Find schools with specialist SEND provision

Most children with special educational needs are taught in ordinary classes. Some need more: a SEN unit or resourced provision inside a mainstream school, or a SEN school (a special school). This finder lists every one in England from the government's register, by the need it caters for. Pick a need, then a council or a postcode. Further down, what an EHCP is and how to get one.

Choose a need

AutismAutistic spectrum disorder1,328 mainstream · 609 special Speech, language and communicationSpeech, language and communication needs884 mainstream · 377 special Social, emotional and mental healthSocial, emotional and mental health difficulties494 mainstream · 359 special Moderate learning difficultiesModerate learning difficulty455 mainstream · 439 special Severe learning difficultiesSevere learning difficulty163 mainstream · 490 special Profound and multiple learning difficultiesProfound and multiple learning difficulty48 mainstream · 300 special Hearing impairmentHearing impairment365 mainstream · 231 special Visual impairmentVisual impairment201 mainstream · 243 special Multi-sensory impairmentMulti-sensory impairment127 mainstream · 218 special Physical disabilityPhysical disability272 mainstream · 289 special Specific learning difficultiesSpecific learning difficulty (dyslexia, dyspraxia, dyscalculia)243 mainstream · 201 special Other needsOther difficulty or disability207 mainstream · 142 special

EHCPs, SEN units and special schools

What an EHCP is

EHCP stands for education, health and care plan. It is a legal document, written and paid for by the council, that sets out a child or young person's special educational needs, the help they must get, and which school or college they go to. Once it names a school, that school has to take the child and the council has to provide what the plan says. Plans run from birth to age 25 where the young person stays in education, and they are reviewed at least once a year.

They replaced statements of special educational needs in 2014. Most children with special educational needs do not have one and do not need one: schools are expected to provide extra help out of their own budget first, which is called SEN support. An EHCP is for children who need more than a school can reasonably do on its own.

How you get one

A parent, a young person over 16, or the school can ask the council for an EHC needs assessment. The council has six weeks to say whether it will assess, and twenty weeks from the request to issue a final plan if it does. You do not need a diagnosis. The test is whether the child needs more help than the school can provide from its own resources, not whether they have a label. If the council refuses to assess, refuses to issue a plan, or writes a plan you disagree with, you can appeal to the SEND tribunal, and a large share of appeals succeed.

Councils are required to publish what is available locally in their Local Offer. For free, independent advice, every council area has a SENDIASS service, and the charity IPSEA publishes model letters and deadlines.

What a SEN school is

People say SEN school or special school to mean a school that only takes children with special educational needs, usually all of whom have an EHCP. That is different from a SEN unit or resourced provision, which is a specialist base inside an ordinary school: the child is on the roll of a mainstream school and joins ordinary classes for as much of the week as suits them. This finder lists both, marked separately, so you can see what is near you.

You cannot apply to a special school the way you apply to a mainstream one. You name it as your preference during the EHCP process and the council decides, so the conversation is with the council's SEND team, not the school's admissions office. It is worth naming a school you have visited and can say why it suits your child.

Outside England

EHCPs are an English system. Wales uses an individual development plan (IDP), Scotland a co-ordinated support plan (CSP) alongside its wider additional support for learning duties, and Northern Ireland still issues statements. This finder covers England, because the register that records which school has which provision is an English dataset.

How to read this

The list comes from the Department for Education's register of schools (Get Information about Schools), which records the type of SEN provision each school has and how many pupils are in a resourced provision or SEN unit. Resourced provision means extra staff and funding for a group of pupils who spend most of their time in ordinary classes. A SEN unit is a separate class within the school. Both need a place agreed by the council through an education, health and care plan; ask the council's SEND team, not the school's admissions office. The register is only as good as what schools report, so check with the school before relying on it.