SEN Colleges, also known as Special Specialism Colleges, are

specialist Specialist may refer to: Occupations * Specialist (rank), a military rank ** Specialist (Singapore) * Specialist (arena football) * Specialist degree, in academia * Specialty (medicine) * Designated market maker, in the American stock market * ...

special schools Special education (known as special-needs education, aided education, exceptional education, alternative provision, exceptional student education, special ed., SDC, or SPED) is the practice of educating students in a way that accommodates th ...

in the United Kingdom. They were introduced in 2006 as part of the

specialist schools programme The specialist schools programme (SSP), first launched as the Technology Colleges programme and also known as the specialist schools initiative, specialist schools policy and specialist schools scheme, was a government programme in the United ...

following a successful trial in 2004. The system enabled secondary and primary schools to specialise in certain fields.

Specialization

Specialist SEN Colleges were special needs schools that successfully applied to the

Specialist Schools Trust SSAT (The Schools Network) Limited (branded as SSAT, the Schools, Students and Teachers network) is a UK-based, independent educational membership organisation working with primary, secondary, special and free schools, academies and UTCs. It ...

, receiving extra funding from this joint private sector and government scheme. The first non-trial SEN Colleges were introduced in September 2006 after an announcement by Andrew Adonis in 2005 and could specialise in four areas: * Communication and interaction * Cognition and learning * Behaviour, emotional and social difficulties * Sensory and/or physical needs The specialist schools programme has been defunct since 2011. Therefore, if a special school wishes to become a SEN College, they must become an

academy An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosop ...

or manage a

Dedicated Schools Grant Dedicated may refer to: Music * Dedicated Records, Dedicated, a British record label whose artists included Spiritualized Albums * Dedicated (ATB album), ''Dedicated'' (ATB album), 2002 * Dedicated (Renée Geyer album), ''Dedicated'' (Renée G ...

References

{{Specialist schools Specialist schools programme