How we identify, assess and review children with special educational needs

Most children and young people in mainstream schools will have their special educational needs met through good classroom practice. This is called Quality First Teaching.

​

Early Identification of Need

In deciding whether to make special education provision to support educational, social, physical or emotional needs, we:

• Work in partnership with parents/carers, pupils

• Consult with relevant external agencies

• Use assessment tools & materials

• Use observations

• Use Short Notes

​

SEN Support

If your child has Special Educational Needs our SENCO will:

• Ensure the right support is put in place for each child

• Advise other teachers and teaching assistants on how to help each child and ensure they have a SEN Support Plan detailing how their needs will be met in school

• Arrange training for staff so they understand each child’s needs

• Work closely with parents on a regular basis to talk with them about their child’s needs and listen to any ideas or concerns they might have

• Work with other professionals (if necessary) who may be able to help individual children, e.g. speech and language therapist /medical professional/educational psychologist

​

Where a pupil is identified as having a special educational need we follow a graduated approach which takes the form of cycles of “Assess, Plan, Do, Review”.

​

This means that we will:

• Assess a child’s special educational needs

• Plan the provision to meet your child’s aspirations and agreed outcomes

• Do put the provision in place to meet those outcomes

• Review the support and progress

​

As part of this approach, every child with SEN will have an individualised SEN Support Plan that describes the child’s needs, outcomes & provision to meet those needs.  Parents/carers and child/YP (where appropriate) views are integral to this process. This plan will contain several targets and an explanation of what school will do to help a child meet these targets. Staff will use quality first teaching and well-planned interventions to ensure that these targets are met. The outcomes of all assessments are shared with parents / carers at our Parent Evenings and during SEND review meetings. If other agencies are invited to work with your child, you will be invited to attend a meeting where the outcomes of these assessments and their next steps will be shared with you.

​

A small percentage of children and young people with significant and/or complex needs may require an assessment that could lead to an Education, Health and Care Plan.

​

Education, Health and Care Plan

• This is a very detailed assessment of each child’s needs. Parents or carers, the school and a range of professionals will all be asked to provide written reports.

• At the end of the assessment phase the Local Authority will consider these reports to help decide whether or not to issue an Education, Health and Care Plan for the child.

• Parents/carers also have the right to ask the Local Authority to carry out this assessment although it is usually best if you can do this with the support of the school.

• Education, Health and Care Assessment is only appropriate for a small number of children. Your school SENCO or the Parent Partnership Service will be able to advise you about this.

​

For more detailed information see the Local Offer

​

Details of Identification and Assessment of Pupils with SEN

A Special Educational Need can be a number of different things. For example, a child may be having problems with reading, number work or behaviour, which can be helped by putting extra support in at school and by working in partnership with parents. It may also be due to a disability which makes it harder for a child to use the same educational facilities that the school provides for the majority of children. For some children this may be a temporary difficulty, while others may have a long term need for special help.

​

Types of special educational needs can include:

• General Learning Difficulties – children whose learning progresses at a slower pace

• Speech and Language Difficulties

• Behavioural Difficulties

• Dyslexia (difficulties with reading, writing and spelling)

• Dyspraxia (problems with motor skills, organisation)

• Autism

• ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder – ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder)

• Downs Syndrome

• Cerebral Palsy

• Other Physical or Medical Needs

​

You can find details of how we adapt the curriculum and make it more accessible for pupils with SEN below:

​

Support for children with learning difficulties (including support for numeracy and literacy):

• High quality teaching is provided in all classes, differentiated to meet a wide range of different needs within each class

• Children in the early years and KS1 learn phonics in small groups according to their current level of phonics development. These groups are re-assessed regularly and children change group as required.

• Children who are not making expected progress receive additional support either in a small group or 1:1

• Additional individual reading sessions are planned for those children for those children who are not making expected progress in reading.

• Children are referred to the Local Authority Cognition and Learning Team as required and any advice is put into practice.

• Maths groups are set to ensure those who find maths very challenging are taught in a small group.

• Those children who are not making expected progress in maths may have small group intervention.

• Children are provided with meaningful opportunities to write in a range of cross curricular contexts.  

​

 Support for children with speech, language and communication needs:

• High quality teaching is provided in all classes

• Opportunities for speaking and listening are woven into all lessons

• In the early years, the environment is well planned to ensure there is a wide range of opportunities for free play with well-trained adults supporting their language development

• In Years 1-6, children routinely work with talk partners and in collaborative groups

• A referral to Speech and Language Therapy is made to assess children where staff and/or parents have concerns

• Children with more profound difficulties may have an SEN Support Plan which outlines strategies to be used in the class.

​

Support for children with social, emotional and mental health difficulties:

• We have a positive behaviour policy that enables the school to have a calm and positive ethos.

• Where children have additional difficulties, they may receive small group or 1:1 support

• Where difficulties persist, referrals may be made to CAMHS.

• Some children have specific behaviour plans and targets.

• Additional support maybe provided during the day by support staff.

​

We track pupil progress through:

• Every day formative assessments which track pupil progress against the level descriptors for the National Curriculum

• Analysing pupil progress data and setting appropriate targets

• Using national curriculum testing

• Using tests such as the year 1 phonics test, reading and spelling tests

• Gathering information from the child, parents, carers and professional from other agencies

​

Each teacher is responsible for evaluating the effectiveness of the provision they are providing for children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities. As part of SEN staff briefings, staff discuss relevant interventions needed for target children. Miss Rogers meets with class teachers each term to collect and analyse pupil progress data. She also meets with every class teacher to evaluate the provision for those children on the SEND register and set targets for future provision.

​

We encourage all children to participate in every activity, regardless of special educational need or disability. Where this might be difficult (such as in the case of P.E.) we strive to remove barriers and put measures in place to support children in their engagement of the activity.

​

For further information please view or download our Accessibility Plan which can be found in the School Policies section of our website.