Abstract

This report is a commission from Together for Children (TfC) to the University of Sunderland, School of Education. It presents the results from a series of descriptive and inferential analyses using Sunderland school census data from the years 2014-2019 and the publicly available data published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) for England of the same years.
The purpose of this report and the analyses that will follow is to allow Together for Children (TfC) to better understand the demography of children with Special Education Needs and Disability (SEND) in Sunderland and how they relate and compare to the national picture
overall. Specifically, this research will examine the incidence rates of Social, Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH), Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), Moderate Learning Difficulties (MLD) and Specific Learning Difficulties (SpLD) alongside other areas of exceptionality. Across the City of Sunderland, the total
number of children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) continues to rise year on year. Analysis of school census data is crucial as intelligence is necessary for effective planning and commissioning of services. This insight
would also allow for anticipatory and timely implementation of training across a local area. The key findings arising from the analysis of the school census data are illustrated below. They include the following headings overall SEN population, primary and secondary type of need (SEN), SEN by key stages, SEN by gender and
comparisons of Sunderland rates to national.