What is equivalent of School Action?

[Frodolives]

Hi. DD has SPD (no asd) and is on school action. I was wondering what changes the new SEND guidance will make to this level of support. She is 11 and about to go into Yr7

It'll be called SEN Support. On paper it shouldn't make any difference to the level of support she gets as it means much the same thing (support delivered by school staff, with outside guidance if needed), but as before under SA/SA+ there are no legal guarantees. That said, you don't always get what you're supposed to with a statement/EHC either .

SA and SA plus will not exist from Sept 2014 :(

The trouble with "SEN support" is that it's all so vague, and there's nothing that specifically triggers a higher level of support. At least under SA you can work on the basis that all concerned will review things from time to time, and if it's clear that the child is not making progress support will be stepped up by putting him on SA+. I fear children could get left for years on SEN support trundling along on the lowest level of help while everyone shrugs and says "Nothing we can do, he's not bad enough for an EHCP".

I've heard of some LAs using the term predictable needs for the old SA & SA+, and exceptional needs for a child whose needs can only be met over and above what can be provided from the school's delegated SEN budget so they need an EHC plan.
Rather than describing which stage of the COP the child is at it, these terms define the child's needs into two very broad categories. In the "predictable needs" category there's no clear distinction when external agencies become involved like when a child moved from SA to SA+ so it covers a huge range of needs. It's a bit of a meaningless term IMO, it's LA-centric and far from parent-friendly.