SEND

What is a special educational need?

A child or young person has SEND if they have a learning difficulty or disability which calls for special educational provision to be made for them. A child of compulsory school age or a young person has a learning difficulty or disability if they:

1. have a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others of the same age: or


2. b) have a disability which prevents or hinders them from making use of educational facilities of a kind generally provided for others of the same age in mainstream school or mainstream post – 16 institutions.

A child under compulsory school age has special educational needs if they fall within the definition at (a) or (b) above or would do so if special educational provision was not made for them.

(Clause 20 Children and Families Act 2015) (SEND Code of Practice 2015, 1.8) 

What is a disability?

The Equality Act 2010 states that a person has a disability if they have a physical or mental impairment and the impairment has a substantial and long term adverse effect on their ability to carry out day-to-day activities.

A physical or mental impairment includes: learning difficulties including specific learning difficulties; medical conditions including epilepsy, diabetes, more severe forms of asthma and eczema; autism; speech, language and communication impairments.

If the impairment has a substantial and long-term effect on a person’s ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities it may amount to a disability.

1. The class teacher

Your first port of call should be your child’s class teacher.  They are responsible for:

• Checking the progress of your child and identifying, planning and delivering any additional help your child may need (this could be things such as targeted work or intervention groups both long term and short term).


• Writing Individual Education Plans (APDRs), and offering the opportunity to share and review these at least once each term and planning for the next term.


• Ensuring that all staff working with your child in school are helped to deliver the planned work/programme for your child, so they can achieve the best possible progress. This may involve the use of additional adults, outside specialist help and specially planned work and resources.


• Ensuring that the school’s SEND Policy is followed in classrooms and for all pupils with any SEND.


• Creating  classroom and resources.

2. The Inclusion Manager/ SENCO (Special Educational Needs Coordinator)

The SENCO is responsible for:

• Coordinating all the support for children with special educational needs or disabilities (SEND) and developing the school’s SEND Policy to make sure all children get a consistent, high quality response to meeting their needs in school.


• Ensuring that you are:
  
  
  
  
  • involved in supporting your child’s learning.
  
  
  • kept informed about the support your child is getting.
  
  
  • involved in reviewing how they are doing and being consulted about new targets and next steps.
  
  
  
  


• Liaising with all the other people who may be coming into school to help support your child’s learning e.g. Speech and Language Therapy, Educational Psychology, Learning and Cognition etc.


• Updating the school’s SEND register (a system for ensuring all the SEND needs of pupils in this school are known) and making sure that there are excellent records of your child’s progress and needs through a rigorous tracking system.


• Providing support and training, when a need is identified, for teachers and support staff. This will ensure that school staff can help children with SEND achieve their full potential.


• Assisting the Head Teacher in applying for Statutory Assessment when this is identified as necessary.


• Supporting the Head Teacher in the reviews of Statements of Special Educational Needs.

3. SEND Governor

The SEND Governor is responsible for:

• Supporting the Inclusion Manager/SENCO in her role.


• Ensuring that the SEND children are making progress against the nationally expected targets.


• Making sure the necessary support is available for pupils with SEND.


• Reporting to Governors.

What types of support are there available at Tankersley St Peter’s?

‘Quality First Teaching’ is an entitlement for all children and we are constantly striving to ensure that this is of a ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ quality at all times in school.

Lessons are carefully differentiated to take into account the different learning styles and abilities. Teaching and learning is carefully targeted to meet individual need. This is called personalised learning

If a child is still identified as needing additional support the SEND system will be carefully followed. 

The steps are:

1. Short term interventions to overcome identified barrier: This is in small groups or 1-1 as appropriate. A short term intervention may be run in class alongside whole class learning, or in a breakout area if deemed necessary.


2. Entry onto our SEND register at SEN Support (stage 1): At this stage a 1 page Profile will be created. This is a positive and personalise document that will allow the communication of your child’s strengths and needs in a quick and accessible manner.

Then an Individual Education Plan (IEP) will be written in conjunction with staff, support staff, parents and pupils.

IEP’s are often written with the support of a document BSquared. This breaks the nationally set levels down into smaller steps to make even tiny amounts of progress identifiable and next steps easier to plan.

1. Moving to SEN Support (stage 2).  If the child is identified as still not making good progress we will involve outside agencies for support and advice. This is done in consultation with parents.


2. Statutory Assessment process – Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP): after following programmes put in place by school and external agencies if the school, parents and supporting agencies feel the needs of the child are still not being met, the school will follow the Local Authority statutory assessment for EHCP, process to provide the school and child with necessary additional support. (This is explained in the ‘how is support allocated?’ section of this page.)

We are also able to offer:

• Social groups - opportunities to develop social skills, relationships and communication


• Targeted TA support (1-1 or small group)


• Read, Write, Inc. – a targeted phonics programme


• Indirect Dyslexia Learning - a literacy online intervention 


• Active Literacy Kit - a targeted programme to develop literacy


• Jump ahead – an Occupational Therapy programme


• Makaton  - Several teachers and teaching assistants are trained to use this


• Elklan Speech Therapy methods – several TA’s are trained to communicate with ASD.


• WellComm
  
  Time to Talk  
  
  Music Interaction - all recommended Speech and Language interventions 

Who are the other people who provide support at Tankersley St Peter’s?

Support is provided by:

School Funding:

• Educational Psychology – We are able to buy into this service as and when advised or if we feel necessary.
• Communication and Interaction – As with Learning and Cognition these are visiting specialists that offer support and advice with learning programmes on an individual basis.  As a traded service we use it as a pay per use basis.
• 1-1 support.
• Staff training.

Local Authority Funding:

• Sensory service – we can access this service for children with hearing or visual needs.

Health Funding:

• Speech and Language programmes delivered by teachers/support staff but written by visiting Speech and Language therapists.
• Access to the Paediatric Therapy service that provide programmes for delivery in school on an individual basis.

• School Nurse – we are able to contact and arrange visits from the school nurse for advice and support with health issues. The school nursing service also provides specialist nurses to support and advise in school for more specific health needs such as diabetes, epilepsy, severe allergies etc.

How can I let the school know if I am concerned about my child’s progress?

If you have concerns about your child’s progress you should speak to:

• Your child’s class teacher initially.
• If you are not happy that the concerns are being managed and that your child is still not making progress you should speak to the Inclusion Manager/SENCO.
• You could also discuss you concerns with the Head teacher if the SENCO isn’t immediately available.
• If you are still not happy you can speak to the school SEND Governor.

How will school let me know if they are concerned about my child’s progress?

If your child is then identified as not making progress the school will set up am meeting to discuss this with you in more detail.  This will initially be with the class teacher.  At this meeting you can expect we will:

• Listen to any concerns you may have.
• Plan any additional support your child may receive.
• Discuss with you any referrals to outside professionals to support your child’s learning.

How is support allocated to children and how do they move between different levels?

• Tankersley’s school budget, received from Barnsley LEA, includes an amount of money for supporting children with SEND.
• The Head Teacher decides on the budget for Special Educational Needs and Disabilities in consultation with the school governors. This is decided annually on the basis of needs in the school. The only exception to this is if a child is assessed to need an Educational Health Care Plan (EHCP) by the LEA part way through the year. In this case additional top up funding is received from the LEA and the need will be met immediately the statement is received.
• The Head Teacher and the Inclusion Manager/SENCO discuss all the information they have about SEND in the school, including:
  • the children getting extra support already
  • the children needing extra support
  • the children who have been identified as not making as much progress as would be expected

This forms the basis for planning what resources/training and support is needed.

• All resources/training and support are reviewed regularly and, if necessary, in response to a needs as they arise. Changes are made as needed.

The Statutory Assessment Process to Education and Health Care Plan (EHCP)

Only a very small percentage of children require support of an additional nature beyond SEN Support. If this is the case, then the SENCo may discuss with you the possibility of asking the Local Authority LA to undertake a statutory assessment of your child’s needs. If this is considered appropriate, then the school will collect together all your child’s information and evidence of all the carefully evaluated additional strategies and interventions that have been out into place and with your permission send it off to the local authority for them to consider the information at a panel meeting and make a decision whether or not to carry out a statutory assessment of your child’s needs. Whilst this is taking place the school will continue to meet your child’s needs with the support that is already in place.

Once the Local Authority receives a request to consider whether to make a statutory assessment or not, a legal timescale begins. The process of statutory assessment for EHCP is carefully bound by the legislation and guidance with the SEND Code of Practice 0-25 (2015).

The Inclusion Manager/ SENCo will be able to explain the process and timescales to you or alternatively you can find this in the SEND Code of Practice 0-25 (2015). https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/398815/SEND_Code_of_Practice_January_2015.pdf

If the decision is made to go ahead with a statutory assessment for EHCP then the Local Authority will signpost you to guidance and support that will assist you through the process for example the parent partnership service.

What support can I expect as the parent of a child with SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disability)?

As a parent of a SEND child you can expect the following support:

• Class Teacher - The class teacher is regularly available after school to discuss your child’s progress or any concerns you may have. You can take these opportunities to share information and ensure that the strategies used can be the same in school as at home. This consistency is often even more important for a child with SEND.


• Inclusion Manager/SENCO (Special Educational Needs Coordinator) - The Inclusion Manager/SENCO is available on Thursdays to meet with you. It is best to make an appointment as the Inclusion Manager/SENCO is often in meetings both in and out of school.


• Outside agency visits - You will receive a report when outside agencies have worked with your child. You are welcome to discuss this with the class teacher or Inclusion Manager/


• APDRs - these will be reviewed with you at least once each term.


• A 1 page Profile – a positive and personalise document that will allow the communication of your child’s strengths and needs in a quick and accessible manner.


• Homework – Spellings are individualised. Other homework is a choice from a grid of activities. This means there is always something to cater for all abilities, talents and interests.


• After school clubs and extra-curricular activities - Tankersley is an inclusive school so after school and extra-curricular activities are available to all. Staff and parents work together to make sure adaptations are made as necessary to enable inclusion. This is considered on a pupil by pupil basis and will be subject to risk assessment.

How will my SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disability) child be helped with class or school transition?

Transitions between classes, school key stages and on to secondary school can be a difficult time for all children.  However, this is often a more anxious time for children with SEND, and their parents’.

To help with this transition we will:

• If your child is moving child to another school:
  
  
  
  • Contact the school Inclusion Manager/SENCO and ensure he/she knows about any special arrangements that need to be made for your child.
  
  
  • Make sure that all records about your child are passed on as soon as possible and in a secure way.
  
  
  
  


• When moving classes in school:
  
  
  
  • Information will be passed on to the new class teacher during the transition meeting in July. At this meet the current APDR will be shared with the new teacher and next steps discussed.
  
  
  • Information about seating, group support, 1-1 support, nurture groups etc will also be shared at a transition meeting.
  
  
  • Parents will be given the opportunity to meet the new class teacher in July at parents’ evening. Parents are able to schedule a further appointment at this meeting if they feel it is necessary.
  
  
  • The receiving teacher will have their training needs met if they need new information to support your child in class.
  
  
  
  


• When moving to secondary school
  
  
  
  • The Inclusion Manager/SENCO has developed a relationship with the SENCOs at the two main secondary schools we feed up to. This relationship ensures a quality handover of information. 
  
  
  • Conversations are had with the secondary school around extra support that might be needed during the transition process. This is then taken into account by the secondary SENCO.
  
  
  • Where possible, we will arrange for your child will visit their new school on several occasions. In some cases, teachers and support staff from the new school will visit your child in Tankersley.
  
  
  
  

How is the Tankersley St Peter’s school accessible to my SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disability) child?

• The building is across 2 levels but is accessible at both levels by ramps and level access.


• We ensure that learning equipment used is accessible to all children regardless of their needs.


• Before school provision (breakfast club) is accessible to all children including those with SEND on a child by child basis and subject to risk assessment.


• Extra-curricular activities are made accessible to SEND children and are adapted, where possible, on a pupil by pupil basis and subject to a risk assessment.

How is progress of my child monitored in school?

• Your child’s progress is continually monitored by his/her class teacher. This is done on a lesson by lesson basis for core subjects. This means misconceptions can be quickly addressed.


• A child’s progress is reviewed formally every term and a National Curriculum level given in reading, writing and maths.


• If your child is in Year 1 and above, but is not yet at National Curriculum levels, a more sensitive assessment tool is used which shows their level in more detail and will also show smaller but significant steps of progress. The levels are called ‘P levels’. Beyond level 1 we use a similar assessment tool called ‘Small Steps’. This breaks down level 1 upwards down into smaller steps.


• At the end of each key stage (i.e. at the end of year 2 and year 6) all children are required to be formally assessed using Standard Assessment Tests (SATS). This is something the government requires all schools to do.


• Children on SEN Support will have an APDR (Individual Education Plan). These APDRs are monitored, reviewed and planned every term with the involvement of the children and parents. OurAPDRs are designed to be child friendly so the child can be fully involved with their progress and next steps.


• The progress of children with a statement of SEND ( EHC Plan) is formally reviewed at an Annual Review with all adults involved with the child’s education.


• The Inclusion Manager/SENCO will also log and track class results on a termly basis and keep a record of amounts of progress made by each child in the school identified as having SEND.

  https://www.barnsley.gov.uk/services/children-families-and-education/children-with-special-educational-needs-and-disabilities-send/send-local-offer/