All schools have a duty to inform and include you as parents during the identification, assessment, planning and review process of special educational needs and/or disability provision for your child.

Your child's teacher, key worker or tutor and the Special educational needs co-ordinator (SENCO) are the first people to speak to about these processes.

SEND information report and policy guide

All maintained nurseries and schools must publish an SEND information report and policy. This should include information about a setting's SEND provision and should be published on the setting's website, along with a link to our Local Offer. 

What schools should do to help children learn

All children have a right to an education. 

Schools must provide each child with the help they need so that they can do well. This helps them to become confident adults. 

Schools can help all children by making sure that they:

  • provide high quality teaching
  • assess children's progress often and target areas of difficulty
  • adjust work for children who are struggling

Find out what support is available through the Graduated Approach that all schools should offer.

Find out more about how early years settings can help children with SEN.

Schools must also help children and young people with disabilities or medical conditions. Find out more about:

SEND Information Report

All schools have to publish an SEND Information Report every year. It explains:

  • what kinds of SEND they support
  • how they identify and assess children with SEND
  • what help they offer to children with SEND

Many Dorset schools have written their own Local Offer explaining how they provide for children and young people with SEND. You can find this information on their Family Information Directory record.

Contact the school if you want to read a school's annual SEND Information Report.

What a school should do if a child is still struggling

Some children may still struggle. If so, the school should think about whether they have special educational needs or disability (SEND).

The class teacher and the SENCO should:

  • gather information about the child's progress
  • talk to the parents to get their views
  • talk to the child

The class teacher and SENCO decide whether the child needs special educational provision. This is different from, or as well as, provision available to other children. They will involve parents when they decide this. They will talk about:

  • what the child finds easy
  • what the child finds hard
  • what they want for the child in the future

The school might be able to adapt the support they give to all children. Or the child might need special educational provision because they have an SEND. This is known as SEND support.

The school must tell parents if this happens. They will also review this support and the child's progress regularly. 

The school might refer the child to a Learning Centre, these are centres that teach children who aren't able to attend school and may not otherwise get a suitable education.

Find out about special schools and specialist support provision in Dorset.

Find local schools on our Family Information Directory

Search the Family Information Directory to find local schools, including special schools. Each school record links to their SEN Information Report.