SEN is more prevalent in boys than girls
73.1% of all pupils with an EHC plan are boys. This is a small increase on 2019, when 72.9% were boys.
The gap is narrower for SEN support, with boys making up 64.6% of all pupils with SEN support .
SEN is most prevalent at age 10
The percentage of pupils who have SEN increases as age increases through primary years, up to a peak of 19.0% of pupils at age 10. It then declines through secondary ages, down to 15.4% at age 15.
SEN support decreases from age 10
This pattern is driven by SEN support, which increases in primary ages to 15.2% at age 10, before decreasing to 12.9% at age 11 and continuing to decrease at a slower rate through secondary years to 11.4% by age 15.
The percentage of EHC plans continues to grow with age, throughout all schools ages
The percentage of pupils with an EHC plan, however, continues to increase as age increases, all through primary and secondary school ages, from 2.4% at age 5, to 3.8% at age 10, and to 4.0% by age 15.
The percentage of all pupils eligible for free school meals has increased sharply since the introduction of transitional protections which will continue to be in place during the roll out of Universal Credit. This has meant that pupils eligible for free school meals on or after 1 April 2018 retain their free school meals eligibility even if their circumstances change. In January 2020, the percentage for all pupils was 17.3%, compared to 15.4% in 2019 and 13.6% in 2018
As in previous years, pupils with SEN are more likely to be eligible for free school meals
The percentage of pupils with an EHC plan who are eligible for free school meals is 34.6%, more than double that for pupils with no SEN (14.9%). The percentage of pupils with SEN support eligible for free school meals is 29.9%.
Each of these figures shows an increase on 2019, in line with increases seen in the overall pupil population for free school meals.
Pupils whose first language is known to be English have higher rates of SEN
16.0% of pupils whose first language is known or believed to be English have SEN. This is higher than those whose first language is known or believed to be other than English, at 12.6%. This is broadly similar to last year.
The highest percentage of EHC plans are held by the White - Irish traveller group
5% of pupils with White - Irish traveller recorded as their ethnicity have an EHC plan, and a further 24.9% have SEN support. These are the highest rates for both EHC plans and SEN support.
Black Caribbean has the second highest rate for EHC plans, at 4.7%, followed by any other Black background. The second highest rate for SEN support is among the Gypsy/Roma group at 22.6%.
The lowest rate of EHC plans is the Asian - Indian group at 2.1% and the lowest rate for SEN support is the Chinese group, at 5.5%.