Norfolk SEND survey 2025

Thank you to everyone who completed our SEND survey in 2025. We are delighted that this time there were more than double the number of participants - 2,386 compared to 1,235 in 2023. 

It's Norfolk's third SEND survey. It was open for six weeks from 13 January to 23 February 2025. As previously, there were three sets of questions: 

• Children and young people (majority 8-16), a total of 538 respondents  
• Parents and carers, a total of 1,105 respondents 
• Professionals, a total of 743 respondents 

The SEND Survey showed that children with SEND in Norfolk share aspirations with their peers but face greater barriers in education, mental health, and inclusion. Families reported emotional and financial strain and professionals highlighted challenges with capacity, funding, and public understanding. 

The SEND Survey is an important part of a comprehensive picture of information called the Norfolk SEND Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA).  

This brings together statutory national and local data with the real experiences of services from the SEND Survey, giving an overall view of SEND in Norfolk in relation to children and young people from 0-25.  

All this information is used to identify our strengths and areas for improvement, provide a robust evidence base for planning and action and enables us to use data to better show accountability. 

It drives the work of the Norfolk Local Inclusion Partnership (LIP). 

In the following pages we give a snapshot of the feedback. The full report with all the information is also available for download. 

• Read the full report (PDF, 932 KB).
• Read the CYP SEND Survey Report 2025 - Easy Read Version (PDF, 913 KB).

What children and young people said: 

• 83% said they were happy with the help they received to learn, citing technology, supportive adults, and interest-based support as most helpful  
• 93% felt able to make choices about their future, up from 86% in the previous survey 
• 86% said they participated in a range of activities with peers in their free time, an improvement from the last survey  
• 79% had received help from a medical health service with a rise in the number receiving help with their mental health.  

Parents and carers said: 

• 64% said their child's school was making reasonable adjustments to include them - up from 48% in 2023  
• Many parents and carers feel their children's needs aren't being identified and want their wishes and views to be listened to more often 
• They want more training for teachers and more co-production of SEN Support Plans between teachers and parents and carers  
• Positive feedback included better teacher understanding, creative solutions, and improved communication 
• Around 6% were home educating or their child was not attending a place of education and 70% of this small group said they needed more help​ 
• 53% said their child's EHCP provision was making a positive difference with 63% reporting their child was making good progress at school 
• Many said more needs to be done to keep EHCPs up to date, more should be done to hear their views and communication between parents and carers and the EHCP team should be improved 
• 42% felt included in transition support between settings, up from 27% in the previous survey  
• 59% said they need more help choosing schools and planning next steps in education or employment 
• There is lots of information in so many different places (websites and forums) and it takes parents time to find and use all these different sources 
• Some parents and carers said they needed more support from services to navigate a complex system, and they want to be more involved and more regularly updated.  

What professionals said: 

• 82% of those working in schools said they had a good understanding of SEN Support    
• 50% raised concerns about insufficient school funding and unrealistic Education, Health and Care Plan expectations 
• they have increased engagement with parents, they're offering more feedback opportunities. 

This information gives a useful background to understand SEND in Norfolk. 

• There are now 30,132 children and young people aged 0-25 identified with SEND. That's a more than 60% increase since 2016 
• 12,100 children and young people have EHCPs (up 177% since 2016 with the highest concentration in ages 11-15) 
• 18,000 children and young people are receiving SEN Support (up from 14,200 in 2016) 
• Number of pre-school children flagged through the Early Identification of Need (EIN) process has nearly tripled since 2017, rising from 114 to 327 in 2024. 
• This means one in five pupils in Norfolk schools now require additional support 
• Norfolk's EHCP rate exceeds national and regional average 
• Norfolk has a high prevalence of children and young people with social, emotional and mental health (SEMH) needs and a rising number of children with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN), especially in younger children. 

We read all SEND survey feedback and act on it. 

You said, we did

We use the findings from the survey to improve the lives of children and young people with SEND, and their families. 

Learn about how we are taking action to improve SEND in Norfolk.

Our policies

The survey feedback helps us to shape our:

•  Norfolk Area SEND and Alternative Provision Strategy (NASAPS)
• Local Area Inclusion Plan (LAIP). This is the action plan which ensures we deliver on NASAPS.