A schools SEN Information Report and SEN Policy two distinct documents.

A SEND Policy will include technical details whereas SEN information reports should be written for parents using clear, meaningful and helpful language.

School SEN or SEND Policies

The law says all schools must have policies that say what they do. A SEN policy is one of the policies a school will have. SEN Policies contain technical information and detail. It should explain the schools mission, values, vision and aims for pupils with extra support needs. It should include information about the laws and rules that affect the day to day processes of the school.

A SEND policy should include:

• A brief statement referring to relevant local guidelines, national regulations.
• A list of groups, individuals and documents consulted when making the policy.
• Cross-references to other documents and links to other policies where helpful
• Roles and responsibilities of staff
• Monitoring and evaluation arrangements and evidence used to show progress has been achieved.
• It should be signed by the Chair of Governors or Chair of Committee.
• The date the policy was accepted by the schools governing body should be included and a date for it's next review.

School SEN Information Reports

School SEN information reports explain how the school's SEN policy is used.

• How help and support for pupils with SEND operates in that setting.
• What happens and how it made possible by who.
• It is not a statement of what the school aspire to.

Both these documents should be available on each schools website. You can also ask the school's office to give you a printed copy is that works better for you.

What if I can’t find it on the schools website?

We cannot tell you exactly where to find each report because each schools website is slightly different.

We understand this is frustrating so we have looked through the school websites in Hackney and put links together in two articles.

• School SEN information Reports - Hackney Primary Schools
• School SEN information Reports - Hackney Secondary Schools

If it was difficult for you to find on their website tell the school office and SENCo. They will want to make sure that it is easier to find in the future.

When the SEND Reforms were first enacted the government used different names for the information they asked schools to publish.

Since then schools have been asked to call them School SEN Information Reports. 

An official document or web page with SEN in the title and without policy next to it is probably the schools version of their SEN information report. It might also be called:

• School SEN Offer
• Local Offer
• SEN information
• Inclusion Offer

You are using Hackney’s Local Offer website now. When people say "local offer" they mean what is on offer in the local area. All local areas MUST publish this information for parents and carers. It's a strange term until you think about it. It is positive to know that if you need extra help it is on offer. 

The borough’s Local Offer website shares information about services and support for families with children and young people who have SEND and are aged 0-25. Providing this information is a shared borough wide responsibility since the 2014 SEND Reforms.

Hackney’s Local Offer website is run by the local authority. It provides a description of and information about local support service in Hackney from education, health, social care and in some cases leisure service providers who work for and in the local area.

Schools do not run a boroughs Local Offer website although they must cooperate with providing information for it.

They must also make parents, carers and young people aware of it as a useful source of information and can help them use the website to find information that might help them.

Each schools can decide how to write their SEN information report but ALL schools MUST say what they do under each point made in the SEND Code of Practice. 

The points have been carefully considered to help address the questions parents and carers might have. 

Publishing information SEN information reports 

SEND Code of Practice 2015, Chapter 6, Paragraph 6.79

6.79 The governing bodies of maintained schools and maintained nursery schools and the proprietors of academy schools must publish information on their websites about the implementation of the governing body’s or the proprietor’s policy for pupils with SEN. The information published should be updated annually and any changes to the information occurring during the year should be updated as soon as possible.

The information required is set out in the Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014 and must include information about:

• the kinds of SEN that are provided for

• policies for identifying children and young people with SEN and assessing their needs, including the name and contact details of the SENCO (mainstream schools)

• arrangements for consulting parents of children with SEN and involving them in their child’s education

• arrangements for consulting young people with SEN and involving them in their education

• arrangements for assessing and reviewing children and young people’s progress towards outcomes. This should include the opportunities available to work with parents and young people as part of this assessment and review

• arrangements for supporting children and young people in moving between phases of education and in preparing for adulthood. As young people prepare for adulthood outcomes should reflect their ambitions, which could include higher education, employment, independent living and participation in society

• the approach to teaching children and young people with SEN

• how adaptations are made to the curriculum and the learning environment of children and young people with SEN

• the expertise and training of staff to support children and young people with SEN, including how specialist expertise will be secured

• evaluating the effectiveness of the provision made for children and young people with SEN

• how children and young people with SEN are enabled to engage in activities available with children and young people in the school who do not have SEN

• support for improving emotional and social development. This should include extra pastoral support arrangements for listening to the views of children and young people with SEN and measures to prevent bullying

• how the school involves other bodies, including health and social care bodies, local authority support services and voluntary sector organisations, in meeting children and young people’s SEN and supporting their families

• arrangements for handling complaints from parents of children with SEN about the provision made at the school