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
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”.
As part of this approach, we will produce a SEN Support Plan that describes the provision that we will make to meet a child’s special educational needs and agreed outcomes. The school aims to work in partnership with parents as well as other agencies for additional assessments and advice, if necessary. eg, the Educational Psychology Service, Learning Difficulties and Disabilities Inclusion Service, Speech and Language Therapy Team, CAMHS, school nursing, Paediatricians etc. Parents will be consulted at every stage of this process.
- Assess a child’s special educational needs
- Plan the provision to meet your child’s aspirations and agreed outcomes
- Do put the provision in place to meet those outcomes
- Review the support and progress
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.
Pupil progress towards outcomes/targets is continually assessed and reviewed through:
- Teacher assessments/tests
- Progress towards individual targets
- National curriculum testing (including Year 1 Phonics test)
- Information provided by parents, carers and other professionals
- Records provided by other schools a child may have attended.
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. We currently have two EHC Plans.
For more detailed information see the Local Offer