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
At Shotton Hall Primary School we believe that early identification and appropriate intervention improves the prospects of all children with special educational needs. For some children, giving more attention to early signs of difficulties can prevent greater difficulties later.
We aim to identify a child’s special educational needs as soon as possible on entry to the Foundation Stage, monitoring progress and achievement in line with EYFS Profile assessment criteria. Concerns may also be expressed from parents, or other outside agencies, on or before entry to school. Children can be identified as having special educational needs through the following criteria:
- Significantly low or unusual EYFS Profile Assessment.
- Significantly below expected attainment for their year group.
- Significantly below age related expectations in numeracy and literacy requiring work that is different from that of any group within the class.
- Identification of need from nursery, Health, Social or Speech and Language
We talk to parents/carers about their concerns and let them know what special help the school is giving. Mrs Hext is the Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENDCo)
We have a written Special Educational Needs Policy which can be viewed on the Policies section of our website.
With the permission of parents we may seek additional advice from outside specialists such as health professionals, specialist teachers or educational psychologists who would:
- Carry out further assessment of the child’s needs
- Provide advice to schools on how to best support the child
- Suggest resources that would help the child make progress
Our teachers/teaching assistants work in partnership with parents and the SENDCo to find ways to support each child with their needs, including giving parents ideas on how to help their child at home
Our school staff will set targets for SEND children, which will be shared with parents, either during Parents’ Evening or a Review Meeting.
SEN Support
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”.
At Shotton Hall Primary School, we believe that inclusive education means providing all pupils with appropriate education and support alongside their peers. The Curriculum is all the planned activities that the school organises in order to promote learning, personal growth and development.
It includes not only the formal requirements of the National Curriculum, but also the range of additional opportunities that the school organises in order to enrich the experiences of our children. Our curriculum also includes the social aspects that are essential for life-long learning.
For further information you can view the Curriculum Policy in the School Policies section of our website.
Most children and young people will have their special educational needs met in mainstream schools through good classroom practice. This is called Quality First Teaching.
At Shotton Hall Primary School, we follow a graduated support approach which is called “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, we will produce a SEND Support Plan that describes the provision that we will make to meet a child’s special educational needs and agreed outcomes. Parents and carers will be fully involved in this process.
A small percentage of children and young people with significant learning difficulties might need an assessment that could lead to an Education, Health and Care Plan.
School staff may initially identify a concern the class teacher alongside the SENDCo will discuss the child’s needs and a meeting with parents/carers and/or the child/young person would be arranged at the earliest opportunity. During this meeting a Short Note would be completed with agreed outcomes for the child/young person. The next steps may require the involvement of specialist support or advice for example, Educational Psychology, SENDIASS (Parents Advice and Support Service) or another of education health and social care professional. It is important to understand that the involvement of professionals does not always seek to label or diagnose but to seek advice and strategies to enable a child/young person to reach their full potential.
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 (EHCP).
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
If your child has SEN, 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. In addition to the assessments that all children take part in and depending upon their needs, other assessments may be needed. These could include:
Communication and interaction
- Speech and Language Link Assessment
- Speech Therapy Assessments – which may focus on sound production, language understanding, or other relevant assessments of your child’s needs
Cognition and learning
- Subject specific assessment
- Education Psychology Assessments – which may include memory, understanding, reasoning, logic, and general skills assessment.
Social, Emotional and Health Difficulties
- Assess through observations of pupils
Sensory and/or Physical Difficulties
- Movement Programme baseline assessment
- Handwriting and copying skills baseline assessment
Your child will 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 Levels (i.e. the steps before the National Curriculum). Aspirational targets are set for all children to ensure that all children make good progress, including those not ready to access the National Curriculum. The outcomes of all assessments are shared with parents and carers at our Parent Evenings and in your child’s School Report. 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.
If parents have any concerns then these can be shared with the class teacher and or SENDCo who will arrange a meeting to discuss and resolve any difficulties.
For further information please view or download our Accessibility Plan which can be found in the School Policies section of our website.
