A special educational need can be a number of different things. For example, your child may be having problems with reading, maths or behaviour, which school can help by putting extra support in at school and by working in partnership with yourself. It may also be due to a disability which makes it harder for a child to use the same educational facilities that the school provides for the majority of children. For some children this may be a temporary difficulty, while others may have a long term need for special help.
Types of Special Educational Needs
- General Learning Difficulties – children whose learning progresses at a slower pace
- Speech and Language Difficulties
- Behavioural Difficulties
- Dyslexia (difficulties with reading, writing and spelling)
- Dyspraxia (problems with motor skills, organisation)
- Dyscalculia (difficulties with number work)
- Autism
- ADD/ADHD (Attention Deficit Disorder / Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder)
- Downs Syndrome
- Cerebral Palsy
- Other Physical/Medical Needs
- Social and Emotional Needs
Did you know?
At one point in their lives up to 20% of children/young people (1 in 5) need support for a Special Educational Need.
We aim for early identification of any special educational needs and disabilities, and this process starts from the first day children enter our school. If a child is attaining lower than age related expectation or progress is slower than expected/usual for the child, but it is felt that the child doesn’t have a SEND, then appropriate intervention is planned for and specific objectives are recorded. However, despite high quality teaching and interventions some students are unable to make expected progress and this could be for a variety of reasons, one of which is a special educational need.
If staff have concerns about a child, then this is raised with the SENCO. The SENCO will then investigate further by liaising with parents, gaining the views of the student, gathering more information about the student from other staff who teach or support them, carrying out testing as appropriate and referring the student to an outside service (Advisory Support Teacher, Educational Psychologist) if appropriate. Once this information has been gathered a meeting will be arranged.
In that initial assessment meeting, the child, their parents and their class teacher are invited to share their opinions and discuss the child’s strengths, areas of difficultly and hopes for the future. This forms the starting point for future support planning. We use the graduated approach detailed in the new Special Educational Needs and Disability Code of Practice 2014 of “assess, plan, do, review.”
Students with SEN will be placed on the school’s SEN register, which is accessible to all staff in school and they will have an SEN Support Plan. This support plan contains specific, measureable, achievable and realistic targets, outlines appropriate support or intervention programmes and who will be the responsible adult. This will be reviewed on a regular a basis, with the child and parent at the centre.
Identification and Assessment
The first person to identify that a child has special educational needs may be:
- Yourself, as parent or carer
- The class teacher
- A health visitor
- Another medical professional
If it seems that your child may have special educational needs, your child’s class teacher or the Special Needs Co-ordinator (SENCO) will assess:
- What your child is good at and what they need help with
- What your child would benefit from learning
- How best to help your child learn
Information about your child’s targets and any extra support they receive at school may be recorded on an SEN (Special Educational Needs) or Provision Map
Our Curriculum
Our overall aim is to give every child the opportunity to develop his or her full potential through the delivery of a broad, exciting and challenging curriculum. We aim to ensure that children have access to lots of interesting experiences, so that they will feel fulfilled and can develop individually; acquiring independence, initiative, interests and talents.
In our school we endeavour to make the curriculum really interesting and motivating for our children. We know that children learn best when they are involved and enjoy what they do. Our whole curriculum helps our children to gain an understanding and knowledge of the world in which they live, and helps them to acquire the skills they will need as they grow.
If you would like to find out more information, please refer to our SEND policy on our School Policies page.
If you would like to discuss your SEND requirements in detail please contact the school to arrange an appointment.