St Peter's Catholic Primary School

SEND - Special Educational Needs & Disability

SEND Policy

Accessibility Plan

SEND in a nutshell - a summary of SEND facts, figures and provision at St Peter's

Please see below for a summary of terms related to SEND and a summary leaflet for parents and carers.

SEND glossary

Information leaflet for parents

St Peter’s Special Needs Coordinator (SENDCo) is Mrs Early who can be contacted on 0161 437 1495.

At St Peter’s we believe that teaching Special Educational Needs is not simply the role of a designated teacher but rather that every teacher is a teacher of special needs.

The staff of St. Peter’s Catholic Primary school are committed to providing a welcoming, attractive and stimulating environment to support the needs and develop the learning of the children and families in the community.

Every child and family in our community is valued and diversity is celebrated. Our school is staffed by a team of qualified teachers and teaching assistants. The school provides a broad and balanced curriculum in a safe, stimulating and caring environment which allows everyone to achieve, develop, learn and grow.

All areas of school life are inclusive and the teaching is tailored towards individual learning providing challenge and support; encouraging everyone to reach their full potential. Staff provide a positive ethos to enable the children to work towards the development of ‘life skills’ and instill life-long learning aspirations for everyone through a range of activities which are fun and enjoyable.

Long Term Goals

At St.Peter’s Catholic Primary School, we aim to ensure that children with special educational needs play a full role in and enjoy all the benefits of school life. We aim to raise the aspirations and expectations of all children and provide a safe and inclusive learning environment. Education for children with S.E.N. is based around providing a focus on outcomes and not simply the hours of provision provided. All support for S.E.N. children is based upon the guidelines in the 2014 Code of Practice.

Inclusion Statement

We endeavour to make every effort to achieve maximum inclusion of all pupils whilst meeting pupils’ individual needs. This policy builds on our School Inclusion Policy, which recognises the entitlement of all pupils to a balanced, broadly based curriculum. Our SEND policy reinforces the need for quality first teaching that is fully inclusive. The Governing Body will ensure that appropriate provision will be made for all pupils with SEND.

Aims and Objectives of this Policy:

• To reach high levels of achievement for all.
• To be an inclusive school.
• To ensure the identification of all pupils requiring SEND provision as early as possible in their school career.
• To meet individual needs through a wide range of provision.
• To attain high levels of satisfaction and participation from pupils, parent and carers.
• To share a common vision and understanding with all stakeholders.
• To give transparent resourcing to SEND.
• To provide curriculum access for all.
• To work towards inclusion in partnership with other agencies and schools.
• To achieve a level of staff expertise to meet pupil need.

We recognise that many pupils will have special needs at some time during their school life. In implementing this policy, we believe pupils will be helped to overcome their difficulties.

 Admission Arrangements

No pupil will be refused admission to school on the basis of his or her special educational need. In line with the SEN and Disability Act we will not discriminate against disabled children and we will take all reasonable steps to provide effective educational provision. (Please see school’s Admissions Policy).

Management of Send within School

The governing body has delegated the responsibility for the day to day implementation of the policy to the SENDCo who has Qualified Teacher Status. The management of SEND is supported by the administration staff. All school staff have a responsibility for pupils with SEND in their class, firstly to ensure Quality First Teaching with differentiation and personalisation to meet need. Staff are aware of their responsibilities towards pupils with SEND, whether or not pupils have an Education, Health and Care Plan, (EHCP). A positive and sensitive attitude is shown towards all pupils by adults in school. Staff responsibilities are identified in individual job descriptions. Teaching Assistants play a major role in the support of pupils with SEND. The rationale for the deployment of TAs is pupil centred.

The SENDCo is responsible for:

• overseeing the day-day operation of this policy
• co-ordinating provision for children with special educational needs
• liaising with and advising teachers
• managing learning support assistants
• overseeing the records on all children with SEN
• liaising with parents of children with SEN (in conjunction with class teachers)
• contributing to the in-service training of staff
• liaising with external agencies including the LA’s support and educational psychology
• services, health and social services, and voluntary bodies.

Identification and Assessment

At St. Peter’s school, we assess the needs of pupils by considering the needs of the whole child. These may include disability, health and welfare, English as an additional language, pupil premium and being a looked after child. We accept the principle that pupils’ needs should be identified and met as early as possible.

There are four areas of need as stated in the SEND Code of Practice, 2014:

• Communication and Interaction (C&I)
• Cognition (Cog)
• Social Emotional and Mental Health difficulties (SEMH)
• Sensory and/or Physical. (S/P)

Whilst these four areas broadly identify the primary need of a pupil we also consider the needs of the whole child, which may also impact on a pupil’s progress, such as:

• Disability
• Attendance and punctuality
• Health and welfare
• English as an additional language (EAL)
• Being in receipt of the Pupil Premium. (PP)
• Being a Looked After Child (CLA)
• Being a child of a service woman/man.

The SENDCo works closely within the senior leadership team, using whole school tracking data as an early identification indicator. We use a number of additional indicators of special educational needs:

• Analysis of data, including EYFS baseline and Foundation Stage Profile data, SATs, reading ages, annual and termly pupil assessments
• Use of our local authority SEN criteria
• Following up of teacher concerns
• Following up parental concerns
• Tracking individual pupil progress over time
• Information from previous schools on transfer
   
• Information from other services

The SENDCo maintains a list of pupils identified through the procedures listed; this is called the SEND Support list. This list is reviewed each term when a detailed analysis of the list takes place. For some pupils a more in depth individual assessment may be undertaken by the school or other educational or health professionals.

Curriculum Access and Provision

In order to meet the learning needs of all pupils, teachers differentiate work. They work to meet individual learning needs and to mark work and plan homework effectively. Where pupils are identified as having special educational needs, the school provides for these additional needs in a variety of ways. The provision for pupils is related specifically to their needs. A provision map records a graduated response to individuals.

Children with S.E.N. are identified by their class teachers after these children have failed to make progress after quality first teaching, targeted interventions and support from specialist staff. Teachers are responsible and accountable for the progress of children with S.E.N. If a teacher believes that a child may have S.E.N., a concern sheet is filled in and the results of formative and summative assessments are discussed with the SENDCo and the child’s parents.

The range of provision may include:

• In class support for small groups with an additional teacher or Teaching Assistant
  (TA)
• Small group withdrawal with TA, CT, or Learning Mentor (LM).
• Individual class support / individual withdrawal
• Further differentiation of resources
• Homework/learning support club
• EHCPs
• Interventions
• Provision of alternative learning materials/ special equipment
• Group support
• Provision of additional adult time in devising interventions and monitoring their effectiveness
• Staff development/training to undertake more effective strategies
• Access to Specialist Teaching and Educational Psychology Service, Steps or other support services for advice on strategies, equipment, or staff training.

Monitoring Pupil Progress

Progress is monitored through a cycle of plan, do and review. Class teachers meet with the SENDCo at the end of each half-term to review EHCP.’s and to set new targets. The progress of children with Special Needs is also scrutinised during whole class pupil progress meetings. During these meetings, interventions are reviewed and discussed to ascertain how successful they have been. If the support of outside agencies is required, the SENDCo will meet with the class teacher and the child’s parents to discuss what level of outside support can be bought in or is desirable. If the child’s needs are complex, then a multi-agency meeting will be called to ensure that the support of specialist agencies is utilised.

Progress is the crucial factor in determining the need for additional support.

Adequate progress is that which:

• Narrows the attainment gap between pupil and peers
• Prevents the attainment gap widening
• Is equivalent to that of peers starting from the same baseline but less than the majority of peers
• Equals or improves upon the pupil’s previous rate of progress
• Ensures full curricular access
• Shows an improvement in self-help and social or personal skills
• Shows improvements in the pupil’s behaviour

Record Keeping

The school will record the steps taken to meet pupils’ individual needs. Children with S.E.N. have their progress monitored through I.E.P.’s, termly reviews and half-termly pupil progress meetings. The SENDCo will maintain the records and ensure access to them. In addition to the usual school records, the pupil’s profile will include:

• Information from parents
• Information on progress and behaviour
• Pupil’s own perceptions of difficulties
• Information from health/social services
• Information from other agencies.

Educational Health Care Plans

All pupils on our SEND Support list will have Individual Education Plans setting out targets and any provision made that is additional to and different from usual classroom provision. The SENDCo works with an Educational Psychologist and class teacher to assess whether a child will need the support of an E.H.C. plan. If this is the case, then the SENDCo will collate a file of evidence to send to the Statutory Assessment Team in order to request increased funding for the child. Both pupils and parents complete a single page profile to give their own views on this process.

For pupils with an EHCP, provision will meet the recommendations on the plan. In subjects where all children have curriculum targets these are used to inform the Education Plan. Strategies for pupils’ progress will be recorded in Individual Education Plan containing information on:

• Short-term targets
• Teaching strategies
• Provision made
• Date for review
• Success and/or exit criteria
• The outcomes recorded at review

The Education Plan will record only that which is different from or additional to the normal
differentiated curriculum, and will concentrate on three or four individual targets that closely match the pupil’s needs. The Education Plan will be created through discussion with both the pupil and the parent or carer.

Reviewing an Action Plan

Individual Education Plans will be reviewed at regular intervals with the inclusion of
parents, carers and pupils’ views. This can be done during meetings with parents or during reviews with the SENDCo. A child’s parents must be given the opportunity to express their own opinions on the targets set on any EHCP.

Code of Practice Graduated Response

The school adopts the levels of intervention as described in the SEN Code of Practice.

The Code of Practice advocates a graduated response to meeting pupils’ needs. If the school decides, after consultation with parents, that a pupil requires additional support to make progress, the SENCO, in collaboration with teachers, will support the assessment of the pupil and have an input in planning future support and add the pupil to the SEND Support list. The class teacher will remain responsible for planning and delivering individualised programmes. Parents will be closely informed of the action and results.

Placement of a pupil on the SEND Support list will be made by the SENDCo after full
consultation with parents at an Individual Education Plan review. External support services may advise on targets for a new Education Plan and provide specialist inputs to the support process. Education Plan intervention will usually be triggered when despite receiving differentiated teaching and a sustained level of support, a pupil:

• Still makes little or no progress in specific areas over a long period
• Continues to work at National Curriculum levels considerably lower (one year lower) than expected for a pupil at a similar age
• Continues to experience difficulty in developing literacy/numeracy skills
• Has emotional problems that substantially impede their learning
• Has sensory or physical needs requiring additional specialist equipment or visits/advice from specialists.
• Has communication or interaction problems that impede the development of social relationships, thus presenting barriers to learning
• Parental consent is sought before any external agencies are involved. The resulting
• Education Plan may incorporate specialist strategies. These may be implemented by the class teacher but involve other adults.

Request for Statutory Assessment

The school will request a Statutory Assessment from the LA when, despite an individualised programme of sustained intervention within SEN Support the pupil remains a significant cause for concern. A Statutory Assessment might also be requested by a parent or outside agency. The school will have the following information available:

• Records from past interventions
• Current and past Action Plans
• Records and outcomes of regular reviews undertaken
• Information on the pupil’s health and relevant medical history
• National Curriculum levels.
• Other relevant assessments from specialists such as support teachers and educational psychologists
• The views of parents
• Where possible, the views of the pupil
• Social Care/Educational Welfare Service reports
• Any other involvement by professionals

Education, Care and Health Plans
An EHCP will normally be provided where, after a Statutory Assessment, the LA considers the pupil requires provision beyond what the school can offer. However, the school recognises that a request for a Statutory Assessment does not inevitably lead to an EHCP.

An EHCP will include details of learning objectives for the child. These are used to develop targets that are:

• Matched to the longer-term objectives set in the EHCP for the shorter term
• Established through parental/pupil consultation
• Set out in an Education Plan
• Implemented in the classroom
• Delivered by the class teacher with appropriate additional support where specified.

Reviews of an EHCP

EHCPs must be reviewed annually. The LA will inform the head teacher at the beginning of each school term of the pupils requiring reviews. The SENDCo will organise these reviews and invite:

• The pupil’s parent
• The pupil if appropriate
• The relevant teacher
• A representative of the SEN Inclusion and Assessment Team
• The Educational Psychologist
• Any other person the SENDCo or parent/carer considers appropriate

The aim of the review will be to:

• Assess the pupil’s progress in relation to the objectives on the EHCP
• Review the provision made to meet the pupil’s need as identified in the EHCP
• Consider the appropriateness of the existing EHCP in relation to the pupil’s performance during the year, and whether to cease, continue, or amend it
• Set new objectives for the coming year if appropriate

At Key Stage Phase transitions Reviews, receiving schools should be invited to attend in order to plan appropriately for the new school year. It also gives parents the opportunity to liaise with teachers from the receiving school. Within the time limits set out in the Code, the SENDCo will complete the annual review forms and send it, with any supporting documentation to the LA. The school recognises the responsibility of the LA in deciding whether to maintain, amend, or cease an EHCP of SEN.

Partnership with Parents/Carers

The school aims to work in partnership with parents and carers.
We do so by:

• Keeping parents and carers informed and giving support during assessment and any related decision-making process about SEN provision
• Working effectively with all other agencies supporting children and their parents
• Giving parents and carers opportunities to play an active and valued role in their child’s education
• Making parents and carers feel welcome
• Ensuring all parents and carers have appropriate communication aids and access arrangements
• Providing all information in an accessible way
• Encouraging parents and carers to inform school of any difficulties they perceive their child may be having or other needs the child may have which need addressing
• Instilling confidence that the school will listen and act appropriately
• Focusing on the child’s strengths as well as areas of additional need
• Allowing parents and carers opportunities to discuss ways in which they and the school can help their child
• Agreeing targets for the child
• Making parents and carers aware of the Parent Partnership services. This information will be included in with the new parent packs
• Involving parents in decision making as to how a pupil’s individual budget may be allocated to provide support for their child.

Involvement of Pupils

We recognise that all pupils have the right to be involved in making decisions and exercising choice (SEN Code of Practice). Where appropriate all pupils are involved in monitoring and reviewing their progress. We endeavour to fully involve all pupils by encouraging them to:

• State their views about their education and learning
• Identify their own needs (self-assessment and self-evaluation, Assessment for Learning)
• Share in individual target setting across the curriculum
• Self-review their progress and set new targets

In addition pupils who are identified as having SEND are invited to participate in:

• Action Plan reviews and setting of individual targets
• Regular meetings with named adults
• Where appropriate, working with learning mentors
• Annual reviews

Special Provision

The school recognises that pupils with medical conditions should be properly supported so that they have full access to education, including school trips and P.E. Some children with medical conditions may be disabled and where this is the case the school will comply with its duties under the Equality Act of 2010.

The school has the following special facilities:

• Wheelchair access
• Disabled toilets with hand rails
• All mainstream classrooms are carpeted (excluding cloakroom and practical areas), and have high frequency lighting.
• Blinds and curtains in classrooms to reduce glare. (Important for lip-reading)
• Ramps to outside doors to allow for wheelchair access.
• Individual adaptations will be made for specific pupils e.g. chair supports and individual work stations.
• St.Peter’s School has a lift installed to enable access to the second floor.

Links with Education Support Services

We aim to maintain useful contact with support services in Children’s Services. For pupils on our SEND Support list any one or more of the following agencies may be involved: Educational Psychologist, School Nurse, Speech and Langauge Therapy Service, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services, Social Care Advice and Information Team.

Links with Other Services and Schools

Effective working links are maintained with:

• Lancasterian Specialist School
• Local family of schools group
• Other Children and Young People’s Services
• Community Health Service
• Family support and safeguarding
• Parent Partnership Service

Inset

In order to maintain and develop the quality of our provision, staff undertakes appropriate training and further professional development.

Resources

The provision for SEND is funded through the main revenue budget for the school. Staff are encouraged to undertake training and development. Funds are deployed to implement the SEND policy.

Complaints

If there are any complaints relating to the provision for pupils with SEN these will be dealt with in the first instance by the Head teacher/SENDCo. The chair of governors may be involved if necessary. In the case of an unresolved complaint the LA may be involved. Please see the school’s Complaints Procedure available on the school’s website.

Review of the Send Policy

This policy was developed through consultation with staff, parents, carers and pupils.

The school considers the SEN Policy document to be important and, in conjunction with the Governing Body, undertakes a thorough review of both policy and practice each year. The outcomes of this review are used to inform the School Improvement Plan.