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, and Behaviour Support.
- Health diagnosis through local paediatricians at the hospital.
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.