The New SEN – Social, Mental and Emotional Health
With the grant of Royal Assent to the Children and Families Bill, 2014, reform of the SEN system is imminent. The DfE has promised that the new Code of Practice will be published in “Spring”.
The changes include the introduction of Education, Health and Care Plans to replace Statements of SEN and the removal of the labels “School Action” and “School Action Plus”. One of the other significant changes for schools is the removal of “Behavioural, Emotional and Social Difficulties” as a category of SEN and its replacement with “SMEH”. This reflects a concern that schools have too often resorted to “BESD”, rather than seeking to identify and address the underlying causes of behaviour – literacy, language, mental health, etc.
There is an unambiguous statement, in the draft Code, that “schools, colleges and early years providers should identify clear processes to consider how they will support such children”. To help schools come to terms with this change and to address the implications, SNE Commercial Member SENtral Consultants Ltd has arranged the latest in a series of successful conferences, this time entitled “Social, Mental and Emotional Health- the new SEN”.
Conference
The conference will be held in the heart of the North East, at Hardwick Hall Sedgefield, and will cost about half the price of similar conferences in London. The day will offer education practitioners in our region the chance to listen to experts in the fields of behaviour and mental health discussing the underlying causes, nature and impact of SMEH and to consider effective responses.
Full details are available here: The New SEN