- Alcester Office +44 (0)1789 765522
- Bedford Office +44 (0)1234 400000
- Birmingham, New St. Office +44 (0)121 270 5666
- Birmingham, Newhall St. Office +44 (0)121 703 2606
- Bristol Office +44 (0)1454 275 190
- Cardiff Office +44 (0)29 2240 8700
- Evesham Office +44 (0)1386 425300
- Gatwick Office +44 (0)1293 602890
- Harrow Office +44 (0)20 8907 4366
- Leicester Office +44 (0)116 255 9911
- Leigh Office +44 (0)1942 673311
- Lichfield Office +44 (0)1543 414426
- Luton Office +44 (0)1582 720175
- Northampton Office +44 (0)1604 233 200
- Redditch Office +44 (0)1527 406363
- Solihull Office +44 (0)121 705 2255
- Stopsley Office +44 (0)1582 453 366
- Sutton Coldfield Office +44 (0)121 355 6118
- Tunbridge Wells Office +44 (0)1892 553090
- Walkden Office +44 (0)161 790 1411
- Walsall Office +44 (0)1922 720000
- Warrington Office +44 (0)1925 632267
- Westhoughton Office +44 (0)1942 816515
- Whitefield Office +44 (0)161 796 7920
- Wigan Office +44 (0)1942 244294
Special Educational Needs in Anglesey
Our specialist special education needs (SEN) solicitors have helped many parents and young people in Anglesey and have experience of working across Wales and the UK in securing support, school placements and funding from the Local Authority for special educational provision.
We have provided expert education law advice in Anglesey to secure special educational needs support for several children, young people and families. The specialist education law solicitors have dealt with Anglesey County Council on numerous matters. This has often involved an appeal to the Special Educational Needs Tribunal for Wales.
What are Special Educational Needs in Anglesey?
Special educational needs are any difficulty a child or young person has in accessing education. Special educational needs (SEN) affect how a person learns. The needs can affect everything from:
- physical ability
- concentration levels
- ability to understand
- hearing and/or visual impairment
- behaviour
- reading
- writing
- social skills.
If a child or young person has difficulties in accessing school, education, or facilities at school and requires support beyond that typically made for young people of the same age, they have or will likely have, special educational needs.
If you are not sure whether your child or young person has special educational needs, you should seek specific legal advice.
The Anglesey SEN team operates under their own policies, but also must comply with the Education Law 1996 and the SEN Code of Practice for Wales. Whilst the law can be complicated, in our experience the policies can overly simplify the law and confuse quite complex rules. This can result in poor decision making. That is often why parents in Anglesey seek special educational needs advice from us.
If the special educational needs team in Anglesey relies on policies exclusively, rather than the law, this can lead to difficulties. We have extensive experience of providing special educational needs advice to parents in Anglesey. We have helped several families successfully appeal to SENTW against decisions taken by Anglesey County Council SEN team.
Anglesey’s SEN policies and guidance can be found here.
We would always advise parents to make sure that they focus on the Special Educational Needs Code of Practice and current legislation, rather than Anglesey County Council’s SEN policies only. The SEN Code of Practice (which is guidance only) can be found here.
What is SEN Support in Anglesey?
Normally, school will identify that a child or young person has special educational needs. When this happens, the class teacher and Additional Learning Needs Coordinator (ALNCo), will arrange for additional support to be provided.
If the school does not identify a pupil with special educational needs, it may be necessary to seek a statutory assessment of their special educational needs from Anglesey County Council.
If the child or young person needs more support than the school can provide, a Statement of SEN may be needed. The school should discuss with the child, young person and their parents / guardian requesting an assessment. It is very important to note that there is no requirement to try the graduated response of School Action or School Action Plus before seeking a statutory assessment or a Statement of SEN.
How can I get a Statement in Anglesey?
The guidance for securing a statutory assessment and Statement of Special Educational Needs in Anglesey can be found here.
This can be a helpful guide to know how to qualify for a Statement of SEN in Anglesey. However, it is important to know that the local authority must comply with legal duties, as well as operating its own policies.
Before a Statement of SEN can be issued, the local authority must make a statutory assessment.
At the conclusion of the assessment, Anglesey County Council will decide whether a Statement of SEN is necessary.
The term “necessary” has been the focus of much litigation. It means that the Local Authority must consider the subjective needs of the child or young person, the special educational provision that they need and whether it is reasonably likely that a mainstream school can deliver that support.
If the local authority refuses to make and maintain a Statement to cater for the child’s additional learning needs, you can appeal to the Special Educational Needs Tribunal for Wales.
Where can I find SEN legal advice in Anglesey?
Our special education needs solicitors provide advice in Anglesey. To contact our specialist education lawyers, please call 02920 291 704 or email education@hcbgroup.com
We have helped in the following ways:
- Requesting a statutory assessment in Anglesey
- Successful appeals to Tribunal against Anglesey’s refusal to make and maintain a Statement of SEN
- Successful appeals to Tribunal against Anglesey’s refusal to conduct a statutory assessment
- Successfully appealing to Tribunal against Anglesey for additional support
- Successfully appealing to Tribunal against Anglesey for specialist school places