Member Advice on Education & Careers > Reviews (16)

I currently work in a mainstream high school in the SEN Department. I decided to write this review on the statementing process as I know that not everyone knows what this process is or what it involves.

Firstly, a child who is mentally 3 years or below their chronoloigal age will automatically be put forward for statementing. The process of statementing is made up of five stages. I will try to briefly describe these stages however, it will be difficult.

Stage One

Stage one begins when concern is expressed about an individual child showing signs of having a special educational need. This concern may have occured at school by word of a teacher/support staff or by the child's parent/guardian or by some other professional such as a doctor.

Once stage one begins, information must be gathered and the child's educational needs will be assessed. Information such as class records, National Curriculum attainments, standardised tests or profiles, reports on the child in the educational setting will be needed and he/she's behaviour will be observed. The child's parent's/guardian's should become involved and their views put forward about their child's progress and any factors that could be contributing to any difficulties. They may also express any action they feel the school should be taking.

Action will then be taken in the means of differentiation of work or through other suitable methods. In order for this to happen, the staff involved will liase with the Special Educational Needs Co-Ordinator (SENCO).

A review will take place to asses the situation and the outcome of this could lead to three different routes:

1: The child would stay at stage one and the observations and reviews continued.
2: If the child has made progress and no longer requires assistance. he/she would be removed from
the SEN Register.
3: If the child has made little/no progress or has even regressed then he/she would move up to stage two.

Stage Two

Now at stage two, the SENCO takes the main lead within the school setting. More information is gathered from a variety of professionals and this leads to an action plan being drawn up.

Stage two sees the first planning of an Individual Educational Plan (IEP) brought about from the action plan. An IEP shows an account of the child's specific need and the action that is to be taken. It also states any help given from parents, the frequency of support and any additional learning programmes they may be using. The IEP also includes relevant pastoral care, mediacl requirements and targets to be achieved.

When the review comes up at this stage, the IEP's effectiveness will be looked at along with any progression/regression of the child's educational development. Parents should be kept informed of all action taken place and the decision about the next stage is now made.

Again there are three possible outcomes:

1: The child may move back to stage one if the IEP has been successful.
2: If the child remains at the same level then he/she will remain at stage two and the IEP will be
revised.

3: If little/no progress has been made then the child will be moved to stage three.

Stage Three

The SENCO now shares the responsibility of the child's educational needs with an external specialist using provided by the Local Educational Authority (LEA) e.g the Educational Psychologist/Hearing/Visual Impaired Services. All the information is collaberated and the SENCO will decide whether to seek further advice or draw up a new IEP.

The same process takes place as in stages one and two but before the child can move up to stage four, their records must be referred to the LEA for a statutory assesment. It is then up to the LEA whether to make the move to stage four or not.

Stage Four

When at stage four, the LEA makes the statutory assesment of the child's needs. Before any action is taken, the parents must be informed. The parents must also be informed of their right to make representations and submissions of evidence within a given time (not less than 29 days). The LEA usually asks for a response to me made within six weeks. This will halp your child to move forward if the relevant evidence is given.

After this long process the decision will be made on whether or not to provide the child with what is known as a Statement - A Statement of Educational Needs. This must be done within ten weeks of the first notification of making a statement. A Note In Lieu of a Statement may be granted which basically means a statement is not needed. If the parents disagree a Special Needs Tribunal may be called.

If a draft statement is issued, it is circulated to all the relevent professional bodies and is discussed. When this is all finalised and believe me it takes some time, the final statment will be issued and the appropriate school will be chosen and named.

Stage Five

At this stage, the final statementing process begins. This involves new assessments and reviews are carried out annually. When the child concerned reaches 14, a Transitional Review is held which will discuss the provision needed by the child for when he/she reaches 16 and leaves school.

The statement is split up into siz sections which are:

1: Introduction - basic information of the child - background details - address, religion etc.
2: Special Educational Needs - this specifies each need the child may have as identified by the LEA.
3: Special Educational Provision - this shows the provisions being made - support in class - personal
tuition, objectives and targets etc.
4: Placement - the details of the school.
5: Non-Educational Needs - this specifies all relevant non-educational needs agreed between health
and social services and the LEA.
6: Non-Educational Provision - this specifies all relevant non-educational provision required to meet
all the needs.

All in all a long opinion, I am sorry if I have bored anyone, the statementing process is a very complex one and the system often lets kids down. It all comes down to funding - it shouldn't but it does and believe me I know how annoying it is as I work within this unfair system.

I try my best at work and will continue to do all I can to help kids who need it.

To all you parents out there having problems with the system - KEEP FIGHTING! Someday you will make progress and when it comes you will be glad you fought for it. Every kids deserves the right to learn at a level they are capable of understanding otherwise it would be like trying to run before you can walk! Every kid has the legal right to an education - just don't forget it!

Thanks for being very patient with me on this op - that is if you have got this far hahaha!!