St Ignatius Catholic Primary School

Revised Autumn 2010

St IgnatiusCatholicPrimary School

SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS POLICY

School Mission Statement

Our Catholic school of St Ignatius’ puts the faith and uniqueness of Jesus Christ at the centre of our vision for our children. We all strive to treat every person with respect and understanding. We know that no matter who we are or what our backgrounds, in school we will be listened to and valued. We are all children of God. We are totally committed to providing every opportunity for all of our children to develop intellectually, socially, physically and spiritually through a working partnership with home, parish and other local faith communities so that our children are prepared for further opportunities, responsibilities and experiences.

We work in an atmosphere of reconciliation where we all learn to forgive each other and to start each day afresh.

We acknowledge our great responsibility to help all our children on their individual faith journeys guided by our belief in the Word of God. The diversity of faiths in our school challenges us to teach our children –

• to live together
• pray together
• and play together.

This is our school.

This is our community.

Here we all are,Lord!

INTRODUCTION

Legislation defines a child with special educational needs (SEN) as having:

a) A significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of children of his age

OR

b) A disability which prevents or hinders him/her from making use of educational facilities of a kind generally provided in schools, within the area of the local authority concerned for children of his age.

The 1996 Act confirms previous legislation that children with SEN should be educated in mainstream schools where practicable.

We support this view and therefore we aim to cater for the individual learning needs of each child whilst also recognising the need for specialist provision to ensure access to all aspects of the curriculum for all children.

OBJECTIVES

The aims of the policy are:

To identify pupils with SEN as early as possible and to make appropriate intervention through using appropriate teaching methods;

To identify pupils of all ability who are underachieving and to act upon this;

To support children to make the best progress of which they are capable;

To maintain appropriate records and to monitor pupil progress;

To provide full access to the National Curriculum by providing participation for pupils with SEN, the promotion of good practice for all pupils will be encouraged;

To develop partnership with parents in the education of their child;

To encourage success for all pupils, whatever their level of ability;

To make the best use of available resources;

To work with other agencies in the development of appropriate provision for our pupils with S.E.N;

To provide inclusive learning opportunities for all our pupils;

To continue to develop a whole school approach to meeting the needs of pupils;

Good practice for children with special educational needs is good practice for all children

The SEN Co-ordinator will be responsible for the co-ordination of all matters relating to Special Educational Needs and will be the person who, in co-operation with class teacher and the Headteacher, liaises with outside agencies as well as overseeing provision within the school.

ADMISSIONS ARRANGEMENTS

Admission arrangements for the school are described in the school's admissions policy. The school welcomes pupils irrespective of their ability and anticipates that the needs of most pupils will be met within existing school provision.

The school building is on more than one level but through housing parallel classes on different levels, where necessary, the school will endeavour to accommodate the needs of those who have a physical impairment. The school has a toilet which meets statutory requirements.

IDENTIFICATION AND ASSESSMENT ARRANGEMENTS

The school is using the stages advised by the revised Code of Practice (2001). A register of all pupils identified as having special educational needs will be kept by the SEN co-ordinator in consultation with the class teacher.

All teachers have a key role in monitoring all aspects of pupil performance and, in particular the identification of pupil needs. Parents will be kept informed at all stages.

Initially the class teacher may discuss a pupils’ needs with the SENC.O. and will make special arrangements within class. This may involve grouping, seating, extra work in a particular area, a special programme of work, modified tasks or extra adult attention.

At “school action”, the teacher and SENC.O. will make more detailed arrangements including having an I.E.P. for the child. This plan will be drawn up by the class teacher with support from the SEN co-ordinator or the delegated support teacher when required.

At “school action plus” additional and/or external advice will be included and there may be some direct input from a specialist teacher or agency from within the LEA and/or an Educational Psychologist.

Where a child’s needs cannot be met solely by the arrangements described above, the SENCO will put the child forward for formal assessment by the L.E.A. If the child’s needs are such that the L.E.A. believes that additional resourcing is to be provided the child will be awarded a Statement which, if issued, will outline the provision to be made.

Assessment is central to our planning for all pupils. In assessment we should:

1. Analyse the child’s difficulty;

2. Clarify the child’s needs for different kinds of approaches or resources;

3. Provide for those needs, whilst continually assessing the child’s progress.

Assessing special educational needs is not an end in itself but a step to understanding and providing for the child’s needs and monitoring the child’s progress. Particular use is made of teacher assessment as well as:

Pre-school/Nursery profile; (Foundation Stage Profile)

Baseline assessment – PIPs (Foundation Stage Profile)

SATs;

Additional SATs (QCA)

PIVATS

Reading/ Spelling tests

Behavioural Assessments

APP materials

AFL materials

CO-ORDINATION

The SENC.O. is responsible for:

Keeping a register of pupils with SEN and updating this;

Supporting teachers in writing I.E.P’s and assessing pupils progress;

Purchasing and organising resources

Liaising with external agencies;

Making referrals to agencies

Organising CAF (Common Assessment Framework) paperwork and TAC (Team Around the child meetings) relevant to SEN matters

Ensuring that appropriate records are kept;

Monitoring records and I.E.P’s;

Supporting the transition of pupils with SEN into the school and into High School;

Liaising with the SEN governor and preparing appropriate reports;

Supporting inclusive opportunities for pupils;

Supervising non-teaching staff and arranging regular T.A. meetings;

Organising and chairing reviews for statemented children.

INCLUSION

The DFE and the L.E.A. see inclusion as a central element in improving standards for pupils with SEN and for all pupils. We support the move towards inclusion and particularly with regard to:

Recognition of signs of disaffection;

Maintenance of the successful discipline policy;

Awareness and monitoring of groups at particular risk;

Attendance and punctuality.

REVIEW PROCEDURES

Arrangements for pupils will be the responsibility of the class teacher and initially will be quite informal. If required, parents will be informed of any changes to be made in provision.

For pupils at “School Action” there will be I.E.P. reviews termly. Parents will be encouraged to discuss the I.E.P. with the teacher at these reviews.

For pupils at “School Action Plus” a more formal review will be held to which external agencies will also be invited if they have had involvement with the individual pupil.

Where a child has a statement of SEN there is, at the minimum, an annual review carried out by the school in conjunction with the L.E.A. to which parents and external agencies are encouraged to attend. A copy of all I.E.P’s will be forwarded to parents to encourage their involvement and support.

ACCESS TO THE CURRICULUM

All pupils within the school will follow the full school curriculum, including the National Curriculum. The provision and delivery of the curriculum will be matched to the pupils’ level of ability. Planning for pupils with SEN will be integral to all planning, classroom approaches will include:

Making learning situations as realistic and meaningful as possible;

Breaking work into small steps so that pupils can experience success;

Using practical work where possible;

Using co-operative work for pupils to develop learning and social skills;

Emphasising conversation and discussion in learning;

Considering concentration of pupils;

Planning the written demands made on children;

Use of I.C.T. resources as appropriate.

INTEGRATION

Pupils with SEN are an integral part of the school. Support for pupils will take place within the classroom wherever possible. Withdrawal from the classroom will take place only when it is felt appropriate e.g. when careful listening is required. Where pupils come into the school with a Statement of Special Educational Need every possible step will be made to integrate them into the school community.

ALLOCATION OF RESOURCES

The school spends its delegated SEN money in a number of ways:

Support staffing levels;

The maintenance of class sizes;

Non-contact time for SENCOs;

Resources for SEN provision;

Specialist support.

STAFF DEVELOPMENT

SEN matters are incorporated into all Staff Development and the SENCO attends particular courses as relevant.

ARRANGEMENTS FOR CONSIDERATION OF COMPLAINTS

Should parents have cause for complaints they are invited to make representation to the SENCO in the first instance. Where a parent is not satisfied with the outcome, the parent should address the matter to the headteacher or the SEN Governor.

EXTERNAL STAFF VISITING THE SCHOOL

The school receives input from support staff and for pupils with a Statement. In addition, there is input from:

L.E.I.S;

An Educational Psychologist;

The Pupil Referral Service (for behavioural difficulties) – counselling service – SSA support;

The Service for Hearing Impaired}

The Service for Visually Impaired}

Speech and Language Therapist;

Physiotherapist;

Occupational Therapist.

School Nurses (Health Authority)

Input is also made from other agencies such as the Education Welfare Service, school nurse and Children’s Social Care.

This work is co-ordinated by the school’s SEN co-ordinator and integrated in to the whole school.

LINKS WITH OTHER SCHOOLS

We have links with the various feeder nurseries that provide the necessary information. When pupils transfer to other schools relevant information gathered will be passed on to staff from other schools sothatthey are kept fully informed of the needs of individual pupils recorded on the SEN register. If appropriate an early review will be held and a representative of the new school invited to ease the transition.

PARTNERSHIP WITH PARENTS

Parents are valued and their contribution in terms of identification and support for pupils with SEN is fully recognised. As stated earlier, parents are to be kept fully informed where their child has special educational needs and from School Action onwards will be encouraged to attend reviews, support the development of individual approaches for their child and provide help at home wherever possible. Parents are always welcome to discuss any matter relating to their child’s progress but are advised to telephone the school to make appointments to ensure that staff are available. The arrangements described in the policy to keep parents informed about matters relating to Special Educational Needs are additional to the standard methods of reporting and consulting available for all parents.

EVALUATION OF SUCCESS OF THE POLICY

The current policy will be fully reviewed each new academic year. In determining future policy and provision all staff will be involved in discussion, the progress of pupils on stages of the register will be reviewed and parents invited to comment. Governors will discuss progress and an annual report be made available to parents.

In particular the success of the policy will be measured against the objectives stated at the start of the policy and use will be made of the following indicators:

Pupils identified as early as possible;

Pupils make good progress against the targets set for them;

Some pupils move down the register as a result of intervention;

Where formal assessment is undertaken, pupils receive a statement in line with CountyPolicy;

Pupils enjoy their schooling and are proud of their success;

Parents express satisfaction with what is provided;

Support staff are integrated into the school.