A new education law came into force in Wales on 1st September 2021.  The Additional Learning Needs and Education Tribunal (Wales) Act 2018 changes how children and young people aged 0-25 years with additional learning needs (ALN) will have their needs assessed, planned and monitored. These changes will be introduced gradually over the next 3 years. You can read more about the new Act here. 

Key changes:

• The terms ‘Additional Learning Needs’ and ‘Additional Learning Provision’ will replace Special Educational Needs and Special Educational Provision.
• The age group will be extended to cover children and young people from 0-25
• Statements of Special Educational Needs (SEN) and Learning Difficulty Assessments (section 140 assessments for those currently in Year 11) will be replaced with an Individual Development Plan (IDP).

The conversion of statements to IDPs will be a gradual process.

Children with additional learning needs (ALN) need extra or specific help in school or nursery.

Here we talk about how children may get this help and how the school’s additional learning needs co-ordinator (ALNCO) can help.

We also look at discussing your child’s progress and how to work with school and/or the local authority to resolve differences.

If your child has had their SEN identified, assessed and met under the previous education system and they have not transferred over to the new system, you may wish to read our resources on individual development plans, Annual review

Additional Learning Needs (ALN) Code for Wales

 The Additional Learning Needs Code for Wales 2021 provides practical advice to local authorities, schools and others on carrying out their statutory duties to identify, assess and make provision for children with additional learning needs (ALN). Authorities, schools, the Special Educational Needs Tribunal (Wales) and others such as health and social services must have regard to it. The existing special educational needs code of practice is being replaced by the Additional Learning Needs (ALN) Code for Wales 2021. The new system will be in place from January 2022.

All local authority-maintained schools and early education providers delivering partnership funded early education must pay regard to the code of practice. Independent schools can choose to follow its advice, but may use a different system of supporting and monitoring students with ALN.

The Additional Learning Needs (ALN) system puts the learner at the heart of everything that happens. All children and young people identified with ALN will be entitled to a statutory Individual Development Plan (IDP) regardless of the level of their needs. Schools, Further Education Institutions and local authorities must take a person-centred approach to planning for and supporting children and young people. The Act requires that the views, wishes and feelings of children, their parents and young people are considered at all stages of the IDP process.

Implementing the new additional learning needs system

There will be a three-year implementation period that began in September 2021.

Implementation will not apply to children of compulsory school age and below who are waiting for a process under the existing system to be completed. – This includes, but is not limited to, children and young people who have:

• An SEN statement assessment in progress
• received a proposed statement and the period for making representations to the LA has not ended
• received a final statement and the period for lodging an appeal to Tribunal has not ended
• received a decision from the LA not to issue a statement and the period for lodging an appeal has not ended.

From January 2022, children and young people in certain year groups who receive special education provision will begin to move to the ALN system. The year groups are: Nursery Years 1 and 2, Year 1, Year 3, Year 5, Year 7 and Year 10. Schools, pupil referral units (PRUs) and LAs will issue notices to confirm whether a child or young person has moved to the ALN system and an IDP will be prepared. Once an ALN notice is issued, the SEN system and law ceases to apply.

The Welsh Government plans to roll out the ALN system to other learners during the second and third years of implementation.

Early years’ settings

Early education is part of the foundation stage of education for children aged three to five years. All early education settings, as well as schools, must have regard to the code of practice, have a written ALN policy and nominate a member of staff to act as their additional learning needs co-ordinator (ALNCO).

Additional learning needs co-ordinator (ALNCO)

The ALNCO is the teacher in your child’s school or nursery with day-to-day responsibility for ALN. All nurseries, pre-schools, primary schools and secondary schools are required to have an ALNCO.

The ALNCO is responsible for:

• speaking to parents and professionals
• helping the class or subject teacher to assess children’s strengths and weaknesses
• making sure that any child with ALN has and individual development plan (IDP)
• consulting with and keeping parents informed of action taken to help their child and the outcome of this action
• managing learning support assistants (LSAs), sometimes known as teaching assistants (TAs), who work as support staff for teachers and pupils in the classroom and around the school
• organising or contributing to in-service training of staff
• overseeing the school’s ALN policy
• ensuring that records of all pupils with ALN are kept up to date.

If you have concerns

Your child may have been experiencing difficulties at school for some time, pointing to the need for a level of help above that which is generally available at school. In this case, make an appointment with the ALNCO to discuss your child’s progress.

You may find that your child has difficulties in the following areas:

• difficulty with the curriculum
• behavioural difficulties that affect their learning
• communication difficulties that affect their learning
• motor or sensory difficulties
• bullying
• non-attendance at school
• the learning environment doesn’t meet their needs.

Once your child is identified as having ALN, the nursery or school will usually be required to prepare and maintain an individual development plan (IDP) for them. They will need to get evidence that your child's current rate of progress is inadequate and that additional learning support is required so that they can learn more effectively. The IDP should clearly state your child’s needs and how the nursery/school/LA intend to meet those needs

Some strategies that might be used at the Early Years stages are:

• different learning materials
• special equipment
• extra individual or group support
• staff training
• access to local authority support services for advice.

These strategies will probably be recorded in an IDP and include:

• short-term targets set for your child
• teaching strategies
• provision and monitoring details.

Where possible, your child should be actively involved in these discussions and in planning the IDP. The IDP should be reviewed every year with you, your child and school staff and any relevant professionals being involved. Please see our resource on IDPs for more information

Other professionals

If deemed appropriate or necessary the ALNCO will ask for help from one or more other professionals, such as:

• an educational psychologist
• a specialist teacher (e.g. an autism outreach teacher)
• a health professional such as a speech and language or occupational therapist.

Following this, the initial additional help given should become more specific, using targeted strategies and interventions that have been highlighted in reports from external professionals. A new IDP agreeing appropriate targets should be planned with strategies to be used to help your child recorded in it. This should include:

• short-term targets set for your child
• teaching strategies
• provision and monitoring details.

A date should also be set to review the IDP, and parents should be involved in the review.

Please see the section on IDPs for more information.

Discussing your child's progress

Remember, you know your child better than anyone. If you have any concerns about your child's education, talk to their school.

When trying to get extra help to meet your child's additional learning needs, you'll need to discuss your child's progress and experience of school with teachers, the ALNCO and others. For example, you may be concerned that your child has learning difficulties or that their needs aren’t being met and progress is delayed.

Requesting a meeting

If you'd like to discuss your concerns with staff at your child's school or nursery, it is best to write to request a meeting. You may find it helpful to ask if a friend or adviser can come to the meeting with you. This draft letter may help:

Dear [insert head teacher's name],

[Insert child's name and date of birth]

I am concerned that [insert child's name] is not making adequate progress in school and may have additional learning needs. In particular I am worried about: [list your concerns]

e.g. slow rate of progress in reading difficulty in relating to others possibility of being bullied poor communication skills

I would like to meet with you to discuss my concerns and what the school can do to help. I would also like to bring my friend/advisor [insert their name]. The questions I would like to discuss are: [list questions]

I would like a copy of my child's school records and a copy of the school's ALN policy.

I hope that we can work in partnership, so that [child's name] can do as well as possible.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely,

[Your name]

It's a good idea to keep a copy of your letter to take with you to the meeting as a reminder of all the concerns you've listed.

It's also useful to do some preparation before meeting staff. The following questions may help you:

• What extra help has your child received and how effective has it been?
• Do you know where your child is in the ALN process?
• Does your child have an IDP and has it been reviewed regularly? Have you had the opportunity to comment on the IDP?
• Have any professionals, such as an educational psychologist, seen your child and suggested ways to help?
• Does your child have a confirmed autism diagnosis? If so, does the school have details of it?
• Are your child's difficulties getting worse?
• What changes would you like to see?

Working with school and/or the local authority to resolve differences

At times, getting your child extra support can be challenging and you may have to be their advocate and work with school to resolve differences.