Additional support for learning

Children and young people who need extra help to access and make progress in their learning are considered to have additional support needs. Children and young people may only need support for a short time, or they may need support the whole time they are in education. Their needs may also change over time. A child or young person does not need to have a diagnosed condition to have additional support needs. If your child is struggling at school or nursery and needs extra help for any reason, they have a right to receive the help they need.

A child or young person may have additional support needs for a range of reasons. The following are some examples:

• a difficulty, or a disability, related to a health, physical or learning need
• being bullied
• family circumstances such as being a young carer or on the child protection register
• long-term illness
• bereavement
• English as an additional language

Most children and young people with an identified additional support need are supported in our mainstream schools and early learning and childcare settings. Stirling Council has an inclusive ethos, and education has a duty to provide education in a mainstream school or early learning and childcare setting. 

For most children and young people their needs can be met universally. For example, through high quality teaching and learning, or simple adjustments to a child's or young person's timetable.

In addition to universal supports, we can provide a range of supports and services for children and young people with additional support needs in Stirling Council. This might include additional support provided by someone in their nursery, or school, such as a support for learning teacher in a school or adaptations to the environment to make it more accessible for a child or young person.

If your child requires targeted support, this is provided by another service or team in education such as an educational psychologist, or an inclusion support worker, or a specialist teacher.

If your child requires enhanced support this is likely to include support from other services or teams other than education such as health or social work.

A small number of children and young people with severe, and/or complex additional support needs may require a higher level of support provided by one of Stirling Council's specialist provisions and school. This would mean that they receive enhanced support.

Assessment is an ongoing process that ensures the right help is available at the right time, to help children and young people reach their fullest potential. It includes gathering a range of information from all those involved in supporting your child, to understand their talents, skills and personality, circumstances, and barriers to education.

Assessment might involve reviewing a child or young person’s work, observing them in a range of learning situations, seeking their views, consulting with staff who know them well, and with you as parents or carers. All of this would be done with your consent, and where appropriate your child's consent also.

A range of professionals might support assessment such as an educational psychologist, a speech and language therapist, a teacher for the visually impaired.

If you are concerned about your child’s learning or development, please contact their early learning and childcare setting or school to discuss further.

Parents and carers are entitled to ask for an assessment of their child’s additional support needs. Helpful information can be found at Enquire or you can contact Stirling's education service for further information.

Assessment should always inform the support that is needed. In Stirling Council, we use a staged intervention approach to identify the level of support each individual child or young person needs. As outlined earlier, this support might be additional support, targeted support, or enhanced support, dependent on your child's needs.

If your child requires additional, targeted, or enhanced support, there would be a plan to outline what your child's strengths are, the barriers to education, and the strategies and supports that are required to address these barriers.

Assessment and planning for your child will be discussed and reviewed at a Team around the Child (TAC) meeting. Your views as a parent or carer, and your child's views will be important throughout this process.

A Co-ordinated Support Plan (CSP) is a legal document that ensures that the support a child or young person needs from different teams and services, such as education, social work, and health, is coordinated with specific objectives identified. It sets out who provides the support, how often and for how long.

Most children and young people will have their needs met through other forms of planning however where it is identified that criteria for a CSP are met, discussions will take place with the Team around the Child (TAC) to develop the Plan.

Parents and carers, and young people aged 12 or older, can request that they be considered for a CSP.

You can find parent/carer information on Stirling Council's staged intervention process in our guidelines document.

Transitions for a child or young person can exist throughout the day such as moving from one class to another, or from one lesson or activity to another. Other transitions might involve your child moving from an early learning and childcare setting to a primary school, or from primary to secondary school, or from secondary school to adult life. For children and young people with additional support needs, careful planning is required to ensure that they experience a smooth transition into a different class, lesson, activity or to a new environment. Discussions to support transition planning are supported by the Team around the Child (TAC).

In line with the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004 (as amended 2009), transition planning for a school aged child should begin at least 12 months prior to a move to a new environment, and at least 6 months prior to a move for pre-school children.

For young people with complex additional support needs transitioning from secondary school and into adult services, planning discussions should begin from the age of 14 years and should be well underway by the age of 16 years.

It is the responsibility of the named person in your child's school or lead professional in early learning and childcare, to ensure that the right people, teams, and services, are involved in supporting your child's transition.

If you have any questions or concerns related to transition planning, your child's school or early learning and childcare setting can support you.

If you want to seek independent advice about additional support for your child, there are national organisations who offer this.

Enquire

Enquire is the Scottish advice service for additional support for learning and the service provides easy to understand advice and information about additional support for learning legislation and guidance for families and professionals.

Visit the Enquire website for parents, carers and professionals.

Visit the Enquire website for children and young people.

Parentzone

Parentzone Scotland provides information and advice for parents and carers on education.

My Rights, My Say

This service provides advice and information, advocacy support, legal representation and service to seek children's views independently about the support they receive.

Mediation

Mediation services are available to families with children who have additional support needs. Good communication among parents and carers, schools, early learning and childcare settings, and Stirling Council, is the key to positive relationships and partnerships. Stirling Council wants to work with you to resolve any concerns you might have at the earliest stage possible.

The Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004 (as amended 2009) includes a requirement for education authorities to have in place arrangements for mediation, involving independent mediators, to aim to resolve disputes between parents, carers and the education authority, school, or early learning and childcare setting, regarding a child or young person who has additional support needs. 

Stirling Council’s independent mediation provider is Resolve Mediation Service. You can also speak with your child's school, early learning and childcare setting or with someone in the education service if you would like further information on mediation.

Let's Talk

This national advocacy service is funded by the Scottish Government. It is for parents or carers of children with additional support needs who need support in relation to a dispute or potential dispute with an education authority.

Information on the right to appeal decisions of education authorities regarding the provision of educational support under the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004 (as amended 2009) can be found at Additional Support Needs|First-tier Tribunal for Scotland (Health and Education Chamber).

Children between the ages of 12 and 15 years who have capacity to make a reference can also make two types of reference:

• A reference in relation to a co-ordinated support plan (CSP).
• A reference appealing against the education authority’s assessment of the child’s capacity or wellbeing.