There are four broad areas of SEND needs, as defined in the Special Educational Needs an Disabilities Code of Practice 2015:
Communication and Interaction
Cognition and Learning
Social, Emotional and Mental Health
Sensory and/or Physical.
Teachers deliver quality first teaching, planning their lessons to meet the needs of all learners, including those with SEND. QFT may include additional general support from the teacher or teaching assistant. Where the pupils has needs related to more specific areas of their education such as spelling, handwriting, literacy and numeracy etc then the pupil may be placed in a small focused group or receive some 1:1 support. This support is provided and organised by the class teacher who directs the teaching assistant. Specific targeted Interventions may be provided and these are regularly reviewed (at least termly) with joint input from the class teacher and teaching assistant to assess the effectiveness of the Intervention, pupil progress and to inform future planning. Interventions will be linked to and recorded on the Individual Support Plan on a termly basis.
SEND Support:
Where it is determined that a pupil may have SEND, parents will be informed of this, usually by the class teacher and also informed that their child will be placed on the SEND register. This is usually done verbally and our aim is to work collaboratively with parents and families in order to best support their child’s individual needs. The aim of formally identifying pupils needs is to help ensure that effective provision is put into place and remove barriers to learning.
The support provided consists of a four-part process - APDR:
Assess
Plan
Do
Review
This is an ongoing cycle to enable the provision to be refined and revised as the understanding of the needs of the pupil grows. This cycle enables to identification of those Interventions which are the most effective in supporting the pupil to achieve good progress and outcomes.
Assess:
The assessment part of the APDR process involves analysing the pupil needs using class teacher assessment and experience of working with the pupils, details of previous progress and attainment, comparisons with peers and age related expectations, individual circumstances including outside factors that school may be aware of as well as seeking the views and experiences of the parents/carers. The pupils’ views and where relevant, advice from outside specialist agencies will also be considered.
Plan:
Planning will involve the drawing up of an Individual Support Plan detailing support and provisions aimed at removing barriers to learning whilst providing more tailored learning and support. Class teachers develop the Individual Support Plans for pupils in their classes, with advice and support from the SENCo where required. Parents are part of this process and are encouraged to offer their viewpoints and experiences. We encourage parents to take an active role in supporting the Individual Support Plan at home and may provide additional resources to be used at home with pupils. Information in regard to individual pupil needs will be shared with relevant staff who teach them, this should include teachers and teaching assistants. Individual Support Plans are held in a secure central place in electronic format. Teachers and teaching assistants may make paper copies for the purposes of referring to/annotating the plans regularly – these should be stored securely (for example in class store cupboards) when not in use for referencing or annotation purposes.
Do:
The class teacher remains responsible for working with the child on a day to day basis. They will retain responsibility even where the interventions may involve group or one to one teaching away from the main class. They will work closely with and direct the teaching assistant, they will collaborate with specialist staff to plan and assess the impact of support and interventions and links with classroom teaching. Support with further assessment of the pupils’ strengths and weaknesses, problem solving and advising of the implementation of effective support will be provided by the SENCo.
Review:
Reviews will be undertaken, usually termly. The review process will evaluate the impact and quality of support and interventions. It will also take account of the views of the pupil and their parents. The class teacher, in conjunction with the SENCo where required, will revise the support and outcomes based on the pupils’ progress and development making any necessary amendments going forward, pupils and parents are actively encouraged to be part of the review process. Parents will be provided with a copy of the formal review and where deemed appropriate the cycle continues with a revised Individual Support Plan being developed and shared with parents.
As part of the Assess, Plan, Do, Review process we encourage parents to share their views during any discussions, via the Class Dojo platform, in paper format when they return a signed copy of the Individual Support Plan and/or via completion of the google document shared with parents as part of the APDR cycle.
Request for an Education, Health and Care Plan Needs Assessment:
If a child has lifelong and/or complex difficulties, they may undergo the Statutory Assessment Process which is usually requested by the school but can be requested by a parent or by healthcare services. This will occur where the complexity of need or lack of clarity around the needs of the child are such that a multi-agency approach to assessing that need, to planning provision and identifying resources, is required. The decision to make a request for an Education, Health and Care Plan Needs Assessment to the Local Authority will usually be taken at a progress review, unless needs change suddenly and dramatically. The application for an Education, Health and Care Plan will combine information from a variety of sources including:
Parents
Teachers
SENCO
Social Care
Health professionals
Any outside agencies with current involvement or involvement within the last 2 years.
Information will be gathered relating to the current provision provided, action points that have been taken, and the preliminary outcomes of targets set. A decision will be made by a group of people from education, health and social care about whether or not the request for a Statutory Assessment will be undertaken.