Identification of SEN

Early Identification of need

At St Oswald’s C of E Aided Primary and Nursery School we work in partnership with parents/carers to address early identification of need. We may consult with relevant outside agencies, e.g. educational psychologist and occupational therapist, and invite them into school to gain the best advice. We then incorporate any advice into our provision to meet the children’s needs.

When a child enters our school, their current attainment is assessed to give us a ‘baseline’ from where we will check progress. In addition to the assessments that all children take part in, and depending upon their needs, other assessments may be needed. If your child has SEN, we may carry out further assessments in order for us to identify any needs they may have accurately. This will be done through a range of methods including classroom observations, in school assessment materials or in conjunction with outside agencies, such as an Educational Psychologist.

Children are assessed against age-related expectations within the National Curriculum or they may be assessed against other measures for children who are not ready to work on National Curriculum Levels (i.e. the steps before the National Curriculum). Aspirational targets are set for all children to ensure that all children make good progress, including those not ready to access the National Curriculum.

A special educational need can be a number of different things. For example, a child may be having problems with communication, social, emotional, physical or sensory issues, which can be helped by putting extra support in at school and by working in partnership with parents. It may also be due to a disability which makes it harder for a child to use the same educational facilities that the school provides for the majority of children. For some children this may be a temporary difficulty, while others may have a long term need for special help.

School staff may initially identify a concern. Following this, the class teacher will discuss the child’s needs at a meeting with parents/carers and child (if appropriate). This would be arranged at the earliest opportunity. During this meeting a Short Note would be completed with agreed outcomes for the child/young person and next steps. The next steps may require the involvement of specialist support or advice from, for example, Educational Psychology or another education health and social care service/professional.

Quality first teaching

Children learn and develop in different ways. Teachers recognise this and use different teaching methods and resources. They plan different levels of work in the classroom to cater for children with a variety of needs.

Short Notes

Initial concerns about a pupil may be recorded on a Short Note. A Short Note is a short document which highlights a pupil’s strengths and areas of concerns. It is a document that is shared between school and parents/carers.

SEN Support Plans

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. Through collection of data, class based tasks, observations and discussions with parents/carers we will ascertain the need of the child.
Plan the provision to meet your child’s aspirations and agreed outcomes. In discussion with the child, parents/carers and class teachers an agreed plan of action of SMART targets will be put in place.
Do put the provision in place to meet those outcomes. This is an opportunity to work towards the agreed targets over an agreed period of time.
Review the support and progress. A meeting will be held with parents/carers and, where appropriate, children, to review the impact of the agreed actions. If it is felt further action and support is required then the process will be repeated.

As part of this approach every child with SEN will have an individualised SEN Support Plan that describes the child’s needs, outcomes & provision to meet those needs. Parent/carer and child (where appropriate) views are integral to the this process.

Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs)

A small number of children with significant and/or complex needs may require an assessment that could lead to an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP).

This is a very detailed assessment of each child’s needs. Parents or carers, the school and a range of professionals will all be asked to provide written reports.
At the end of the assessment phase the Local Authority will consider these reports to help decide whether or not to issue an EHCP for the child.
Parents/carers also have the right to ask the Local Authority to carry out this assessment.
For children with an EHCP, an annual review takes place with all stakeholders along with termly reviews of the targets takes place between the class teacher and parents/carers.

For further information regarding EHCPs, please see the Local Authority’s SEND Local Offer.

Additional top up funding may be given to schools, from the Local Authority, for individual pupils who have an EHCP or SEN Support plan.

At St Oswald’s, there are currently 2 children with an EHCP and 7 children who we receive top up funding for. There is a greater number of pupils with SEN support plans and/or short notes.

Looked After Children with SEND

Our school recognises there are particular groups of pupils whose circumstances require additional consideration by those who work with them to support their SEND. At St Oswald’s, we have appointed a Designated Teacher for Looked after Children who works closely with the SENCO to ensure all teachers in school understand the implications for those children who are looked after and are children with SEN. Our Designated Teacher is Mrs Wilson-Smith (Headteacher).

Children who are Looked After and have SEND are supported in the same way as all children in school through the graduated response: Assess, Plan, Do, Review cycle. In addition to any Support Plan or EHCP the child will require a Personal Education Plan (PEP).

When a child becomes looked after the Social Worker must ensure that the child’s needs and the services needed to meet those needs are documented in the Care Plan. The Care Plan, of which the PEP is an integral part, is made before the child becomes looked after, or in the case of an emergency placement, within 10 working days. The PEP is a record of what needs to happen for children who are looked after to enable them to fulfil their potential and reflects any existing plans such as an EHCP, SEN Support Plan or Short Note. The PEP should reflect the importance of a personalised approach to learning, which secures good basic skills, stretches aspirations and build life chances. The PEP is the joint responsibility of the authority and the school.

How we evaluate the effectiveness of SEN provision

We continuously ensure that SEND provision has a positive impact on the outcomes for all of our children/young people. In this respect, the Headteacher and SENCO will report termly to Governors upon the quality of education provided for and the achievements of pupils with SEN.

We will do this in a variety of ways

classroom observations / learning walks / book scrutiny to ensure appropriate levels of differentiation
regular tracking of SEN pupils’ progress
termly meetings take place between staff and SENCO
regular meetings take place between Headteacher, Deputy Headteacher and SENCO
regular meetings take place between the SENCO and Nursery SENCO
discussions take place between the SENCO and SEN Governor
information is given annually to the Curriculum Committee (Governors) about the provision we offer in school
Children with SEND have access to a broad and balanced curriculum. The class teacher, alongside the SENCO will discuss the child’s needs and what support would be appropriate. Teachers use assessments and observations of children on a regular basis to review their needs and what provision is most appropriate. Different children will require different levels of support, in order to bridge the gap to achieve age -related expectations, which could be on a one-to-one basis, within a group, support by a teacher or teaching assistant or through peer support and in or out of class. Throughout the process, we keep an on-going dialogue with parents. The impact of provision for individuals and groups will be evaluated termly.
All children with SEN have support plans which identify how school are providing for their needs. The SENCO monitors the provision for each child through book scrutiny, lesson observations and learning walks. Provision is reviewed against the pupils’ outcomes and the impact evaluated. Each term, the SENCO monitors support plans for the percentage of outcomes achieved and reviews priorities for the next term.
Progress is measured against the National Curriculum/EYFS using teacher assessment.
Risk assessments are used to support children with difficulties in keeping themselves and other safe.