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
- Consult with relevant external agencies
- Use assessment tools & materials
- Use observations
- Use Short Notes
- Other
SEN Support
The identification of SEN is built into the overall approach to monitoring the progress and development of all children in school. Termly, pupil progress meetings support the early identification of children who may have SEN. Where concerns are identified, Teachers discuss these with the SENCO. They may then decide that a SEN support plan is appropriate. 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”
Assess
The class teacher, working with the SENCO, will carry out a clear analysis of a child’s needs. This assessment will be reviewed regularly. Where appropriate, professionals will help to inform the assessment. Parents will be asked to contribute to the assessment.
Plan
Parents will be formally notified, through meetings with the class teacher and SENCO of any planned interventions or support. Adjustments, interventions, support and a review date will be agreed with staff, parents and the child. 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 views are integral to this process.
Do
The class teacher will remain responsible for working with the pupil on a daily basis and retain responsibility for their progress and outcomes. The class teacher and SENCO, will plan and assess the impact of support and interventions with any teaching assistants or specialist staff involved.
Review
The effectiveness of the support and interventions and their impact on the child’s progress will be reviewed on the agreed date. Reviews will be held with parents at least three times per year. The class teacher, working with the SENCO, will revise the support in light of the pupil’s progress.
If a pupil does not make expected progress over a sustained period of time, school will consider involving specialists. The next steps may require the involvement of specialist support or advice for example, Educational Psychology, SENDIASS (Parents Advice and Support Service) or another of education health and social care professional. It is important to understand that the involvement of professionals does not always seek to label or diagnose but to seek advice and strategies to enable a child to make progress.
A small percentage of children 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, to secure the best possible outcomes for them across education (SEND Code of Practice p.142). It is a legal document that describes a special educational, health and social care needs
For more detailed information see the Local Offer
Details of Identification and Assessment of Pupils with SEN
When your child enters our school, their current attainment is assessed to give us a ‘baseline’ from where they will progress. In addition to the assessments that all children take part in and depending upon their needs, other assessments may be needed. If your child has SEN, we may carry out further assessments in order for us to identify any needs they may have accurately. This will be done through a range of methods including classroom observations, in school assessment materials or in conjunction with outside agencies such as the Educational Psychologist.
These may include;
Communication and interaction (SLCN, ASC)
- Speech and Language Link Assessment
- Speech Therapy Assessments – which may focus on sound production, language understanding, or other relevant assessments of your child’s needs
Cognition and learning (MLD, PMLD, SLD, SpLD)
- Subject specific assessment
- Education Psychology Assessments – which may include memory, understanding, reasoning, logic, and general skills assessment
- Descriptors from the Cognition and learning team
Social, Emotional and Health Difficulties
- Assess through observations of pupils
Sensory and/or Physical Difficulties
- Movement Programme baseline assessment
- Handwriting assessment using OT referral
Children are assessed against age related expectations within the National Curriculum 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). Aspirational targets are set for all children to ensure that all children make good progress, including those not ready to access the National Curriculum.
The class teacher, alongside the SENCo will discuss the child’s needs and what support would be appropriate. Teachers use assessments and observations of children on a regular basis to review their needs and what provision is most appropriate. Different children will require different levels of support in order to bridge the gap to achieve age expectations which could be on a one to one basis, with a group, run by a teacher or teaching assistant or through peer support and in or out of class. Throughout the process, we keep an on-going dialogue with parents.
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. We operate an ‘open-door’ policy, where parents and carers are welcome to come into school to discuss any concerns they may have.
For further information please view or download our Accessibility Plan which can be found in the School Policies section of our website.
