SEND glossary — SENBridge

Short explanations to help you follow conversations and documents. Wording follows common England SEND usage; your local authority or school may use slightly different labels. Not formal legal advice.

29 terms · England SEND · SEND Code of Practice

Alternative provision(AP): Education arranged when a pupil cannot attend a normal school placement — for example because of exclusion, illness, or a placement breakdown. It can be full-time or part-time and must still meet their needs, including SEND.
Annual review(AR): A yearly meeting for every EHCP to check whether the plan is still appropriate and whether outcomes and provision should change. For under-5s reviews are more frequent. The LA must decide whether to maintain, amend, or cease the plan after the review.
Assess, Plan, Do, Review: The cycle schools should use for SEN Support (and good practice more widely): assess needs, plan support, put it in place, then review whether it is working and adjust. You should be involved at each stage.
Direct payments: Money paid to you (or a nominee) to buy agreed support yourself, instead of the LA arranging it. Used in some social care and, in limited cases, SEN contexts where a personal budget allows direct payments.
Disagreement resolution: A way to discuss wider SEND disagreements (including with schools or health) without going to tribunal. It is voluntary and separate from mediation, which is tied to specific EHC assessment/plan disputes.
EHC needs assessment: A formal process the local authority uses to decide whether a child needs an EHCP. You can request it as a parent, or professionals may bring a child to the LA’s attention. The LA must decide whether to assess within statutory timescales and explain if they refuse.
Education, Health and Care Plan(EHCP): A legal document for children and young people up to 25 who need more support than SEN Support alone. It describes needs, outcomes, and the special educational provision the local authority must arrange. Health and social care sections can be included where relevant. Issued and reviewed by the local authority.
Educational Psychologist(EP): A professional who assesses how children learn and behave in school, and advises on support strategies. EP advice often feeds into SEN Support reviews and EHC needs assessments.
Fixed-term exclusion: A temporary suspension from school for a set number of days. Schools must follow statutory guidance; pupils with SEND or EHCPs have extra protections, including the duty to arrange suitable full-time education from day six for longer exclusions.
Graduated approach: Step-by-step support in school: start with quality teaching for all, then increasing SEN Support if needed, then consider whether an EHC needs assessment is required. The aim is the right level of help without jumping straight to an EHCP where SEN Support is enough.
Local authority(LA): The council responsible for education for children in its area. For SEND, the LA must identify needs, support schools, carry out EHC needs assessments, maintain EHCPs, and ensure provision is made. Day-to-day school support is usually led by the school, but the LA is accountable for EHCPs.
Mainstream school: An ordinary state or independent school that educates pupils with and without SEND. Children with EHCPs have a right to a mainstream placement unless a mainstream education would be incompatible with efficient education of others (and suitable alternative arrangements exist).
Mediation: A confidential process to help resolve disagreements with the LA about EHC needs assessments or EHCP content (Sections B, F, I). Mediation is usually offered before appealing to the SEND Tribunal for those matters.
Occupational therapy(OT): Support for fine motor skills, sensory needs, and daily living skills relevant to education. Like SaLT, it may be listed in different sections of an EHCP depending on how needs are described.
Outcomes: What you want a child to achieve over time — for example confidence in reading, attending full-time, or managing transitions. EHCPs should be built around clear outcomes, not just a list of hours of support.
Parent carer forum: A local group of parent carers working with the LA and health partners to improve SEND services. Useful for local policy issues; not the same as individual casework advice (SENDIASS / IPSEA).
Permanent exclusion: Removal from the school roll. Only the governing board (following a hearing) or the headteacher in limited cases can decide this. If your child has an EHCP, the LA must arrange alternative provision and review the plan.
Personal budget: An amount identified to deliver some of the provision in an EHCP, which families may be able to manage with LA agreement — for example to commission support directly. Not everyone uses a personal budget; it is optional where offered.
Provision: The help a child receives — for example one-to-one support, speech and language therapy, small-group work, equipment, or a particular teaching approach. In an EHCP, Section F sets out special educational provision that must be delivered.
Reasonable adjustments: Changes schools and other settings must make so a disabled pupil is not at a substantial disadvantage, under the Equality Act 2010. Examples: accessible materials, quiet space, adjusted routines, or extra time. This is separate from but can sit alongside SEN Support or an EHCP.
Speech and language therapy(SaLT): Support for communication and swallowing needs. In EHCPs it may appear as health provision (Section C) or educational provision (Section F) depending how it is framed — this affects who is responsible for arranging it.
Special educational needs(SEN): A learning difficulty or disability that calls for special educational provision. Many people use SEN and SEND interchangeably; SEND explicitly includes disabilities that affect education without necessarily being a ‘learning difficulty’.
SEN Support: Help given in school (or college) when a pupil has SEN but does not have an EHCP. It follows the graduated approach: Assess, Plan, Do, Review. The school should involve you and use the SEND Code of Practice. It is not the same as an EHCP, which is a formal legal document.
Special Educational Needs Coordinator(SENCO): The teacher in a school who leads SEND support, coordinates provision, and works with staff, parents, and outside specialists. In mainstream schools the SENCO is a key contact for you.
Special educational needs and disabilities(SEND): A child or young person has SEND if they need special educational provision because of a learning difficulty or disability, or if they have a disability that means they need different or additional support compared with most pupils of the same age. In England this framework is set out in the Children and Families Act 2014 and the SEND Code of Practice.
SEND Code of Practice: Statutory guidance for organisations on the SEND system in England (0–25). It explains duties on LAs, schools, health, and families. The assistant’s answers are grounded in this and linked legislation, not informal local policies alone.
First-tier Tribunal (SEND)(SEND Tribunal): An independent body that hears appeals about EHC needs assessments and EHCP content (and some related claims and disability discrimination claims against schools). Often referred to as the SEND Tribunal or FTT.
SEND Information, Advice and Support Service(SENDIASS): Free, impartial advice for parents and young people on SEND law and processes in your local area. Every LA should fund a service; names vary (e.g. ‘SENDIASS’, ‘IASS’).
Special school: A school for pupils with significant or complex needs, often for those with EHCPs naming that setting. Placement usually requires the EHCP to name the school. Some areas also use specialist units or resource bases linked to mainstream schools.

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