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SEND in West Sussex

Everything parents of children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) need to know about West Sussex — the Local Offer, EHCP timeliness, tribunal stats, and all 339 schools with their SEN provision.

OFFICIAL LOCAL OFFER
West Sussex's SEND Local Offer
Services, support, education, health and social care for 0–25s with SEND
Visit Local Offer →
Ofsted rating: West Sussex'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 weeks11.4%
National average: 46.4%
Based on 1,495 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
2,448
Refused (no assessment)
744
Refusal rate30.4%
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 West Sussex.
Source: DfE EES ↗

Annual Review Decisions

DfE 2025 release (2024 calendar year) · First published this year
Review decisions within 4 weeks31.9%
National: 44.4%
Based on 6,479 review meetings held in 2024. 957 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
9,301
EHCP pupils (rolled up from schools)
7.1% of pupils · Nat avg: 4.8%
8,948
SEN Support (no EHCP)
28.9% of pupils · Nat avg: 13.6%
36,526
Total pupils
126,364

SEN Provision in West Sussex

Schools with specialist support
Special schools
Dedicated SEN schools
31
With SEN units
Mainstream schools with a dedicated SEN unit
11
With resourced provision
Specialist places within mainstream schools
31
Open SEN Finder →

Primary Needs of EHCP Pupils in West Sussex

DfE 2024/25 data (June 2025 release)
Most common need in West Sussex
Social Emotional & Mental Health— 34.2% of EHCPs
Social Emotional & Mental Health34.2%
Autism27.5%
Speech Language & Communication22.1%
Moderate Learning Difficulties8.8%
Specific Learning Difficulties2.6%
Physical Disability2.3%
Severe Learning Difficulties0.9%
Profound & Multiple LD0.8%
Hearing Impairment0.6%
Visual 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 West Sussex

65 schools — special schools, SEN units, and resourced provision
Palatine Primary School
Special· Good
Central Education Ltd
Special
Ormiston Six Villages Academy
Resourced
Hazelwick School
Resourced
Three Bridges Primary School
Resourced· Requires Improvement
Orchards Junior School
Resourced· Good
Orchards Infant School
Resourced· Requires Improvement
Thomas Bennett Community College
SEN Unit· Good
Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee School, Horsham
Special· Outstanding
Cornfield School, Littlehampton
Special· Good
Parklands Community Primary School
SEN UnitResourced· Good
The Regis School
Resourced· Good
Northgate Primary School
Resourced· Good
Desmond Anderson Primary Academy
Resourced· Good
Farney Close School
Special
Bognor Regis Nursery School
Resourced· Outstanding
Horsham Nursery School
Resourced· Good
Barnham Primary School
Resourced· Good
Muntham House School
Special· Good
Felpham Community College
Resourced· Good
Serenity School Crawley
Special
Oriel High School
Resourced· Good
Red Balloon Worthing Learner Centre
Special
The Amicus School
Special
My Choice School Arundel
SpecialSEN Unit
Amberley Court School
Special
New Barn School
SpecialSEN Unit
Hove Micro-School
Special
Woodlands Meed
Special· Good
Boundstone Nursery School
SEN Unit· Outstanding
Showing 30 of 65. Use the SEN Finder to filter and search all of them.

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: West Sussex Council. National benchmarks are most-recent published values. Last updated: 20 April 2026.