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Special Educational Needs

The evidence shows that children with special education needs (SEN) have lower levels of educational attainment than those without SEN, this means that they may be at risk of disadvantage. It is essential that leaders continue to identify those with special educational needs and provide support so children can make progress.

Headline data

Early Years Foundation Stage Profile (EYFSP)

There has been a steady increase over time in the percentage of pupils with SEN achieving a good level of development, in line with the increase for all pupils. In 2018/19, 25% of pupils with SEN achieved a good level of development, which is 1 percentage point higher than the figure for 2017/18 at 24%. There was no change in the percentage of pupils with no SEN who achieved a good level of development in 2018/19 at 77%.

Key Stage 1

The percentage of pupils who achieved the expected standard in KS1 teacher assessments (TA) has been fairly stable in recent years for both the SEN and no SEN groups. 30% of pupils with SEN achieved the expected standard in English reading TA in 2018/19 compared to 83% for those with no SEN; 33% of pupils with SEN achieved the expected standard in mathematics TA in 2018/19 compared to 84% of pupils with no SEN and 42% of pupils with SEN achieved the expected standard in science TA in 2018/19 compared to 90% for pupils with no SEN.

Key Stage 2

22% of pupils with SEN achieved the expected level in reading, writing and mathematics in 2018/19 compared to 74% of those with no SEN – these figures are similar to 2017/18 when 21% of pupils with SEN and 74% of pupils with no SEN achieved the expected level in reading, writing and mathematics. Pupils with SEN have lower progress scores compared to those with no SEN and the score is lowest in writing TA. For reading test the progress score in 2018/19 was -1.5 for SEN pupils and 0.4 for those with no SEN; for writing TA the progress score is -2.2 for SEN pupils and 0.5 for those with no SEN and for mathematics test the progress score is -1.5 for SEN pupils and 0.4 for those with no SEN.

Key Stage 4

New attainment indicators were introduced in 2014/15 at Key Stage 4 – Attainment 8 and Progress 8. The average attainment 8 score for pupils with SEN in 2018/19 was 27.6 compared to 49.9 for those with no SEN. The average progress 8 score for pupils with SEN in 2018/19 was -0.62 compared to 0.08 for those with no SEN.

Post-16

Attainment by age 19 30.4% of pupils identified with SEN in year 11 achieved Level 2 (equivalent to 5+ A*-C/ 9-4 at GCSE) including English and mathematics by age 19 in2018/19, this is a decrease compared to the 2017/18 figure of 30.9%. This decrease in attainment was mirrored in the attainment for pupils without SEN, which fell from 75.8% in 2017/18 to 75.3% in 2018/19. For both the SEN and no SEN groups, this fall is likely to be due to a reduction in the types of vocational qualifications counted in the School Performance Tables from 2013/14 onwards, which followed through to attainment at age 19 in later years (see linked publication below for more details).

Taken from DfE (May 2020) Special educational needs and disability: an analysis and summary of data sources.

Please visit the SEND Toolkit pages for further support, advice and strategies to support children who have Special Educational Needs and may be at risk of disadvantage.