| Our SEN Provision | How we identify, assess and review children with special educational needs

How we identify, assess and review children with special educational needs

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

In deciding whether to make special education provision to support educational, social, physical or emotional needs, we:

  • Work in partnership with parents/carers and pupils pupils
  • Consult with relevant external agencies
  • Use assessment tools & materials
  • Use observations
  • Use Short Notes
  • Monitor progress against targets

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 (in relation to progress made)
  • Plan the provision to meet your child’s aspirations and agreed outcomes (pupils, parents/carers, teacher, SENCO, outside agencies could be involved)
  • Do put the provision in place to meet those outcomes (including any adaptation of the curriculum)
  • Review the support and progress (pupils, parents/carers, teacher, SENCO, outside agencies could be involved)

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.  Parents/carers and child/YP (where appropriate) views are integral to the this process.

A small percentage of children and young people with significant and/or complex needs may require an assessment that could lead to an Education, Health and Care Plan.

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:

  • 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 Education, Health and Care Plan for the child.
  • Parents/carers also have the right to ask the Local Authority to carry out this assessment although it is usually best if you can do this with the support of the school.
  • Education, Health and Care Assessment is only appropriate for a small number of children. Your school SENCO or the Parent Partnership Service will be able to advise you about this.

For more detailed information see the Local Offer

Details of Identification and Assessment of Pupils with SEN

All Saints’ Catholic Primary School is committed to promoting equality of opportunity and to valuing diversity for all children and families.

At our school we aim to offer excellence and choice to all our children, whatever their ability or needs. We want all our children to feel that they are a valued part of our community and we have high expectations of all our children. We aim to achieve this through the removal of barriers to learning and participation by:

  • providing a secure and accessible environment in which all our children can flourish and in which all contributions are considered and valued;
  • providing an appropriate curricular provision, that respects the fact that children:
    • have different educational and behavioural needs and aspirations;
    • require different strategies for learning;
    • acquire, assimilate and communicate information at different rates;
    • need a range of different teaching approaches and experiences;
  • including and valuing the contribution of all families to our understanding of equality and diversity;
  • providing positive non-stereotyping information about gender roles, diverse ethnic and cultural groups and disabled people;
  • improving our knowledge and understanding of issues of anti-discriminatory practice, promoting equality and valuing diversity; and
  • making inclusion a thread that runs through all of our activities.

Our Teaching & Learning Policy sets out details of our broad and balanced curriculum. All children experience Quality First Teaching as part of our curriculum – this includes differentiation of resources or additional adult support.  As progress is frequently monitored or following termly pupils progress meetings, interventions related to need and individual children are organised.

If your child has a special educational need our SENCO, Mrs Laura Bryant will:

  • Ensure the right support is put in place for each child as part of the Assess, Plan, Do, Review cycle
  • Advise other teachers and teaching assistants on how to help each child
  • Arrange training for staff so they understand each child’s needs
  • Work closely with parents on a regular basis to talk with them about their child’s needs and listen to any ideas or concerns they might have
  • Work with other professionals (if necessary) who may be able to help individual children, e.g. speech and language therapist /medical professional/ educational psychologist
  • Monitor progress in relation to individual outcomes as well as in relation to national measures

A Provision Map may be produced to give details of the support the school plans to give to help individual children learn. All teachers are aware that children learn in different ways. Some need to work at a slower pace to ensure they fully understand one thing before they move onto something new. Teachers’ planning will:

  • Reflect the short term targets for the child which are linked to their needs as part of the Assess, Plan, Do, Review cycle
  • Give details of any extra support the child will get and who will give the child help
  • Give details of how often the child will get help
  • Review outcomes specific to the child

We are committed to working with parents and carers to identify their child’s needs and support.  Parents and carers will be involved throughout the process.

There is a range of ways this can be done, for example:

  • Termly parents/ carers evenings;
  • Ongoing discussions with a class teacher and/or SENCO;
  • An ‘open-door’ policy, where parents and carers are welcome to come into school to discuss any concerns they may have;
  • Through a review of a child’s SEN Support Plan or the Annual Review of their Statement of SEN or EHC Plan.

As many of the SEND children are too young to discuss their needs more formally, the school works closely with parents and carers in the support of those children with special educational needs and disabilities. We encourage an active partnership through an ongoing dialogue with parents and carers. Parents and carers have much to contribute to our support for children with special educational needs and disabilities. We believe that the help of parents is particularly important in supporting the progress made by each child and we will consult with them when decisions need to be made. Careful records of each child’s work, progress and achievements are kept and reviewed in accordance with the requirements of the National Curriculum.

For further information please view or download our Accessibility Plan which can be found in the School Policies section of our website.