Education Provision for children and young people with additional needs and disabilities

The majority of children with a Special Educational Need or Disability (SEND) will be able to have their educational needs met at one of Surrey's mainstream schools.

Special educational provision is educational provision that is different from or additional to that normally available to pupils or students of the same age. It is designed to help children and young people with SEN or disabilities to access the National Curriculum at school or to study at college.

For children under two years old it is educational provision of any kind.

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Specialist school provision

A minority of children and young people who have an Education Health and Care (EHC) plan may need a more specialist type of placement such as:

  • specialist centres at mainstream schools
  • maintained special schools
  • non-maintained special schools
  • independent special schools approved under Section 41 of the Children and Families Act
  • alternative learning provision.

Please also see the following guides.

Specialist centres at mainstream schools

Sometimes a child or young person will struggle to make progress even with carefully planned and personalised support. In these circumstances, the best way of supporting them to achieve their potential may be through a placement at a specialist centre within a mainstream school.

These Specialist Centres support children and young people with SEND, who benefit from being in a mainstream school setting but need extra support through some personalised teaching and learning in smaller groups.

Some centres may also specialise in the pupils they support, for example, those with:

  • physical and sensory needs
  • learning difficulties, with or without additional needs such as autism or speech and language needs
  • communication and interaction difficulties.

The Directory of Surrey schools has details of schools that cater for special educational needs.

Maintained special schools

Sometimes the EHC plan may show that a child or young person has such high needs for special arrangements throughout the school day, that they would be best supported in a special school that only caters for children with SEND.

The School Admissions Guidance for children with an Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan lays out the processes for agreeing when a school-age child needs a more specialist placement.

Surrey has over 20 maintained special schools and academies. These schools have the best arrangements in place to meet the needs of these particular pupils and will detail their offer on their websites.

Exceptionally, if a child's needs cannot be met by any of these schools, it may be agreed that a non-maintained special school or independent provision is the best option.

Non-maintained special schools

Non-Maintained Special Schools (NMSS) are approved by the Secretary of State for Education and must:

Independent special schools approved under Section 41 of the Children and Families Act

These are independent special schools providing specialist support to children with special educational needs. The Secretary of State publishes a list of independent special schools and colleges approved under section 41 of the Children and Families Act.

Alternative provision

Each Local Authority has a statutory duty to provide suitable education for children of compulsory school age who cannot attend school, in line with Alternative Provision Guidance from the Department of Education. In Surrey, this is provided through:

  • Access to Education (A2E) which provides a flexible, short-term education service. It is for pupils who cannot attend school through exceptional circumstances such as medical reasons and permanent exclusions. It offers teaching, emotional, behavioural and social development work, mentoring and access to virtual learning online resources.
  • Pupil Referral Units are educational settings specifically providing education for children who are excluded, sick, or otherwise unable to attend a mainstream or special maintained school.
  • Surrey Online School provides a mix of education technology including live online lessons to a range of pupils across the county.
  • Education Other than at School (EOTAS) which is only for children/ young people with an EHCP where they cannot be educated in a formal educational setting. This can be for lots of different reasons, for example health reasons including emotionally based school non attendance (EBSNA).

You may also find it helpful to refer to Surrey County Council's Alternative Curriculum Pathways and Reintegration Support policy or the Alternative Provision (AP): Alternative Curriculum Pathways and Reintegration Support web page.

Education Other than at School (EOTAS)

Some children or young people cannot be educated in a formal educational setting. This can be for lots of different reasons, for example health.

In a small number of cases, it may be necessary for the child/ young person to receive education outside of a formal education setting. It means the child or young person would not be on roll at a school or post-16 institution and the special educational provision could happen at home or could be at another setting, which is not a registered educational setting.

It can only be agreed with the Local Authority via an EHC needs assessment, a reassessment of needs or at the EHC plan annual review.

EOTAS is different from elective home education (EHE). If you choose to home educate, parents are responsible for making their own suitable arrangements for the child's educational provision, see the Home education page for more information.

Some examples of types of EOTAS are:

  • Online schooling
  • Tuition at home or tuition centres
  • Hospital schooling

The Local Authority must consider a request from the parent/ carer and decide if EOTAS is appropriate. This decision will be based on evidence that EOTAS is necessary as it would be inappropriate for the provision to be made in an educational setting such as a school or post-16 institution.

The EOTAS policy provides more detailed information on EOTAS provision in Surrey:

If you are considering requesting EOTAS, please discuss this with your child's SENCo and your SEND Case Officer.

Home education

Parents can choose to home educate their child at any age, whether they have been enrolled at school previously or not.

If your child has an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan, the right to home educate still applies.

See our Home education page for more information.