Schools: Special Educational Needs

(asked on 16th October 2023) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of a therapeutic whole school approach that integrates the needs of children with special educational needs and disabilities with those of other children.


Answered by
David Johnston Portrait
David Johnston
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This question was answered on 20th October 2023

The department is determined to make sure that all children and young people receive the support they need to benefit from their education and progress to the next stage of their lives.

The department published the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) Improvement Plan in March 2023, which set out plans for a national SEND and AP system that offers every child and young person the opportunity to thrive, with access to the right support in the right place and at the right time, so that they can fulfil their potential and lead happy, healthy and productive adult lives.

The department’s Improvement Plan is also committed to ensuring a more inclusive system that integrates provision for the needs of children and young people with SEND with provision that meets the needs of other children and young people. The Improvement Plan is clear about the department’s mission for more children and young people to have their needs met effectively in mainstream settings, alongside their friends and peers.

The department wants to ensure that mainstream schools are supported to identify and meet a wide range of needs as early as possible. This will be helped by the introduction of new national standards. These national standards will clarify the types of support that should be ordinarily available to children and young people with SEND in mainstream settings, as well as clarifying who is responsible for securing the support.

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