Special Educational Needs

Introduction

“A child has special educational needs if he or she has a leaning difficulty which calls for special educational provision to be made for him or her”.

A child has a learning difficulty if he or she:-

  • Has a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of children with the same age.
  • Has a disability, which either prevents or hinders the child from making use of the educational facilities of a kind, provided for children of the same age  in schools within the area of the local authority.

Special educational provision means:-

“Educational provision which is additional to or otherwise different from, the educational provision made generally for children of the child’s age in maintained schools, other than special schools, in the area”.

(Part of Section 156, Education Act 1993).

Nationally, about twenty per cent of children may have some form of special educational needs at some time.

In the ‘Code of Practice on the identification and Assessment of Special Educational Needs’ which the school has regard to, it states that:-

The needs of all pupils who may have special educational needs either throughout, or at any time during their school careers must be addressed; the code recognises that there is a continuum of needs and a continuum of provision, which may be made a wide variety of different forms.

Children with special educational needs require the greatest possible access to a broad and balanced education, including the National Curriculum.

 

Special Educational Needs Provision

The objectives of the School’s Special Educational Needs (SEN) policy are:-

  • To support those children, at whatever level, enabling them to overcome their difficulties to such an extent that they are able to cope and progress within the learning environment.
  • To improve children’s self esteem by setting tasks that are in achievable steps, thereby promoting success and fostering self-motivation.

The School has an SEN Coordinator (SENCO) responsible for the day-to-day operation of the SEN policy.

The SENCO is responsible for coordinating educational provision in consultation with the Head Teacher, and with advice from class teachers, the Learning Support team and any other relevant agencies.

 

Identification, Assessment and Provision for all Pupils with SEN

Identification of children with Special Educational Needs can come through a variety of sources:-

  • Information received from outside agencies.
  • Screening and testing procedures.
  • Monitoring of children’s work and progress.
  • Concerns expressed by associate carers.

Children with Special Educational Needs still need full access to the National Curriculum and to a broad and balanced curriculum.  They may also need more specific work in relation to a particular learning or behavioural difficulty.  Each child needing this level of support has an Individual Education Plan (IEP) that identifies the specific programme to address the areas identified.  This programme is reviewed every term.  Parents are fully informed about these needs and are asked to read and sign all relevant forms.

All children with Special Educational Needs are integrated into classes throughout the School, but are sometimes withdrawn for support programmes.

We keep a Special Needs register to ensure that children, for whom concerns have been raised, are identified on that register either as a School Concern, School Action or School Action Plus category.

School Concern is the initial stage on the SEN Register.  This covers children about whom the teacher has concerns.  School Action relates to those children who need the curriculum differentiated to suit their level of ability.  School Action Plus relates to children who may require specialist help, e.g. from Speech and Language therapy or Educational Psychologist.

Individual Educational Plans (IEP’s) are written and reviewed termly to enable the children to be supported and their progress monitored.

When evaluating the success of the SEN policy, we look at the Special Needs register to ensure that children for whom concerns have been raised are identified on that register.  We ensure that the action planned and reviewed on their IEP’s relate to the children’s progress.  We monitor the progress of these children closely to ensure they meet expected targets and levels of attainment.

Parents are encouraged to work in partnership with the School and have an opportunity to be aware of and involved in the educational provision within the School.  If concerns arise they should initially talk with the class teacher.  Should there be need for further discussion, then they should consult with the Heal teacher/SENCO.  If concerns are not resolved then discussion with the Educational Psychologist, other outside agencies or Governors may be appropriate.

 

Staffing Policies and Partnership with Bodies Beyond the School

SEN in-service training is made available to the staff through staff meetings, teacher development days and courses arranged externally.  Teaching Assistants may also receive training in situ by class teachers and Learning Support Team members.

The School liaises and works closely with a range of support services including:-

  • Educational Psychologist
  • Learning Support Team
  • Speech and Language Therapist
  • Behaviour Support Team
  • Physical and Sensory
  • Impairment Support Service
  • Advisory Teacher for pupils with specific learning difficulties
  • Advisory Teacher for Visual Difficulties

Partnership with the parents is viewed as being of paramount importance and as such they are involved throughout all stages of Special Needs Support.  The action planned on the individual Education Plan (IEP) is shared with the parents and their involvement is valued.

The SENCO/Year 6 teachers liaise with Special Needs teachers at the relevant secondary schools during the final term of those Year 6 pupils who have received support.  Special needs records are passed to their receiving school alongside the child’s class records.

The School SENCO is Mrs Bonnie Kennedy.

The School Governor responsible for Special Needs is Mrs Linda Miller.

 

Able Children

The School has an Able Children Coordinator responsible for the day to day operation of the Able Children Policy.  Able Children may constitute between 5 to 10% of a class.  Their ability in one, several or all of the areas of the curriculum means that the Teacher will need to provide more challenging activities within the topic being taught.  It is our aim to make sure that these activities link to the main work being carried out and do not just mean that the able child has more to do or is required to finish a piece of work more quickly.

Most able children benefit from carrying out both open-ended investigations, which are highly reliant on selection and application of learnt skills, and also co-operative group work where their social skills can be developed.

Able children are identified by the class teacher through test results and observation.  The Able Child Coordinator monitors their progress and supports the class teacher in providing suitable activities for them.

The children are supported in class or maybe withdrawn to work on programmes.  Periodically, able children from each class will spend some time with the Co-ordinator, working on extension activities designed to develop linguistic, problem solving and social skills.

The teacher responsible for more able children/Gifted & Talented is Miss O’Connor.