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
As a school, we assess all children continuously. We assess informally everyday and we carry out formal assessments at the end of every term to measure progress and identify the next steps in learning. In deciding whether to make special education provision to support educational, social, physical or emotional needs, we:
- Work in partnership with parents/carers, pupils
- Consult with relevant external agencies
- Use assessment tools & materials
- Use observations
SEN 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
- Plan the provision to meet your child’s aspirations and agreed outcomes
- Do put the provision in place to meet those outcomes
- Review the support and progress
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.
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.
For more detailed information see the Local Offer
You can find details of how we adapt the curriculum and make it more accessible for pupils with SEN below:
A special educational need can be a number of different things. For example, a child may be having problems with reading, literacy, numeracy or behaviour. This can be helped by putting extra support in at school and by working in partnership with parents. It may also be due to a disability, which makes it harder for a child to use the same educational facilities that the school provides for the majority of children. For some children this may be a temporary difficulty, while others may have a long term need for special provision.
If we think a child has special educational needs, we will talk to parents/carers and let them know what special help the school is giving. Mrs Doyle is appointed as the Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCO)
View the School Policies section of our website to view our Special Educational Needs Policy.
Details of Identification and Assessment of Pupils with SEN
Children are identified by the class teacher as having special educational needs when their progress has slowed or stopped. At this stage, additional differentiated provision is implemented and the child’s progress is monitored carefully. Each child’s teacher will be finding ways to support them such as:
- Changing the way activities are planned and delivered. Matching activities to the ability / need of each child (differentiation)
- Adapting learning materials such as equipment and activities to suit each child’s needs
- Offer small group support to promote skills identified in the child’s Support Plan.
With the permission of parents we may seek additional advice from outside specialists such as health professionals, specialist teachers, speech and language specialists or educational psychologists who would:
- Carry out further assessment of the child’s needs
- Provide advice to school on how to best support the child
- Suggest resources that would help the child make progress
Our teachers and Learning Support Assistants work in close partnership with parents and the SENCO to find ways to support each child with their needs, including giving parents ideas on how to help their child at home
Our school staff, in consultation with parents, will set targets for children with special educational needs at a termly review meeting, known as a structured conversation meeting.
If your child has Special Educational Needs our SENCO will:
- Ensure the right support and amount of support is put in place for each child
- Advise teachers and learning support assistants on how to help each child
- Ensure each child has an up to date Individual Education Plan detailing how their needs will be met in school
- Arrange training for staff so they understand each child’s needs
- Work closely with parents on a regular basis to talk with them about their child’s needs and listen to any ideas or concerns they might have
- Work with other professionals (if necessary) who may be able to help individual children, e.g. speech and language therapist or Educational Psychologist
All teachers should be aware that children learn in different ways. Some need to work at a slower pace to ensure they fully understand one thing before they move onto something new.
For further information please view or download our Accessibility Plan which can be found in the School Policies section of our website.
