Nottinghamshire SEND
This page gives a brief overview of SEND in Nottinghamshire, including the size of the county, the range of needs children and young people may have, and the different types of education provision available.
Nottinghamshire is a large county, covering over 800 square miles. It includes a mix of towns, villages and rural communities. It is one of the largest local authority areas in England by area.
It is made up of 7 Districts: Ashfield, Bassetlaw, Broxtowe, Gedling, Mansfield, Newark & Sherwood and Rushcliffe.
Nottingham City is a separate local authority area from Nottinghamshire County. It manages its own services, although it is surrounded by Nottinghamshire districts.
A snapshot of SEND in Nottinghamshire
The figures below give a snapshot of SEND in Nottinghamshire. We aim to keep this information updated, but figures may change as new data is published.
In 2022/23 there were 129,244 children and young people attending Nottinghamshire schools.
‘A child has special educational needs (SEN) if they have learning difficulties or disabilities that make it harder for them to learn compared to most other children of about the same age.’
Pupils with EHC Plans and SEN Support
Of the total pupil population, 2,565 (2.0%) had an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHC Plan). This is very low when compared with the national level of 4.3%.
In addition, 13,273 (10.3%) of the pupils in Nottinghamshire have SEN support, whereas this is 13% nationally.
Primary areas of need
In 2022/23, the primary areas of need for children & young people with an EHCP were as follows:
- Autistic Spectrum Disorder;
- Social, Emotional, and Mental Health;
- Severe Learning Difficulty
- Speech, Language and Communications
needs
Whereas primary areas of need for children & young people with SEN Support were:
- Social, Emotional, and Mental Health;
- Speech, Language, and Communication Needs;
- Autistic Spectrum Disorder;
- Moderate Learning Difficulty; and
- Specific Learning Difficulty
District need
The percentage of children and young people in Nottinghamshire with SEN Support varies considerably across the County:
- in Ashfield schools, 11.9% of all children and young people have SEN support
- whilst only 5.6% of children and young people in Rushcliffe receive SEN Support (School Census 2021)
Educational provision in Nottinghamshire
- 881 Early years providers
- 284 Mainstream primary schools
- 45 Mainstream secondary schools
- 6 Enhanced provision units within mainstream schools
- 11 Special schools (2 new schools agreed)
- 11 Independent special schools
- 97 Approved alternative provisions
- 5 Alternative provision free schools
- 2 Mainstream further education colleges
- 2 Universities
- 1 Special further education college
Two-thirds of children with an EHC Plan attend special schools. The next largest group is educated in mainstream schools, followed by those in post-16 settings, such as Further Education (FE) colleges.
