Most children and young people in mainstream schools will have their special educational needs met through good classroom practice. This is called Quality First Teaching.
Early Identification of Need
In deciding whether to make special education provision to support educational, social, physical or emotional needs, we:
- Rigorously assess children at the beginning of each academic year, as well as throughout the year to identify needs and put in place any specific interventions necessary to close any gaps quickly and effectively.
- Observations are carefully planned for to ensure struggling children are identified and support is planned for.
- Quality first teaching is always provided to ensure children are achieving working to their full potential.
- Working in partnership with parents/carers as well as pupils to ensure everyone is involved in the process and are aware of strengths and any potential areas of difficulty.
- Consult with relevant external agencies to ensure the best possible outcomes for children.
- Through the use of short notes, support plans and EHCs, children’s skills are assessed and reviewed to ensure they are making progress and meeting their targets.
SEND Support
Where a pupil is identified as having a special educational need we follow a graduated approach which takes the form of cycles of “Assess, Plan, Do, Review”.
This means that we will:
- Assess a child’s special educational needs – Through our rigorous assessment and tracking procedures, children are assessed at the beginning and end of each term. This information is analysed carefully to identify any need
- Plan the provision to meet your child’s aspirations and agreed outcomes – Once needs have been identified, parents will be invited in to school to discuss their child’s needs and a short note will be recorded to highlight strengths and actions put in place to support their child’s learning. A structured intervention session may be put in place and regularly reviewed to ensure that all children’s needs are being met and children are working to achieve their targets. Intervention timetables are created and planning is differentiated to ensure that children are receiving the support they require.
- Do put the provision in place to meet those outcomes – Intervention sessions are delivered and lessons may be adapted to best support children’s learning. Progress is regularly assessed and reported back to all stakeholders.
- Review the support and progress – At the end of each half term, intervention programs are reviewed and progress is measured to decide whether their targets have been met. This progress is then fed back to the child and their parents/carers and either a new plan will be put in place to further the learning of the child, or old plans will be archived if no longer necessary.
As part of this approach every child with SEN will have an individualised SEN Support Plan that describes the child’s needs, outcomes & provision to meet those needs. Parents/carers and child/YP (where appropriate) views are integral to the this process.
For some concerns, we may discuss the involvement of specialist support, for example, Education Psychology, SENDIASS (support for families) or Occupational Therapy. It is important to understand that the involvement of professionals does not always seek to ‘label’ or ‘diagnose’ children but to seek advice or strategies to help them to reach their full potential.
A small percentage of children and young people with significant and/or complex needs may require an assessment that could lead to an Education, Health and Care Plan.
An educational health care plan is created for children and young people up to 25 who need more support than is available through special educational needs support. EHC plans identify educational, health and social needs and set out the additional support required to meet those needs. We currently have no children in school with an EHC.
For more detailed information see the Local Offer
Details of Identification and Assessment of Pupils with SEN
Teacher assessments are made throughout the year to identify any children who have a particular need. This information is stored in our tracking system and is referred to throughout the year to assess children’s progress and application of skills. Class teachers work closely with our SENCO (Mrs Irving) in order to make sure that children’s individual support plans closely match their direct learning need. These plans are monitored and updated on a regular basis and, along with much that we do, has the child and the family at the centre of it.
Targeted programs such as Lexia and Pre-teach Sounds Write sessions, allow children to work on their areas of difficulty as well as gaining independence and ownership over their own learning. Mastering maths materials are also planned for and delivered during maths sessions.
Parents play an active role in children’s learning and discussions are often held with parents regarding their child’s progress and extra work they could be supporting their child with at home. Any parental concern is listened to by the senior leadership team, the SENCO or the child’s class teacher either via a phone call or by holding a meeting and is addressed quickly and effectively. Referrals are made where necessary and parents are kept informed of any developments with their child’s learning.
To successfully match pupil ability to the curriculum there are some actions we may take to achieve this:
- Planning is specific and tailored to each child’s individual needs to ensure all children, regardless of their needs, are achieving and are working to the best of their abilities. Resources are also put in place, specific to the needs of each child, such as adapted rulers, differentiated work or the deployment of a teaching assistant to offer further guidance and support
- Pupils to gain in confidence and improve their self-esteem in ways such as peer support, mixed ability groupings and differentiated activities and outcomes.
- Working in partnership with parents/ carers, pupils and relevant external agencies in order to provide for children’s special educational needs and disabilities.
- Identifying at the earliest opportunity, all children that need special consideration to support their needs (whether these are educational, social, physical or emotional)
- Making suitable provision for children with SEND to fully develop their abilities, interests and aptitudes and gain maximum access to the curriculum.
- Ensuring that all children with SEND are fully included in all activities of the school in order to promote the highest levels of achievement.
- Assessing progress and sharing outcomes termly against their support plan targets and intervention objectives through formal assessment, work scrutinies and observations of classroom activities and intervention groups.
- To regularly review the policy and practice in order to achieve best practice.
For further information please view or download our Accessibility Plan which can be found in the School Policies section of our website.