wide range of need including:

• Autistic Spectrum Disorder
• Speech, Language and Communication Needs
• Specific Learning Difficulties
• Moderate Learning Difficulties
• Severe Learning Difficulties
• Hearing Impairment
• Visual Impairment
• Physical Difficulties

The school provides data on the levels and types of need to the Local Authority. This is collected through the school census.

Inclusive education means supporting all pupils to learn, contribute and participate in all aspects of school life alongside their peers. Our curriculum includes, not only the formal requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum / National Curriculum, but also a range of additional opportunities to enrich the experiences of all pupils.

The Curriculum also included the social aspects that are essential for lifelong learning, personal growth and development of independence.

Some of the actions we may take to achieve this are:

• Help all pupils achieve to the best of their abilities, despite any difficulty or disability they may have.
• Modify the curriculum to meet individual needs.
• Ensure that teaching staff are aware of and sensitive to the needs of all pupils, teaching pupils in a way that is more appropriate to their needs.
• To make suitable provision for children with SEND to fully develop their abilities, interests and aptitudes and gain maximum access to the curriculum.

We ensure that all children are offered the opportunity to participate with activities outside of the classroom by making reasonable adjustments to the organisation of these. For example, we ensure SEND children have an appropriate level of adult support if going out of school, we organise transport that provides appropriate access and staff complete a comprehensive risk assessment of any excursion to ensure all children are safe and included. In addition, our SEND children are given the opportunity to participate in visits to settings that meet their specific needs.

Children learn and develop in different ways and may need extra help and support at various points throughout their time at school. Some children, at some time in their school life might have additional or different needs and it may be that they will be on our SEN register for a short period or a long period of time. However, children’s needs will be frequently reassessed regularly in order to ensure that the provision is suitable and supports every child’s development.

Our SENCO, working alongside class teachers, oversees all SEN provision, different approaches to teaching and monitors progress of any child requiring additional support across the school. The class teacher will oversee, plan and work with each child with SEND in their class to ensure that progress in every area is made.

We adapt the curriculum and learning environment for pupils with SEN:

• Ensure that all pupils have access to the school curriculum and all school activities.
• Help all pupils achieve to the best of their abilities, despite any difficulty or disability they may have.
• Ensure that teaching staff are aware of and sensitive to the needs of all pupils, teaching pupils in a way that is more appropriate to their needs.
• Pupils to gain in confidence and improve their self-esteem.
• To work in partnership with parents/carers, pupils and relevant external agencies in order to provide for children’s special educational needs and disabilities.
• To identify at the earliest opportunity, all children that need special consideration to support their needs (whether these are educational, social, physical or emotional)
• To make suitable provision for children with SEND to fully develop their abilities, interests and aptitudes and gain maximum access to the curriculum.
• Ensure that all children with SEND are fully included in all activities of the school in order to promote the highest levels of achievement.
• To promote self worth and enthusiasm by encouraging independence at all age and ability levels.
• To give every child the entitlement to a sense of achievement.
• To regularly review the policy and practice in order to achieve best practice.

More details on how we adapt information, our environment and curriculum can be found in the Accessibility Plan which you ca find in the School Policies section of our website.

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.

As a school we measure children’s progress in learning against National expectations and age related expectations. The class teacher continually assesses each child and notes areas where they are improving and where further support is needed.  As a school, we track children’s progress every term from Reception through to Year 6 to ensure that we can carefully monitor progress and attainment. Children who are not making expected progress are identified and a discussion takes place concerning why individual children are experiencing difficulty and what further support can be given to aid their progression.

Early Identification of Need

In deciding whether to make special education provision to support educational, social, physical or emotional needs, we assess all children continuously across all areas of learning including the four broad areas of Special Educational Needs. We assess informally everyday through observations and we carry out formal assessments at the end of every term to measure progress and identify the next steps in learning.

We work in partnership with parents, carers and pupils by building good relationships, working together and supporting each other. If there is an identification of need then we will discuss this with parents and if needed provide a pupil with a Short Note. We will share this with parents and may begin to gather evidence to inform whether to make special education provision and consider if we need to consult with relevant external agencies and use assessment tools and materials to ensure early help or identification of SEN happens.

• Early Years, Key Stage 1 and 2 staff and the SENCO, where necessary, liaise with Nursery or the child’s previous school.
• If a child is performing below age expectations then meetings will be held with the class teacher and SENCO. Observations of the child may also take place.
• We have regular parent meetings and take into account any concerns raised by Parents. We pride ourselves on having an ‘open door policy’ where at any point parents can talk to staff.
• Concerns raised by teacher for example behaviour or self-esteem is affecting performance.
• Liaison with external agencies we work closely with Speech and Language, Occupational Therapy, CAMHS, Educational Psychology, The School Nurse, the Local Authority SEND Team and Behaviour Support.
• Health diagnosis through local paediatricians at the hospital.

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 through the class teacher and SENCO carrying out observations and discussions with parents.
• Plan the provision to meet your child’s aspirations and agreed outcomes through producing a SEN support plan outlining the additional provision that we will make, with agreed outcomes.
• Do put the provision in place to meet those outcomes for example a Social Skills Intervention programme.  Sometimes this will be in the form of an extra group time, with a small group of children. Sometimes it will be some individual support for short periods of time
• Review the support and progress through class teacher and SENCO making an observational assessment, use of assessment schemes and discussions with parents/carers.

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 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.

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.

For more detailed information see the Local Offer

Details of Identification and Assessment of Pupils with SEN

If your child has SEN, it may be important for us to carry out formal assessments to identify their strengths and identify their needs accurately. To do this, we will use a range of methods depending upon their needs. When your child enters our school, their current attainment is assessed to give us a ‘baseline’ from where they will progress. Depending upon their needs, other assessments may be needed.

These could include:

• Speech Therapy Assessments – which may focus on sound production, language understanding, or other relevant assessments to your child’s needs
• Education Psychology Assessments – which may include memory, understanding, reasoning, logic, and general skills assessments
• Occupational Therapy Assessments – which may focus on fine motor skills, gross motor skills, sensory issues.

The outcomes of all assessments are shared with parents and carers. If other agencies are invited to work with your child, you will be invited to attend a meeting where the outcomes of these assessments and their next steps will be shared with you.

Your child’s school achievements may be assessed against the levels expected for children who are working on the National Curriculum (i.e. the same as the majority of other children in their year group), or they may be assessed against other measures for children who are not ready to work on National Curriculum Levels (i.e. the steps before the National Curriculum).

For further information please view or download our Accessibility Plan which can be found in the School Policies section of our website.

We enable all children to engage fully in all aspects of school life. To do this, we:

When planning activities such as visits and trips SEN children are considered to ensure they can fully participate, for example; staff will visit places and complete risk assessments.

Ensure that all children with SEN are fully included in all activities of the school in order to promote the highest levels of achievement, for example; ensuring that children with language delay are supported with visual aids and prompts.

Ensure that all pupils have access to the school curriculum and all school activities, for example; additional adult support to model and support learning.

Ensure every child has the entitlement to a sense of achievement through celebrating progress with parents, for example; we have a weekly achievement assembly where academic and non-academic progress is celebrated.

We continuously ensure the provision has a positive impact on the outcomes for all of our children/young people. We do this in a variety of ways, including:

• Questionnaires and feedback from parents
• Robust evaluation of policy and practice
• Book scrutinies
• SENCO/SLT/Governor monitoring
• Learning walks
• Performance management

We have a Designated Teacher for Looked after Children (CLA), Mrs Helen Beattie (Deputy Head teacher) who works closely with the acting SENCO, Mrs Armstrong, to ensure all teachers in school understand the implications for those children who are looked after and have SEN.

Mrs Beattie and Mrs Armstrong work closely with the Virtual School Head (VSH) who are there to ensure effective systems are in place for CLA. A significant amount of children may be undiagnosed when they begin to be looked after and we work quickly and effectively to assess any undiagnosed SEN to ensure that they are addressed as quickly as possible.

They work closely with all CLA with SEN and with all staff to ensure that they understand the implications for these pupils. CLA with SEN are supported in school and have a Support Plan which is reviewed every term. All CLA have a Personal Education Plan (PEP), which is drawn up and reviewed every term. The Support Plan and the PEP should complement each other. If a CLA with SEN requires further assessment for an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) we are particularly aware of the need to avoid any delays for CLA and carry out the EHC needs assessment in the shortest possible timescale.

Consultation with Children and Young People with SEND

Teachers/SENCO and Support Staff will work with children and young people to identify the support needed to meet agreed outcomes.  The provision is planned and interventions are allocated to individual needs. The children take an active role with setting their outcomes and discussing them with the class teacher/SENCO.  The children have regular meetings with staff to discuss their progress and support.

Consultation with parents and carers of children and young people with SEND

We are committed to working with parents and carers to identify their child’s needs and support.  Parents and carers will be involved throughout the process.

There is a range of ways this can be done, for example:

• Through regular reviews of their child’s SEN Support Plan/ EHC Plan.
• Termly parents/ carers evenings;
• Ongoing discussions with a class teacher and/or SENCO;
• An ‘open-door’ policy, where parents and carers are welcome to come into school to discuss any concerns they may have;