SENAC (Special Education Needs Advice Centre)

Stage 3 When the Statutory Assessment is completed, the EA may decide to issue a Statement of Special Educational Needs . A Statement of Special Educational Need (SEN) is a legal document that sets out your child’s needs and the SEN provision that will be put in place to meet those needs. The EA will issue a Statement if they decide that the help your child needs cannot be provided for from the resources normally available to mainstream schools. The EA have a legal duty to specify and arrange the provision as it is written in Part 3 of the Statement. Requesting a Statutory Assessment A Statutory Assessment may be started by the EA following a request by the school or from a parent. As a parent you have the right to request the EA make a Statutory Assessment of your child’s special educational needs. You can make a request for a Statutory Assessment on the EA’s website https:// statutoryassessment.eani.org.uk/ or by writing to the SEN Officer in your EA regional office. If the school have done all they can to support your child and you still believe your child needs more help, or if your child is under school age and you believe they may need extra help or provision when starting school, then you could consider a Statutory Assessment. If you make the request yourself, you will know exactly when it was made. You should speak to your school first about your concerns and your decision to request a Statutory Assessment. In your request include any relevant information on your child’s special educational needs. Keep a copy of your request and a note of the date it was sent. The Education Authority are required to inform you of their decision within six weeks from the date the request was received. After the Statutory Assessment is completed the Education Authority will decide if it needs to issue a Statement. If the Education Authority decides not to issue a Statement, you have the right to appeal.