England with special educational needs or disabilities, and associated regulations to be applied in England.

Here is a link for you to click if you would like more information about the SEND Code of Practice. 

How do you know if your child has a Special Educational Need and Disability?

• http://www.sheffielddirectory.org.uk/kb5/sheffield/directory/advice.page?id=hUHinlnpl8c
• https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zkmhmfr

SEND Joint Area Inspection

In February 2022, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and Ofsted jointly carried out a revisit of services in Sheffield for Special Educational Needs and Disabilities. The purpose of the revisit was to assess whether sufficient progress has been made in addressing each of the areas of significant weakness identified at inspection in 2018.

We are pleased that inspectors found we have made sufficient progress in six of the seven areas of weakness. The work does not end here, and we will continue to work together to ensure continued improvement of services, patient experience and partnership working.

You can read the inspection revisit letter here.

Accelerated Progress Plan for Multi-agency Transitions

We are working to an Accelerated Progress Plan, as a city, to improve transitions for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities.

We developed this after our local area SEND inspection revisit found we had not made "sufficient progress" in this area.

The plan is available here.