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
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 Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Catholic School and St Joseph’s Catholic 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.
At different times in their school life, a child or young person may have a special educational need. The code of practice defines SEND as follows:
A child or young person has SEND if they have a learning difficulty or disability which calls for special education provision to be made for him/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 the same age or has a disability which prevents him/her from making use of facilities of a kind generally provided for others of the same age in mainstream schools or mainstream post 16 institutions
Where pupils’ progress is significantly slower than that of their peers, or fails to match their previous rate of progress, despite high quality teaching targeted at specific areas of difficulty, it may be that a child has SEND. Information will be gathered, including seeking the views of parents and the pupil (if appropriate), as well as from teachers, assessments and relevant external agencies.
There can be many reasons for learners ‘falling behind’. These may include absences, moving schools, speaking English as a second language or worries that distract them from learning. This does not mean that all vulnerable learners have SEND. Only those with a learning difficulty that requires special educational provision additional to, or different from, other learners will be identified as having SEND; this can include ‘looked after’ children.
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, 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 Maths and English requiring work that is different from that of any group within the class.
- Identification of need from nursery, Health, Social or Speech and Language
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”.
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
Assess – this involves taking into consideration all the information from discussions with parents/carers, the pupil (if appropriate), the class teacher and assessments.
Plan – this stage identifies the barriers to learning, the intended outcomes, and details what additional support will be provided to overcome the barriers to learning. Strategies will be recorded on the child’s support plan and will form the basis for review meetings.
Do – providing the support – extra assistance for learning or learning resources as set out in the plan.
Review – measuring the impact of the support and considering whether changes to the provision need to be made. All those involved – learner (if appropriate), parents/carer, teacher and SENDCO contribute to this review. This stage then informs the next cycle, if necessary.
At Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Catholic School and St Joseph’s Catholic School termly assessment is carried out to moderate children’s work. The school uses a tracking system to analyse data and to identify gaps in children’s learning and to plan appropriate intervention when required. Different children require different levels of support to diminish the difference and to achieve age related expectations.
Different children require different levels of support to diminish the difference and to achieve age related expectations.
Children/young people may join Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Catholic School and St Joseph’s Catholic School with parents having a clear understanding of their child’s need. As schools we see parents as partners in their child’s educational journey. In this case we work together with parents/carers and the child education, health and social care professionals to design an individualised SEN Support Plan that describes the child’s needs, outcomes & provision to meet those needs.
School staff may initially identify a concern – the class teacher alongside the SENCO will discuss the child’s needs and a meeting with parents/carers and/or the child would be arranged at the earliest opportunity. During this meeting a Short Note would be completed with agreed outcomes for the child along with the next steps. The next steps may require the involvement of specialist support or advice, for example, Educational Psychology, Occupational Therapy, Speech and Language Therapy, SENDIASS (Parents Advice and Support Service) or another education, health and social care professional. It is important to understand that the involvement of professionals does not seek to label or diagnose but to seek advice and strategies to enable a child to reach their full potential. As part of this approach every child with SEN will have an individualised SEN Support Plan that describes:
- The child’s needs
- Short term targets for the child which are linked to their needs
- Details of any extra support the child will get
- Who will give the child help
- How often the child will get help
- How and when the school will look at the child’s progress again (usually at least twice a year)
- Child and parent views
As good practice we share copies of SEND Support Plan with parents/carers and we will do this at regular intervals throughout the school year.
If a child’s needs are very complex and/or severe we may ask the Local Authority to carry out an Education, Health and Care Assessment which 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. It is devised to structure relevant support to achieve long and short-term outcomes for the child. The class teacher, SENDCO and outside agencies, where appropriate, contribute to the compilation of the plan; parental support is crucial and always sought.
The plan is reviewed annually and is an ever evolving document in accordance with the changing needs of the pupil. You and the school can request that the local authority conduct an assessment of your child’s needs; this may lead to an EHC plan. This plan would cover the child from two years of age to twenty-five years of age. It is important to stress here that not every child with an identified additional need, such as ADHD or Dyspraxia, for example, will require an EHCP.
- Our Lady Queen of Martyrs currently has no (0) EHC Plans.
- St Joseph’s currently has three (3) EHC Plans.
For more detailed information see the Local Offer
Details of Identification and Assessment of Pupils with SEN
As schools we measure children’s progress in learning against National expectations and age related expectations. The class teacher continually assesses each child and notes areas where they are improving and where further support is needed.
We formally assess the children each term and level their reading, writing and numeracy. As a school, we track children’s progress from entry through to Year 6, using a variety of different methods including National Curriculum age related expectations and reading ages.
Children who are not making expected progress are picked up through Pupil Progress meetings that are held between teachers and senior management. In this meeting a discussion takes place concerning why individual children are experiencing difficulty and what further support can be given to aid their progression. When the child’s Support Plan is reviewed comments are made against each target to show what progress the child has made. If the child has not met the target, the reasons for this will be discussed, then the target may be adapted into smaller steps or a different approach may be tried to ensure the child does make progress.
Identification
- Reception / Key Stage 1 staff, with the SENCO where necessary, liaise with Nursery or the child’s previous school.
- If a child is performing below age expected levels then meetings will be held with the class teacher and SENCO. Observations of the child may also take place.
- SEND is discussed half termly at staff meetings so that all staff can contribute to the identification process.
- We have regular parent meetings and take into account any concerns raised by Parents, at whatever point in the year these are raised. We pride ourselves on having an ‘open door policy’ where at any point parents can talk to staff.
- Concerns raised by teachers, for example behaviour, attendance or self-esteem which could be affecting performance are discussed and recorded
- Liaison with external agencies, such as: Speech and Language, Occupational Therapy, CAMHS, Crisis Response, Educational Psychology, The School Nurse, and Behaviour Support.
- Health diagnosis through local paediatricians at the hospital
How is the decision made about what type and how much support my child will receive?
The class teacher alongside the SENCO will discuss the child’s needs and what support would be appropriate. Teacher’s assess the children on a daily basis and review and evaluate their lessons to accommodate the needs of their children.
Termly assessment is carried out and staff mark and moderate together. Levels are collected on a tracking system. These are reviewed to look at gaps in the children’s learning. We look at what we can provide to meet the child’s needs and we discuss and measure the effectiveness of the interventions the children have undertaken that term.
Different children will require different levels of support in order to bridge the gap to achieve age expected levels.
How do we assess and review progress?
If your child has SEND, 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.
Depending upon their needs, other assessments may be needed. These may include:
- Speech Therapy Assessments – which may focus on sound production, language understanding, or other relevant assessments to your child’s needs
- Education Psychology Assessments – which may include memory, understanding, reasoning, logic, and general skills assessments
- 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.
- Your child’s school achievements may 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, for children who are not ready to work on National Curriculum, they may be assessed against other measures (i.e. the steps before the National Curriculum).
Each school’s SENCO regularly attends network meetings to receive information and support regarding the latest SEND initiatives, legal requirements and access to up to date training. Both teaching and support staff are involved in regular training to support the work they do with children with SEND. This includes having sound knowledge of, for example, dealing with communication difficulties, children on the autistic spectrum and dyslexia.
Support staff have access to further specialised training when the areas of need arise. Support staff also have designated areas in which they specialise and lead interventions.
For further information please view or download our Accessibility Plan which can be found in the School Policies section of our website.
