The SEN information report
The report every mainstream school publishes about its special educational needs provision, item by item from the regulations.
Which schools must publish one?
Children and Families Act 2014 s.69 places the duty on the governing bodies of maintained schools and maintained nursery schools in England, and on the proprietors of academy schools. Each must prepare a report containing SEN information. SEND Regulations 2014 reg 51 sets out what that information is, and excludes special schools established in a hospital.
What must the report contain?
The thirteen items in Schedule 1 to the SEND Regulations 2014: the kinds of special educational needs the school makes provision for; in a mainstream school, its policies for recognising and assessing pupils' special educational needs; its policies for making provision, whether or not pupils have EHC plans, including how it evaluates that provision, reviews progress, teaches, adapts the curriculum and environment, offers additional support, includes pupils in all school activities and supports their emotional, mental and social development; the SENCO's name and contact details; staff expertise and training; equipment and facilities; how parents and young people are consulted and involved; complaints arrangements; how other bodies are involved; contact details of support services for parents; arrangements for transitions and preparing for adulthood; and where the local authority's local offer is published.
Is there anything beyond Schedule 1?
Yes. Section 69(3)(b) adds information about the arrangements for admitting disabled pupils, the steps taken to prevent disabled pupils being treated less favourably than other pupils, the facilities provided to help disabled pupils access the school, and the accessibility plan prepared under paragraph 3 of Schedule 10 to the Equality Act 2010. DfE's guidance on what schools publish online lists these alongside Schedule 1.
Where must it be published, and how often updated?
DfE's guidance for maintained schools and for academies says the school must publish an SEN information report on its website, that it should be updated annually, and that any change during the year should be updated as soon as possible. A report that still names a previous SENCO or last year's provision is the usual sign it has missed an update.
Does the report have to name the SENCO?
In a mainstream school or a maintained nursery school, yes: Schedule 1 paragraph 4 requires the name and contact details of the SEN co-ordinator.
Which items are easiest to leave out?
The ones that are not about teaching. Schedule 1 also requires the complaints arrangements for parents of pupils with special educational needs (paragraph 9), the contact details of support services for parents, including the information and advice service under section 32 (paragraph 11), and where the local authority's local offer is published (paragraph 13). Checking the report against the thirteen paragraphs in order is the simplest way to find a gap.
Striova keeps a school's SEN register, its graduated-approach cycles and its costed provision in one place, and prints the support plan on Birmingham's, Warwickshire's or Coventry's layout, and under the Code's headings for every other authority.
General information about the SEND system in England, not legal advice, and not advice about provision for any individual pupil. Where a page names a regulation or a paragraph of the SEND Code of Practice, read it alongside the source.