What is the 'average' proportion with regard to SEN

[ShadeofViolet]

Have got the Ofsted report from the Primary school I want DS to attend ahich stated that 'the proportion of pupils with SEN and/or disabilities is average.

What is the average range figure - is there anyway to find out?

20% is about average nationally but that covers pupils who have SEN statements and school action and school action plus.

28% at our school. But we have a very diverse catchment.

Over 50% SEN in the school where I teach

just depends on the school.

OFSTED has your school in its sights then mrz

The average figure won't depend on school will it?

Or rather it will depend on all schools...

yes woops silly me :)

TheFallenMadonna they visited last term the report states "The proportion of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities is well above average. " and "Provision for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities and for those who are vulnerable or looked after is well managed and there are effective programmes for intervention and support so that these pupils make good progress."

I meant they had you in mind when they were talking about schools over-egging the number of children with SEN.

No they accepted we have that level in fact they suggested we were being conservative in our numbers

I was only joking...

mrz - I know from your responses to other threads that you and your school seem to achieve pretty impressive results eg. regarding yr1's writing which came up recently; Can I ask how you achieve this with such a high % of SEN children? Your school must have a shed-load of TAs/HLTAs, how do they afford it??

lovecheese we have one TA

Then what is your secret??

bloody hard work

sorry not very helpful I know...
At the moment we are getting visits from schools asking the same question and we can only demonstrate what we do.
We don't set by ability or withdraw children from lessons so all children are taught by highly qualified /experienced staff. Interventions take place outside normal teaching time so SEN children get extra input rather than alternative input

Thanks very much :)

Dd's school has a very high level of SEN probably because they have a reputation of being very good with SEN.
OFSTED said this "An above average proportion of pupils have special educational needs and/or disabilities and the school caters for some pupils with complex emotional and social needs as well as a small number with physical disabilities." And this "The support offered to pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities is outstanding, with each pupil receiving daily support from a key worker. Consequently, they make excellent progress in their personal development and good progress academically." Thinking of dd's class it's approaching 50% but each class has a full time TA and there are two SEN TA's pretty much full time in dd's class too (dd's and another).
No idea what average is though because in our area even schools within a mile or two of each other can have very different levels of SEN which from my experience is usually because parents move their children to the school best fitting their needs. No over subscription or waiting lists here fortunately

Taken from the last SEN review in 2006:

Around 1.45 million children were categorised as having some sort of SEN in England
in 2005?18% of all pupils.
? Of these, around 242,500 pupils had statements of SEN?2.9% of all pupils.
? The remaining 1.2 million pupils were categorised as having SEN but did not have
a statement?15% of all pupils.87
? These statistics have all followed a similar pattern of increasing in number and
proportion during the 1990s, peaking in 2001, and declining gradually since then.

However a later article in TES suggests 20% but does not cite a source.

So average is just average really - there doesnt really seem to be a number.

I am trying to find a MS school for DS who has ASD, and I wanted to make sure it wasnt a school where the SEN children are chased out, but average will do for us :)

There is always the possibility that numbers of SEN children have been misdiagnosed, as was highlighted recently in the press.

OFSTED used to stipulate to schools that they SHOULD be identifying at least 20% of children as SN - if anything they are then the ones responsible for schools wrongly labelling children.

Shadeofviolet try and speak to parents of children with SEN in the local area. They will have a very good grasp of which schools are best with SEN. Also consider applying for a statutory assessment that way you can ensure ds gets a place at the school best suited to his needs regardless of catchment and waiting lists.It is more straightforward to get the statement in place before school entry because then you don't need your child to fail first.