Developing a Special Educational Needs and Inclusion Policy

ST JUDE’S CHURCH OF ENGLAND PRIMARY ACADEMY

Special Educational Needs & Inclusion Policy 2015-2017

Rationale:

St Jude’s Church of England Primary Academy is committed to providing an appropriate and high quality education to all the children in our school community.

We believe that:

all children, including those identified as having special educational needs, have a common entitlement to a broad and balanced academic and social curriculum, which is accessible to them, and to be fully included in all aspects of school life.

all children should be equally valued in school. We will strive to eliminate prejudice and discrimination, and to develop an environment where all children can flourish and feel safe.

all staff/stakeholders are committed to inclusion, to develop cultures, policies and practices that include all learners. We aim to engender a sense of community and belonging, and to offer new opportunities to learners who may have experienced previous difficulties.

educational inclusion is about equal opportunities for all learners, whatever their age, gender, ethnicity, impairment, attainment and background. We pay particular attention to the provision for and the achievement of different groups of learners. This does not mean that we will treat all learners in the same way, but that we will respond to learners in ways which take account of their varied life experiences and needs:

girls and boys, men and women
minority ethnic and faith groups, travellers, asylum seekers and refugees
learners who need support to learn English as an additional language (EAL)
learners with special educational needs
learners who are disabled
those who are gifted and talented
those who are looked after by the local authority
others such as those who are sick; those who are young carers; those who are in families under stress;
any learners who are at risk of disaffection and exclusion

This policy describes the way we meet the needs of children who experience barriers to their learning, which may relate to sensory or physical impairment, learning difficulties or emotional or social development, or may relate to factors in their environment, including the learning environment they experience in school.

We recognise that pupils learn at different rates and that there are many factors affecting achievement, including ability, emotional state, age and maturity. We are particularly aware of the needs of our EYFS pupils and Key Stage 1 pupils, for whom maturity is a crucial factor in terms of readiness to learn. We believe that many pupils, at some time in their school career, may experience difficulties which affect their learning, and we recognise that these may be long or short term. We aim to identify these needs as they arise and provide teaching and learning contexts which enable every child to achieve to his or her full potential.

St Jude’s Primary School sees the inclusion of children identified as having special educational needs as an equal opportunities issue, and we will also aim to model inclusion in our staffing policies, relationships with parents/carers and the community. We are trying to move from an SEN approach that locates a problem with the child to looking at what additional provision we need to make for specific children.

The development and monitoring of the school’s work on SEN & Inclusion will be undertaken by the SEN / Inclusion Co-ordinator who reports back to the Headteacher. The SEN Co-ordinator is Louise Steel, a Senior Teacher who leads and manages inclusion support across the school.

Objectives

1. To ensure the SEN and Disability Act and relevant Codes of Practice and guidance are implemented effectively across the school.

2. To ensure equality of opportunity for, and to eliminate prejudice and discrimination against, children with special educational needs.

3. To continually monitor the progress of all pupils, to identify needs as they arise and to provide support as early as possible. This is achieved through termly assessment data analysis and monitoring of the school’s Provision Mapping approach.

4. To provide full access to the curriculum* through differentiated planning by class teachers, SENCO, and support staff as appropriate.

(*Except where disapplication, arising from a Statement occurs, disapplication is very rare, and we aim to offer the full curriculum to all our pupils.)

5. To provide specific input, matched to individual needs, in addition to differentiated class action provision, for those pupils recorded as having additional SEND needs.

6. To ensure that pupils with SEN / Inclusion needs are perceived and accessed positively by all members of the school community.

7. To ensure that we are able to meet the needs of as wide a range as possible of children who live in our catchment area.

8. To enable children to move on from us well equipped in the basic skills of literacy, numeracy and social independence to meet the demands of secondary school life and learning.

9. To support transition from FS>KS1>KS2>KS3

10. To involve parents/carers at every stage in plans to meet their child’s additional needs.

11. To involve the children themselves in planning and in any decision making that affects them.

Arrangements for coordinating SEN provision

1. The SENCO will meet with teacher’s regularly to discuss additional needs concerns and to review interventions/provision maps.

2. At other times, the SENCO will be alerted to newly arising concerns by staff.

3. The SENCO will discuss issues arising from these referrals.

4. The SENCO and Headteacher will use Provision Mapping systems to monitor and evaluate the impact of interventions.

5. Where necessary, reviews will be held more frequently than termly for some children.

6. Targets arising from progress meetings and reviews will be used to inform and support whole class approaches to inclusion, e.g. differentiation, varied teaching styles.

7. The Headteacher monitors the quality and effectiveness of provision for pupils with SEND through classroom observation.

8. SEND support is primarily delivered by class teachers through differentiated teaching methods. Additional support is provided by the SENCO and by trained teaching assistants (TAs) throughout the school. This is funded from the school’s annual budget. The support timetable is reviewed periodically, by the Headteacher, SENCO, and the staff in line with current pupil needs, educational initiatives such as literacy and numeracy strategies, and the budget.

9. Support staff, class teachers, SENCO and outside agencies liaise and share developments in order to inform reviews and forward planning.

Specialised Provision

There are no special educational needs classes at St Jude’s, but we do operate targeted teaching and learning; one-to-one withdrawal with support staff / class teacher; or sessions with providers of external support. We also ensure that the organisation of the school / classes meets the needs of any child with a mobility disability.

Allocation of Resources to and amongst Pupils

Each year we map our provision to show how we allocate resources to each year group and calculate the cost of the whole of our SEND provision. Provision mapping is updated following benchmark assessment periods and interventions – generally on a termly basis.

Access to the Curriculum

The National Curriculum will be made available for all pupils. Where pupils have special educational needs, a graduated response will be adopted – ASSESS, PLAN, DO, REVIEW. The school will, in other than exceptional cases, make full use of classroom and school resources before drawing on external support.
The school will make provision for pupils with special educational needs to match the nature of their individual needs and the class teacher and SENCo will keep regular records of the pupils’ special educational needs, the action taken and the outcomes.

There will be flexible grouping of pupils so that learning needs may be met in individual, small group or whole class contexts.
The curriculum will be differentiated to meet the needs of individual pupils. Teaching styles and flexible groups will reflect this approach.
Schemes of work for pupils, within classes and year groups, will reflect whole school approaches to teaching and learning and will take account of special educational needs.
Curriculum tasks and activities may be broken down into a series of small and achievable steps for pupils who have marked learning difficulties.

English as an Additional Language

Children must not be regarded as having a learning difficulty solely because the language or form of language of their home is different from the language in which they will be taught. However, the school will act to identify, assess and support children who may also have special educational needs.

Provision for Gifted and Talented Children

Many of our children have areas of particular strength or expertise. Where school assessments show an outstanding ability or exceptional levels of attainment, parents will be involved in agreeing support. Support may be aimed at developing other areas, broadening understanding or offering differentiated experiences which will challenge and engage gifted and talented children. We recognise that children may have levels of expertise that are not always seen in school. Parents are asked to inform the school if children have any special gifts or talents that they develop outside school e.g. sports, music, art, dance and drama.

Individual targets and educational plans can be agreed with parents where necessary. These may involve:

Work being planned using targets set for older children
Children working with an older year group for part of the day
Provision of additional books and resources
Advice and expertise from outside agencies
Access to local Secondary provision

Differentiated Curriculum Provision

In order to make progress a child may only require differentiation of the plans for the whole class. The differentiation may involve modifying learning objectives, teaching styles and access strategies.

Under these circumstances, a child’s needs will be provided for within the whole class planning frameworks and individual target setting. Differentiation will be recorded in the daily planning by the class teacher.

Monitoring of progress will be carried out by the class teacher and used to inform future differentiation within whole class planning. The child’s progress will be reviewed at the same intervals as for the rest of the class (usually termly) and a decision made about whether the child is making satisfactory progress at this level of intervention. The school uses the definitions of adequate progress as suggested in the new Code of Practice, that is, progress which:

Closes the attainment gap between the child and their peers
Prevents the attainment gap from growing wider
Is similar to that of peers starting at the same attainment baseline, but less than the majority of peers
Matches or betters the child’s previous rate of progress
Ensures full access to the curriculum
Demonstrates an improvement in self-help or social or personal skills
Demonstrates an improvement in the child’s behaviour

Where a period of differentiated curriculum support (class action – Notice of Concern) has not resulted in the child making adequate progress OR where the nature or level of a child’s needs are unlikely to be met by such an approach, external support may be required.

External support/provision may be required where there is evidence that:

There has been little or no progress made with existing interventions
Additional support is required to develop literacy or numeracy skills
Additional support is required for emotional, behavioural or social development
Additional support is required for sensory or physical impairments
Additional support is required for communication or interaction needs

There are likely to be two groups of children recorded as being SEND:

1. Children who have needs similar to other children within the class, e.g. lack of phonic knowledge or phonological skills, spelling.

2. Children whom we consider to have more severe or longer term needs that are likely to result in an application for further professional advice.

Where needs are similar, it is appropriate to support these children within a group, focussing on the common needs. However, there should be scope within the School Action Plan for each child to have an individual target/s.

Both groups of children will have provision for their common needs in a small group as well as some individualised support for their more unique needs. Provision will run concurrently with differentiated curriculum support. The group may be taught by the class teacher and also supported by a TA. The responsibility for planning for these children remains with the class teacher, in consultation with the SENCO.

Providing the graduated response for additional SEND support

The school offers a differentiated curriculum. When a pupil fails to make progress and shows signs of difficulty in some of the following areas: acquiring literacy and numeracy; presenting persistent behaviour, emotional and social difficulties; has sensory or physical problems; or communication or interaction difficulties, the school will place the pupil on the SEND register and support that is additional to and different from the differentiated curriculum will be provided through the use of a provision map. Interventions will support the pupil in a range of ways including:

Classroom organisation and management
In-class support by teacher/teacher assistant
Withdrawal for individual/small group work
Home/school reading schemes
Behaviour modification programmes
Use of specialist equipment
Alternative teaching strategies

The resources allocated to pupils who have non-statemented special educational needs will be deployed to implement these interventions as outlined in the new Code of Practice. Parents will be informed and pupils will be involved in decisions taken at this stage. If a pupil does not make progress despite the school taking the action outlined, advice will be sought from the appropriate support services; the provision map will be amended accordingly and advice from external agencies will be sought.

Identification and Assessment – a graduated response

If progress is still not achieved, the child may be assessed with a view to initiating a statutory assessment of special educational needs (Education & Health Care Plan). The appropriate forms will be used for recording and referral as necessary.
Identification of children with special educational needs will be undertaken by all staff through the SENCo and the appropriate records will be maintained. Records will be developed through a process of continuous assessment by the class teacher or as a result of standardised tests of educational achievement administered by the class teacher or the special educational needs teacher together with end of Key Stage attainment tests. Assessments allow the pupil to show what they know, understand and can do, as well as to identify any learning difficulties. Where necessary, pupils will be referred to the SENCo / External Support for diagnostic testing to construct a profile of the child’s strengths and weaknesses.
The progress of children with special educational needs will be reviewed through formative and summative assessments as outlined in the new Code of Practice. Provision map reviews will be held termly.

PROVISION MAPS

A child receiving Additional SEND support will have an action plan, set out on the year group or individual (EHCP) provision map. This document forms an individual record for the child and contains information about school-based interventions, observations and assessment, a summary of the child’s additional needs and action taken to meet them, including any advice sought from outside agencies.

Monitoring will be carried out on a regular basis by all those involved with the child. Significant achievements and difficulties will be recorded. The SENCO will look at the monitoring information on a termly basis and make adjustments to the provision for the child, if appropriate.

Provision will be reviewed at least termly, although some pupils may need more frequent reviews. The SENCO will take the lead in the review process, alongside the class teacher. Parents/carers and wherever possible, their child, will be invited to contribute and will be consulted about any further action. As part of the review process, the SENCO and school colleagues, in consultation with the parents/carers, may conclude that despite receiving an individualised programme and/or concentrated support for a considerable period, the child continues to have significant needs which are not being met by current interventions. Where this is the case, a decision may be made to involve external agencies. Examples may include:

Continues to make little or no progress in the areas of concern
Continues working at National Curriculum levels substantially below that expected of children of the same age
Continues to have difficulty in developing literacy and numeracy skills
Has emotional, behavioural or social needs which regularly and significantly interfere with the child’s or others learning
Has sensory or physical needs which require additional specialist equipment or regular advice or visits from a specialist service
Continues to have communication and interaction needs that interfere with the development of social relationships and act as a barrier to learning

External Support

Provision at this level always includes the involvement of outside agencies / specialist services. A variety of support can be offered by these services, such as advice to the school about targets and strategies, specialised assessment or some direct work with the child. The specialist services will always contribute to the planning, monitoring and reviewing of the child’s progress.

School request for a Statutory Assessment (Education Health Care Plan)

For a child who is not making adequate progress, despite a period of school and external support, and in agreement with the parents/carers/carers, the school may request the LA to make a statutory assessment in order to determine whether it is necessary to make an EHCP. Planning, provision, monitoring and review processes continue as before while awaiting the outcome of the request.