Derby City Council's Children and Young People's Department is committed to developing and maintaining good quality inclusive education.
The Inclusion Policy means that most children and young people with learning difficulties or disabilities or special educational needs will have their needs met at their local mainstream school. Some children and young people with the most complex and significant needs may be educated in a Special School.
If you have concerns about your child talk to teachers at school. They will explain how they are meeting your child's individual needs. School have a duty to involve you in supporting your child to learn.
Some children and young people have a high level of need. In this case you can request the Local Authority to undertake a Statutory Assessment - this may lead to the Local Authority providing a Statement of Special Educational Needs.
See Statutory Assessment and Statementing Procedure for a more detailed description of the process.
If you would like further information you can e-mail specialeducationalneeds@derby.gov.uk, or phone 01332 716944, where the Special Educational Needs Team will be happy to talk to you.
Admission of children with Statements of Special Educational Needs into a school
The Special Educational Needs Team also has the responsibility for the admission of children with Statements of Special Educational Needs into a school, wherever appropriate at the local mainstream school.
For more information about which school to choose, please click on the following links:
More information on our Transport Policy can be found here:
Useful Links
Definitions of terms used
Inclusion
Inclusion in education is a process of maximising participation and removing barriers to learning for all children and young people in their local educational setting.
Learning Difficulties or Disabilities or Special Educational Needs
Children or young people who find it harder to learn. These children or young people may need some extra help in school.
Statutory Assessment
A detailed investigation to find out exactly what your child's special educational needs are and what special help they may need.
Statement of Special Educational Needs
A document that describes your child's special educational needs and the help your child should receive in school.
Statutory Assessment and Statementing Procedure
It is only children and young people with complex and/or significant learning difficulties or disabilities who need an assessment and a Statement of Special Educational Needs. Most children have their needs met in school without the need for such an assessment.
If you, your child's school or early education setting request that we carry out a Statutory Assessment on your child we will ask you and other professionals to write a report highlighting the child's educational needs. Using these reports we will decide, normally within six weeks, whether to carry out a Statutory Assessment or not. You will be informed of the decision, and we will give you our reasons.
If we decide to carry out a Statutory Assessment, we will ask you and other professionals to write a more detailed report highlighting the child's educational needs. Using these reports we will decide, normally within 12 weeks whether we will write a Statement of Special Educational Needs or not.
If we decide not to write a Statement, we will explain our reasons and tell you how we think your child's needs should be met in school, in an early education setting or in any other way.
If we decide a Statement is appropriate, before we write a final Statement, we will send you a 'proposed Statement', which is a draft of the Statement, describing your child's needs and how these should be met in school, along with copies of all the advice we received during the Statutory Assessment. With the proposed Statement we will send a letter telling you how you can give your views on the proposed Statement and state your preferred school. Your views will be welcome.
We will then send you the final Statement, usually within eight weeks of the 'proposed Statement', which will also name the appropriate school, as well as describing your child's needs and how these should be met in school.
If your child has a Statement of Special Educational Needs it is a legal requirement that it is reviewed annually by the school. You will be invited to the review along with other professionals who have worked with your child over the year. The Annual Review document is sent to us in the Special Educational Needs Team. If the review has recommended any changes are made to the Statement it will be the Local Authority who decides if these changes will be made. You will be informed if the changes have been agreed and sent an updated Statement if appropriate.
At each stage of the Statutory Assessment and Statementing process you have the right to appeal against the decisions to the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal service, SENDIST. Each letter we send you will have the details of the service, which you can contact directly. However we are happy to discuss each issue directly with you if you are concerned, so please contact us first if you have a problem.
You can also seek guidance from the Parent Partnership Service 
at any stage.
The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF), has a Special Educational Needs Code of Practice. We base all our policies around this document: DCSF Website 
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