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SEND in North Somerset

Everything parents of children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) need to know about North Somerset — the Local Offer, EHCP timeliness, tribunal stats, and all 85 schools with their SEN provision.

OFFICIAL LOCAL OFFER
North Somerset's SEND Local Offer
Services, support, education, health and social care for 0–25s with SEND
Visit Local Offer →
Ofsted rating: North Somerset's children's services are currently rated Requires improvement. This means Ofsted has concerns about some services for children. It does not directly reflect SEND support, but SEND provision is often scrutinised in separate Area SEND inspections.

EHCP Timeliness

DfE 2024 data (June 2025 release)
Issued within 20 weeks61.5%
National average: 46.4%
Based on 625 new EHCPs issued in 2024.
Councils must issue new EHCPs within 20 weeks of the request. Exceptions exist but many delays don't qualify.

EHCP Assessment Requests

DfE 2024 data (June 2025 release)
Requests received
1,092
Refused (no assessment)
431
Refusal rate39.5%
National: 25.5%
Lower is better. Refused requests can be appealed to the SEND tribunal — and ~98% of cases heard find in the parent's favour.

SEND Tribunal

Appeals against LA decisions
Tribunal data not yet imported for North Somerset.
Source: DfE EES ↗

Annual Review Decisions

DfE 2025 release (2024 calendar year) · First published this year
Review decisions within 4 weeks64.7%
National: 44.4%
Based on 1,926 review meetings held in 2024. 75 expected reviews were not held.
After an annual review meeting, LAs must notify parents of the decision (amend, maintain or cease) within 4 weeks. This data was published for the first time in June 2025.

SEN Population

Pupils across all schools in this LA
Live EHCPs maintained (2024/25)
Total EHCPs in force across the LA
2,644
EHCP pupils (rolled up from schools)
5.3% of pupils · Nat avg: 4.8%
1,716
SEN Support (no EHCP)
11.0% of pupils · Nat avg: 13.6%
3,561
Total pupils
32,360

SEN Provision in North Somerset

Schools with specialist support
Special schools
Dedicated SEN schools
5
With SEN units
Mainstream schools with a dedicated SEN unit
7
With resourced provision
Specialist places within mainstream schools
2
Open SEN Finder →

Primary Needs of EHCP Pupils in North Somerset

DfE 2024/25 data (June 2025 release)
Most common need in North Somerset
Social Emotional & Mental Health— 52.6% of EHCPs
Social Emotional & Mental Health52.6%
Speech Language & Communication16.9%
Autism13.7%
Moderate Learning Difficulties9.6%
Specific Learning Difficulties1.8%
Severe Learning Difficulties1.6%
Other1.6%
Physical Disability1.1%
Profound & Multiple LD0.5%
Hearing Impairment0.5%
Multi-Sensory Impairment0.2%
The primary need is the main reason the EHCP was issued. Many children have co-occurring needs. ASD is the most common primary need nationally.

Schools with SEN provision in North Somerset

14 schools — special schools, SEN units, and resourced provision
Priory Community School
SEN Unit
Grove Junior School
SEN Unit· Good
Sky Vale
Special
Castle Batch Primary School Academy
SEN Unit· Good
Hannah More Infant School
SEN Unit· Good
Baytree School
Special· Good
Locking Primary School
SEN Unit· Good
Milton Park Primary School
SEN Unit· Good
Westhaven School
Special
Hans Price Academy
Resourced· Good
Ravenswood School
Special· Good
Seven Hills
Special
Mendip Green Primary School
SEN Unit· Good
Nailsea School
Resourced· Good

Helpful resources

EHCP Guide →
What an EHCP is, how to apply, appeal process
Annual Review Tracker →
Timeline and stages of EHCP annual reviews
Choosing a SEN School →
Practical guide for SEN parents
Our SEN Methodology →
How we calculate SEN Experience Indicator
DATA SOURCES
School-level SEN data: DfE Education Health and Care plans release + GIAS. LA-level stats: DfE EES + HMCTS SENDIST. Local Offer: North Somerset Council. National benchmarks are most-recent published values. Last updated: 20 April 2026.