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
Our school is committed to the early identification of pupils with SEND. We use rigorous assessment processes and track pupil progress between assessment points. Class teachers, support staff, parents and pupils are involved in pupil progress meetings which are arranged on at least a termly basis but also occur as and when necessary. Observations of pupils and the views of parents/ carers and pupils also inform the early identification process. Parents/ carers can raise a concern with any member of school staff.
When a concern is raised, the SENDCo will liaise with parents and class teachers to clearly identify the child’s strengths and any areas of difficulty. These will be documented on a Short Note and some next step actions will be agreed by all involved. It is possible that these actions may include the need for further specialist assessments from external agencies eg. Speech and Language Therapy, Occupational Therapy, CAMHS, the Local Authority SEND Advisory teams. With the consent of parents, the SENDCo will make a referral to the necessary agency for further assessment or support. The Short Note will be reviewed according to need but this will be within the school term.
A decision will then be made collaboratively on whether to:
- continue with a Short Note to identify and monitor progress towards outcomes or
- to move to an SEND Support plan with a more detailed approach to identifying the child’s needs, outcomes and the provision necessary to meet those needs. At this stage, the child’s name will be added to the school’s SEND register.
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 – Ongoing in school assessments are used to determine how pupils are progressing. Where more specialist advice is needed to ascertain specific details of need advice will be sought from professionals and more specialist and specific assessment materials may be used to provide accurate assessments and details of need.
- Plan the provision to meet your child’s aspirations and agreed outcomes -Class teachers and the school SENDCo will act upon the advice of any professionals involved and meet with parents/ carers and children to determine the most appropriate outcomes to be identified on the child’s support plan to best meet their needs and ensure that they make progress. A holistic view of strengths and areas of difficulty will be identified and outcomes matched to ensure that support is in place to address the areas of difficulty. The support plan will identify what needs to be in place to meet the child’s needs and ensure that they make progress.Class teachers and support staff, under the guidance of the SENDCo, will plan appropriate teaching and learning activities, modifications and differentiation of the curriculum and interventions to ensure that the child makes progress towards the outcomes.
- Do put the provision in place to meet those outcomes -Children with SEND will follow the Early Years Foundation Stage and National Curriculum. The curriculum will be adapted as necessary to meet the child’s needs. The impact of quality first teaching and interventions is measured as part of the whole school monitoring process and is a prominent focus of individual pupil progress meetings. Individual interventions are also monitored for their impact
- Review the support and progress – Support Plans will be reviewed at least 3 times a year on a termly basis. Where necessary, the school SENDCo will contact parents to arrange an earlier review of the support plan and agree next steps. At each review, an evaluation of the impact of the support that has been put in place will be made through the use of assessment data, feedback from observations, the views of the child, their parents and class teachers and the use of assessment information and data. A joint decision will be made to either cease the SEND support plan or continue with the support plan. Where needs are complex and the support plan is not having the desired impact upon progress and meeting the child’s needs a decision will be made to consider seeking further advice or support, Top Up Funding or making an Education, Health and Care Assessment.
Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP)
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 (EHCP).
The purpose of an EHCP is to make special educational provision to meet special educational needs of the child or young person, to secure the best possible outcomes for them across education (SEND Code of Practice p.142). It is a legal document that describes a child or young person’s special educational, health and social care needs.
SEND policy, plans and procedures and monitored and reviewed by the SENDCo and Senior Leadership Team and SEND provision is monitored by the Governing Body. This includes observation, work scrutiny, review of assessment evidence and outcomes for SEND pupils to assess the impact of plans and interventions.
For further information please view or download our Accessibility Plan which can be found in the School Policies section of our website.
