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The Education (Northern Ireland) Order 1996
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The Education (Northern Ireland) Order 1996, Cross Heading: Introductory is up to date with all changes known to be in force on or before 24 April 2024. There are changes that may be brought into force at a future date. Changes that have been made appear in the content and are referenced with annotations.
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Changes and effects yet to be applied to the whole Order associated Parts and Chapters:
Whole provisions yet to be inserted into this Order (including any effects on those provisions):
- Sch. 1 para. 3(1)(b)(i)(ii) and preceding word inserted by 2016 c. 8 (N.I.) Sch. para. 14(2)
- Sch. 1 para. 4(1)(a)(b) and preceding word inserted by 2016 c. 8 (N.I.) Sch. para. 14(4)
- Sch. 2 para. 2(1)(a)(b) and preceding word inserted by 2016 c. 8 (N.I.) Sch. para. 15(2)
- Sch. 2 para. 9(1)(a)(b) and preceding word substituted by 2016 c. 8 (N.I.) Sch. para. 15(12)
- Sch. 2 para. 13(2)(a)(i)(ii) and preceding word substituted by 2016 c. 8 (N.I.) Sch. para. 15(20)
- Sch. 2 para. 11(1)(a)(aa) substituted for Sch. 2 para. 11(1)(a) by 2016 c. 8 (N.I.) Sch. para. 15(14)
- art. 5A inserted by 2016 c. 8 (N.I.) s. 1
- art. 6A inserted by 2016 c. 8 (N.I.) s. 2
- art. 8(1)(d)-(f) inserted by 2016 c. 8 (N.I.) s. 3(2)(c)
- art. 8(1A)-(1C) inserted by 2016 c. 8 (N.I.) s. 3(3)
- art. 8(2A) inserted by 2016 c. 8 (N.I.) s. 3(4)
- art. 8ZA inserted by 2016 c. 8 (N.I.) s. 3(5)
- art. 10(3)(a)(b) substituted for words by 2016 c. 8 (N.I.) Sch. para. 4
- art. 12A inserted by 2016 c. 8 (N.I.) s. 4
- art. 14(4A)(4B) inserted by 2016 c. 8 (N.I.) s. 5(3)
- art. 15(4)(a)(b) and preceding word inserted by 2016 c. 8 (N.I.) Sch. para. 5(4)
- art. 15(6)(a)(b) and preceding word inserted by 2016 c. 8 (N.I.) Sch. para. 5(5)
- art. 17(1)(a)(b) and preceding word substituted for words by 2016 c. 8 (N.I.) Sch. para. 7(2)
- art. 18A(4)(ba) inserted by 2016 c. 8 (N.I.) s. 9(4)(b)
- art. 19(1A)-(1C) inserted by 2016 c. 8 (N.I.) s. 8(3)(a)
- art. 19(2)(ba) inserted by 2016 c. 8 (N.I.) s. 8(3)(b)(ii)
- art. 20A(7)(a)(b) and preceding word inserted by 2016 c. 8 (N.I.) Sch. para. 11(4)
- art. 20A(8)(a)(i)(ii) and preceding word substituted for words by 2016 c. 8 (N.I.) Sch. para. 11(5)
- art. 21(5)-(10) added by 2016 c. 8 (N.I.) s. 9(2)
- art. 21A(4)-(7) inserted by 2016 c. 8 (N.I.) Sch. para. 12(4)
- art. 21B(3A)-(4) substituted for art. 21B(4) by 2016 c. 8 (N.I.) s. 10(2)
- art. 21C inserted by 2016 c. 8 (N.I.) s. 10(4)
- art. 21ZA inserted by 2016 c. 8 (N.I.) s. 9(3)
IntroductoryN.I.
Meaning of “special educational needs” and “special educational provision” etc.N.I.
3.—(1) For the purposes of the Education Orders, a child has “special educational needs” if he has a learning difficulty which calls for special educational provision to be made for him.
(2) For the purposes of this Part, subject to paragraph (3), a child has a “learning difficulty” if—
(a)he has a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of children of his age,
(b)he has a disability which either prevents or hinders him from making use of educational facilities of a kind generally provided for children of his age in ordinary schools, or
(c)he has not attained the lower limit of compulsory school age and is, or would be if special educational provision were not made for him, likely to fall within sub-paragraph (a) or (b) when he is of compulsory school age.
(3) A child is not to be taken as having a learning difficulty solely because the language (or form of, the language) in which he is, or will be, taught is different from a language (or form of a language) which has at any time been spoken in his home.
(4) In the Education Orders, “special educational provision” means—
(a)in relation to a child who has attained the age of two years, educational provision which is additional to, or otherwise different from, the educational provision made generally for children of his age in ordinary schools, and
(b)in relation to a child under that age, educational provision of any kind.
(5) In the Education Orders, “special school” means a controlled or voluntary school which is specially organised to make special educational provision for pupils with special educational needs and is recognised by the Department as a special school.
(6) In this Part, “ordinary school” means a grant-aided school which is not a special school.
(7) In this Part, “child” includes any person who has not attained the age of nineteen years and is a registered pupil at a school.
(8) For the purposes of paragraph (7) a person who attains the age of nineteen years at any time during a [F1school year] at any school shall be deemed not to have attained that age until the day after the end of that [F1school year] .
(9) In this Part, “the Tribunal” has the meaning assigned to it by Article 22(1).
F1Words in art. 3(8) substituted (24.3.2016) by Special Educational Needs and Disability Act (Northern Ireland) 2016 (c. 8), ss. 15(2), 18(1)(a)
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