SEND Policy

 Inclusion Statement:

Pentland Infant and Nursery 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 our children.

All children are entitled to a broad, balanced and challenging curriculum. This includes children who have SEND. 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.

 

Compliance:

The policy was developed by the SENDCo in liason with the school’s Governing Body, teaching staff and where possible, parents of children with SEND in the spirit of the current SEND Reform.

It should be read in conjunction with the following guidance, information and policies:

• The Equality Policy / Equality Act 2010
• The Accessibility Plan
• The school’s SEND information on the school website (SEND Report)

  The Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations June 2014, Schedule 51

Schools SEN information Reporting Regulations April 2014 .

 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

Teacher Standards 2012

The National Curriculum in England Key Stage 1 framework Sept 2013

 

Equal Opportunity:

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.

 

 Aims and objectives:

Aims:

• To ensure that all children gain access to a broad and balanced curriculum that meets individual learning needs and promotes a love of learning.
• To ensure children receive a differentiated curriculum that addresses their current and pertinent learning needs whilst striving for achievement and progression.
• To ensure the identification of all children requiring SEND support as early as possible.
• To ensure children with SEND take as fully a part as possible in al school activities.
• To ensure parents of children with SEND are kept fully informed of their children’s progress and attainment.
• To ensure that children with SEND, are involved, where practicable, in decisions affecting their future SEND provision and beyond.

Objectives:

• To systematically, effectively and accurately identify and provide for children who have SEND.
• To operate a whole school approach to the identification, monitoring and support for children with SEND.
• To provide a SENDCo who will work with the policy to support and advise all staff working with SEND children.
•  

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.

 

 Definition of SEN and Disability (SEND):

 For the purpose of this policy, at our school we use the definition for SEN and for disability from the SEND Code of Practice (2014). This states:

SEN: A child or young person has special educational needs if he or she has a learning difficulty or disability which calls for special educational provision to be made for him or her. A learning difficulty or disability is a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others of the same age.

Disability: Many children and young people who have SEN may have a disability under the Equality Act 2010 – that is ‘…a physical or mental impairment which has a long-term and substantial adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.’

 

Admissions:

Pentland  prides itself on it's inclusive ethos and welcomes children with SEND. Parents are encouraged to talk about their child's special educational needs on admission. This ensures that school staff can plan personalised transition for those children who may require additional supoport. 

Our SENDCO will liaise with feeder schools and Early Years settings to make sure that information about your child's needs and the provision required is accessed before your child's first day at our school. This is helps us to make sure that staff know your child's needs well and can fully support them during their transition to a new school.

Children with an Education, Health and Care Plan will have a detailed transition programme prior to their admission.

 

Identification of and support for children with SEND:

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 SEND need. If a child is struggling in their heritage language it may highlight potential SEND needs.

 At Pentland we follow the Assess, Plan, Do, Review approach.

Assessment: Our children’s development is carefully tracked and compared to their peers and national expectations. In some cases we will draw on assessments and guidance from other educational professionals e.g. Educational Psychologists (EP) and from health and social services.

Plan: Where additional SEND support is required, over and above Quality First Wave teaching, the class teacher and the SENDCo , with consent from parents, will put together a plan outlining the adjustments, interventions and support which will be put in place for the child. The plan will also include the expected impact on progress and outcomes, including a date when this will be reviewed. Targets for the child will be shared with her/ him using child friendly language and with parents/ carers. All staff who work with the child will be made aware of the plan.

Do:The class teacher is responsible for working with the child on a daily basis. She/ he will also liase closely with Teaching assistants or specialists who provide support as set out in the plan and monitor the progress being made. The SENDco will provide support, guidance and advice for the teacher.

Review:The teacher, parent/carer and the child, will review the plan , including the impact of support and interventions each half term. This will inform the planning of next steps for a further period or where successful the removal of the child from SEND support. This four part cycle through which earlier discussions and actions are revisited, refined and revised with a growing understanding of the child’s needs and what supports the child in making good progress is known as the graduated approach. At every stage, teachers follow the ‘assess, plan, do review’ approach to ensure that the learning need is continually updated and reviewed.

In some cases, it may be felt that individual children continue to make limited progress despite evidenced based SEND 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. In such cases an individual My Support Plan (MSP) will be 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.

 

Resources:

When the Governing Body approves the school’s budget, consideration will be given to the resources allocated to special educational needs and disabilities. 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.

 

Inclusive curriculum access:

At Pentland we ensure all our children have access to a broad and balanced curriculum. We have high expectations for every child, whatever their prior attainment. We use appropriate assessments to set targets that are deliberately ambitious. We address and identify potential areas of difficulty from the outset and plan lessons that remove barriers to children’s learning. We ensure our children with SEND are included in the full range of activities the school has to offer by modifying activities or by providing additional support.

 

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 SEND process.

We aim to ensure that our parents and carers are fully informed about all matters relating to their child’s SEND .Our SEND 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.

 

Transition:

When a child leaves us to transfer to another school, the SENDCo 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 from the receiving school to the last review meeting .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.

Complaints procedure:

As part of the normal school practice, parents/carers are welcome to discuss the provision made for their child with the class teacher, SENDCo, 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 March  2023

Signed Chair of Governors………………………………………….. Date……………………

Signed Headteacher……………………………………………………… Date…………………….

 

Appendix

Children and Young People with SEN; Guidance – School Based Support.

The four-part cycle: Assess: We will ensure that we regularly assess all pupils’ needs so that each child’s progress and

 

 

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