Bromham C of E Lower School

RobertBruceMiddle School

Inclusion Policy

Rationale

At RobertBruceMiddle School we believe that it is every child’s right to achieve his/her full potential regardless of ability, gender, race or socio-economic circumstance. We recognise that although the majority of children should achieve this through the normal differentiated and personalised curriculum, there are some children whose learning or behaviour requires special provision.

Definitions

A child has a learning difficulty if s/he:

a) Has greater learning difficulty than the majority of children of the same age.

b) Has a physical disability that prevents or hinders him/her from making use of educational facilities available for children of the same age in schools within the LA.

c) Is under compulsory school age and falls under categories a and b above or would do so if special educational provision were not made for them.

Special Education Provision is educational provision that is additional to or otherwise different from the educational provision made generally for children of that age in LA schools.

Philosophy

We do acknowledge that a child may have specific difficulties that require individual work programmes for a period of time.

We believe that identification of a child’s special needs as early as possible is essential. However we are also aware that a child may need time to mature before formal procedures begin and that, during this period, careful monitoring should take place.

We believe that since a child’s intellectual development is affected by his/her social, emotional and physical growth and that any diagnostic procedures and programmes of work must take these factors into account.

Although we recognise that Special Needs provision is a whole school responsibility and that the SENCO and Inclusion support team are there as informed advisers, the main responsibility for the SEND child still lies with the class teacher.We also believe that observation and record keeping are vital elements in the sphere of Special Needs.

All our work is under-pinned by the belief that collaborative working is the most effective way of working. We strive to attain, build upon and rely on the support of our families and external agencies to ensure that the needs of the child are met with rigour to enable each student to reach and go beyond their full potential.

Aims

-To ensure that all pupils have an equal right to attain their full potential whatever their ability or educational need.

-To ensure that all pupils have entitlement and access to the Creative Curriculum and National Curriculum.

-To develop a broad and balanced curriculum where all individual needs are recognised and identified.

-To develop flexible teaching styles and strategies to ensure differentiation of the curriculum for all pupils.

-To identify as quickly as possible those children who have special educational needs at either end of the ability range. These needs may be cognitive, physical, social/emotional or difficulties in language and communication.

-To provide continuous assessment and recording of pupils’ progress and to ensure all records and information are passed on to teachers, parents, outside agencies and transfer schools.

-To work in partnership with parents. Parents are to be involved in all decision-making in connection with their child’s education.

-To ensure regular consultation between parents, teachers, support staff and SENCO.

-To ensure pupils with educational needs are involved in the decision-making process concerning their targets and work programmes.

Roles and Responsibilities

The roles and responsibilities laid out in the Code of Practice (2001) for the Governing Body and the Headteacher are as follows:

The Governing Body will:

Determine the School’s general policy and approach to provision for pupils with SEND.

Establish appropriate staffing and funding arrangements.

Maintain a general oversight of the School’s work.

Appoint a member of the Governing Body to monitor and report back on the School’s work on Inclusion.

The Headteacher will:

Line Manage the member of the SLT responsible for the School’s provision for SEND and the Inclusion team.

Keep the Governing Body informed of developments and provision for SEND.

The member of the Senior Leadership Team responsible for Inclusion will:

Line Manage and work closely with the SENCo and the Inclusion Team to ensure rigorous and consistent day-to-day management of the School’s provision for SEND.

Keep the Head Teacher informed of developments and provision for SEND.

The SENCO will:

Work closely with the member of the SLT responsible for Inclusion, teachers, support staff, students and their families to implement, monitor, evaluate and review inclusive practice in line with the National Strategies wave model.

Be closely involved in the strategic development of the Inclusion policy and provision.

Have day-to-day responsibility for the operation of the Inclusion policy.

Review and update thewhole school provision map.

Monitor the progress of SEN pupils through regular tracking.

Create a termly report on current Inclusion issues for the member of SLT responsible for Inclusion to share with the link Governor.

Ensure all staff have up to date knowledge of strategies for a wide range of children with SEND.

Monitor the class teachers’ Wave 1 and 2 strategies and ensure robust SMART targets are set, monitored, evaluated and reviewed.

Co-ordinate provision for pupils with SEND (Wave 3).

Ensure that IEPs are current and reviewed termly, ensuring that families have an active role in the process.

Allocate support staff according to the needs of the students highlighted in the Inclusion Register, ensuring that hours of support are met.

Ensure students at School Action Plus and those who are Statemented have regular meetings with their Key Worker, and monitor the effectiveness of these.

Plan and ensure the implementation of targeted interventions which will impact on the development of the students.

Ensure that school records, communications with outside agencies and families and SENSA forms are completed within the required timelines and current.

Liaise with families and external agencies.

The Assistant to the SENCo will:

Be involved in the strategic development of the Inclusion policy and provision.

Ensure that IEPs are current and reviewed termly, ensuring that families have an active role in the process.

Monitor the class teachers’ Wave 1 and 2 strategies and ensure robust SMART targets are set, monitored, evaluated and reviewed.

Co-ordinate provision for pupils with SEND (Wave 3).

Plan and ensure the implementation of targeted interventions which will impact on the development of the students.

Liaise with families and external agencies.

Provide administrative support where necessary to ensure that school records, communications with outside agencies and families and SENSA forms are completed within the required timelines and are current.

The Key Workers will:

Be responsible for writing the students IEPs to then be given to the SENCo for approval.IEPs for year 5 written within the first ½ term of child arriving at school, IEPs for new students to be written within the first ½ term of their arrival at school.

Meet their allocated students at least fortnightly to monitor access to learning and progress towards targets.

Hold overall responsibility for ensuring staff know the targets of their student and strategies that can be used to best meet them.

Ensure records are kept of all meetings and interventions for their students which provide an overview of support and progress towards targets.

Provide the SENCo with their Key Worker file every half-term for monitoring purposes.

The Form Tutor will:

Collate the information required to write the IEPs for any students in their form group within the specified timeframe.

Ensure the Key Worker for those students receives the IEP information.

The Teaching and Support Staff will:

Be involved in the development and implementation of the Inclusion policy.

Be aware of the school’s procedures for identifying, assessing and making provision for pupils with SEND.

Deliver a stimulating and differentiated curriculum which personalises the learning experiences for all our pupils, ensuring that all individual needs are being met.

Collate all relevant IEP targetsfor studentsin their form on the Inclusion Register.

Ensure all IEP targets are planned for, monitored, evaluated and revised in accordance with a pupil’s individual needs, and any changes shared with the Key Worker and Form Tutor.

Ensure all children causing concern are highlighted to the SENCo as soon as possible.

Staff Training

The school is committed to gaining expertise in the area of SEND. SEN training for the SENCo is regular and ongoing. Whole staff INSED is arranged as appropriate, in response to particular needs within the school. Additional training for teachers and support staff is made available when necessary and appropriate, particularly training to meet the specific needs of an individual pupil.

Special Educational Needs Provision

Arrangements For Co-ordinating Provision For Pupils With SEND

The needs of the majority of pupils are met in the classroom. These needs will be met by:

• Differentiation in planning, delivery and assessment.
• Flexible teaching and learning styles.
• Appropriate grouping of students for collaborative working.

For some pupils it is necessary for them to spend time in small group work or being withdrawn from the classroom for specific activities related to the needs identified in their IEP. This may be delivered by the teacher or support staff and complements classroom work so that the skills, knowledge and understanding are transferred to the classroom.

Admissions

Admissions to the School will be in line with the current admissions policy. The Governing Body will not automatically refuse admission to a child with previously identified needs unless their needs cannot be met without making unreasonable alterations to the school building or that their inclusion would be incompatible with the education of other children.

Resources

Most of the resources used by pupils with SEND are available within the classroom. Other SEND resources are stored in theInclusion Office or the Inclusion Resource Room. Any particular requests for additional resources are made to the SENCo. A designated amount from the total school budget is allocated to Inclusion.

Identification, Assessment Arrangements and Review Procedures

The school follows the guidance contained in the Special Educational Needs Code of Practice (2001) and the Bedford Borough Guidance on SEN (2011). These documents recommend a graduated approach.

The Code of Practise does not assume that there are hard and fast categories of special educational need, but recognises that pupils’ needs and requirements fall into four broad areas.

Communication and Interaction

Cognition and Learning

Behavioural, Emotional and Social Development

Sensory and/or Physical

Where possible, the school tries to meet every pupil’s needs within the classroom through ensuring that the planning, teaching and learning, assessment methods and the approaches used cater for all needs. However, where it is identified that a pupil is not making satisfactory progress, the class teacher will consult their Head of Department and the SENCo. If this leads to the conclusion that the pupil needs help over and above what is normally available within the class, the pupil will receive help through School Action and an IEP will be drawn up by the Form Tutor/Class Teacher in collaboration with the SENCo and Key Worker.

Stages of assessment

School Action

A child is identified as having special educational needs and provision is made for the child within the School’s existing support structures.

The trigger for initial assessment will be when a teacher, parent, social or health worker identifies a child who has special educational needs.

The class teacher will consult with the SENCO to discuss the difficulties encountered. Following the identification and assessment of need, an Individual Education Programme (IEP) will be drawn up by the class teacher with a planned programme of work for the child. The class teacher will meet with parents and provide a copy of the IEP.The IEP will be written using ‘child-friendly’ language and shared with the child as appropriate for his/her age. A close record of progress will be kept and the child’s progress towards set targets will be reviewed termly with parents.

Targets will be specific, manageable, achievable, realistic and time related (SMART) so that progress can be measured.

If a child is found to be making little progress s/he will move onto the next stage of assessment.

School Action Plus

At this stage, the school will call upon support from external agencies e.g. Educational Psychologist, Social Emotional Behaviour Support Services, Speech and Language and so on.

In some instances a referral will be made, with parents’ permission, using the ‘Common Assessment Framework’. This will only be in cases where a more holistic view of the child needs to be ascertained in order to provide the most appropriate support for the child and his/her family.

Parents will be invited to meet with external agencies if contact with the child is made during the school day. This is to ensure that parents’ perceptions of their child’s difficulties are heard and to have feedback and advice from other professionals.

Again records will be kept of assessments, meetings and discussions and progress towards set targets.

Statutory assessment

The needs of most children will be met at the above two stages but in some instances the decision may be made to seek formal assessment for a statement of special educational need.

The Local Authority recognises that there is a wide spectrum of special educational needs that are frequently inter-related, although there are also specific needs that usually relate directly to particular types of difficulty. Children who are eligible for a statutory assessment will have needs and requirements which may fall into at least one of four areas:

• Communication and interaction
• Behaviour, emotional and social
• Cognition and learning
• Sensory and /or physical

When records show that, over time, the child is making insufficient progress towards their IEP targets and that their attainment is significantly below what would be expected of a child of that age, parents will be involved and the formal process will begin. Formal assessment will involve advice from a range of professionals appropriate to the needs of the individual child. Information and evidence will be collected by the SENCO and Assistant SENCo and this will be passed to the Assessment and Monitoring team. A panel of professionals will meet to discuss whether the request for statutory assessment is appropriate.

Success Criteria of Inclusion Policy

Early identification by staff of children with special educational needs.

Attainment levels average or above average within each year group.

Gradual removal of children from the assessment stages as they progress and gain confidence.

A member of the Governing Body will meet with the SENCOand member of the SLT responsible for Inclusion as appropriate to monitor and discuss the Inclusion profile, new initiatives and standards in SEND practice at the school.

Partnerships

Families

We believe that a child’s success at school depends to some extent on the relationship the school establishes with families. We will therefore ensure that families are informed and involved at all stages and in all decisions. Informal and formal meetings will be held throughout the time the child is identified as having special educational needs.

Links With Other Schools

There is strong liaison between this school and the previous and next phase of education.Lower Schools are contacted over the course of the year and more so during the summer term leading towards transfer;Upper Schools are informed of children’s needs prior to transfer and are invited to attend reviews in the term prior to transfer. Additional supported induction visits are also arranged for some children at both transfer phases. Records are forwarded to the receiving schools and sought from the delivering schools.

Currently, the SENCos from other schools in the cluster meet each term to discuss current SEND issues. These meetings are now being co-ordinated by the strand leader for Access and Inclusion from the LA.

External Support Agencies

The School has strong links with the external support agencies and will seek advice and support when necessary.

These may include:

Learning Support Service

Child Development Centre