Special Educational Needs and Disability Policy 2017

The named Governors for special educational needs are Mrs Karen Goody and Mrs Sandra Higgins. The Special Education Needs and Disability Co-ordinator is Karen Goody.

This SEND policy was written to take into account changes to the Children and Families Act 2014 to create a joint approach for children and young people with the most complex needs. This policy works alongside the ‘Local Offer’ of all the services available to children and young people with SEND aged 0 – 25 across education, health and social care.

Children and young people are encouraged to have a view, voice their opinions and be involved in any decision making that affects the outcomes they need to achieve.

A child of compulsory school age or a young person has a learning difficulty or disability if he or she:

• has a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others of the same age, or

• has a disability which prevents or hinders him or her from making use of educational facilities of a kind generally provided for others of the same age in mainstream schools or mainstream post-16 institutions

(Code of Practice 2014)

At MillFieldPrimary School, we are committed to ensuring equality of education and opportunity for all of our pupils. We aim to develop a culture of inclusion and diversity in which all are able to participate fully in the life of the school. At MillFieldPrimary School we believe that diversity is a strength, which should be respected and valued by all who learn, teach and visit here.

This year we have/are:

Extended our range of reading books to support pupils who find reading challenging.
Provided training for teaching assistants who support pupils with Special Educational Needs.
Provided training for teachers in writing Pupil Profile sheets.
Obtained extra support in early identification in Speech and Language concerns.
Working closely with the cluster to enable parents to have access to an Educational Psychologist and/or SEND services to talk to informally if needed

Aims

We aim to provide every child with access to a broad and balanced education. This includes the National Curriculum in line with the Special Educational Needs Code of Practice. Our aims are:

To ensure that all pupils with SEND have their needs identified in order to support academic progression and continued good physical and mental health and well-being.
To ensure that every child is protected from harm and neglect and that every effort is made to enable them to learn and grow independently.
To ensure all children can access a balanced curriculum, differentiated where appropriate
To ensure that all pupils with SEND are able to fully access the curriculum by providing extra support or additional resources where appropriate and by removing their barriers to learning.

Objectives

Identify the needs of pupils with SEND as early as possible. This is most effectively done by gathering information from parents, education, health and care services (and feeding schools or early years settings – where applicable) prior to the child’s entry into the school.
Monitoring the progress of all pupils in order to aid the identification of pupils with SEND. Continuous monitoring of those pupils with SEND by their teachers will help to ensure that they are able to reach their full potential.
Make appropriate provision to overcome all barriers to learning and ensure pupils with SEND have full access to the National Curriculum. This will be co-ordinated by Karen Goody and will be carefully monitored and regularly reviewed in order to ensure that individual targets are being met and all pupils’ needs are catered for.
Work with parents to gain a better understanding of their child, and involve them in all stages of their child’s education. This includes supporting them in terms of understanding SEND procedures and practices, providing regular reports on their child progress and providing information on the provision for pupils within the school as a whole and the effectiveness of the SEND policy and the schools SEND work.
Work with and in support of outside agencies when the pupils’ needs cannot be met by the school alone.
Create a school environment where the pupils feel safe to voice their opinions of their own needs. This will be reflected in decision making but also encouraged through wider opportunities for participation in school life.

A yearly report will be discussed with the governors with regard to the SEND register provision and implementation of the SEND policy.

Responsibility for co-ordination for SEND provision.

The person responsible for overseeing the provision for children with SEND is Karen Goody in co-ordination with the class teacher and support staff.

Arrangements for co-ordinating SENDD provision

Karen Goody will hold details of all SEND records and pupil profile sheets for individual pupils. School has a copy of the SEND Policy on the website and other documents to support SEND are available to the staff on request. At the start of a new academic year Pupil Profile sheets will be emailed to staff. A meeting will be set up for the new staff to ensure they are supporting in knowing how to identify and refer children that they have concerns about.

Parents are encouraged to contact school to discuss arrangements prior to their child starting school if there are any concerns. School will make contact with Early Year’s settings to discuss the needs of children coming from there to school and arrange transition meetings for the parents/children.

School will work closely with external agencies to facilitate the smooth transition of children with SEND needs

Admission Arrangements

The admission arrangements for all pupils are in accordance with national legislation, including the Equality Act 2010. This includes children with any level of SEND; those with Statements of SEND (EHCP plan from September 2014).

All SEND paperwork should be passed to the Karen Goody by previous settings as soon as possible. If the child is making a transition from another school, a meeting may be set up between the feeding schools as soon as possible. If the child is making a transition from another school, a meeting may be set up between the feeding school and the receiving school’s SENCO to aid the smooth transition of the pupil and discuss arrangements to be made as well as any other important information relating to that child’s needs. Where face to face meetings are not possible, contact will be made via telephone to ensure that there is a good understanding of what type of provision is required.

The school will do its best to ensure that the necessary provisions and preparations are made prior (where possible) to the start of the child’s school year. The child will be closely monitored from the start of the new school year to ensure that all appropriate provisions are in place.

** School will use its professional judgment as to whether the school can meet the needs of the child. This will include a meeting with the parent and child prior to admission. It may also include the booking of early reviews to discuss the placement.

We reserve the right to delay admission until we can fully ensure we can meet the physical, intellectual, language, social and emotional needs of the child and that the school is the most suitable provision possible in ensuring they have access to all the services they have to reach the best outcomes in the child’s learning. **

Specialist SEND provision

The school is accessible for any child who can access the mainstream curriculum. The school is wheel chair accessible with disabled toilet facilities. Within the disabled toilet facilities there is also a fixed hoist to support children in wheel chairs. We work closely with occupational therapist and physiotherapists to support the needs of children as much as we can.

Allocation of resources for pupils with SEND

We have a range of resources that are accessible for pupils with SEND. The resources are available to meet the needs of the pupils depending on their learning style. We have a number of personalised learning programmes to include:

Targeted Literacy / Numeracy Intervention
One to One tuition.
Phonic schemes.
Number Shark
Word Shark
Numicon
Speech and Language Support
Play Therapy
Physiotherapy
Laptops
Dragon Speak

Identification and review of pupil needs

The school continues to monitor all children so that any who are identified as having additional needs are assessed and provision made for them as early as possible. The school has a successful system for identifying, assessing and providing support for pupils with Special Educational Needs. Their progress is closely monitored and the school continues to seek advice from the Educational Psychologist, Inclusion Service, Physiotherapy, Speech and Language Therapist and Health service. Relevant information is given to staff via staff meetings and Inset training.

A graduated approach: Quality First Teaching

Any pupils who are falling significantly outside of the range of expected academic achievement in line with predicted performance indicators and grade boundaries will be monitored.
Once a pupil has been identified as possibly having SEND they will be closely monitored by staff in order to gage their level of learning and possible difficulties.
The child’s class teacher will take steps to provide differentiated learning opportunities that will aid the pupils academic progression and enable the teacher to better understand the provision and teaching style that needs to be applied.
The SENCO will be consulted as needed for support and advice and may wish to observe the pupil in class.
Parents will be informed fully of every stage of their child’s development and the circumstances under which they are being monitored. Parents are encouraged to share information and knowledge with the school.
Pupil progress meetings are used to assess the progress being made by the child. The frequency of these meetings is dependent on the individual child’s needs and the progress being made.

Children will have access to quality first teaching with differentiated challenging tasks according to their need. They may be grouped in ability groups as well as friendship groups in order to be successful and achieve at a personal level. Children may also have access to 1 to 1 working in order to meet their targets. Children will be appropriately supported within the classroom environment from the class teacher and other members of the school team or outside agencies. To support children we will have a range of resources including: Physical, Visual, Interactive, Auditory and extra staffing that are accessed when making a referral for extra support from the complex needs service.

Referral for Statement

If a child has lifelong or significant difficulties they may undergo a Statutory Assessment Process which is usually requested by the school but can be requested by a parent. The decision to make a referral for a statement (EHCP) will be taken at a progress review. The application for a statement will combine information from a variety of sources included:

Parents
Teachers
SENDCO
Head teacher
Health Professionals
Complex Needs Service

Following statutory assessment a EHCP (from September 2014) will be provided by the local authority if it is decided that the school can not provide for the child’s needs on its own. The school and the child’s parents will be consulted before the decision is made. Parents have a right to appeal against the decision either for or against an EHCP. Once an EHCP is completed it will be kept as part of the student’s formal record and reviewed annually by staff, parents, pupil and other agencies involved. The annual review enables provision for the pupil to be evaluated and where appropriate for changes to be put in place, for example, reducing or increasing levels of support.

Access to the curriculum

Pupils with SEND will be given access to the curriculum through the specialist SEND provision provided by the school as is necessary, as far as possible in line with the wishes of the parents and the needs of the individual. It is our aim to ensure that all resources and SEND provisions are being used effectively and efficiently within the school setting in order to support the taught curriculum and enable to reach their full potential. The school does this by:

Keeping staff fully informed of the SEND of any pupils in their care including sharing progress reports, medical reports and teacher feedback.
Training is available for staff to keep up to date with teaching methods that relay the progress of all pupils including those with SEND.
Using in class provision and support effectively to ensure that the curriculum is differentiated where necessary.
Setting appropriate individual targets that motivate pupils to do their best and celebrating achievements at all levels.
Promoting an inclusive ethos throughout our school and encouraging social responsibility and understanding amongst all our pupils.

In service training

We aim to keep all school staff up to date with relevant training and developments in relation to the needs of the pupils with SEND. The SENCO team attend relevant SEND courses and facilities / sign posts relevant SEND focused external training opportunities for all staff. We recognise the need to train all our staff on any SEND issues and the SENCO with the school leadership team ensures that training opportunities are matched to school development priorities and those identified by the training needs of the staff.

Links to support services

Teachers and facilities can be accessed by a referral to the complex needs service, this is done in conjunction with the child’s class teacher and SENCO. We can also access and sign post to other agencies as and when needed.

Working in partnership with parents

School will work closely with parents to discuss any concerns and possible referrals that need to take place. This can be done informally or through a formal appointment.

Links with other schools

We work within a cluster of schools that offer support and guidance for any concerns we have with regard to well-being. This is accessed through a system of referral in partnership with the parents that enables us to access a range of services including: CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service), family intervention workers and a variety of other agency support. TAMHS (Targeted Mental Health in Schools)workers in the cluster can also be accessed using the referral form. These two agencies support the emotional well-being of families and children /young people.

Link with other agencies and voluntary organisations

This will include meeting with any agencies that are involved with the child to pass on any relevant information and identify any possible training needs. Special Educational Needs children leaving Key Stage 2 and moving into Key Stage 3 will be identified and this information will be shared with the relevant person at the high school they will be attending. Transition visits and meetings will take place between all involved. This will be co-ordinated by Karen Goody, Julie Keefe (Learning Mentor/ Child Protection Officer) and Joanna Salmon (Attendance Support)

Children Looked After

The education of children looked after with regard to SEND will be tracked and monitored in school to ensure they work towards their achievements.

Julie Keefe is the nominated person in school who co-ordinates the meetings alongside Karen Goody to support these children. Support is available to them through the CNS team (Complex Needs Service) based at Adams Court. The CNS team monitor and track the progress and performance in co-ordination with the school. This is accessed through the Virtual School where school input the relevant data at key points through the year to enable them to track looked after children.

Complaints Procedure

If a parent or carer has any concerns or complaints regarding the education of SEND children in MillFieldPrimary School please speak to Karen Goody. If this cannot be resolved an appointment will need to be made with the Head Teacher.

Useful Contacts

Education Psychology: Val White 0113 395 1039

SEND and Inclusion East North East: Jackie Claxton-Ruddock 0113 395 1039

Child Health and Disability Team: Karen Mosgrove 0113 395 2280

Occupational Therapist Team: 0113 395 2280

Regional Specialist Team: 0113 392 2446

SENDSAP: Victoria Coyle 0113 395 1030

The SENDsory Service: Tony Bowyer 0113 395 0556

Deaf and Hearing Impairment Team: 0113 395 1085

Visual Impairment Team: 0113 395 1111

Deaf Start: 0113 395 1094

Natalie Samuels: 07891 279 105

Further information may also be accessed through the internet at: