Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND)
Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND)
Ashmount Primary School follows the DfE SEN Code of Practice in defining special educational needs:
“A pupil has SEN where their learning difficulty or disability calls for special educational provision, namely provision different from or additional to that normally available to pupils of the same age.”
The school will seek to identify pupils making less than expected progress given their age and individual circumstances.
This can be characterised by progress which:
- is significantly slower than that of their peers starting from the same baseline
- fails to match or better the child’s previous rate of progress
- fails to close the attainment gap between the child and their peers
- widens the attainment gap
It can include progress in areas other than academic attainment, such as social or personal development.
Slow or limited progress and attainment may not always be identified as SEN. Where there are concerns, an assessment will be considered in order to identify any underlying causes such as undiagnosed learning or language difficulties. We do not regard children as having a learning difficulty solely because their home language is not English.
There are four broad areas of SEN which are detailed below. Individual children sometimes have needs that cross all of these broad areas or needs that change over time. At Ashmount we identify the needs of pupils by considering the needs of the whole child.
Broad areas of need:
Communication and interaction
Children with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN) have difficulty in communicating with others. This may be because they have difficulty saying what they want to, understanding what is being said to them or they do not understand or use social rules of communication. Children with ASD, including Asperger’s Syndrome and Autism, are likely to have particular difficulties with social interaction.
Cognition and learning
Support for learning difficulties may be required when a child learns at a slower pace than their peers, even with appropriate differentiation. Learning difficulties cover a wide range of needs from moderate to profound.
Specific learning difficulties, affect one or more specific aspects of learning. This encompasses a range of conditions such as dyslexia, dyscalculia and dyspraxia.
Social, emotional and mental health difficulties
Children and young people may experience a wide range of difficulties which may include becoming withdrawn or isolated, as well as displaying disruptive or disturbing behaviour. Other children may have disorders such as attention deficit disorder, attention deficit hyperactive disorder or attachment disorder.
Sensory and/or physical needs
Some children with vision impairment (VI), hearing impairment (HI) or a multi-sensory impairment (MSI) will require specialist support and/or equipment to access their learning.
Our approach to SEND Support.
High Quality Teaching
As part of high quality teaching all teachers constantly assess every child’s attainment and progress. If a child is making less than expected progress then the teacher will adapt their teaching to target the areas of weakness, this may include modifying teaching, use of resources/apparatus or in class support. The majority of pupil’s needs will be met through high quality teaching.
Where progress continues to be less than expected the class teacher will do the following:
- Try to ascertain what the child is finding difficult and if appropriate discuss this with them.
- Talk to the parent/carer about their child’s areas of strength and difficulty, concerns, the agreed outcomes sought for the child and the next steps.
- Talk to the Inclusion Manager for further advice.
- Action the agreed next steps.
All this information forms part of an initial assessment and will help to:
- Identify the child’s strengths and weaknesses.
- Decide what the child and parents want to achieve.
- Decide what strategies will help the child.
Targeted Provision
The Inclusion Manager will enter the child’s needs onto to the SEND record. The Inclusion Manager will keep a record of all children with SEND in the school, and copies of all information regarding a child’s SEND.
SEND support will take the form of a four-part cycle: Assess, Plan, Do, Review. This approach helps to give increasing knowledge about how to meet a child’s needs.
The four-part cycle
Assess
The initial assessments will be reviewed regularly. This will help ensure that support and intervention are matched to need, barriers to learning are identified and overcome, and that a clear picture of the interventions put in place and their effect is developed. For some types of SEND, the way in which a pupil responds to an intervention can be the most reliable method of developing a more accurate picture of need.
Plan
The teacher, Inclusion Manager, parent/carer and child (if appropriate) will agree the adjustments, interventions and support to be put in place, as well as the expected impact on progress, development or behaviour, along with a clear date for review. Interventions may include any of those on the SEN provision map.
All teachers and support staff who work with the pupil will be made aware of their strengths, needs, the outcomes sought, the support provided and any teaching strategies or approaches that are required. This will be recorded by the class teacher on the child’s SEN support plan.
Do
The identified strategies will be put in place. The class teacher will remain responsible for working with the child on a daily basis. Where the interventions involve group or one-to-one teaching away from the main class, they will work closely with any support staff or specialist staff involved, to plan and assess the impact of support and interventions and how they can be linked to classroom teaching.
Review
The effectiveness of the support and interventions and their impact on the child’s progress will be reviewed termly. This review should include the views of the pupil and if appropriate they will attend. Parents and other professionals involved with the child will also be invited. The meeting will be recorded on the SEN review sheet. This contributes to more detailed assessment of their needs and the cycle starts again.
This four-part cycle through which earlier decisions and actions are revisited, refined and revised gives a growing understanding of the child’s needs and of what supports the child in making good progress and securing good outcomes. As the cycle continues, interventions will typically be more intensive, individualised and sustained. We may also draw on more specialist expertise to help achieve the best outcomes. The Inclusion Manager will make these referrals with the agreement of parents/carers and liaise with external agencies.
Click the links below for more information on the Graduated Approach and the Graduated Approach in the Early Years:
If this cycle of assessment and support does not lead to expected outcomes for the child and they continue to have significant difficulties, then the school and parents/carers may decide to request an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP).
Click the link below for more information on Islington’s Education, Health and Care Assessment:
Islington’s Education, Health and Care Assessment guide for Parents and Carers.
Criteria for exiting the SEND record.
If a child is making progress and has reached broad national attainment, without further need of additional provision, then they may be removed from the SEN record. This must be done with the agreement of the pupil, parents/carers and professionals working with the child.
For useful links please visit the useful links page in the parent section of our website.
For any additional information, advice or support, please contact our Inclusion Manager and Deputy Headteacher: Annabel Le Moine via the school office.