Special Educational Needs and Disability Policy

Contents

1         School’s Special Education & Disability Provision

1.1     Objectives of the Policy

1.2     The Inclusion Manager

1.3     Admission Arrangements

1.4     Special Facilities & Accessibility

2      Identification, Assessment and Provision

2.1     Resourcing

2.2     Identification

2.3     Provision Mapping

2.4   Curriculum Entitlement & Inclusion

2.5     Criteria for Success

3         SEND, the School and the Wider Community

3.1     INSET – The new Code of Practice

3.2     Outside Agencies

3.3   Partnership with Parents and Carers

3.4     Pupil Involvement

3.5    Governors

3.6    Secondary schools

 

1. Provision

1.1       Objectives of the Policy

• to inform all who work with children with SEN & Disabilities of the procedures
• to provide information about our commitment to those identified as having SEN & Disabilities
• to provide a basis for planning and implementing change
• to provide the best learning environment for vulnerable pupils.

 

1.2       The Inclusion Manager’s role

The Inclusion Manager’s responsibilities include:

• overseeing the day-to-day operation of the school’s SEN & Disability policy
• coordinating provision for children with special educational needs and disabilities
• liaising with and advising teachers and year teaching assistants
• managing and directing the SEND, EAL and SALT teaching assistants
• overseeing the records of all children with SEN & Disabilities
• liaising with parents of children with SEN & Disabilities
• contributing to the in-service training of staff
• liaising with external agencies including the LEA’s support and educational psychology services, health and social services, and voluntary bodies

 

1.3       Admission Arrangements

The school’s policy is to assess each request on its merit, with inclusion as the basis for all assessment. The school, with parents and all other interested services, assess the suitability of Beulah Junior School for the child’s needs. Beulah Junior School takes every consideration into place of the child’s needs and endeavors to implement suitable support for every child.

 

1.4       Special Facilities and Accessibility

There is a wheelchair access ramp to the main door from the front playground. The dining hall also has a wheelchair access ramp leading into the building. The school is a 19^th century building on two floors with two wide staircases that access the upper floor. There are disabled toilet facilities on the ground floor and one girls’ toilet cubicle upstairs has been adapted for disabled access upstairs. An extended handrail has been added to both wide staircases so that there is a rail on either side. The staircases have 30 steps leading from the ground floor to the top of the staircases. Patio doors leading to the back playground from the downstairs classrooms have steps from the classroom with rails to hold onto. There are two metal staircase fire escapes at opposite ends of the upper corridor that lead down onto the playground.

The Disability Discrimination Act places planning duties on maintained schools and local authorities. Schools are required to prepare and publish an Accessibility Plan and local authorities are required to prepare and publish an Accessibility Strategy setting out the planned improvements that will be taken in relation to disability access. The Plan/Strategy has to address three distinct elements of planned improvements in access for disabled pupils:

• improvements in access to the curriculum;
• physical improvements to increase access to education and associated services; and
• improvements in the provision of information, in a range of formats, for disabled pupils.

Whilst the Plan must address these three areas, a school is most likely to deal with disability equality issues effectively if a holistic approach to disability planning is adopted and if addressing disability equality is an integral part of mainstream planning and decision making. Therefore, the Accessibility Plan should be clearly linked to the School Improvement Plan.

 

2. Identification, Assessment and Provision.

2.1          Resourcing

Funding is provided through the Pupil Intake Factor (PIF) allocation for pupils identified as having SEN & Disabilities who will not need recourse to the statutory assessment procedures. Human resources are used to support pupils where necessary and teaching assistants work alongside the teacher to support pupils under the teacher’s guidance.

Staff from the Support Services may be assigned to support designated pupils.  Some children may also be allocated some individual or small group teaching delivered by a qualified teacher.  This is paid for by either the school or the authority and is usually provided on a termly basis.

Material resources, which include ICT facilities (Interactive Whiteboards, laptops, tablets, fizzbooks, individual PCs) are available within the school.

 

2.2       Identification

Pupils may have already been identified as having special needs or disabilities by other agencies. The most likely source of information is the records from the pupil’s previous school, discussions with parents and class teachers observations. All records must be carefully read upon receipt and appropriate action taken. Early identification is very important.

The Code of Practice for Schools: Disability Discrimination Act 1995 states that ‘a child has a disability if he or she has a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term adverse impact on his or her ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.’

A child who has SEND may, or may not, have a disability. For example, a child may have a behaviour difficulty which means that the child has greater difficulties in accessing the curriculum than other children of his/her age. However, the child’s behaviour difficulty may not be recognised as a disability. Whilst many children who have a disability will have SEND, it must not be assumed that a child who has a disability has SEND. A child with a disability has SEND only if they have any difficulty in accessing education and they need special educational provision to be made for them that is additional to, or different from, what is normally available in maintained schools in the area.

(source as before: NASUWT)

The most used identification process comes from the class teacher who will always provide first class teaching. Then in consultation with the Inclusion Manager and/or Deputy Head (academic monitoring) the teacher will record their concerns on the ‘Record of Concerns’ documentation. Through observations and monitoring of progress the parent would be invited in for either a formal or informal discussions, depending upon the level of concerns the school is having. Another means of identification comes from the results of standardised testing and Standard Attainment Tests/Tasks.  However, because the needs of individual pupils may vary in their origin, the overriding means of identification rests usually with the class teacher and their half-termly teacher assessments, which is evident in the whole school’s tracking system.

A useful broad definition to be applied, is that a pupil has special educational needs where s/he is not progressing at the same rate as the majority of his/her peers, and where there is a necessity for provision that is additional to, or different from, that given to the majority of pupils. Their progress may be impaired for all sorts of reasons but it is useful to consider the needs of the pupil in the following broad categories:

• Cognition and Learning
• Social, Emotional and Mental Health
• Sensory and /or Physical Needs
• Speech, Language and Communication
• Independence and Self Help

(see attached ‘Identifying Pupils with SEND Flowchart’)

 

2.3       Provision Mapping

 

Monitoring

Once a need is identified, the class teacher, who may ask the advice of the Inclusion Manager, must keep an informal record to monitor the child. This is then kept in the SEND file. The parents/carers are informed of initial concerns either through in/formal discussion or at the bi-annual parents’ consultations or end of year reports.   If there are no further causes for concern, the class teacher need take no further action.

SEND Register

Putting a child on the SEND register should be considered if, despite receiving differentiated learning opportunities:

• the child makes little or no progress
• shows signs of difficulty in developing literacy or numeracy skills
• presents persistent emotional or behavioural difficulties
• has sensory or physical difficulties and makes little or no progress despite the provision of suitable specialist equipment
• has communication and/or interaction difficulties

The child’s name will be recorded on the SEND Register and the teacher will complete the school’s SEND Support Plan for the individual child. SMART targets (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, time-bound) will be written. Interventions must be additional to, or different from, those provided as part of the school’s usual differentiated curriculum. There will be an opportunity for the Inclusion Manager to observe the child if this is deemed necessary. The targets will then be discussed with parents/carers and children (depending on maturity of the child), in a specially arranged meeting or at the parents’ consultation. Parents’/carers’ views will be sought and they will be asked to sign the targets which will be reviewed termly. This is in conjunction with the new SEND Code of Practice which was implemented in September 2014. Parents/carers at Beulah Junior School are fully involved in the SEND process and have a say as the support their child will receive. The child themselves also, are aware of the process, so that their thoughts and view can be recorded.

If, at the next review the child has made adequate progress, the child will be monitored as previously. Adequate progress can be that which:

• closes the attainment gap between the child and their peers
• matches or betters the child’s previous rate of progress
• ensures access to the full curriculum
• demonstrates an improvement in self-help, social or personal skills
• demonstrates improvements in the child’s behaviour.

If a child after a period of time does not make progress s/he will continue on the SEND register and may trigger other support agencies. Reasons for support under the SEND register would include:

• continues to make little or no progress in specific areas over a long period of time
• continues working at NC levels substantially below that expected of children of a similar age
• continues to have difficulty in developing literacy or numeracy skills
• has emotional or behavioural difficulties which substantially and regularly interfere with the child’s own learning or that of the class
• Has sensory or physical needs that require additional specialist equipment and/or regular advice or visits by a specialist service
• has ongoing communication or interaction difficulties that impede the development of social relationships and cause substantial barriers to learning

If a child is continuously on the SEND register the Inclusion Manager and Class Teacher will take advice from outside agencies such as the Educational Psychology Service, Speech & Language Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Behavioural Support Unit (Bramley Bank) and a referral will be made. Parental permission must be gained, in writing, before this takes place. The relevant agency will usually carry out some assessments and make recommendations on how to meet the child’s needs within the school. They will then produce a report, a copy of which will be sent to the parents. Following this advice, a SEND Support Plan and targets will be written by the school, which will be shared with parents/carers and the child, and reviewed on a termly basis. The Inclusion Manager will enter the child’s name on the register and will be available to discuss the SEND Support Plan, and progress made at the parents’ consultation meetings.

At the review, if sufficient progress is made, consideration will be given as to whether the child’s needs could be appropriately met at the previous stage. If this is considered to be appropriate, the child’s name will be recorded on the SEND register (all documentation should be kept in the same way as previously).

If concern persists, then the Inclusion Manager will take any relevant advice and, if necessary, trigger the Authority’s procedures for Statutory Assessment, provided its criteria have been met.

Statutory Assessment – EHCP (Education Health Care Plan)

This is requested when there is significant cause for concern that inadequate progress is still being made, in spite of extra provision and support at the SEND Register. Written evidence of the following will need to be submitted to the LEA to obtain an EHCP (formally Statement):

• SEND Register
• SEND Support Plans
• child’s Provision Map and Targets
• records of regular reviews and their outcomes
• medical history where relevant
• National Curriculum levels
• progress in literacy and Numeracy, from whole school tracking assessments
• other assessments e.g. Educational Psychologist’s report
• views of the parents and of the child
• details of the involvement of other professionals
• details of EWO or Social Services involvement

 

2.4       Curriculum Entitlement & Inclusion

We believe that all children have a right to the full range of curriculum opportunities and every effort will be made to ensure this.  Pupils who receive learning or behaviour support are taught alongside their peers in the classroom. Such integration alone, however, will not guarantee functional inclusion.  There may be times when the withdrawal of a pupil supports the child’s needs. There are separate behavior and emotional intervention procedures that will be followed for specific situations. For more information read alongside the school’s behavior policy.

Functional inclusion will be achieved when tasks are differentiated to take account of the child’s needs. (Please refer to the school’s Inclusion Policy – to follow).

Beulah Junior School has introduced a series of support programmes for children who have additional needs such as counselling, social skills programme, mentoring, concentration and focus programme, ASD Partners in Talking, Art therapy etc. Alongside these interventions the school has commenced a PSHE programme (Personal, Social, and Health Education) which supports those children who are having difficulties focusing in lesson due to emotional and behavioural problems. The school has also started a Social Skills, Concentration and Focus Programme which enhances specific pupils learning and this is demonstrated at specified times during the week. The school has a Speech and Language programme called ‘Partners in Talking’ which supports children with their language skills. Other interventions such as rapid reading; rapid writing and SEN Math’s are put into place for the children on the SEND register.

 

2.5       Criteria for Success

The criteria for considering the success of this policy will include:

• fully involving parents/carers and pupils
• consistency in approach
• having a clear, effective system for identifying and assessing pupils
• keeping records accurately
• completing accurate SEND Support Plan and setting SMART targets
• creating an ethos which recognises and values individual differences
• valuing expertise from outside agencies where necessary.

 

3. SEN, the School and the Wider Community

3.1         INSET

All teaching and support staff are entitled to high quality INSET which is vital to ensure the ongoing, effective development of agreed practice in SEND.  As part of that development, staff are aware of the requirements of the SEND Code of Practice.

INSET also address the concerns of teaching and support staff in providing for pupils with SEN & Disabilities.  Delivery of required INSET will be on a needs basis. It may be delivered internally, through our own expertise, or through external agencies the school is in partnership with.

There will be a particular need for appropriate INSET for the Inclusion Manager who should attend the regular SENCO/ Inclusion Manager Forums held within the LA.

With the new SEND Code of Practice being implemented in September 2014, the whole school will receive training from the Inclusion Manager as to the new expectations.

 

3.2       Outside Agencies (Including Voluntary Agencies)

We strive to further the strong links and good working relationships already established with outside agencies: the Educational Psychology Service, CAMHS, SALT Service, Social Services Departments, Occupational Therapy Service and Hearing Impairment Service amongst others.

 

3.3       Partnership with Parents and Carers

To encourage a positive partnership with those who have legal responsibility for pupils we:

• acknowledge their expertise in their own child and that their role is crucial in the child’s progress
• welcome and incorporate their views when assessing children’s needs
• attempt to notify them as early as possible when there is any concern
• encourage their participation in provision when appropriate
• facilitate access to information for those parents/carers who have particular needs themselves.

Due to the new Code of Practice it is imperative that parents/carers are fully involved in the process from putting a child on the SEND register to that child obtaining an EHCP. Meetings will be set up with the Class Teacher, TA, Inclusion Manager and any other agency to fully inform the parent/carer of the stages and progress. When a child is able to, they should also be involved at the outset by obtaining their views. However, this will be judged by each case.

 

3.4         Pupil Involvement

We recognise the importance of acknowledging the pupil’s views and these will be sought when considering provision for their needs. The school has implemented documentations where the child’s view is taken into consideration prior to any meetings. Time reviewing the child’s view are conducted at the beginning of meetings to ensure that the child’s input is presented.

 

3.5      Governors

The governing body has important statutory duties towards pupils with SEN & Disabilities. They should;

• Read and agree school policy on SEN and Disability
• Ensure appropriate staff and funding arrangements meet the needs of all pupils including those with SEN and Disabilities.
• Ensure the Code of practice is fulfilled when carrying out duties towards any pupils.
• Appoint a member of the governing body to be responsible for SEN and Disability, meeting with the Inclusion Manager and Head teacher to monitor provision.

 

This policy will be reviewed and updated on a regular basis, in the light of current practice.

 

 

Most recently updated: September 2016