SEND Local Offer for Coventry - Special Schools

Special Schools 

The majority of children and young people with Special Educational Needs will have their needs met within a mainstream school or college setting.

The SEND Code of Practice 2014 says that it expects that children and young people will be in a mainstream setting, and that parents and young people have the right to express the choice to be in a mainstream setting.

However, a minority of children and young people will need a more specialised curriculum to support their needs. This is delivered in a specialist setting.

Coventry has a range of special schools including:

• Generic special schools for primary and secondary pupils
• A secondary school for complex communication and interaction difficulties
• A school for social emotional and mental health difficulties
• A number of primary Enhanced Resource Provisions for pupils with complex communication and interaction difficulties
• Enhanced Speech and Language provision
• Schools which can support Hearing and Visually Impaired pupils. 

Parents and carers can express a preference for a specific school to be named within a child or young person's Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP). The Local Authority has a duty to name this choice unless:

• It would be unsuitable for the age, ability, aptitude or SEN of the child or young person, or
• The attendance of the child or young person there would be incompatible with the efficient education of others, or the efficient use of resources (In this case, ‘others’ is intended to mean the children and young people with whom the child or young person with an EHC plan will directly come into contact on a regular day-to-day basis).

Efficient education means providing each child or young person with:

• A suitable and appropriate education in terms of their age, ability, aptitude
• Provision for any special educational needs they may have. 

Only children and young people with complex needs which cannot be met within mainstream would require a specialist setting.

Therefore, to be considered for a specialist setting a child or young person will need to have an Education, Health and Care Plan where the setting would be named in Section I.

The SEN Code of Practice 2014 section 9.80 outlines when a Local Authority would name a specialist setting:

The local authority must consult the governing body, principal or proprietor of the school or college concerned and consider their comments very carefully before deciding whether to name it in the child or young person’s EHC plan, sending the school or college a copy of the draft plan. If another local authority maintains the school, they too must be consulted.

For more information, please email the Coventry City Council SEN Team