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SEND in Plymouth

Everything parents of children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) need to know about Plymouth — the Local Offer, EHCP timeliness, tribunal stats, and all 106 schools with their SEN provision.

OFFICIAL LOCAL OFFER
Plymouth's SEND Local Offer
Services, support, education, health and social care for 0–25s with SEND
Visit Local Offer →
Ofsted rating: Plymouth'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 weeks6.0%
National average: 46.4%
Based on 403 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
1,176
Refused (no assessment)
1
Refusal rate0.1%
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 Plymouth.
Source: DfE EES ↗

Annual Review Decisions

DfE 2025 release (2024 calendar year) · First published this year
Annual review timeliness not yet recorded.
Source: DfE EES ↗

SEN Population

Pupils across all schools in this LA
Live EHCPs maintained (2024/25)
Total EHCPs in force across the LA
3,081
EHCP pupils (rolled up from schools)
4.7% of pupils · Nat avg: 4.8%
1,872
SEN Support (no EHCP)
15.3% of pupils · Nat avg: 13.6%
6,060
Total pupils
39,638

SEN Provision in Plymouth

Schools with specialist support
Special schools
Dedicated SEN schools
6
With SEN units
Mainstream schools with a dedicated SEN unit
1
With resourced provision
Specialist places within mainstream schools
9
Open SEN Finder →

Primary Needs of EHCP Pupils in Plymouth

DfE 2024/25 data (June 2025 release)
Most common need in Plymouth
Social Emotional & Mental Health— 32.3% of EHCPs
Social Emotional & Mental Health32.3%
Speech Language & Communication30.3%
Autism15.7%
Moderate Learning Difficulties9.5%
Severe Learning Difficulties3.3%
Specific Learning Difficulties2.1%
Visual Impairment1.5%
Physical Disability1.5%
Profound & Multiple LD1.2%
Hearing Impairment0.9%
Multi-Sensory Impairment0.9%
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 Plymouth

15 schools — special schools, SEN units, and resourced provision
Chapel Bridge School
Special
Goosewell Primary Academy
Resourced· Good
Brook Green Centre for Learning
Special· Outstanding
Eggbuckland Vale Primary School
Resourced
Eggbuckland Community College
Resourced· Requires Improvement
Woodlands School
SpecialResourced· Good
Longcause Community Special School
Special· Good
Mayflower Academy
Resourced· Outstanding
Oreston Community Academy
Resourced· Good
Mill Ford School
Special· Outstanding
Stoke Damerel Community College
Resourced· Good
Cann Bridge School
Special· Good
Courtlands School
SEN Unit· Inadequate
Thornbury Primary School
Resourced
Tor Bridge High
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: Plymouth Council. National benchmarks are most-recent published values. Last updated: 20 April 2026.