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, pupils. We regularly meet with parents to discuss their child’s progress and how we can support them further.
- Consult with relevant external agencies such as Speech and Language Team, Educational psychologists, occupational therapy etc.
- Use assessment tools & materials to track children’s progress at their own level.
- Use observations to see what children enjoy doing, what they have done well and how we can support their next steps.
- Use Short Notes to identify children’s strengths and areas of need to put the best support in place for them
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. We will observe your child, and along with parental input discuss your child’s strengths and areas that may need further support.
- Plan the provision to meet your child’s aspirations and agreed outcomes with parents. We agree on targets and the steps needed to meet these. A date is always agreed by all parties to review the targets.
- Do put the provision in place to meet those outcomes. Staff work closely with children to ensure that they have the best opportunities to meet their targets with support.
- Review the support and progress they have received with parents. We assess whether the targets have been met and more can be created or whether your child needs more time spent on them.
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 require an assessment that could lead to an Education, Health and Care Plan.
An Education, Health and Care Plan assessment may be necessary if we feel that your child needs more support and is not meeting their targets. A meeting would be held between parents and your child’s SENCO to discuss the assessment and the process. If an EHCP is granted, it will state how your child is to be best supported and may offer funding for this.
For more detailed information see the Local Offer
Details of Identification and Assessment of Pupils with SEN
- We currently use observations that feed into our assessments for children. These are completed three times a year. From this, we can see whether a child is making expected progress or needs further support to identify SEN and the area/s of need
- Systems are in place to record information/assessments. All staff are trained to assess children and these are analysed termly to close any gaps.
- Parental concerns are taken very seriously. If you have a concern the first point of call would be to speak to your child’s key worker. If there is an ongoing issue after this, you can make an appointment with Julia Hymers, the Head teacher and SENCO.
- How do you ensure access to appropriate high quality teaching, differentiation and intervention? All of our staff are trained in the Early Years curriculum and understand how children develop. Staff receive regular training and opportunities to develop professionally.
- How is the ‘assess, plan, do, review’ cycle incorporated into SEN provision? All children with SEND will follow this cycle to ensure that they have appropriate targets and that when they are met, they are given new ones to ensure progression.
- How are parents and pupils involved in the APDR cycle? Parents and pupils (where old enough) are involved in every stage of the cycle. Parental contribution is very important to child development and we want our parents to feel as involved as possible. Parents will agree to targets, understand how their child will achieve them and what progress they have made with them.
- How do you plan for learners with SEN? We plan for all learners by looking at their next steps and how they can learn a new skill or develop further.
- How do you ensure there is a holistic approach in addressing all needs? The EYFS promotes the whole child and aims to address all areas of learning.
- How is the impact of provision evaluated for individuals and groups? Children are assessed regularly and outcomes are matched to their targets to ensure progress is being made.
For further information please view or download our Accessibility Plan which can be found in the School Policies section of our website.
