Norfolk SEND Survey results 2025
Norfolk's SEND survey highlights progress and urgent need for national reform.
Useful information about how education professionals, children and young people and parents and carers are experiencing SEND support and services in Norfolk is now available in the SEND Survey 2025.
The report was published just last week and show both encouraging progress and ongoing challenges, reflecting national concerns about the SEND system.
Many thanks to all the schools and settings which supported us in getting the word out about this survey. Your efforts were hugely appreciated and have helped to almost double the number of responses.
There were 2,386 responses, compared to 1,235 in the previous survey in 2023.
The insights are an important part of the wider SEND picture in Norfolk, alongside national and local data in the SEND Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA), which will be published soon.
The SEND JSNA will be a key report in setting the priorities for the co-produced Norfolk Area SEND and Alternative Provision Strategy (NASAPS) and the resulting refreshed NASAPS action plan, which is known as our Local Area Inclusion Plan.
The full SEND Survey Report is available to read at www.norfolk.gov.uk/sendsurvey
The survey was open in January and February this year and of course a huge amount of work has been done to strengthen mainstream inclusion since then with the rollout of the SEND and Inclusion Support Model. This means work is well underway to address many of the issues raised in the survey.
What we've already achieved together this year:
- Teams Around the School in every mainstream school, offering more access to SEND expertise and specialist support. More than 300 TAS meetings have taken place to date as well as Zone Inclusion Partnership meetings and strategic meetings with trusts underway
- INDES, working together with IPSEF and GPMs, has provided a new framework to help better identify, understand, and support needs with schools creating individualised profiles for 21,400 children.
- School and community teams have delivered 3,400 group sessions and 1,400 one-to-one interventions focused on early help, emotional wellbeing and transitions
- The successful trial of Enhanced SEND Provisions (ESPs), which are teacher-led small group provisions, with 23 schools has supported 472 children with 90 transitioning back into mainstream classes.
- The SEND and Inclusion Support Line launched last year has handled 5,200 calls to date, resolving 93% of queries improving communication and support for families and professionals. Around 60% of calls are from professionals and 40% from parents.
A snapshot of the survey responses
More than half the survey questions were about children and families' experiences of education. A snapshot of the results showed:
Children and young people reported high satisfaction with support:
- 83% were happy with their learning help
- 93% felt able to make choices about their future (up from 86%)
- 86% get to enjoy a range of activities with other children in their free time
- 79% had received help from a medical health service with a rise in the number receiving help with their mental health.
Parents and carers also noted improvements:
- 64% said schools were making reasonable adjustments (up from 48%)
- But many felt more needs to be done to identify needs earlier, strengthen SEN Support Plans and improve EHCP communication and how EHCPs are kept up to date.
- They also asked for more support and information about transitions between different schools and into Post-16 and adult life.
Professionals said:
- they have increased engagement with parents with more feedback opportunities
- 82% of those working in schools said they had a good understanding of SEN Support
- 50% raised concerns about insufficient school funding and unrealistic EHCP expectations.
The next SEND survey is planned for 2027.
