On this page you will find information about help you can get in school or college.
Getting Help in School or College
The law says that all schools and colleges must provide children and young people who have special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) with access to education and learning.
SEND means having a disability or condition that makes learning harder and additional support is needed above the support given to other students who are the same age.
You can read more about what the law says on: Your Rights
What can you do if you are finding something hard in school or college?
Tell someone, as soon as possible such as a trusted adult such as your teacher, tutor or your parent/carer
Sometimes you may need extra help. This can be for understanding schoolwork, making friends or making sense of feelings and emotions. This help is called ‘SEN Support’ – SEN stands for special educational needs.
Every school or college must have a Special Educational Needs Coordinator. They can sometimes have different titles, such as SENCO, SENDCO or Inclusion Manager. They oversee SEN Support which is support schools and colleges must provide to pupils and students with special educational needs. The SENCO will listen and speak with you, your parent/carer and staff member about what extra help you may need.
To ensure the right support is put in place the SENCO will:
ASSESS – your needs
PLAN – write down the help you require
DO – ensure the plan is delivered
REVIEW – check the plan to see if it needs to be changed
Once a plan has been made you and your parents/carer should meet with the SENCO at least 3 times in each year. This means you can all look at what is working well and what may need to change.
What kind of support can be offered?
Support can be given in lots of different ways. For example:
- extra help from a teacher, learning support assistant or teaching assistant (TA)
- making or changing materials and equipment
- working in small groups
- observations in class or at break time
- support to take part in class activities
- help to work or socialise with other pupils
- support you with physical or personal care needs
- one-to-one help with some tasks such literacy, maths or speech and language
If you would like to know what support is available at your school or college, you could ask for a meeting to talk about this with them. You might find our decision making section helpful to help you with this.
If thinking about a change of school or setting, please visit link to choosing a school or college page.
You may want to watch this video which explains about getting help and support in school as well as who you can talk to:
You may find the following videos helpful:
Click on the images below to see the videos:
