Criteria for Deciding to Make a Statutory Assessment

3:46.   In considering whether a statutory assessment should be made, LEAs will wish to pay particular attention to evidence provided by the child's school and parents as to the nature, extent and cause of the child's learning difficulties; and to evidence of action taken by the child's school to meet and overcome those difficulties - the special educational provision which has already been made.  The following guidance therefore concentrates on the evidence LEAs should seek from schools and parents and sets out key indicative questions which LEAs should ask.

3:47.   The questions are not exhaustive: there will be many matters particular to the individual child which the LEA will wish to pursue.  Nor does the guidance set out hard and fast rules whereby, if all questions were answered in the affirmative, an assessment should always be made.  Still less should an affirmative answer to any one question be taken as indicating that a statutory assessment is necessary.  Decisions must be made by local education authorities in the light of all the circumstances of each individual case and, always, in the closest consultation with parents and schools.

3:48.   In the interest of establishing an agreed local interpretation of this guidance, LEAs may consider setting up a moderating group that would support the LEA in the consistent administration of these criteria.  Such a group should include head teachers who are broadly representative of schools in the authority's area, and should also include representation from health and social services.  LEAs may also consider the inclusion of other members, such as SEN coordinators, teachers, governors and educational psychologists.  LEAs which already operate an audit of special educational needs which is moderated across schools at stages 1-3 may find that the development of a moderating group for decision-making at stage 4 is a natural extension of their existing work - see also paragraph 4:7.

3:49.   In deciding whether to make a statutory assessment, the critical question for LEAs will be whether there is convincing evidence that, despite the school, with the help of external specialists, taking relevant and purposeful action to meet the child's learning difficulties, those difficulties remain or have not been remedied sufficiently and may require the LEA to determine the child's special educational provision.  LEAs will therefore wish to secure and interrogate a wide range of evidence.  They will always wish to see evidence of the school's assessment of the child's learning difficulties and will wish to establish what action the school has taken to meet those difficulties.  They will always, therefore, wish to secure evidence of the child's academic attainment in the school and to ask questions of that evidence in order to understand why the child has achieved the levels shown.  Beyond that, the evidence authorities should seek and the questions they should ask will vary according to the child's age and the nature of his or her learning difficulty.

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