RaddlebarnPrimary School

Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) Policy

1. Philosophy

A child has SEND if they:

a)have a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of children of the same age; or

b)have a disability which prevents or hinders the child from making use of educational facilities of a kind generally provided for children of the same age in schools within the area of the local educational authority

c)is under five and falls within the definition at a) or b) or would so if special educational provision was not made for the child.

A child must not be regarded as having a learning difficulty solely because the language or medium of communication of the home is different from the language in which he or she is or will be taught.

Special educational provision means:

a)for a child of two or over, 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

b)for a child under two, educational provision of any kind.

(Education Act 1996, Section 312)

2. Aimsand Objectives

RaddlebarnSchoolis committed to providing an appropriate and high quality education to all its pupils. We believe that all children, including those identified as having Special Educational Needs and Disabilities 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.

Raddlebarn is an Inclusive school, which aims to foster a positive attitude to, and about all children including those with special needs, and to value their views and their achievements. The school is flexible in its approach to the curriculum for children with special needs, whilst ensuring access to the full breadth of that curriculum. Learning support is seen as a service for the school as a whole, with the responsibility of providing for children with SEND an integral part of all teaching and learning.

In accordance with the Special Education Needs and Disability Discrimination Act 2001, the school aims to ensure that it will not treat disabled pupils less favourably for a reason relating to their disability and will take reasonable steps to ensure that they are not placed at a substantial disadvantage to those who are not disabled.

The school aims to work closely with parents of children with SEND, as they have a vital role to play in supporting their child’s education.

Parents are informed through reports, Parents’ Evenings and informal conversations, of the progress that their children are making with basic skills and the wider curriculum.

For children who are identified as having specific needs, whether they are medical, behavioural or educational, the school seeks to work in partnership with their parents.

Children with SEND will be able to access the curriculum through small group teaching, one to one support, and Outside Agency support and specialist resources.

This policy sets out

  • The duties and responsibilities of all members of staff
  • The statutory rights of parents
  • Procedures undertaken by the school and outside agencies
  • Assessment procedures
  • Pupil’s role in the process

3. Planning /Curriculum content

Access to the curriculum

Access to the broad curriculum available at RaddlebarnSchool is achieved through effective differentiation which is practised across the curriculum by the school’s teaching staff. The philosophy of differentiation is embedded in the school’s curriculum development and planning procedures, and is evident in the schemes of work produced by the staff.

IEPs

The IEP is a planning, teaching and reviewing tool.

The IEP underpins the process of planning intervention for the individual pupil with SEN.

When pupils in the same group, class or subject lesson have common targets a group learning plan is drawn up rather than producing IEPs for each child.

Setting up IEPs

Targets are set for IEPs as a direct result of the assessments made on the pupil’s progress. New targets may be set in the following ways

  • The Class Teacher and Teacher Assistant consider together how far the child has progressed with the target. If there has been little progress then the target may be broken into smaller steps on the new IEP. Staff may obtain pupils views about their progress incidentally during lessons, in written or pictorial form, or at the review meeting. These views would then be considered at the review meeting. New targets would follow the progression of the National Curriculum or the P Levels, whichever the pupil is working with.
  • Wherever possible or appropriate children are invited to take part in the review meeting, alongside their parents and staff. This may initially be for the last five minutes, and could eventually be for the whole meeting, unless on occasions the parents or staff present wish to express their views without the child being present. As pupils progress through the school, become more able to express their views and concerns, targets may be set to address issues they raise, before or during the review meeting.
  • Children identified through the SEN Audit would usually have targets set following the Audit Continuum. In this way progress can be tracked with the following year’s SEN Audit. It is also very specific to the difficulties highlighted at the Audit, and so support can be directed to specific skills rather than to Literacy in general.
  • With advice from the support services working with the child or giving training to the appropriate Teaching Assistant.

4. Organisation/Roles and Responsibilities

a)The Governing Body, in cooperation with the Head teacher, determines the school’s general policy and approach to provision for pupils with special educational needs, including staffing and funding arrangements.

b)The Head teacher has the responsibility for day-to-day management of provision for pupils with special educational needs, works closely with the SENCO and ensures full staff participation in the development and implementation of the SENDpolicy

c)The SENCO has the responsibility for the following :-

  • Overseeing the day-to-day operation ofthe school's SEND policy
  • Coordinating and monitoring provision for pupils with SEND
  • Liaising with and advising fellow teachers and curriculum coordinators.
  • Overseeing the records of all pupils with special educational needs
  • Liaising with parents of children with special educational needs
  • Liaising with external agencies including the LA’s support and educational psychology services, health and social services, and voluntary bodies.
  • Contributing to the in-service training of staff.
  • Contributing to the identification, assessment, planning, teaching and review of pupils with SEND.

d)The Subject Coordinators are to ensure that subject policies refer to this policy and are consistent with it. They are to assist in the monitoring of provision for pupils with SEND.

e)Class Teachers have the responsibility for the following :-

  • To differentiate for all children according to the needs of each child including children with SEND
  • Initial identification and assessment of pupils within individual classes.
  • Working in partnership with parents, the SENCO, teaching assistants and external agencies to support individual pupils in their classes.
  • Setting targets, planning programmes of work, assessing and teaching per individual plans.
  • Keeping the class Inclusion File up to date.
  • Providing specific action to ensure access to learning for pupils with SEND as identified in the Foundation Stage Curriculum and the National Curriculum.
  • Day-to-day planning with Teaching Assistants.

Training

The school seeks through it’s in-service training, to develop the existing skills and expertise of all staff, so that they can take responsibility for the full range of learning needs. The SENCo raises issues with the Head Teacher that are specific to SEND, when the programme is drawn up each term. These may include for example

  • Input from one of the school’s support services
  • The opportunity to consider new documentation and legal requirements
  • Addressing issues to achieve greater inclusion than we already have in our school.

5. Equal Opportunities, Special Educational Needs and Disabilities and Inclusion

The school would seek to make reasonable adjustments, as appropriate, to ensure that all pupils are included whatever their age, gender, ethnicity, disability, attainment, religion, social and cultural background.

RaddlebarnSchool pursues the Local Authority’s policy on admissions.

Integration arrangements

RaddlebarnSchool in accordance with Section 161(4) of the 1993 Act will ensure that pupils with SEND participate in the activities of the school together with pupils who do not have SEND. This duty applies insofar as it is reasonably practical and compatible with the pupil receiving the necessary special educational provision, the efficient education of other children in the school and the efficient use of resources.

The school will make every reasonable effort to ensure that the children with SEND can enjoy the opportunities for social integration presented by meal-times and recreation time.

The school will make every reasonable effort to support integration in all areas of the curriculum, and on school visits and other social activities.

The school’s Access Plan gives further details of how the school provides for

  • Access to the Environment
  • Access to Information
  • Access to the Curriculum

Behavioural Needs

The school’s Behaviour Policy is communicated through the prospectus, the Behaviour Policy and specifically to pupils on transfer to KS2.

Where a child sometimes needs an additional Individual Behaviour Plan, parental support is a key element in the pupil’s progress. This may be through a home/school diary, a daily feedback session with the Class Teacher or attending meetings to review the child’s progress with the behavioural targets on the plan. The Learning Mentor supports children through the Thumbs up Club to improve self esteem and their behaviour.

Medical Needs

The school seeks updated medical advice from parents at the beginning of each academic year. This may be confidential, but where it is permissible, this information is accessible, via the class register, to all staff teaching the pupil, to the office staff if medication is stored there and to dinner staff in case treatment is needed during dinner time. The school values parental feedback from hospital visits and other appointments attended by the pupil, and any changes needed in their provision throughout the year. As part of the school’s inclusive practise, we work closely with any outside agencies involved with pupils, to ensure that their health and safety needs are met and that all pupils may access as much of thecurriculum as is possible.

6. ICT

The SENCo receives training each year in order to carry out the annual SEN Audit in the Autumn Term. The CRISP software is used to inform the LA of the outcome of all children who are assessed by the SEN Audit. We use this as a tool to look at SEN across the whole school.

Specific Software is used to support children with SEND.

Where children are unable to access lessons in the ICT suite, links could be made to computers in other areas so that a child could participate in the lesson. (The school would follow guidance and suggestions from the Outreach Service for this.)

7. Assessment, Recording and Reporting

The key test of the need for further action, whatever the level of pupils’ difficulties, is evidence that the pupil is not making adequate progress. Not all pupils will progress at the same rate. A judgement has to be made in each case as to what is reasonable for a particular pupil to achieve. Where progress is not adequate, some additional or different action will need to be taken to enable the pupil to learn more effectively.

We value the part that parents play in supporting children with SEND and seek to involve them from the outset when needs are identified, in order to

  1. build a picture together of the strengths and weaknesses of their children
  2. inform them of the school’s procedures for provision for children with SEND
  3. give them the opportunity to talk about any concerns that they may have about their child’s difficulties

RaddlebarnSchool has adopted the model for the identification and assessment of special needs outlined in the S.E.N. Code of Practice which became effective from 1 January 2002.

This involves the following graduated response to a child’s special educational needs, rather than stages to move through in order to obtain a statement,

  • Identifying SEND including the use of screening or assessment School based stages of assessment,school tracking, record keeping and review Early Years/School Action – Early Years/ School Action Plustools (these include the SEN Audit each Autumn Term, half termly assessments of children’s writing using the Criterion Scale, QCA tests, SATs at the end of Year 2, specific diagnostic tests carried out by PSSS and Speech and Language Therapist. etc.)
  • Involving parents, pupils and outside agencies
  • If a child continues to demonstrate cause for concern a request for Statutory Assessment will be made to the LA or a Provision Plan (PP) will be written.
  • The transfer of information on pupils with SEND between phases and between schools
  • Preparing a Proposed Provision Plan. (Parents still retaining the right to request the LEA to make a Statutory Assessment of their child’s Special Educational Needs.)

The triggers for intervention through School Action could be the teacher’s or others’ concern, underpinned by evidence, that a child who despite receiving differentiated learning opportunities:

  • Makes little or no progress even when teaching approaches are targeted particularly in a child’s identified area of weakness
  • Shows signs of difficulty in developing literacy or mathematics skills which result in poor attainment in some curriculum areas.
  • Presents persistent emotional or behavioural difficulties which are not improved by the behaviour management techniques employed in the School
  • Has sensory or physical problems, and continues to make little or no progress despite the provision of specialist equipment.
  • Has communication and/or interaction difficulties, and continues to make little or no progress despite the provision of a differentiated curriculum
  • SEN Audit
  • CRISP

8. Monitoring and Evaluation

Termly and Annual reviews are held for all children with a statement or who have Proposed Provision Plans.

Children with IEPs have them reviewed each term with their parents. One of these reviews may be during the appointment made with the class teacher at Parents Evening.

9. Resources

Pupils with SEND will be allocated appropriate resources to support their needs.

This may be in the form of:

a)Additional classroom and ICT support by Teaching Assistants.

b)Specialist equipment as detailed in statements and individual plans.

c)Resources that will assist class teachers, support staff and the SENCO in the delivery of the targets outlined.

d)Access to ICT hardware and software.

Images and Culture

The school seeks to ensure that all children have access to positive images of children and adults with disabilities, ages and from different ethnic backgrounds. We seek to celebrate the diversity of ethnicity in school, and hold regular ‘One World Weeks’ or themes.

Time allocation of support for children with SEND

The school seeks to give as a MINIMUM, the time allocations as suggested by the Local Authority and agreed with the Head Teacher of:-

30 minutes additional support for children at the SA stage.

50 minutes additional support for children at the SA+ stage.

10. Specific Issues

Parent Partnership Services.

All parents of children with SEND are entitled to have access to advice and information about matters relating to SEND, and will be given information about the Parent Partnership Service.

Arrangements for the treatment of complaints

In the majority of cases we would hope through an informal meeting to address issues or concerns raised by parents. Should parents feel that the outcome is not satisfactory, we would suggest that they could follow the procedure outlined in the school’s prospectus.

11. Key Personnel

Helen Burridge is the Inclusion Leader [incorporating S.E.N. co-ordinator (SENCO) for Nursery, Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2]

Jayne Hinchliffe and Lorraine Loveland-Armour are named SEND governors ~ they review provision and practice regularly with the Inclusion Leader.

12. Guidance consulted and Consultation process

This policy has been written with reference to the following:-

The updated (1999) “Developing an inclusive policy for your school”, a Centre for Studies on Inclusive Education guide (CSIE)

The Special Education Needs –Code of Practice (November 2001) which has reference to:-

The Special Education Needs and Disability Act 2001

This policy has been written with input fromLynn Weston. PSSS

13. Policy review

This policy was put together in July 2009 with N.Branch

It has been reviewed by Helen Burridge and Fiona Chamberlain in September 2011

Date for review – Summer term 2014

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