GRINDON INFANT SCHOOL – SEND POLICY
This policy is designed to promote the successful inclusion of pupils with special educational needs and disabilities at Grindon Infant School.
At Grindon Infant School we are committed to offering and providing an inclusive environment and curriculum that will ensure the best possible progress for all pupils whatever their needs or abilities. As a school we believe a focus on outcomes is key to ensuring all pupils succeed and provision is tailored to meet the varied needs of all pupils.
The quality of teaching for pupils with SEND, and the progress made by pupils, is a core part of the school’s performance management arrangements and its approach to professional development for all teaching and support staff. School leaders and teaching staff, including the SENDCO, are all involved in identifying any patterns in the identification of SEND, both within the school and in comparison with national data, and use these to reflect on and reinforce the quality of teaching.
Definition of Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND).
The SEND Code of Practice provides the following definition:
A child or young person has Special Educational Needs if they have a learning difficulty or disability which calls for special educational provision to be made for him or her.
A child of compulsory school age or a young person has a learning difficulty or disability if he or she has a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others of the same age, or has a disability which prevents or hinders him or her from making use of educational facilities of a kind generally provided for others of the same age in mainstream schools.
Policy Aims:
To provide a clear identification path for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities
To develop a clear, graduated approach to supporting pupils with additional educational needs
To ensure that the needs of all pupils are met through a focus on outcomes
To ensure all pupils are included in every aspect of school life
To include parents in the planning and assessment for pupils with SEND and/or disabilities through effective communication
To promote effective partnership working both within school and with external agencies.
This policy has been developed in line with the new SEND and Disability Code of Practice 2014.
SEND Information Report
The school sets out its SEND information in the SEND Information Report developed by the staff and parents of the school. This report is accessible on the school’s website and in leaflet form and is intended to provide parents with the information that they require to make informed decisions about their child’s education. The 4 key aims of our local offer is for it to be collaborative, accessible, comprehensive and transparent.
Identification and Assessment
The school is committed to early identification of special educational need and adopts a graduated response to meeting pupil’s special educational needs in line with the 2014 Code of Practice. School recognises that early identification is key to improving long term outcomes for pupils. A range of evidence is collected through the usual assessment and monitoring procedures adopted for all pupils and action is taken if this suggests that the learner is making less than expected progress despite high quality targeted teaching within the classroom. If this is the case the pupil will be discussed with the SENDCo in order to decide if additional/different provision is required and if so what form this provision needs to take. Support will be put into place immediately to secure better progress for the pupil. The pupil will also be registered on the school’s SEND register if the school decides that the pupil requires different/additional support in order to make good progress and achieve the desired outcomes.
The school will use the SEND range descriptors based on national best practice to determine and describe the needs of children with SEND. They are based on the four areas of the SEND Code of Practice (2014/15)
Communication and interaction (Autism Spectrum Disorders and Speech, Language and Communication Needs)
Cognition and learning
Social, emotional and mental health difficulties
Sensory and/or physical (Hearing impairment, Visual impairment, Dual Sensory Needs, Physical and Medical Need)
The SEND range descriptors will provide a core framework for all professionals working with the children with SEND and will give greater clarity for parents, families and carers in terms of what their child’s needs are, and what each child is receiving.
The ranges have been co-produced between families, education, health, social care and SEND colleagues in other LAs. They provide a helpful reference point in relation to identifying the level of need and will support children and young people with additional needs with consistency across schools/colleges and other settings. The provisions included help provide clarity for schools/settings and families about the role of schools/settings and education for children and young people whose needs fall into the lower ranges.
Early Years SEND Ranges
Where a child appears to be functioning behind age appropriate expectations, or where a child’s progress gives cause for concern, staff will consider progress information from the setting in addition to advice and recommendations from external professionals. If a child is not making expected progress in relation to the 3 prime areas of early years development (Personal Social & Emotional, Communication & Language and Physical Development) this will clearly impact on their ability to make good progress in relation to the 4 specific areas (Literacy, Mathematics, Understanding the World & Expressive Arts and Design) through which the prime areas are strengthened and applied.
Some children can be identified as having additional needs within The Early Years Foundation Stage (birth to 5 years). It may be clearly evident what the child’s primary need is; however, for the majority of children it takes time for the primary need to be established through ongoing observation and assessment.
Range 1 – School/setting-based responses – Universal mainstream
Range 2 – School/setting-based responses – Universal/Targeted mainstream
Range 3 – School/setting-based responses – Targeted mainstream
Range 4 – Targeted/Specialist either in mainstream or specialist additional resource
Range 5 – Specialist Resource/ Special School
Primary SEND Ranges
The ranges are from range 1 through to at least ranges 5 and 6, whilst some go beyond to 7. They describe the pupil’s needs and provide suggestions for the types of interventions that will be required. The school will evidence all interventions and the impact of these through a provision map- and other evidence.
Range 1 – Post 16 setting-based responses – Universal mainstream
Range 2 – Post 16 setting-based responses – Universal/Targeted mainstream
Range 3 – Post 16 setting-based responses – Targeted mainstream
Range 4 – Targeted/Specialist either in mainstream or specialist additional resource
Range 5 – Specialist Resource/ Special School / Specialist College
Range 6 – Special School / Specialist College
Range 7 – Highly Specialist Provision possibly 24 hours
Once the range has been established, staff and SENDCo will use the range document to find advice about how to support the learning of pupils at each range. Quality First Teaching will provide a firm basis upon which to use the additional strategies identified at each range. Strategies and advice from earlier ranges need to be utilised alongside more specialised information as the ranges increase. Specialist health interventions may be required at any level and this is an indicative framework as to how health resources may be deployed.
The school recognises that slow progress and low attainment do not necessarily mean that a child has SEND and should not automatically lead to a pupil being recorded as having SEND. However, they may be an indicator of a range of learning difficulties or disabilities. Equally, it is not assumed that attainment in line with chronological age means that there is no learning difficulty or disability. Some learning difficulties and disabilities occur across the range of cognitive ability and, left unaddressed may lead to frustration, which may manifest itself as disaffection, emotional or behavioural difficulties.
Provision
The range of support made in school each year is developed in response to the identified needs of the pupils within each cohort and is identified on a provision map.
Any additional support over and above the notional SEND budget from the LA will be based on the needs as identified through the ranges and on how the school/setting has implemented their resources to meet pupils’ needs in Ranges 1-3.
The provision map will show the schools interventions as well as the support of specialists and outside agencies if they are involved. This will give an informed overview of the interventions, as well as the impact and the progress that the pupil has made as a result. The provision map will be part of a progress check every half term and at the end of each term the SENDCo will analyse the impact that the interventions have had on the children.
Grindon Infant School has established and will maintain a culture of high expectations that expects those working with children and young people with SEND or disabilities to include them in all the opportunities available to other children and young people so they can achieve well.
Planning, teaching and the curriculum
Planning at Grindon Infant School focuses on delivering high quality first teaching that is differentiated and personalised and will meet the individual needs of all children with SEND. Special educational provision is underpinned by high quality first teaching and is compromised by anything less.
All pupils have access to a curriculum that will prepare them for adulthood in order to succeed in life. The National Curriculum Inclusion Statement states that teachers should set high expectations for every pupil, whatever their prior attainment. Teachers use appropriate assessment to set targets which are deliberately ambitious. Potential areas of difficulty are be identified and addressed at the outset. Lessons are planned to address potential areas of difficulty and to remove barriers to pupil achievement. In many cases, such planning will mean that pupils with SEND and disabilities will be able to study the full national curriculum.
The school has invested in a variety of resources to meet the needs of the children with special educational needs. To support children with speech, language and communication needs the school has invested in Widgit Online which is a symbol-based language programme. The school is also using Launch Pad for Literacy to identify speech, language and other developmental needs as soon as possible and to embed specific skill-based intervention into practice and ‘Quality First Teaching.’
To support children with specific sensory needs the school has a variety of sensory toys and equipment (ear defenders, spinning chairs).
To support children with gross and fine motor needs the school has invested in Peg to Pen which allows children to develop and strengthen their fine motor skills as well as large scooters and bikes to help those children who need to develop and strengthen their gross motor skills.
Within Key Stage 1 each class has a set of Barrington Stoke school spelling dictionaries which are phonetically decodable so that all children can access them especially those who have a specific learning need. Eight staff in school are Team Teach trained, which is an award-winning positive handling technique to support children with challenging behaviours. All staff in school have received training by the Autism Education Trust on ‘Schools Making Sense of Autism’.
Individual Support Plans
Provision made that is different from or in addition to everyday classroom provision is recorded on pupil’s Support Plans. There are 3 different formats for the support plans: EYFS children at Range 1 and 2, Primary Children at Range 1 and 2, EYFS and Primary Children at Range 3 or above. Support Plans are developed to support pupil progress in areas where the pupil requires additional support. They are written by the class Teacher in conjunction with any other teachers, support staff and any other professionals that the child works with. Support Plans are shared with parents once they have been developed and again once they have been reviewed by all professionals involved where this is appropriate.
Support Plans will include:
- The area of need or needs in relation to the SEN Code of practice 2014/15
- The SEND Range that the child is working at
- The level of support (SEN support, SEN support plus or EHCP)
- Specialist Support involvement and other important information
- School and external agency intervention
- Targets, criteria for success, strategies (how will the child be supported at school and home) and outcomes
Support Plans will be updated regularly to reflect pupil in a ‘pen portrait’ style and will be reviewed termly with all outcomes recorded. Where a target has been met significantly before a review is due, another target will be added if this is felt to be appropriate by the class teacher or SENDCo.
One Page profiles
One page profiles are created for every child with SEND. The one page profile is completed together with the parents, children and staff in school. The document is divided into four sections:
What do people admire and like about me?
What do I like doing at school and at home?
What is important to me and makes me happy?
What will help me?
This document is reviewed along with the child’s Support Plan at SEND Review Meetings.
Graduated approach
Where a pupil is identified as having SEND, school takes action to remove barriers to learning and put effective special educational provision in place. The SEND support takes the form of a four-part cycle through which earlier decisions and actions are revisited, refined and revised with a growing understanding of the pupil’s needs and of what supports the pupil in making good progress and securing good outcomes. This is known as the graduated approach. For this the cycle of assess, plan, do and review is adopted.
Pupils identified as having SEND will be supported at an appropriate level. This may be internally, with school supporting and meeting pupils needs, or if required school will request additional support and further advice from external agencies to ensure pupil progress and that pupils’ needs are met. Professionals from external agencies will be invited to contribute to monitoring and reviews of progress in cases where they are involved in supporting and planning provision for pupils. Parents will be kept fully informed about the involvement of any external agencies and any proposed support/intervention.
Education Health Care Plan (EHCP)
If pupils have a high level of need and are being identified in the ranges 3 and above and are not making adequate progress through support provided from school and external agency intervention school may apply for an Education, Health and Care Plan. In these cases statutory assessment can be applied for, with the parents, local authority and school deciding on the most suitable provision to meet pupil needs. If the outcome is that an EHC plan will be provided, then the local authority will set out the provision needed, following multi agency meetings. EHC Plans are reviewed annually or whenever requested by Parents, School or other agencies.
Transition
SEND pupils are supported through all aspects of transition with individual need being the driver for planning, preparation and provision. Transitions can be difficult for a child with SEND and steps are taken to ensure that any transition is as smooth as possible. When moving classes in school, information about pupils will be passed on to the new class teacher in advance and a planning meeting will take place between the new teacher and current class teacher. Support Plans will be shared with the new teacher and children will spend time in their new classrooms with their new teachers/assistants to familiarise themselves before they move classes. Additional provision will be provided where this has been identified as necessary.
If a pupil moves to another school their needs will be discussed with the SENDCo from the new school and the SENDCo will ensure that all documents are passed on as quickly as possible. When pupils transfer to junior school the SENDCo will discuss the specific needs of pupils with the SENDCo of their junior school and transition visits will be arranged between the two schools.
Admissions
For the admission of children with special educational needs, school adheres to the Local Authority Admissions Policy 2014/2015 which can be found at: www.sunderland.gov.uk (enter keyword: “choosing a school – school admissions”. Click search).
Medical Conditions
‘The Children and Families Act 2014 places a duty on maintained schools and academies to make arrangements to support pupils with medical conditions. Individual healthcare plans will normally specify the type and level of support required to meet the medical needs of such pupils. Where children and young people also have special educational needs, their provision should be planned and delivered in a co-coordinated way with the healthcare plan. Schools are required to have regard to statutory guidance supporting pupils at school with medical conditions (DfE, 2014).‘
Extract taken from SEND Code of practice 2014
Grindon Infant School adheres to the above and ensures pupils with medical needs have their needs met through appropriate arranges, which often take the form of individual health care plans. Where these are required they will be developed in liaison with the School Nurse and parents.
Record Keeping
The school keeps a central register of all pupils who have been identified as having SEND. The register records details of child’s name, date of birth, area of need, which range they are in, date of registration and/or withdrawal from register. The SENDCo and Head Teacher keep copies of the school register. Each child identified as having SEND has their own individual file. This contains information re any observations, Support Plans, medical reports, minutes of review meetings, assessment information and reports form any external agencies. These files are kept in a secure unit which can be accessed by the SENDCo, Head Teacher, Deputy Head Teacher and class teacher where appropriate.
In addition, on the school O drive there are class lists with information regarding medical and SEND needs within each class.
