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Durham was last inspected in June 2024. As part of the inspection process, inspectors received feedback and views from 1,500 children, young people, families and partners. You can read more about the feedback from the inspectors on our Strategies, plans, policies and inspections page.

How different needs are supported in schools


Special educational needs are often first identified in school. If the school identify that your child has SEN, they will contact you to discuss with you what support to offer your child.

If you think your child has SEN, you should talk to your child's school. They will discuss any concerns you have, tell you what they think and explain to you what will happen next.

Extra support for your child

The school will tell you if they are making special educational provision for your child. The special educational needs coordinator (SENCO) at the school will arrange extra help (called SEN support) for those who need it.

SEN support is part of what is known as 'the graduated approach' and it means that the SENCO and teaching staff will:

  • assess your child's difficulties
  • identify the extra support your child needs
  • put the support in place
  • regularly check how well it is working so that they can change the amount or kind of support if they need to

The school can ask specialist support services, for example, educational psychology, behaviour support or speech and language therapy to carry out assessments and provide further advice and support if necessary.

Find out more about SEN support and the graduated approach.

If your child has more complex needs they might need an Education, Health and Care (EHC) assessments and plans.

How different needs are supported in schools

We have a set of leaflets that explain how schools support children with different types of special educational needs, such as Autism, visual impairments, speech and language difficulties, social emotional and mental health difficulties. These can be downloaded at Making Changes Together in County Durham: SEND support.

Other sources of help

There are lots of other sources of information, advice and support you can access such as:



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