Supporting pupils with Special Educational Needs (SEN)
When a pupil is identified as having Special Educational Needs (SEN), schools must take proactive steps to remove barriers to learning and provide effective, tailored support.
This support follows a structured, four-stage cycle known as the Graduated Approach:
- Assess – Understand the pupil’s needs through observation, data, and input from staff, parents, and specialists.
- Plan – Design targeted interventions and strategies to support progress, with clear outcomes.
- Do – Implement the planned support consistently across the school environment.
- Review – Evaluate the impact of the support, refine strategies, and adjust provision as needed.
This ongoing cycle helps schools build a deeper understanding of each pupil’s needs and ensures that support evolves to secure meaningful progress and positive outcomes.
SEND needs and the school’s graduated approach should be clearly documented in every Personal Education Plan (PEP) meeting.
Schools should use their own allocated hours for the Coventry SEND services:
- EPS (Education Psychology Service)
- CCT (Complex Communication Team)
- SEMHL teacher (Social Emotional Mental Health and Learning)
All schools receive Pupil Premium Plus (PP+) funding for children in care, allocated via Personal Education Plans (PEPs). If in line with PEP targets, this can be used towards commissioning specialist professional advice e.g. SEMHL/CCT or EPS hours.
In some complex cases, we can help provide the bespoke outreach (emergency support) for children and young people whose school placement is at risk. This is delivered by specialist SEMHL outreach teacher Rachael Hansford. This area of support usually concentrates on strategic support for schools around developing positive intervention plans, pupil passports and advice and guidance with writing requests for statutory assessment if required.
The SEND Support hours that are provided via the Virtual School form part of our Highly Vulnerable (HV) framework. In majority of cases, schools are responsible for meeting the SEND needs of pupils and this includes seeking and implementing specialist advice where the graduated approach requires this.
Some children in care may face exceptional challenges, making their education highly vulnerable. In these cases, additional funding or SEND professional advice may be required to secure stability or access to appropriate support.