A child or young person has additional support needs if, for any reason, they need extra or different support to benefit from their education.

This can be for any number of reasons including:

It is important to note there are a number or reasons that a child may have additional support needs that do not have a medical diagnosis such as experiencing poverty, having caring responsibilities, being care experienced, experiencing bereavement or being a member of the Armed Forces.

More information can be found in the Understanding my child’s right to support section of our website.

Advice for parents /

Understanding my child’s rights to support

Understand your child’s rights to extra support in school under Additional Support for Learning law.

See also: Dispute resolution

Also known as First-Tier Tribunal for Scotland (Health and Education Chamber) or ASN Tribunal.

The tribunal is an impartial, independent and expert panel that will make a legally binding decision on how to resolve certain types of disagreements about the additional support needs of a child or young person.

For more information about how the ASN Tribunal system works, visit the Health and Education Chamber webpages.

Advice for parents /

The Additional Support Needs Tribunal

The ASN Tribunal is an independent and expert body that considers certain kinds of appeals and disagreements about additional support for learning. You can make a reference to the tribunal

Traumatic experiences that children experience before the age of 18 that can have a lasting impact on their mental health, physical health and general wellbeing.

ACEs, as identified by Public Health Scotland, may include:

Advocacy is when you are supported to express your views, opinions and to exercise your rights. The person supporting you is called an advocate or an advocacy worker.

Organisations like Partners in Advocacy, provide independent advocacy for children, young people and adults across Scotland.

Agencies that must help the local authority carry out its legal duties to support children and young people with their learning. These include other local authorities, health boards, Skills Development Scotland, colleges of further education, and higher education institutes.

The way a pupil’s needs are identified. Any assessments are usually done by teaching and learning support staff in school but may involve other professionals such as an educational psychologist or a health professional.

More information can be found below:

Advice for parents /

Identifying and assessing your child’s needs

If you think your child may need more or different support at school, this section covers all you need to know about identifying and assessing additional support needs.

Advice for parents /

Support with exams and assessments

Some children need help in exams and assessments. This section explains what your child’s rights are to extra support, what support might look like and how you can work with your child’s school to get support in place.

The Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004, often referred to as the ASL Act, is the law designed to make sure that pupils with additional support needs who attend school in Scotland have the right support in place to ensure they can get the most out of school.

The ASL Act says that a child has ‘additional support needs’ if they need extra or different help compared to other children their age in their local area. It says that local authorities must give each child with additional support needs the help they need to fully benefit from their education.

For more information about the ASL Act, see the Scottish Government webpages.

Advice for parents /

What the law says about additional support for learning

Every child may need extra help with their learning at some point in their lives. Read on to find more about additional support for learning in Scotland.

Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services, often abbreviated to CAMHS, is the NHS mental health service for children and young people.

More information about the role of CAMHS services can be found on the Scottish Government website.

You can find your local CAMHS service using the directory on NHS Inform or by visiting our Find a Service pages and searching ‘CAMHS’.

Someone having the maturity and understanding to be able to take an action or make a decision can be referred to as them having ‘capacity’.

See also: Kinship care, ‘Looked after’ child

A child or young person who is living, or has lived, in care at any stage in their life. This includes children who have experienced, or are currently, living in residential care, foster care, kinship care, or at home with a supervision order.

Adopted children who were previously looked after are also care experienced.

Organisations such as Who Cares? Scotland can offer specific support and advice to children and young people with care experience.

Scotland has made a commitment to Keep the Promise to children and young people with experience of care, including when it comes to education. This work is led by The Promise Scotland.

Navigate is a section of our website where you can find resources, advice and information to help support children and young people with care experience in education.

Care Experience /

Care Experience

Help for adults supporting care experienced children and young people through their education.

The local school that children usually attend in each area. Local authorities have ‘catchment areas’ to decide which children go to which schools – it will often be the school most local to where they live.

Find more information on how catchments work, and find out your catchment school, use this tool on the Scottish Government website.

Sometimes referred to as the ‘CYP Act’.

A Scottish Government law outlines a number of provisions for children and young people in Scotland. Some of the most significant items outlined in the act include: changes to early learning and childcare, commitments around free school meals and extra support for looked after children and care leavers.

Read the detail of the Act.

Help protect vulnerable children and young people by listening to, discussing and making decisions about aspects of their lives.

Children’s panels are part of the Children’s Hearings System and panel members are appointed by the National Convenor of Children’s Hearings Scotland.

If a child needs extra support to meet their wellbeing needs (for example, access to mental health services or respite care), the professionals working with the child should prepare and co-ordinate support through a Child’s Plan.

If a child has an educational support plan, such as an Individualised Education Programme or a Co-ordinated Support Plan, it can form part of the wider Child’s Plan. Similarly, if a child has a care plan (for example if they live with foster carers) this can also form part of the wider Child’s Plan.

See also: Child’s plan

A legal written document for children and young people with complex or multiple additional support needs. To be eligible for a CSP, children must need significant, long term additional support with their education from education professionals and at least one other department or service like social work or health professionals.

Advice for parents /

Co-ordinated support plans (CSPs)

This page explains what Co-ordinated Support Plans (CSPs) are, which children should have them and how to ask for your child to be assessed for one.

The ‘curriculum’ refers to subjects and learning opportunities that schools offer to their pupils.

The curriculum in all Scottish schools is called the Curriculum for Excellence. It was designed with the intention of offering a coherent curriculum through every stage from early years, to senior phase. Read more about the Curriculum for Excellence on these pages from Education Scotland.

See also: Equality Act

Under the law, a person is disabled if they have a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial, long-term, and adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.

The Equality Act 2010 says that all local authorities, nurseries and schools (including independent and grant-aided schools) must take steps to avoid disabled pupils being significantly disadvantaged.

Advice for parents /

Disability rights

If your child is disabled, it’s important to know all professionals working with your child must work to protect your child’s rights, providing support and reasonable adjustments where needed, so

See also: Additional Support Needs Tribunal, Independent adjudication, Mediation

A general term for different options that can be used to try and resolve a disagreement. When parents or young people have a disagreement with their school or local authority, they can try dispute resolution options like mediation, independent adjudication or the tribunal to try and resolve their disagreement.

Advice for parents /

Mediation

Mediation can be a good way of resolving disagreements about your child’s support or school placement. The mediation process allows you and your child to take part in decision making,

Advice for parents /

Independent Adjudication

Independent adjudication is a way of resolving disagreements about additional support needs. An adjudicator looks at information about a disagreement and then makes recommendations for how to resolve it.

Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) is education and care for children before they start school. It includes nurseries, childminders, playgroups and other early years settings where children learn through play and everyday experiences.

A committee made up of three, five or seven people with different experiences (such as local councillors and parents). It is set up by the local authority to hear and decide appeals from parents, carers and young people about exclusions and some placing requests.

Advice for parents /

Education appeal committees

If you are appealing an exclusion or certain kinds of placing request it goes to something called an education appeal committee. This webpage explains what an education appeal committee is

See also: Local authority or council

In Scotland, the the local authority oversee the delivery of education and early learning and childcare. The education authority refers to the education department of a local authority.

The Equality Act 2010 provides a legal framework to protect the rights of individuals and advance equality of opportunity for all. It sets out a list of characteristics that have special protection against discrimination, harassment and victimisation.

We cover more about the Equality Act on our Your child’s right page.

Advice for parents /

Your child’s rights

Children and young people have many rights under Scottish and UK law. This section explains your child’s rights to additional support for learning.

Refers to people for whom English is not their first language. 

All of the information across the Enquire site can be translated into a range of languages, including using our accessibility tool, Recite Me.

See also: Unlawful exclusion.

Being excluded is when a child is not allowed to go back into school for a certain amount of time. They can’t attend classes or go to other school activities or events.

If the child and their family do not agree with the reason they were excluded, then they or their parent/carer can appeal the exclusion.

Advice for parents /

Exclusion from school

Exclusion is when a school sends a pupil home and does not allow them to return for a certain number of days or on a permanent basis. 

A national programme that aims to improve outcomes for all children in Scotland. It applies to all services working with children, for example education, health, social work, and the police. It provides a framework for all services and agencies to deliver a co-ordinated approach to support children’s wellbeing.

Read more about GIRFEC.

Advice for parents /

Wellbeing and GIRFEC

Your child’s wellbeing should always be at the centre of any decisions that are made by the school when planning their education and support. All schools should follow the national

See also: Special school

Grant-aided schools are independent of local authorities. They are fully or partly funded by grants from the Scottish Government. A number are special schools that offer enhanced support for children with additional support needs, often because of long-term, complex or multiple factors.

See also: Dispute resolution

A way of resolving disagreements with the local authority about a child’s or young person’s additional support needs. An independent person formally reviews all the circumstances around a dispute and makes recommendations about how it should be resolved.

Advice for parents /

Independent Adjudication

Independent adjudication is a way of resolving disagreements about additional support needs. An adjudicator looks at information about a disagreement and then makes recommendations for how to resolve it.

Can also be known as: Private school.

A school that is not run by the local authority or grant-aided. Independent schools usually charge fees for educating children and young people. Some independent schools are special schools that offer enhanced support for children with additional support needs.

See also: Child’s Plan

Can also be known as: Additional support plan (ASP) or Individual support plan (ISP), or other names.

A document that can help the nursery or school plan and review the additional support they are giving a child or young person. It should set out the child’s or young person’s support needs, the support the school will provide to help meet those needs, and the learning outcomes they are trying to achieve. It should also say when the plan will next be reviewed.

See also: Care experience, Looked after child

When a child lives full-time or most of the time with a relative or friend who is not their parent, usually because their parents are not able to look after the child themselves.

The Kinship Care Advice Service for Scotland provides free, impartial advice to kinship families and those working with them.

The part of local government that is responsible for providing and overseeing public services in your area, including education.

You can find your local authority by entering your postcode on gov.uk/find-local-council

Find details of the Additional Support for Learning Officer, or other role responsible for leading on additional support for learning in your local authority on our Contacting your local authority pages.

See also: Care experience, Kinship care

A child or young person in the care of their local authority. A child or young person can be in care for a number of reasons, and it can be short or long-term. They can still live at home and be looked after by their local authority (through a supervision order). They can also be a ‘Looked after and accommodated child’, which is when they live away from home in (formal) kinship care, foster care or residential care.

Decisions about children living in care are usually made though the Children’s Hearing System (see also: Children’s Panel). They may also be made through the courts. Sometimes a family makes a voluntary arrangement with the local authority.

A school that is run and managed by the local authority and is not a special school.

See also: Dispute resolution

A way of resolving disagreements with a school or local authority about the additional support needs of a child or young person. It is a free, voluntary process where an impartial third person (a mediator) can help those involved in a disagreement try to find a way forward they can all agree on.

Resolve mediation, managed by Children in Scotland, is an independent mediator based in Scotland, specialising in resolving conflict in education.

The national improvement framework and improvement plan for Scottish education is designed to help deliver the twin aims of excellence and equity in education.

Read more about the policy on these pages of the Scottish Government website.

A private nursery that has a contract with a local authority to provide children’s funded hours of early learning and childcare.

Sometimes, if a child is struggling to attend classes full-time, it might be agreed that they only attend part of the day or week. Ideally, it should only be for a short amount of time.

Advice for parents /

Part-time timetables and flexible arrangements

There are lots of reasons why your child might go onto a part-time timetable or another flexible arrangement. 

All pupils should have learning targets to work towards, and these are set out as part of ‘Personal Learning Planning’. Children needing a higher level of additional support may need a more detailed plan like an additional support plan or a Co-ordinated Support Plan.

A formal request to the local authority for a child or young person to attend a school that is not their local catchment school or the school recommended by the local authority. A parent, carer or young person can make a placing request. A placing request must be made in a permanent form, such as in writing. It must name a specific school, and give reasons for the request.

Advice for parents /

Choosing the right school

It’s important you feel your child is going to a school that is able to meet their support needs, and where they’ll feel safe, included and happy. Find out more about choosing the right school.

Advice for parents /

Placing requests

If you do not feel that the catchment school (or another school that has been offered) is the right school for your child, you have the right to make a placing request to a specific school of your choice.

Local authorities have a duty to provide education in a mainstream school, unless certain exceptions apply. This is known as the ‘presumption of mainstreaming’. The circumstances where education can be provided in schools other than mainstream schools are where:

Making a ‘reference’ to the Additional Support Needs Tribunal is when a parent or young person takes a dispute with the local authority about their additional support needs to the Tribunal.

Note: if the dispute is a discrimination claim then it is called a ‘claim’, not a reference.

Advice for parents /

The Additional Support Needs Tribunal

The ASN Tribunal is an independent and expert body that considers certain kinds of appeals and disagreements about additional support for learning. You can make a reference to the tribunal

Launched by the Scottish Government in 2015, the SAC seeks to achieve equity in educational outcomes, with a particular focus on closing the poverty-related attainment gap. It focuses on targeted improvement in the areas of literacy, numeracy and health and wellbeing.

Find out more on these pages from Education Scotland.

Based on the GIRFEC approach and principles, SHANNARI is a set of eight indicators that measure children’s wellbeing across different domains, such as safety, health, education, skills, and identity.

The ‘wellbeing indicators’ are safe, healthy, achieving, nurtured, active, respected, responsible, and included.

Find out more about the SHANNARI wellbeing indicators on these Scottish Government pages.

See also: Grant-aided schools

A school that offers enhanced support specifically for children with additional support needs. Some mainstream schools have a special support “unit”, with close ties to the mainstream school – these also come under the legal definition of ‘special school’.

Special schools can be run by the local authority, grant-aided (given funding directly by the Scottish Government), or independent (funded and run by other agencies, like charities).

Most local authorities have a process called ‘staged intervention’ to help them find the right level of planning and support for children and young people who have different levels of support needs.

A team of professionals, often from different areas like health, education and social care, who work together to support a child’s wellbeing.

See also: Transition Planning

This refers to moving stages of education, for example moving from nursery to primary school, primary school to high school, high school to further or higher education, or leaving education.

See also: Transitions

When a child is due to start nursery or primary school, or move to high school, it is important that everyone involved in supporting them works together to help make sure the move is as smooth as possible. This is often called ‘transition planning’.  

Advice for parents /

Starting primary school

The run up to your child starting school can feel different for everyone. It’s an exciting time, but can come with some worries and questions. Find our more about additional support for learning and the move to primary school.

Advice for parents /

Moving to high school

Moving to high school is a big step. Find how how transition planning can help make sure the right support is in place for your child.

Advice for parents /

Planning for leaving school

Leaving school is a big change for every child. This section explains how transition planning can support your child in the run up to moving on from school.

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), is a legally binding international agreement setting out the rights of every child regardless of their race, religion or abilities.

We discuss the UNCRC on our Your Child’s Rights pages.

You can also find more information about the UNCRC on these pages from UNICEF, Together (the Scottish Alliance of Children’s Rights) and the Children’s and Young Person’s Commissioner Scotland.

See also: Exclusion

Schools must follow a clear set of rules and procedures if excluding a child. If these are not followed, it may be referred to as an unlawful exclusion.

Advice for parents /

Exclusion from school

Exclusion is when a school sends a pupil home and does not allow them to return for a certain number of days or on a permanent basis. 

See also: Care experience

Despite the name, a virtual school is not an online school.

A VSHT is someone responsible for overseeing the education and learning support of all care experienced pupils across a local authority area. Care experienced pupils still go to their normal school, but the VSHT is an extra person helping make sure these children and young people are getting the support that they need.

In Scotland, CELCIS run a Virtual Schools Headteachers Network. They explain more about how virtual schools in Scotland work on their page Learning more about virtual schools.

Not every local authority has a VSHT. You can check with your local authority if your area has one. Find out who to contact on our Contacting your local authority pages. 

Advice for parents /

Who’s who: who is the professional supporting my child?

Your child might have many different people involved in their support and care. Find out more about the roles of those staff here.

Under education law, a ‘young person’ is 16 years or older and still at school. There is no upper age limit, but they need to have been enrolled in school education since they turned 16.

Informally, ‘young person’ can be used more flexibly to refer to teenagers who may not self-identify as a ‘child’, or to young adults. Young adults are generally considered to be those aged 16-24.

Organisations such as Young Scot, have a range of information and services those aged 11-24 in Scotland whilst Reach, Enquire’s website for young people, offers advice and information specific to education and additional support needs.