Services that aid a
disabled person in accessing educational facilities, materials and processes.
The Education Act 1993 provides for the establishment of two
funding authorities: in England, the Funding Agency for Schools (FAS), which was established on 1 April 1994; and in Wales, the Schools Funding Council for Wales (SFCW), which the Act empowers the Secretary of State for Wales to set up by Order. No Order has yet been made.
The FAS is responsible for calculating and paying
grants to grant-maintained and grant-maintained special schools and has responsibilities for the provision of school places in areas where there are significant numbers of grant-maintained schools. The SFCW has similar responsibilities.
Habilitation involves one-to-one
training for
children and
young people with a
vision impairment. Starting from their existing skills, it aims to develop their personal mobility, navigation and independent living skills. At whatever age the training is started, the overriding goal is to maximise the child or young person’s independence, opening the way in the future, to further study, employment and an independent life.
A
local education authority (LEA) is a local authority in England and Wales that has responsibility for education within its jurisdiction. Since the
Children Act 2004 each local education authority is also a children's services authority and responsibility for both functions is held by the director of children's services.
Pupils with
MSI have a combination of visual and hearing difficulties. They are sometimes referred to as
deafblind but may have some residual sight and/or hearing. Many also have additional
disabilities but their complex needs mean it may be difficult to ascertain their intellectual abilities. Pupils with MSI have much greater difficulty accessing the curriculum and the environment than those with a single sensory impairment. They have difficulties in perception, communication and in the acquisition of information. Incidental learning is limited. The combination can result in high anxiety and multi-sensory deprivation. Pupils need teaching approaches that make good use of their residual hearing and vision, together with their other senses. They may need alternative means of communication.
This is the person from the Local Authority who liaises with parents over all the arrangements relating to statutory
assessment and the making of a statement. LAs will inform parents of the identity of the officer when they issue a notice of a proposal to make a statutory assessment of a
child.
This is the person whom the Local Authority must identify when sending parents a final version of a statement. The
named person, who should usually be identified in cooperation with the parents, must be someone who can give parents information and
advice about their
child's
SENs. He or she may be appointed at the start of the
assessment process and can then attend meetings with parents and encourage parental participation throughout that process. The named person should normally be independent of the LA and may be someone from a
voluntary organisation or parent partnership scheme.
This is a note issued to the
child's parents and school when, following a statutory
assessment, the LA decides not to make a statement. The note should describe the child's
SENs, explain why the LA will not make a statement and make recommendations about appropriate provision for the child. All the
advice received during the assessment should be attached to the note sent to the parents and, with their consent, also be sent to the child's school.
A non-ministerial government department established under the Education (Schools) Act 1992 to take responsibility for the inspection of all schools in Wales. (The English equivalent is Ofsted). Their professional arm is formed by Her Majesty's Inspectors (HMI).
Pupils with
profound and multiple learning difficulties have complex learning needs. In addition to very severe learning difficulties, pupils have other significant difficulties such as physical
disabilities, sensory impairment or a severe
medical condition. Pupils require a high level of adult support, both for their learning needs and also for their personal care. They are likely to need sensory stimulation and a curriculum broken down into very small steps. Some pupils communicate by gesture, eye pointing or symbols, others by very simple language. Their attainments are likely to remain in the early P-scale range (P1-P4) throughout their school careers (that is below level 1 of the National Curriculum).
This is the headteacher or appropriate governor that is chair of the governing body unless the governing body has designated another governor for the purpose. In the case of a nursery school, the
responsible person is the headteacher. The responsible person must be informed by the LA when they conclude that a pupil at a school has
SENs. The responsible person must then ensure all those who will teach the
child know about his or her SENs.
This is an independent tribunal set up by an Act of Parliament for determining appeals by parents against their LA about
children's
SENs, where parents cannot reach agreement with the LA. SENDIST also considers parents' claims of
disability discrimination in schools.
The 1996 Education Act defines a
child as having
Special Educational Needs "if they have a learning difficulty which calls for special educational provision to be made for them". Children have a learning difficulty if they:
have a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of children of the same age; OR
have a
disability which prevents or hinders them from making use of educational facilities of a kind generally provided for children of the same age in schools within the area of the local authority; OR
are under compulsory school age and fall within the definition at a. or b. above or would do so if special educational provision was not made for them.
(Sec. 312 Education Act 1996) Special Educational Provision means: "...educational provision which is additional to, or otherwise different from, the educational provision made generally for children of their age in schools maintained by the Local Authority..."
This is a
plan that should form part of the first
review">annual review after the
child's 14th birthday and any subsequent annual review. The purpose of the plan is to draw together information from a range of individuals within and beyond the school to plan coherently for the
young person's transition to adult life.
These are legal provisions that provide for a smooth changeover from the legal regime established by the Education Act 1981 and the Education (
Special Educational Needs) Regulations 1983, to those established under the Education Act 1993 and the Education (Special Educational Needs) Regulations 1994.
