Best Practice

Which students should go on the SEN register?

Children do not necessarily fit easily into categories, especially those who have additional needs. Sara Alston considers how we decide which students need to be on the SEN register and which do not
Image: Adobe Stock

While schools do not need to have a SEN register, the SEND Code of Practice does state that every school is “required to identify and address the SEN of the pupils that they support” (paragraph 6.2) and to record when they decide a child has SEN in the school records.

This is, to all intents and purposes, the SEN register – and it would be ludicrous not to keep this as a clear list or register.

Whatever we call the record, there are questions about how we identify when children have SEN and when they should be recorded as such.

There is no single clear answer. Children do not necessarily fit easily into categories. There is a wide variety of needs shown by different children at different stages of their development and education. This leads to inconsistency between schools and confusion for staff and parents, this is further exacerbated by differences in services available in different areas.

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