What does it mean for a child to have "additional needs" at school.

[keephope6]

We are going to an appeal hearing on monday and would like to know what does it mean for a child to have "additional needs" at school. Is this the same as being statemented g SEN? Does a child who has "addition needs" get support in the classroom, beyond the normal class teacher? Talking about a child in reception / key stage 1.

Additional needs can Include sen. No that would not necessarily mean a lsa or ta in addition to the norm, does the child have an echp?

It's a less formal thing than a statement. A statement is issued by the Local Authority and needs to be applied for (with evidence etc). Whereas the school saying a child has additional needs is within the school and just means they have identified that the child is struggling. Application for a statement may follow later.

The child may get extra support, but there won't be any extra funding for it at this stage and most schools are strapped for cash at the moment, so don't expect too much.

Dd was classed as having 'additional needs' when we moved her primary schools in year 5. She was assaulted at the previous school and was suffering anxiety about being around people.

All it meant was that the senco was aware of her issues and montiored her. They also touched base with us every few weeks.The senco was actually her class teacher. So it didnt really do anything different. Just the getting updates more often.

When they moved to secondary the Senco listed on her list of needing support and disscussed her with the pastoral care team.

We had to appeal to get her in the secondary of choice andbit did form part of it.

Additional needs, special needs, special educational needs, Additional educational needs, special educational needs and disabilities all get lumped together. Some have a slightly different meaning and some will be used differently in different LEAs. However they essentially mean that a child has a need (big or small) that could be an educational/medical or physical need that must be met.

A statement or ehcp is where a child has a significant need and support (including financial) from the LEA is required. How much help, in what form it takes is very individual to the child and the LEA.

Statements went about 18 months ago. It's education and health care plans now (ehcp). A child having additional needs means they have needs that require planning that is either additional to or different from the standard offer to children. Eg extra reading would be "additional to", or a social skills group would be "different from". The needs must be in one of 4 areas; social, emotional and mental health, communication and interaction, learning, or physical and sensory needs.

Not all children with additional needs have an ehcp. In fact most don't. About 20 percent of students will have additional needs at some point in school, whereas about 2 to 3 percent have an ehcp. The school has to demonstrate that it has tried to meet a child's needs through it's "best endeavours" (words from law) which include spending at least 6k a year, involving parents, coordinating outside agencies etc before a school can ask for an ehcp. Parents can ask as well but may be turned down (but other support put into place) if school hasn't done "best endeavours".

Hth

Statements still exist, they are being phased out but they still exist.

Only for children who already have them, soapbox, and they should all be converted by September.

thank you for the explanation

oldbirdy True but the OP didn't say whether they were interested because of a child that already has a statement or not. The deadline for transferring statements has already been extended to 2018 and I wouldn't bet on it not being extended further.