This policy was reviewed and updated in January 2016 in line with the revised Code of Practice.
This school provides a broad and balanced curriculum for all pupils. The National Curriculum is our starting point for planning that meets the specific needs of individuals and groups of pupils. When planning, teachers set suitable learning challenges and respond to pupils’ diverse learning needs. Some pupils have barriers to learning that mean they have special needs and require particular action by the school.
These requirements are likely to arise as a consequence of a child having special educational needs. Teachers take account of these requirements and make provision, where necessary, to support individuals or groups of pupils and thus enable them to participate effectively in curriculum and assessment activities. Such pupils may need additional or different help from that given to other pupils of the same age.
Pupils may have special educational needs either throughout or at any time during their school career. This policy ensures that curriculum planning and assessment for pupils with special educational needs takes account of the type and extent of the difficulty experienced by the child.
Aims and objectives
The aims of this policy are:
to create an environment that meets the special educational needs of each child;
to ensure that the special educational needs of pupils are identified, assessed and provided for;
to make clear the expectations of all partners in the process;
to identify the roles and responsibilities of staff in providing for pupils’ special educational needs;
to enable all pupils to have full access to all elements of the school curriculum;
to ensure that parents can play their part in supporting their child’s education;
to ensure that our pupils have a voice in this process.
Educational inclusion (EAL)
In our school, we aim to offer excellence and choice to all our pupils, whatever their ability or needs. We have high expectations of all our pupils. We aim to achieve this through the removal of barriers to learning and participation. We want all our pupils to feel that they are a valued part of our school community. Through appropriate curricular provision, we respect the fact that pupils:
have different educational and behavioural needs and aspirations;
require different strategies for learning;
acquire, assimilate and communicate information at different rates;
need a range of different teaching approaches and experiences.
If any pupil has English as an additional language, they would be supported through specialist provision in order that they can fully access the curriculum that is taught in English.
Teachers respond to pupils’ needs by:
providing support for pupils who need help with communication, language and literacy;
planning to develop pupils’ understanding using all available senses and experiences;
planning for pupils’ full participation in learning, and in physical and practical activities;
helping pupils to manage their behaviour and to take part in learning effectively and safely;
helping individuals to manage their emotions, particularly trauma or stress, and to take part in learning.
Special educational needs
Pupils with special educational needs have learning difficulties that call for special provision to be made. All pupils may have special needs at some time in their lives. Pupils have a learning difficulty if:
they have significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of pupils of the same age;
they have a disability which prevents or hinders them from making use of the educational facilities that are provided for pupils of the same age;
they are under school age and fall within the definitions above.
Many of the pupils who join our school have already attended an early education setting. In many cases pupils join us with their needs already assessed. All our pupils are assessed when they join our school, so that we can build upon their prior learning. We use this information to provide starting points for the development of an appropriate curriculum for all our pupils.
If our assessments show that a child may have a learning difficulty, we use a range of strategies that make full use of all available classroom and school resources.
We will record the strategies used to support the child within a Personal Education Plan (PEP). The PEP will show the short-term target set for the child and the teaching strategies to be used. It will also indicate the planned outcomes and the date for the plan to be reviewed. In most cases, this review will take place once a term.
If the IEP review identifies that support is needed from outside services, we will consult parents prior to any support being actioned. In most cases, pupils will be seen in school by external support services. This may lead to additional or different strategies to those at School Action. External support services will provide information for the child’s new IEP. The new strategies within the IEP will, wherever possible, be implemented in the child’s normal classroom setting.
If the child continues to demonstrate significant cause for concern, a request for statutory assessment will be made to the LEA. A range of written evidence about the child will support the request.
In our school the SENCO:
manages the day-to-day operation of the policy;
co-ordinates the provision for and manages the responses to pupils’ special needs;
supports and advises colleagues;
oversees the records of all pupils with special educational needs;
acts as the link with parents;
acts as link with external agencies and other support agencies;
monitors and evaluates the special educational needs provision and reports to the governing body;
manages a range of resources, human and material, to enable appropriate provision for pupils with special educational needs;
contributes to the professional development of all staff.
Access to the curriculum
All pupils have an entitlement to a broad and balanced curriculum, which is differentiated to enable pupils to:
understand the relevance and purpose of learning activities;
experience levels of understanding and rates of progress that bring feelings of success and achievement.
Teachers use a range of strategies to meet pupils’ special educational needs. Lessons have clear learning objectives; we differentiate work appropriately, and we use assessment to inform the next stage of learning.
Personal Education Plans, which employ a small-steps approach, feature significantly in the provision that we make in the school. By breaking down the existing levels of attainment into finely graded steps and targets, we ensure that pupils experience success.
We support pupils in a manner that acknowledges their entitlement to share the same learning experiences that their peers enjoy. Wherever possible, we do not withdraw pupils from the classroom situation. There are times, though, when to maximise learning, we ask the pupils to work in small groups, or in a one-to-one situation outside the classroom.
Partnership with parents
The school works closely with parents in the support of those pupils with special educational needs. We encourage an active partnership through an ongoing dialogue with parents. The home-school agreement is central to this. Parents have much to contribute to our support for pupils with special educational needs.
The school prospectus contains details of our policy for special educational needs, and the arrangements made for these pupils in our school.
We have regular meetings each term to share the progress of special needs pupils with their parents. We inform the parents of any outside intervention, and we share the process of decision-making by providing clear information relating to the education of pupils with special educational needs.
Pupil participation
In our school we encourage pupils to take responsibility and to make decisions. This is part of the culture of our school and relates to pupils of all ages. The work in the Foundation Stage recognises the importance of pupils developing social as well as educational skills.
Pupils are involved at an appropriate level in setting targets in their PEPs and in the termly review meetings. Pupils are encouraged to make judgements about their own performance against their PEP targets. We recognise success here as we do in any other aspect of school life.
