Page 50 - SEN113 SEN Magazine July-August 2021-V3

SEN law What the law says about mainstream education (again!) Douglas Silas looks again at what the law says about mainstream education for children and young people with SEN, bearing in mind also, the impact of Covid-19. 50 Acouple of years ago I looked at the law on mainstream education. Although the law has not really changed, the world has now been turned upside down by the Coronavirus pandemic. I therefore thought that it may be a good idea for me to try and revisit the issue here. What is the general law about mainstream education/inclusion? The law says that local authorities (LAs) should usually provide a place within a mainstream school for children and young people with SEN. Mainstream schools include maintained schools, academies that are not special schools, maintained nursery schools, 16-19 academies, alternative provision academies, and PRUs. This is often referred to as mainstream ‘inclusion’. Schools/colleges must also promote disability equality towards individual disabled children and young people, in line with the Equality Act 2010. This means that they must make reasonable adjustments, including the provision of auxiliary (i.e. supplementary) aids and services to prevent for disabled children/young people being put at a substantial disadvantage. “The world has now been turned upside down” According to the SEND Code of Practice (CoP), mainstream placements must always do the following: 1. Use their best endeavours to make sure that a child/ young person with SEN gets the support they need (i.e. do everything they can to meet children and young people’s SEN) 2. Ensure that children/young people with SEN engage in the activities of the school, alongside pupils who do not have SEN SEN113 senmagazine.co.uk