Trafford Parent Partnership

School-based Assessment of Special Educational Need

Information for Parents

Trafford LEA Support Services

Every school has one teacher who takes responsibility for seeing that pupils who are on the assessment stages receive the help they need. They are called the Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCO)

Educational Psychologist

An Educational Psychologist is a psychologist who has spent some time as a teacher and has a specialist qualification in child development and experience working with families and schools. He or she provides a service to children and young people by working with them, their teachers and parents.

A school based assessment of Special Educational Need follows three stages, these are:

Stage 1 Special Needs Register

What does the Special Needs Register mean for my child

You may feel very anxious when you are first told that your child is having some
problems with his learning and/or behaviour. This is quite normal and you may find it
helpful to talk through your worries with someone who understands how you feel. Your
child’s teacher should be able to help you with this or you can ‘phone the Special Needs
Information Officer at Trafford Borough Council who is always ready to listen to parents’
worries.

Parents also get concerned when they hear the words “special needs register” as they
believe that this will be a negative thing for their child. The opposite is true. Putting your
child’s name on this register means that the school will be working to make sure that his
progress is very carefully checked and reviewed with you.

Stage 2

At Stage 2 the responsibility for gathering information and co-ordinating your child’s special educational provision moves from his teacher to the school’s SENCO who:

Stage 3

If it is felt that your child needs more support and assessment than can be provided just by the school, the teachers and the SENCO will start to look for specialist help and advice from outside the school. At this stage the SENCO will still be the person who co-ordinates the support for your child and will:

• continue to work closely with your child’s teacher(s) and keep the head teacher informed

• seek advice from other professionals

• talk with you and your child to explain what is happening

• ensure that another individual education plan is drawn up

• monitor and review your child’s progress

For further information about the school-based assessment of Special Educational Need, contact:

Geraldine English
Special Educational Needs Information Officer
Telephone: (0161) 912 3150
Email: geraldine.english@trafford.gov.uk

 
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