New SEN in England statistics from the DCSF out now!

Hi

The latest DCSF statistics on SEN in England were released this week. You can find the full set of tables and summary on the DCSF website: http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000852/index.shtml

Some of the key stat's I've found from these are:OverallReduction of statements, and increase in SEN without statement:

• Figures for all children with statements of SEN (not just those in schools) show the number of statements maintained by an authority has decreased by over 1,740 from 2008
• 2.7% of pupils across all schools have statements of SEN, slightly lower than 2008
• 17.8% of pupils across all schools have SEN but no statement, an increase of 0.6% from 2008

Type of placement

Most pupils with statements of SEN are in mainstream schools:

• 55.6% of pupils with statements of SEN are in mainstream schools (nursery, primary, secondary)
• 37.5% of pupils with statements of SEN are in maintained special schools
• 3.9% of pupils with statements of SEN are in independent schools

There are very few pupils with statements of SEN in Academies, although there has been a small increase from 2008:

• In 2009 1.1% of pupils with a statement of SEN have a place at an Academy
• In 2008 0.7% of pupils with a statement of SEN had a place at an Academy

There are more pupils with SEN (with and without statements) in secondary schools than in primary schools:

• 2.0% of pupils with a statement of SEN and 19% of pupils with SEN but without a statement are in secondary schools
• 1.4% of pupils with a statement of SEN and 18.2% of pupils with SEN but without a statement are in primary schools

Most children assessed for SEN were issued a statement for the first time in 2008:

• 97.2% of children assessed for SEN during the 2008 calendar year were issued with a statement of SEN for the first time

ASD had the highest number of approved schools in 2009:

• 552 maintained special schools are approved for ASD
• 35 Non-maintained special schools are approved for ASD GenderMore boys than girls have SEN:
• 23% of boys have SEN without a statement in mainstream primary and secondary, compared to 14% of girls
• 2.4% of boys have SEN with a statement, compared to 0.9% of girls

More boys than girls with SEN have an ASD:

• 3.9% of boys with SEN at school action plus have ASD, compared to 1.3% of girls
• 20.7% of boys with a statement of SEN have ASD, compared to 9% of girls

Poverty

There is a higher link to eligibility to free school meals (an indicator of poverty) for pupils with SEN than those without:

• 28.4% of pupils with SEN (with and without statements) in mainstream primary were known to be eligible for free school meals, compared to 13% of pupils with no SEN
• 24.6% of pupils with SEN in mainstream secondary were known to be eligible for free school meals, compared to 10.4% of pupils with no SEN
• 32.3% of pupils with SEN in special schools were known to be eligible for free school meals

However, pupils with statements whose primary need is autistic spectrum disorder are less likely to be eligible for free school meals:

• 12% of pupils with statement and ASD as their primary need are eligible for free school meals
• 19% of pupils with a statement and ASD as their primary need are not eligible for free school meals

Type of need

Speech, language and communication needs are the most common SEN in primary schools, and moderate learning difficulty is most common in secondary schools:

• 24% of pupils with statements have speech, language and communication needs as their primary need in primary school
• 21.7% of pupils with statements have moderate learning difficulty as their primary need in secondary school
• 23.6% of pupils with statements have severe learning difficulty as their primary need in special schools

ASD has proportionally the largest difference across all schools in number of pupils on school action plus to having a statement of SEN:

• 3.1% of pupils on school action plus, compared to 17.5% of pupils with statements have ASD as their primary need

Whereas:

• 16.5% of pupils on school action plus and 12.8% of pupils with statements have SLCN as their primary need
• 28% of pupils on school action plus and 19.5% of pupils with statements have moderate learning difficulty as their primary need
• 0.8% of pupils on school action plus and 12% of pupils with statements have severe learning difficulty as their primary need

Age

The primary need of pupils on school action plus changes as pupils get older:

• Up to age 6 speech, language and communication needs is the main primary need
• Between ages 7 and 11 moderate learning difficulty is the main primary need
• From aged 12 onwards behaviour, emotional and social difficulties is the main primary need

Autistic spectrum disorder is consistently prevalent throughout all ages for those with a statement of SEN.  ASD has the largest increase through early years of pupils with statements of SEN: 

• 5% of pupils at age two and under have ASD as their primary need
• 14.7% of pupils age 3 have ASD as their primary need
• 24.2% of pupils age 4 have ASD as their primary need

Ethnicity

Autism link with ethnicity:

• Autistic spectrum disorder is the most common primary need for Chinese, Black and Mixed ethnic groups (26.4%, 23.3% and 20.3% respectively)  
•  For White and Asian ethnic groups the most common primary need is Moderate Learning Difficulty (20.7% and 19.6% respectively)

I'd be really interested if anyone has any thoughts about these, or picked up anything else from the statistical release that I've missed!

It would be great to hear from you.

Thanks

Sasha (Policy and Parliamentary Manager at TreeHouse)