Special Educational Needs & Disability Policy
Pentland Infant and Nursery School
Pentland Infant School aims to create a secure, accepting, collaborative and stimulating school community in which everyone is valued and all children can achieve their best. Inclusion permeates every aspect of school life to increase learning and participation for all children.
All children are entitled to a broad, balanced and challenging curriculum. This includes pupils who have SEN or disabilities, those for whom English is not their first language and those who are gifted or talented. By setting suitable learning challenges, responding to children’s diverse needs and overcoming potential barriers to learning. Pentland Infant and Nursery School strives to ensure that all children learn and make good or better progress.
This policy has been formed in consultation with the staff, governors, parents and families having regard to the SEN Code of Practice, 2014 on the identification and assessment of special educational needs and should be read in conjunction with the following guidance, information and policies:
· The Equality Policy
· The Accessibility Plan
· The school’s SEN information on the school website (SEN Report)
· The LA Guidance – ‘Children & Young People with SEN; Guidance – School Based Support’
· Statutory Guidance on Supporting Pupils at School with Medical Conditions (April 2014)
· The Safeguarding Policy
· Admissions Policy
The school has a legal responsibility outlined in the Education Acts, The SEN and Disability Act 2001, The Children and Families Act 2014 and The SEN Code of Practice 2014.
The guidance as outlined in the Code (1:1 and 1:2) outline the principles school has regard to:
*The views, wishes and feelings of the child or young person, and the child’s parents.
*The importance of the child or young person, and the child’s parents, participating as fully as possible in decisions, and being provided with the information and support necessary to enable participation in those decisions.
* The need to support the child or young person, and the child’s parents, in order to facilitate the development of the child or young person and to help them achieve the best possible educational and other outcomes, preparing them effectively for adulthood.
1.2 These principles are designed to support:
* The participation of children, their parents and young people in decision-making.
* The early identification of children and young people’s needs and early intervention to support them.
* Greater choice and control for young people and parents over support.
* Collaboration between education, health and social care services to provide support.
*High quality provision to meet the needs of children and young people with SEN.
* A focus on inclusive practice and removing barriers to learning.
* Successful preparation for adulthood, including independent living and employment.
The 1981 Education Act definition, retained in the 1993 Act, is that a child has SEN if:
(a) She/he has significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of children of her/his age.
(b) She/ he has a disability, which either prevents or hinders her/him from making use of educational facilities of a kind generally provided in schools within the LA for children of her/his age.
The school follows Kirklees ‘Children and Young People with SEN; guidance – School Based Support’.
Our SEND policy adopts the principle that all children should be given equal opportunity to achieve in all areas of school life. It considers how best to educate children whatever their needs may be.
(a) To ensure that our duties, as set out in the Education Act 1996, SEND Act 2001 and the Disability Discrimination Act 2005, are fully met to enable pupils with special educational needs to join in the normal activities of the school with pupils who do not have special educational needs;
(b) To ensure that all children gain access to a broad and balanced curriculum and have an equal opportunity to receive an education that is appropriate to their needs;
(c) To identify and assess children with special educational needs (SEN) as early as possible;
(d) To use our resources as efficiently and equitably as possible when assessing and meeting the special needs of our children;
(e) To develop a partnership with parents/carers in order that their knowledge, views and experience can assist us in assessing and providing for their children;
(f) To take into account the ascertainable wishes of the pupils concerned and, whenever possible, directly involve them in decision making in order to provide more effectively for them;
(g) To ensure effective collaboration with Local Authority (LA) services, health services and social services in order to take effective action on behalf of children with special educational needs;
(h) To ensure that all staff are aware of their responsibilities towards pupils with special educational needs and are able to exercise them;
(i) To ensure that these children have the opportunity, and are expected, to contribute to work and life of the school,
(j) To develop the children’s self confidence and their respect of individual differences,
(k) To foster an environment where diversity is valued,
(l) To follow a specific school and LEA procedure for identifying, monitoring and maintaining appropriate SEN support,
(m) To monitor our effectiveness in achieving the above objectives.
Special Needs Procedures and Systems
All staff should follow the school’s SEN procedure as outlined in the Kirklees (SEN Guidance – School Based Support’ Appendix 1)
Roles and Responsibilities
In attempting to achieve the above objectives, the Governors, the Head Teacher and the staff will take all reasonable steps within the limit of the resources available to fulfil the requirements outlined in this policy document.
Governors will fulfil their statutory duties towards children with special educational needs. In order to do this they will develop and monitor the school’s SEND policy and ensure provision is an integral part of the school development plan. All Governors, with the SEND Governor taking the lead, will be knowledgeable about the schools SEND provision, including how funding, equipment and personnel are deployed. The Governors will monitor the equality and effectiveness of SEND provision and the progress of pupils with SEND.
The HeadTeacher has overall responsibility for the day to day management of provision. She will work closely with the school’s Inclusion Manager/SENCO and will keep the Governing Body fully informed about the working of this policy, taking account of the requirements listed by OFSTED in the Handbook for the Inspection of Schools. She will encourage all members of staff to participate in training to help them to meet the objectives of this policy.
The SENCo- Mrs Dawn Rushby will be responsible for:
* The day to day operation of this policy.
* Co-ordinating provision for children with SEND by working closely with staff, parents/carers and other agencies.
* Providing related professional guidance to colleagues with the aim of securing high quality teaching.
* Collaborating with curriculum co-ordinators to ensure learning for all children is given equal priority.
* Ensuring that proper records are kept.
* Contributing to the in-service training of staff.
* Using available resources to maximum effect.
* Tracking and monitoring the progress of all pupils with SEND.
Identification of SEND
Children and young people are identified as having SEN if they do not make adequate progress through quality first teaching.
The Code specifies four broad areas of need:
· Communication and Interaction (including Autism Spectrum Disorder)
· Cognition and Learning
· Social, emotional and mental health difficulties
· Sensory and/or physical needs.
At Pentland, our team work closely together to unpick the language and learning needs of all our children. By securing all the relevant background information from parents and the use of informal heritage language assessments carried out by our highly trained bi-lingual staff, we are able to, over time, determine whether we believe our children’s additional needs are associated with English language acquisition or an additional SEN need. (If a child is struggling in their heritage language it may highlight potential SEN needs).
Throughout school, if a child has an identified additional SEN need, they will be placed, in collaboration with the parent/ carer on the SEN register as SEN Support and supported and monitored closely . (This does not include New arrivals to the school who may be at the early stages of English language acquisition).
“Children must not be regarded as having a learning difficulty solely because the language or form of language of their home is different from the language in which they will be taught “ (Education Act, 1996 -Section 312).
Not all children remain on the SEN register for long periods of time. The register is in a constant state of flux as we use our regular tracking meetings to monitor the attainment and progress of all our learners and amend the register accordingly.
Every child on SEN support has a different profile of needs and we adopt a personalised approach to ensure we meet those needs.
The majority of children at SEN support will have their needs effectively met through our own approach to planning and recording. However, in some cases it may be felt that individual children continue to make limited progress despite evidenced based SEN support or that a number of professionals are involved and a shared understanding of strengths and needs and a joint agreement of actions and outcomes is needed and hence an individual My Suppport Plan (MSP) is required. A My Support Plan provides a more coordinated and personalised planning approach.
If concerns still persist, a request can be made for an Education, Health and Care (EHC) assessment of need. This would involve the child/young person, parents/carers, and all agencies involved with the child, and may lead to the issuing of an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP) which will bring together health and social care needs, as well as their special educational needs and provision. Children and young people with an EHCP continue to be the responsibility of the teacher and may access some further intervention or support within school. Their progress will be monitored by the school and also through an annual review, where the outcomes on the EHCP will be considered.
The school aims to meet the needs of any children whom the parent wishes to register at the school as long as a place is available and the admission criteria are fulfilled. The currently agreed admissions policy of the Governors makes no distinction with regard to children who have SEN.
Where a child due for admission is known to have special educational needs, the SENCO will gather appropriate information from any school the child has been attending and from other agencies known to have been involved.
The school building is at ground level and is accessible to wheelchairs and includes the following facilities;
* 2 disabled toilets
*low level fire alarms
*A fully equipped sensory room
Half Termly reviews are held for all children at SEN Support or with an Education, Health and Care Plan. These currently take the form of a collaborative workshop where all members of staff who work with the child meet to discuss progress and attainment and future support and interventions required. Any future targets are shared with parents and carers
Support and targets are also reviewed termly with parents as part of our teacher/parent consultation evenings.
A more formal review for children with an EHC Plan may also take place with parents and carers and actively involved outside agencies.
The SENCo and other key members have responsibility for communicating and liaising with a wide range of outside agencies. These include:
* Educational Psychology
* Speech Therapists
* Behaviour support teachers
* Specialist outreach staff for Autism, Visual Impairments & Hearing Impairments
* Occupational Therapist
* Family Support Workers
*School Nurses and Health Visitors
Individual Education Plans (IEPs) and tracking grids are securely held electronically and can be accessed by all relevant staff.
When the Governing Body approves the school’s budget, consideration will be given to the resources allocated to special educational needs. The annual report to parents will also include this information. Consideration will also be given to any funds allocated by the LA in respect of children who are the subject of Education, Health and Care Plans. The Headteacher will manage the allocated funds and will ensure that the best use is made of these resources.
We are fully committed to the principle of inclusion and the good practice which makes it possible. Our policy, as set out in this document, will enable children with SEND to be an integral part of our school community. Regardless of the stage pupils have reached our emphasis will be upon including them, alongside the other children, in the full range of activities the school has to offer. This will be achieved by careful consideration of the needs of each child and by either modifying activities or by providing support that will help the child to participate in them.
The school is committed to developing a wide range of interventions to support the diverse needs of children, which include:
* Circle times focusing on social skills, relationships and speaking and listening skills.
* Narrative groups to develop early language skills.
* Speech & Language Groups.
* Movement Groups to support our children with physical needs.
Involving Parents/Carers and Pupil Participation
We firmly believe, at Pentland, in developing a strong partnership with parents and carers and that this will enable all our children to achieve their full potential. The school recognises that parents and carers have a unique overview of the child’s needs and how best to support them, and that this gives them a key role in the partnership. We will value their parental knowledge and expertise in relation to their child.
We are committed to enabling the voice of parents and carers to be heard at every stage of the SEN process.
We aim to ensure that our parents and carers are fully informed about all matters relating to their child’s SEN .Our SEN Report is on our website and is updated regularly, and we guide parents towards the LA Local Offer for information about wider services.
The views of our children are important to us too. We strive to elicit the views of children by providing safe, supportive environments in which they can communicate.
All staff work hard to enable children to understand information, express their feelings participate in discussions and indicate their choices.
From an early age, children at Pentland are actively involved at an appropriate level in discussing their IEPs, and setting and reviewing their targets.
Kirklees Information Advice and Support Service (KIAS)
KIAS is a service that we can signpost our families to. It offers support to parents and carers of children and young people with identified special educational needs. They may also support parents and carers who are concerned that their child may have special educational needs. The overall aim of the service is to empower parents to play an active and informed role in their child’s education. This includes access to an Independent Parental Supporter. Details of the service, and contact information, are available from email: email@example.com,
website: www.kias.org.uk or tel: 01484 225422.
When a child leaves us to transfer to another school, the SENCo will forward relevant information about the child’s needs and the efforts we have made to meet them. This will be done within 15 days of the child ceasing to be registered at the school. Where a pupil is moving to a local school this will be achieved, wherever possible, by inviting the SENCo for the receiving school to the last review meeting that is held under the staged procedures described above. We maintain good links with schools who receive our children and this is particularly so in respect of children with SEND. A range of transition activities will be arranged for children with additional needs.
Monitoring and Evaluation
The Governors will ensure that SEND provision is an integral part of the school development plan and will evaluate the effectiveness and success of this policy .
In order to achieve this Governors will monitor:
* The standards obtained by children with special educational needs.
* The number of children at SEN Support and with an Education, Health and Care Plan.
* The pattern of resource allocation to children at each stage.
*Additional resources allocated for children with an Education, Health and Care Plan.
* Case Studies selected from children with SEN at all stages
*The views of parents expressed on Additional Needs Plans and any complaints received.
* The extent to which children’s views are reflected.
* Details of visits by specialist teachers, educational psychologists and other agencies.
* The relevant sections of our School Development Plan.
Class teachers have responsibility for providing effective learning for all children in their class and they ensure all children have access to a broad and balanced curriculum. Class Teachers should:-
* Have high expectations for every child, whatever their prior attainment.
* Use of appropriate assessments to set targets that are deliberately ambitious.
* Address and identify potential areas of difficulty from the outset.
* Plan lessons that address potential areas of difficulty and remove barriers to children’s achievements.
Class teachers play a lead role in planning for and delivering provision for children with SEN that is additional to or different from the differentiated approaches and learning arrangements normally provided for all children.
As part of the normal school practice, parents/carers are welcome to discuss the provision made for their child with the class teacher, SENCo, and/or headteacher. Parents/carers will be given the opportunity to be involved in the learning programme and their concerns addressed.
If concerns persist, the parent/carer can contact the SEND Governor or Chair of Governors (in writing) via the school.
The school is committed to responding to the queries of the parent/guardian as soon as possible.
These procedures are outlined in the SEN Code of Practice 2014, Chapter 11.
This policy has been written in accordance with the relevant Education Acts stated at the beginning and particularly in response to the new Special Educational Needs Code of Practice, 2014. Due to the developing nature of education this policy will be reviewed annually
This Policy will be reviewed in January 2019
Signed Chair of Governors………………………………………….. Date……………………
Signed Headteacher……………………………………………………… Date…………………….
Children and Young People with SEN; Guidance – School Based Support.