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:
- Work in partnership with parents/carers and pupils to identify strengths and areas of concern and to offer support throughout;
- Consult with relevant external agencies, to gain more specialised advice, where it is deemed appropriate;
- Use assessment tools and materials, including detailed data analysis to monitor progress;
- Use observations;
- Use Early Intervention Short Notes to set short term targets around specific identified need, to provide early intervention and support.
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 the child’s special educational needs using formal and informal assessments, observations and discussions with other professionals and parents.
- Plan the provision to meet the child’s aspirations and agreed outcomes, through SEND Support Plans, created alongside the child, parents and carers.
- Do put the provision in place to meet those outcomes. Provision can be in any area of school life, not only during formal lessons.
- Review the support and progress alongside the child, parents and carers.
As part of this approach every child with SEND will have an individualised SEND 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. The School, parents and any other agencies involved can apply for an EHCP if it is felt that, despite putting into place all recommendations and advice to support the child, over a period of time, they are still experiencing difficulties or failing to make progress towards their individual outcomes. An EHCP is a statutory plan, reviewed annually.
For more detailed information see the Local Offer
Details of Identification and Assessment of Pupils with SEND
- Teaching across the school is continuously monitored to ensure all pupils are receiving the best quality teaching and learning, including work and book scrutiny and classroom observations.
- Parents are involved in all aspects of a child’s identification and support, including the review of all SEND Support Plans and Short Notes and involvement in Annual Reviews.
- Teacher assessments and assessments by external agencies are used to identify different types of SEND and the area/s of need.
- The ‘assess, plan, do, review’ cycle is used as the basis for all SEND provision in school.
- Teacher planning is closely monitored and children with SEND are identified on teacher planning to show how the curriculum is being differentiated and modified, on a lesson by lesson basis, for all children with additional needs, including those with SEND.
- Impact of provision is monitored in a variety of ways including, annotation of teacher planning, formal and informal assessments, intervention impact monitoring, observations, reviews of SEND Support Plans, input from external agencies where appropriate. Outcomes are regularly evaluated and updated.
- Additional support is provided in a variety of ways, including individual or group intervention provided by a teacher, teaching assistant or external specialist where appropriate, use of a wide range of practical resources to support need.
- School data systems explicitly identify progress and attainment information for children with SEND, including termly pupil progress meetings between senior staff and teachers to plan for next steps for those with identified SEND.
- Appropriate adaptations are made on an individual basis to ensure all children, regardless of need, take part in all aspects of school life, including trips, where individual risk assessments may be used to ensure safety.
- Prior to completing formal tests, arrangements are made to fully support children with SEND in line with the support they receive in their everyday learning, to ensure fair access to the test.
- All staff involved with teaching and learning in school attend regular training around working with children with SEND. Training around specific SEND types is also carried out when required to ensure staff have the necessary skills and knowledge required to adapt to changing needs across the school.
For further information please view or download our Accessibility Plan which can be found in the School Policies section of our website.