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
Any children whom we feel may require extra support to achieve their potential or remove any barriers to learning are quickly identified and appropriate support implemented. Any extra support that is required is discussed with the child and their parents. If it is felt appropriate, the class teacher may involve the SENDCO who in turn may seek advice from outside agencies.
At St Benet’s Catholic Primary School, we follow a graduated support approach which is called “Assess, Plan, Do, Review”.
- 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
The class teacher, working with the SENCO, will identify the pupil’s needs. Where appropriate, professionals will help to inform the assessment. Parents will be asked to contribute to the assessment.
Parents will be formally notified about any initial concerns during a consultation meeting and will be involved in in subsequent meetings to discuss the progress their child has made. Interventions will be recorded on the school provision map and targets set on the child’s Support Plan
The class teacher will remain responsible for working with the pupil on a daily basis and retain responsibility for their progress and outcomes. The class or subject teacher will plan and assess the impact of support and interventions with any teaching assistants or specialist staff involved. The SENCO will support the above.
The effectiveness of the support and interventions and their impact on the pupil’s progress will be reviewed on the agreed date. Reviews will be held with parents at least three times per year. The class teacher, working with the SENCO if needed, will revise the support in light of the pupil’s progress. If a pupil does not make expected progress over a sustained period of time school will consider involving specialists.
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 the this process.
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.
The purpose of an EHCP is to make special educational provision to meet special educational needs of the child or young person, to secure the best possible outcomes for them across education (SEND Code of Practice p.142). It is a legal document that describes a child or young person’s special educational, health and social care needs.
For more detailed information see the Local Offer
Details of Identification and Assessment of Pupils with SEN
- Staff in the Early Years will primarily identify any concerns with children who are displaying significant learning needs.
- Reception, Key Stage 1 staff and the SENCO where necessary, liaise with Nursery or the child’s previous school (if applicable).
- If a child is performing below age expected levels then meetings will be held with the class teacher and SENCO. Observations of the child may also take place.
- We have regular parent meetings and take into account any concerns raised by Parents. We have an ‘open door policy’ where at any point parents can talk to staff.
- Concerns may be raised by the class teacher. For example; if behaviour or self-esteem is affecting performance or the child’s overall mental health.
- Liaison with external agencies. We work closely with Movement Support, Speech and Language, The ASD Team, Occupational Therapy, CAMHS, Crisis Response, Educational Psychology, The School Nurse, and The Behaviour Intervention Team.
- Health diagnosis through local paediatricians at the hospital
Any children whom we feel may require extra support to achieve their potential or remove any barriers to learning are quickly identified and appropriate support is implemented. Any extra support that is required is discussed with the child and their parents. If it is felt appropriate, the class teacher may involve the SENCO who in turn may seek advice from outside agencies at a later stage.
If your child has SEND, it is important for us to carry out formal assessments to identify their strengths and identify their needs accurately. To do this, we will use a range of methods depending upon their needs. When your child enters our school, their current attainment is assessed to give us a ‘baseline’ from where they will progress.
Support for children with physical needs:
- Quality First Teaching.
- Gross Motor Skills interventions.
- Fine Motor Skills interventions.
- Specialist group support from outside agencies e.g. Occupational Therapy
Support for children with speech, language and communication needs:
- Quality First Teaching.
- Speech and Language interventions.
- Specialist group support from outside agencies e.g. Speech and Language Therapy
Support for children with social, emotional and mental health difficulties:
- Quality First Teaching.
- Pastoral Care.
- Specialist group support from outside agencies e.g. CAMHs Mentoring and Counselling/ One Point Service.
Support for children with cognition and learning needs:
- Quality First Teaching.
- Maths and English specific interventions.
- Specialist group support from outside agencies e.g. Educational Psychology Service.
- Specific individual support for children whose learning needs are severe, complex and lifelong and what this means for your child e.g. Dyslexia, Dyspraxia.
- Range of teaching and learning styles.
- An innovative and supportive curriculum.
- A broad range of extra-curricular activities, including After-School clubs
Depending upon their needs, other assessments may be needed. These could include:
- Speech Therapy Assessments – which may focus on sound production, language understanding, or other relevant assessments to your child’s needs
- Education Psychology Assessments – which may include memory, understanding, reasoning, logic, and general skills assessments
- The outcomes of all assessments are shared with parents and carers at our Parent Evenings and during special meetings with parents. 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.
- Children’s school achievements may be assessed against age related expectations for children who are working on the National Curriculum (i.e. the same as the majority of other children in their year group), or they may be assessed against other measures for children who are not ready to work on National Curriculum phases (i.e. the steps before the National Curriculum). The school now uses the recommendations from the Rochford Report to assess children for whom it is inappropriate to use the National Curriculum.
For further information please view or download our Accessibility Plan which can be found in the School Policies section of our website.