EA Launches SEND Annual Plan of Arrangements

31 July 2023

The Education Authority (EA) has launched its first Annual Plan of Arrangements (APA) for Children with Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities (SEND) today (31 July 2023).

EA Logo Image

The SEND APA sets out a range of EA resources and services available to help educational settings, parents/carers, and other key partners to access the most appropriate support to meet their child’s Special Educational Need.

As part of this work, a new, fully accessible website has been developed to improve speed of access and ease of use for families, schools and other stakeholders.

Una Turbitt, Interim Director of Children’s and Young People’s Services, said:

“Supporting children with SEN and ensuring they are happy, learning and succeeding remains an absolute priority for the EA and all of our partners.

“We have been consulting with a wide range of stakeholders to gather valuable feedback to ensure our resources and information are easily accessible and meet the needs of families of children and young people with SEND, our schools, and key partners.

“This includes developing a new user-friendly website, child-friendly easy-read documents, and creating engaging animations and videos.

“We are firmly committed to continuing to work through the short and long-term recommendations from the consultation and are making ongoing improvements to our website and resources.

The SEND APA website can be viewed at Special Educational Needs and Disability.

The full consultation document is available to view on the website at on the EA Plan of Arrangements webpage.

What the SEND Plan of Arrangements does:

  • Provides important information to schools, children and young people with SEN and their parents or carers about EA SEND services.
  • Signposts to the resources available for children and young people with SEN, their parents or carers and educational settings or schools.
  • Details the advice and support that each SEND Service provides.
  • Explains how schools can access EA SEND services to support a child or young person with SEN who attends their setting.
  • Advises schools about what training is available each year for their staff, who may be supporting children and young people with SEND.
Last updated: 31/07/2023