Action Plan - a structured plan which sets out timescales, responsibilities and services required to meet a child's or young person's assessed needs.
Additional Support - any support provided for a pupil over and above that given to their classmates; that can be anything from support from an assistant in class to giving a child a visual timetable. It can also include support from outside school that is related to a child’s learning, for example occupational therapy providing equipment or advice.
Additional Support Needs – where a child needs additional support to benefit from school education. Examples: any kind of disability, being bullied, being particularly able, being young carers, on the child protection register, having emotional difficulties, having experienced a bereavement. This isn’t a comprehensive list, and not all children in those situations will need additional support.
Appropriate Agency – these are agencies specified in the Act, such as health, social work and further education colleges.
Assessment – is defined as ‘an ongoing process of gathering, structuring and making sense of information about a child or young person, and their circumstances, in order to inform decisions about the actions necessary to maximise their potential’. Parents can request an assessment for their child, and can request the type of assessment (for example medical or psychological assessments).
Advocate, Advocacy worker - someone chosen by a parent, or young person, to conduct discussions on their behalf with an education authority.
Co-ordinated Support Plan Co-ordinator - person responsible for ensuring, so far as possible, that the services required to deliver the additional support identified in the co-ordinated support plan are in place for the child or young person and for taking action to secure services when necessary.
Complex Factor - in the context of Additional Support Needs is a factor which has or is likely to have a significant adverse effect on the school education of the child or young person.
Co-ordinated Support Plan - a statutory strategic planning document to co-ordinate the provision of services for those children and young people, who meet the criteria, to help them work towards their agreed long-term educational objectives.
Dispute Resolution - the involvement, under regulations supporting the Act, of an independent adjudicator to review a disagreement between parents, or a young person, and an education authority, over the exercise by the authority of any of its duties or functions under the Act, and to make recommendations for parties aimed at resolving the dispute. This is a paper exercise.
Disability - the code uses the definition of disability, set out in the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, as being a physical or mental impairment, which has a substantial and long term adverse effect on a person's ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.
Duty - where the law requires an education authority or appropriate agency to do something.
Education Authority - in legal terms, education authority and local authority are both defined as a council constituted under section 2 of the Local Government etc (Scotland) Act 1994. The Code of Practice for the new Act refers to an education authority when considering a local authority's educational functions; and to a local authority when referring to functions other than educational ones, such as social work services.
Grant-aided School - a school in receipt of grant funding from the Scottish Executive. At present there are 8 such schools. Jordanhill School and 7 special schools - Corseford, Craighalbert Centre, Donaldson's College, East Park, Harmeny, The Royal Blind School and Stanmore.
Holistic - a holistic view is one which addresses the whole child and his/her circumstances rather than focusing on specific isolated aspects.
Independent School - a school at which full time education is provided for children or young people of school age (whether or not such education is also provided for children or young people over that age), which is not a public school or grant-aided school.
Individualised Educational Programme - written document which outlines the steps to be taken to help children and young people who have Additional Support Needs to achieve specified learning outcomes.
Integrated Assessment Framework - a common process for all agencies and professionals to assess children's and young people's needs and to share information about them in order to ensure that interventions at any level lead to improvements in the child's or young person's life.
Looked After Child or Young person - under the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 this covers not only children or young people who are accommodated by the local authority but also children or young people who are subject to one of the specified orders, including a child protection order; a parental responsibilities order; or are subject to a supervision requirement whilst living at home. It also includes children who have respite care organised by the Local Authority.
Looked After Care Plan - a written care plan for a child or young person looked after by a local authority. It includes consideration of the child or young person's family contact arrangements as well as education, health and future care arrangements.
Mediation - a voluntary process whereby an independent third party seeks to enable parties to a disagreement to reach an agreed resolution of their differences.
Multi-disciplinary - where more than one professional from different disciplines within the same agency work together (e.g. speech therapist and health visitor).
Multi-agency - where professionals from different agencies work together (e.g. teachers and health or social workers).
Multiple Factors - in the context of a co-ordinated support plan, these are factors which are not by themselves complex but which, when taken together, have or are likely to have a significant adverse effect on a child's or young person's school education.
Personal Learning Planning - process by which children, young people and parents are involved in discussions with the school about the goals of learning, including those for personal development. Its focus is on supporting dialogue and ultimately about engaging children and young people in their own learning.
Placing Request - written request by parents or young person made to an education authority for their child or themselves to attend a particular school. If your child or young person has Additional Support Needs you or they may make a placing request to an independent or grand-aided special school. The education authority will not grant such requests if suitable provision can be made in one of their own schools.
Power - where the law allows an education authority to do something, but there is no duty to do so.
Pre-school Provision – generally see ‘prescribed pre-school child’ though in certain circumstances, an education authority has a duty under the Act to make provision for disabled children under the age of 3 years. Such children will be referred to education by health staff.
Prescribed Pre-school Child - a child eligible for pre-school provision, generally between the ages of 3 and 5.
School Age - generally from the age of 5 to 16 years.
Significant Additional Support – not formally defined in the legislation, probably support which stands out from the continuum of additional support generally provided in school; the frequency, nature and intensity of support are taken into account when deciding whether the support is ‘significant’.
Significant Adverse Effect - not formally defined in the legislation, but it is likely to affect most aspects of learning and prevent the child/young person making appropriate progress in education.
SMART targets – stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-related.
Special School - a school where the sole or main purpose is to provide education specially suited to the Additional Support Needs of children or young people selected for attendance at the school by reason of those needs. This definition also covers special units with the same purpose which are attached to non-special schools.
Specified School - a school identified in a placing request by a parent, or, as appropriate, a young person, which the parent wishes his or her son or daughter to attend, or the young person wishes to attend.
Supporter - someone chosen by the parent or young person to be present at any discussions with the authority or at the tribunal for the purpose of supporting them in the course of those discussions.
Targeted services - services which are designed to help specific children and young people for particular needs, e.g. social work, the Reporter, police, a whole range of voluntary sector provision.
Transitions - refers to changes in education, for example, starting nursery school, moving from primary to secondary school, transferring schools and so on.
Transitional Arrangements - safeguards in the Act to maintain provision, for a specified period, for children and young people who had a Record of Needs, immediately prior to the commencement of the Act.
Universal Services - services which all children and young people have access to throughout their childhood, e.g. health and education provision.
Young Carer - children and young people who provide care to a family member.
Young People – people who are over school age (generally over 16 years) but not yet 18 years of age.