We have been in touch with Achieving for Children to help you understand where you can call for help and what you can reasonably expect from school.
What you should know – your legal rights
1. Your child is receiving SEN School Support
- Schools do have a responsibility to help you to manage the work demands if your child has any support at school, (SEN School Support) this includes children with any interventions such as a Learning Support Assistant (LSA), nurture group, support for attention or behaviour, amongst others.
- Work that the school sends home, should be differentiated for you to highlight the key learning objectives, key strategies used by school, and the key aims for the day. These are likely to be different to those who struggle less to focus and pay attention.
- School SENCOs have been given top tips to support families with a child with ADHD, which we jointly developed. Please find this below.
As you will see SENCOs and teachers have been asked to support your children by agreeing daily priorities and thereby managing the school workload expectations.
2. Your child has an Education Health and Care Plan
Advice from the Government for schools is on the link below and gets updated regularly
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-school-closures/guidance-for-schools-about-temporarily-closing
Children with an EHCP are currently supposed to be:
- At home where possible except in circumstances that require a risk assessment
- A risk assessment should be carried out by School and the Local Authority in conjunction with parents to decide if children should be offered places in schools. The guidance used is here https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-send-risk-assessment-guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-send-risk-assessment-guidance
- The risk assessment should take account of home circumstances and offers be made on the basis of that assessment which is kept under review.
- If there is disagreement we would suggest using the link above to raise this with AfC
- At the moment in law all of the provision in an EHCP should be available to all children so that may involve contact with therapist school on line etc.
The emergency legislation allows for variations to sections of the law but as of 23 April this has not been acted upon so this means legally the following:
- Provision should be made
- The school named in the plan together with the Local Authority are responsible for delivery of the plan
- Time scales for EHCP assessments remain
- Annual Reviews time scales and law remain
Government have the power to amend any or all of this by a “notice” from the Secretary of State for Education.