Special Services Team

Special Educational Needs

Children have special Educational Needs if they have a learning difficulty which calls for special education provision.

Children have Learning Difficulties if they:

1. have a significant greater difficulty in learning than the majority of children of the same age
2. have a disability which prevents or hinders them from making use of educational facilities

Special Educational Provision

Children of two or over who are in receipt of an educational provision which is additional to, or otherwise different from, the educational provision made generally for children of their age.

The Special Services Team works with parents, schools and a variety of other agencies when a student demonstrates significant cause for concern and who despite a number of interventions and strategies over a reasonable period time has not demonstrated the expected success and so a request has been made for a Statutory Assessment.

This request may come from schools or parents.

Statementing is a Statutory Process and has to be completed within specific legal deadlines.

Part of the process will be the collection of all relevant advice from a variety of external support agencies as well as the school and the educational psychologist.

Once all information is collected the statement will be written.

All statements are reviewed annually by the Special Services team to ensure that the students concerned are making progress and are achieving the desired outcomes and if necessary, amend the students statements  to reflect newly identified needs and provision.