Additional Learning Needs: The system changed.

What is happening?

At Greenfield School and Maes Glas we pride ourselves on opening doors to enable our pupils to make great progress. Our environment is truly inclusive and provides rich learning experiences to ensure all our learners enjoy school, make progress and grow in confidence. It is for this reason that we are excited about the changes that the new special educational needs system has brought. The Welsh Government produced new legislation that changed the way that children and young people with Special Educational Needs are supported. The new system defines Special Educational Needs (SEN) as Additional Learning Needs (ALN).

The key changes of the ALN system:

Bringing together all current systems into a new, single system for ALN;
Being leaner/person centred;
Providing learners with the same rights and entitlements whatever their age of setting;
Improving transition between settings;
Being a fair and transparent system for all.

This means that children, young people and parent(s)/carer(s) will:

Access the support they need earlier;
Be more involved in making decisions about the support they need;
Be able to find information more easily;
Be supported if they disagree with decisions.

Children and young people with ALN will also now get this support for longer. The new system is applicable for children and young people up to the age of 25.

What does it look like at Greenfield?

The new system introduced Individual Development Plans (IDPs). The pupils at Greenfield School and Maes Glas previously had statements of SEN and Individual Education Plans (IEPs). IDPs replaced these documents. The IDP was created with the child/young person and the parent/carer in collaboration with wider agencies such as health and social care professionals. The IDP captured all that was important to and for the learner, described their needs, and stated how the learner would be supported in terms of the Additional Learning Provision (ALP) that they required to meet their needs.

When did this happen?

This was a phased approach which took place over a number of years. This meant there were two systems in operation between September 2021 and 2024: the new ALN system and the existing SEN system. Over the two-year period, the Welsh Government directed learners with statements to move over to the new system, following this timetable:

School Year 2022–2023 – Nursery; Reception; Year 6; Year 10; and Year 11
School Year 2023–2024 – Year 2; Year 3; Year 4; Year 5; Year 6; Year 8; Year 9; Year 10; Year 11

Post-16 and Year 11 followed a ‘flow through’ approach, where those who had already moved to the ALN system while in Year 10 or below transitioned into Further Education with an IDP already in place.

At some point during these timeframes, a person-centred planning meeting was held to develop the IDP collaboratively. The IDP was then reviewed at least annually.

Find out more:- There is lots of information about the changes available. Please use the links below to find out more and get in touch if you have any questions or concerns.