{"id":20061,"date":"2024-08-14T14:09:03","date_gmt":"2024-08-14T13:09:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/children-families-education\/?page_id=20061"},"modified":"2026-08-11T10:07:04","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T09:07:04","slug":"special-schools","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/children-families-education\/send-local-offer\/education-and-learning\/choose-a-school\/special-schools\/","title":{"rendered":"Special schools"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As well as mainstream schools we have special schools located across the county that cater for different needs. To attend a special school a child needs to have an education, health and care plan (EHCP).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Special school places are normally reserved for children and young people with the following types of need, usually defined by education psychologists or professionals working with your child.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you would like your child to attend a special school, please discuss your options with the SEND Statutory Team: \u00a0<a href=\"mailto:educate.specialeducationcommunications-mailbox@devon.gov.uk\">educate.specialeducationcommunications-mailbox@devon.gov.uk<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Complex, mild and severe needs<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Children have complex needs when an assessment states they have needs that fall into more than one of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/children-families-education\/send-local-offer\/understanding-send\/\">four areas of need<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Cognition and learning.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Social, emotional and mental health.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Communication and interaction.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Physical or sensory impairments.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A child may also be described as having mild or severe&nbsp;learning difficulties depending on the degree of their needs and the impact these needs have on their lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Moderate, severe, profound and multiple needs<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Pupils with moderate learning difficulties may need extra support in some areas of the curriculum.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Those with severe learning difficulties are likely to need support in all areas of the curriculum and have associated difficulties with mobility and communication.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Pupils with profound and multiple learning difficulties are likely to have severe and complex learning difficulties as well as a physical disability or sensory impairment.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-layout-flex wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button is-style-dcc-nostyle-button\"><a onclick=\"dataLayer.push({&apos;buttonEvent&apos;: &apos;Information page&apos;});\" class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/children-families-education\/send-local-offer\/education-and-learning\/devons-maintained-and-academy-special-schools\/\">Find out more about Devon&#8217;s maintained and academy special schools<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As well as mainstream schools we have special schools located across the county that cater for different needs. To attend a special school a child [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":981,"featured_media":0,"parent":20054,"menu_order":3,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-guides.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"class_list":["post-20061","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-09-27 02:37:18","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/children-families-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/20061","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/children-families-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/children-families-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/children-families-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/981"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/children-families-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20061"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/children-families-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/20061\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":75611,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/children-families-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/20061\/revisions\/75611"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/children-families-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/20054"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/children-families-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}