Guidance on the new legal

Wednesday, May 15, 2002

Guidance on the new legal requirement for children with special educational needs to be included in mainstream education has been published by the ScottishExecutive. The new requirement, introduced as a result of the Standards in Scotland's Schools Act 2000, takes effect from 1 August 2003 and applies to all children attending school, nursery schools and classes, including non-local authority pre-school centres which receive local authority subsidy for places. The guidance urges local authorities to take account of information from pre-school and childcare staff, alongside other professionals and parents, when planning special needs provision, and clarifies the circumstances under which a mainstream setting may not be appropriate. It is available on www.scotland.gov.uk/publications.