Our SENCO is Miss Lawson, who can be contacted via the office.
Brook Community Primary School
SEN & Disability Policy/SEN Information Report
Issued on 01/07/2019
This policy is written in line with the requirements of:-
Children and Families Act 2014
SEN Code of Practice 2015
SI 2014 1530 Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014
Part 3 Duties on Schools – Special Educational Needs Co-ordinators
Schedule 1 regulation 51– Information to be included in the SEN information report
Schedule 2 regulation 53 – Information to be published by a local authority in its local offer
Equality Act 2010
Schools Admissions Code, DfE 1 Feb 2012
SI 2012 1124 The School Information (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2012
SI 2013 758 The School Information (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2013
This policy should be read in conjunction with the following school policies: Behaviour Policy, Single Equality Policy, Child Protection Policy and Complaints Policy.
This policy was developed by the SENCo and SEN Governor and will be reviewed annually.
Definition of SEN
A child or young person has SEN if they have a learning difficulty or disability which calls for special educational provision to be made for him or her.
A child of compulsory school age or a young person has a learning difficulty if he or she:
- Has a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others of the same age; or
- Has a disability which prevents or hinders him or 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. SEN Code of Practice (2015, p 15)
Definition of disability
Many children and young people who have SEN may also 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’. This definition provides a relatively low threshold and includes more children than many realise: ‘long-term’ is defined as ‘a year or more’ and ‘substantial’ is defined as ‘more than minor or trivial’ SEN Code of Practice (2015, p16)
1 The kinds of special educational need for which provision is made at the school
At Brook Community Primary School we endeavour to make provision for every kind of frequently occurring special educational need without a statement of special educational needs / Education, Health and Care Plan, for instance dyslexia, dyspraxia, speech and language needs, autism, asperger’s syndrome, learning difficulties and behaviour difficulties. There are other kinds of special educational need which do not occur as frequently and with which the school is less familiar, but we can access training and advice so that these kinds of needs can be met.
There are other kinds of special educational need which do not occur as frequently and with which the school is less familiar, but we can access training and advice so that these kinds of needs can be met.
Decisions on the admission of pupils with a statement of special educational need / Education, Health and Care plan are made by the Local Authority.
The admission arrangements for pupils without a statement of special educational needs / Education, Health and Care Plan do not discriminate against or disadvantage disabled children or those with special educational needs.
2 Information about the policy for identification and assessment of pupils with SEN
At Brook Community Primary School we monitor the progress of all pupils six times a year to review their academic progress. We also use a range of assessments with all the pupils at various points, for example phonics screening, Speech Link, reading age, British Pictorial Vocabulary Screen and dyslexia screening.
Where progress is not sufficient, even if special educational need has not been identified, we put in place extra support to enable the pupil to catch up. Examples of extra support are early morning groups, small group precision teaching, Toe by Toe, social communication groups, a range of in-class support strategies and one to one support and tuition.
Some pupils may continue to make inadequate progress, despite high-quality teaching targeted at their areas of weakness. For these pupils, and in consultation with parents, we will use a range assessment tools to determine the cause of the learning difficulty. At Brook Community Primary School we utilise various assessment tools such as Leuven, Boxall Profile, BPVS, Cracking the Code and a range of other specific assessments for pupils with specific areas of difficulty. We also have access to external advisors and the specialist teaching services through the LIFT process.
The purpose of this more detailed assessment is to understand what additional resources and different approaches are required to enable the pupil to make better progress. These will be shared with parents, put into a SEN support plan and reviewed regularly, and refined / revised if necessary. At this point we will have identified that the pupil has a special educational need because the school is making special educational provision for the pupil which is additional and different to what is normally available.
If the pupil is able to make good progress using this additional and different resource (but would not be able to maintain this good progress without it) we will continue to identify the pupil as having a special educational need. If the pupil is able to maintain good progress without the additional and different resources he or she will not be identified with special educational needs. When any change in identification of SEN is changed parents will be notified.
We will ensure that all teachers and support staff who work with the pupil are aware of the support to be provided and the teaching approaches to be used.
3 Information about the school’s policies for making provision for pupils with special educational needs whether or not they have EHC Plans, including
3a How the school evaluates the effectiveness of its provision for such pupils
Each review of the SEN support plan will be informed by the views of the pupil, parents and class/subject teachers and the assessment information from teachers which will show whether adequate progress is being made.
The SEN Code of Practice (2015, 6.17) describes inadequate progress thus:
- Is significantly slower than that of their peers starting from the same baseline
- Fails to match or better the child’s previous rate of progress
- Fails to close the attainment gap between rate of progress
- Widens the attainment gap
For pupils with or without a statement of special educational needs / Education, Health and Care Plan there will be an annual review of the provision made for the child, which will enable an evaluation of the effectiveness of the special provision. The collation of all annual review evaluations of effectiveness will be reported to the governing body.
3b the school’s arrangements for assessing and reviewing the progress of pupils with special educational needs
Every pupil in the school has their progress tracked six times per year. In addition to this, pupils with special educational needs may have more frequent assessments of reading age, spelling age etc. Using these it will be possible to see if pupils are increasing their level of skills in key areas. If these assessments do not show adequate progress is being made the SEN Provision Map will be reviewed and adjusted as required, and as such is a working document open to review at any time.
3c the school’s approach to teaching pupils with special educational needs
High quality teaching, differentiated for individual pupils, is the first step in responding to pupils who have or may have SEN. Additional intervention and support cannot compensate for a lack of good quality teaching. Schools should regularly and carefully review the quality of teaching for all pupils, including those at risk of underachievement. This includes reviewing and, where necessary, improving, teachers’ understanding of strategies to identify and support vulnerable pupils and their knowledge of the SEN most frequently encountered SEN Code of Practice (2015, 6.37)
In Brook Community Primary School the quality of teaching is judged to be good.
We follow the Mainstream Core Standards advice developed by Kent County Council to ensure that our teaching conforms to best practice. In meeting the Mainstream Core Standards the school employs some additional teaching approaches, as advised by internal and external assessments e.g. one to one tutoring / precision teaching / mentoring, small group teaching, use of ICT software learning packages.
3d how the school adapts the curriculum and learning environment for pupils with special educational needs
At Brook Community Primary School we follow the advice in the Mainstream Core Standards on how to adapt the curriculum and the learning environment for pupils with special educational needs. We also incorporate the advice provided as a result of assessments, both internal and external, and the strategies described in statements of special educational needs / Education, Health and Care Plans.
As part of our requirement to keep the appropriateness of our curriculum and learning environment under review the Governors continually monitor our provision.
Specialist training is commissioned either through our Local Forum inclusion meetings or other recommended agencies. All staff are included so that specific needs of individual children can be met.
3e additional support for learning that is available to pupils with special educational needs
As part of our budget we receive ‘notional SEN funding’. This funding is used to ensure that the quality of teaching is good in the school and that there are sufficient resources to deploy additional and different teaching for pupils requiring SEN support. The amount of support required for each pupil to make good progress will be different in each case. Each class has a provision map devised specifically to meet the needs of all the pupils in the class. In very few cases a very high level of resource is required. The funding arrangements require schools to provide up to £6000 per year of resource for pupils with high needs, and above that amount the Local Authority should provide top up to the school.
3f how the school enables pupils with special educational needs to engage in activities of the school (including physical activities) together with children who do not have special educational needs
All clubs, trips and activities offered to pupils at Brook Community Primary School are available to pupils with special educational needs either with or without a statement of special educational needs / Education, Health and Care Plan. Where it is necessary, the school will use the resources available to it to provide additional adult support to enable the safe participation of the pupil in the activity
3g support that is available for improving the emotional and social development of pupils with special educational needs
At Brook Community Primary School we understand that an important feature of the school is to enable all pupils to develop emotional resilience and social skills, both through direct teaching, for instance PSHE and circle time, and indirectly with every conversation adults have with pupils throughout the day.
For some pupils with the most need for help in this area we also can provide access to and support from the Wellbeing and Nurture Teaching Assistant.
Pupils in the early stages of emotional and social development because of their special educational needs will be supported to enable them to develop and mature appropriately. This will usually require additional and different resources, beyond that required by pupils who do not need this support.
4 The name and contact details of the SEN Co-ordinator
The SENCo at Brook Community Primary School is Miss Lawson, who is a qualified teacher and is currently undertaking the National Award for SEN Co-ordination. The SENCo can be contacted via the school office.
5 Information about the expertise and training of staff in relation to children and young people with special educational needs and how specialist expertise will be secured
All teachers and teaching assistants have had the following awareness training – dyslexia, Behaviour Management, SEN Code of Practice and ASD training.
In addition some teachers and teaching assistants have been trained in guided reading strategies, Makaton and Speech Link.
Where a training need is identified beyond this we will find a provider who is able to deliver it.
6 Information about how equipment and facilities to support children and young people with special educational needs will be secured
Where external advisors recommend the use of equipment or facilities which the school does not have, if resources allow we will purchase it using the notional SEN funding, or seek it by loan. For highly specialist communication equipment the school will seek the advice of the KCC Communication and Assistive Technology team.
7 The arrangements for consulting parents of children with special educational needs about, and involving them in, their education
All parents of pupils at Brook Community Primary School are invited to discuss the progress of their children twice a year and receive a written report annually. In addition we are happy to arrange meetings outside these times. As part of our normal teaching arrangements, all pupils will access some additional teaching to help them catch-up if the progress monitoring indicates that this is necessary; this will not imply that the pupil has a special educational need. All such provision will be recorded, tracked and evaluated on a Provision Map which will be shared with parents three times per year.
If following this normal provision improvements in progress are not seen, we will contact parents to discuss the use of internal or external assessments which will help us to address these needs better. From this point onwards the pupil will be identified as having special educational needs because special educational provision is being made and the parent will be invited to all planning and reviews of this provision. Parents will be actively supported to contribute to assessment, planning and review.
In addition to this, parents of pupils with a statement of SEN / Education, Health and Care Plan will be invited to contribute to and attend an annual review, which, wherever possible will also include other agencies involved with the pupil. Information will be made accessible for parents.
8 The arrangements for consulting young people with special educational needs about, and involving them in, their education
When a pupil has been identified to have special educational needs because special educational provision is being made for him or her, the pupil will be consulted about and involved in the arrangements made for them as part of person-centred planning. Parents are likely to play a more significant role in the childhood years with the young person taking more responsibility and acting with greater independence in later years.
9 The arrangements made by the governing body relating to the treatment of complaints from parents of pupils with special educational needs concerning the provision made at the school
The normal arrangements for the treatment of complaints at Brook Community Primary School are used for complaints about provision made for special educational needs. We encourage parents to discuss their concerns initially with the class teacher, then the SENCo (Miss Lawson) and then the Headteacher to resolve the issue before making the complaint formal to the Chair of the governing body.
If the complaint is not resolved after it has been considered by the governing body, then a disagreement resolution service or mediation service can be contracted. If it remains unresolved after this, the complainant can appeal to the First–tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability), if the case refers to disability discrimination, or to the Secretary of State for all other cases.
There are some circumstances, usually for children who have a Statement of SEN where there is a statutory right for parents to appeal against a decision of the Local Authority. Complaints which fall within this category cannot be investigated by the school.
10 How the governing body involves other bodies, including health and social services bodies, local authority support services and voluntary organisations, in meeting the needs of pupils with special educational needs and in supporting the families of such pupils
The governing body have engaged with the following bodies:-
- Free membership of LIFT for access to specialist teaching and learning service
- Access to the Educational Psychology service
- Link to Disabled Children’s Service for support to families for some pupils with high needs
- Access to local authority’s service level agreement with Speech and Language Therapy Services / Occupational Therapy Services / Physiotherapy Services for pupils with requirement for direct therapy or advice
- Ability to make ad hoc requests for advice from Communication and Assistive Technology Team etc.
- SENCo receives support and guidance from other SENCos and attends the Foundation Trust Hub meetings
11 The contact details of support services for the parents of pupils with special educational needs and disabilities and children and young people with SEND up to age 25 (Code of Practice 2015, 6.39)
Information Advice and Support Kent (IASK) provides a free and confidential, information, advice and support service, for parents of a disabled child or child with special educational needs and to children and young people up to age 25 who have a special educational need or disability. Trained staff can provide impartial legally based information and support on educational matters relating to special educational needs and disabilities, including health and social care. The aim is to empower parents, children and young people to fully participate in discussions and make informed choices and decisions., and also to feel confident to express their views and wishes about education and future aspirations.
They can be contacted on:
HELPLINE: 03000 41 3000
Office: 03000 412412
E-mail: iask@kent.gov.uk
12 The school’s arrangements for supporting pupils with special educational needs in transferring between phases of education or in preparing for adulthood and independent living
At Brook Community Primary School we work closely with the educational settings used by the pupils before they transfer to us in order to seek the information that will make the transfer as seamless as possible. To enable smooth transition we meet with teachers from the pre-schools and the teachers from the secondary schools. We also contribute information to a pupil’s onward destination by providing information to the next setting.
13 Information on where the local authority’s local offer is published.
The local authority’s local offer is published on www.kelsi.co.uk and parents without internet access should make an appointment with the SENCo for support to gain the information they require.