AlphingtonPrimary School

SEN Policy

Curriculum Standards and Pupils’ Committee 25 January 2012
Review date: 2013

Policy: To promote the successful inclusion of pupils with special educational needs and disabilities at AlphingtonPrimary School.

At AlphingtonPrimary School, we are committed to offering an inclusive curriculum to ensure the best possible progress for all of our pupils whatever their needs or abilities. Not all pupils with disabilities have special educational needs and not all pupils with SEN meet the definition of disability but this policy covers all of these pupils.

‘Pupils have Special Educational Needs if they have a learning difficulty which calls for special educational provision to be made for them.’

‘Pupils with a disability have special educational needs if they have any difficulty in accessing education and if they need any special educational provision to be made for them, that is anything that is additional to or different from what is normally available in schools in the area ‘.

The specific objectives of our SEN policy are as follows:

  • to identify pupils with special educational needs and disabilities and ensure that their needs are met
  • to ensure that children with special educational needs and disabilities join in with all the activities of the school
  • to ensure that all learners make the best possible progress
  • to ensure parents are informed of their child’s special needs and provision and that there is effective communication between parents and school
  • to ensure that learners express their views and are fully involved in decisions which affect their education
  • to promote effective partnership and involve outside agencies when appropriate.

The success of the school’s SEN policy will be judged against the aims set out above. Annual success criteria will be reviewed and the Governing Body’s Annual Report will detail the successful implementation of the policy and the effectiveness of the provision made (Appendix A). The head teacher and governors will set new success criteria (Appendix B). The Governing Body will ensure that it makes appropriate special educational provision for all pupils identified as in need of it. The range of support made in the school each year in response to identified need is detailed in the Provision Maps (Appendix F).

The named SEN Co-ordinator for the school is Elspeth Goodwin. A member of the Governing body, Eniko László, takes a special interest in SEN, but the Governing Body as a whole is responsible for making provision for pupils with special educational needs.

The Governing Body has agreed with the LEA admissions criteria which do not discriminate against pupils with special education needs or disabilities, and its admissions policy has due regard for the guidance in the Code of Practice. Parents or carers seeking the admission of a pupil with mobility difficulties are advised to approach the school well in advance so that consultations can take place. The school has an Accessibility Strategy which is appended to this policy.

Identification and Assessment of special educational needs

The school is committed to early identification of special educational need and adopts a graduated response to meeting special educational need in line with the Code of Practice 2002. A range of evidence is collected through the usual assessment and monitoring arrangements: if this suggests that the learner is not making the expected progress, the class teacher will consult with the SENCO in order to decide whether additional and / or different provision is necessary.

(Appendix D Triggers for School Action and School Action Plus). There is no need for pupils to be registered or identified as having special educational needs unless the school is taking additional or different action. Pupils who have disabilities but no special needs will be recorded on the school's medical register.

Provision/action that is additional to or different from that available to all

will be recorded in an IEP. (Appendix E sample IEP). This will sometimes be written by the SENCO but always in consultation with pupils, parents, carers and teachers. It may also involve consultation and advice from external agencies.

The IEP will set targets for the pupil and will detail:

  • the short-term targets set for or by the child
  • the teaching strategies to be used
  • the provision to be put in place
  • when the plan is to be reviewed
  • success and/or exit criteria

The IEP will be reviewed at every six months and the outcomes will be recorded. Pupils will participate fully in the review process according to their age and abilities. Parents / carers will also be invited to participate in the target-setting and review process.

If the school has evidence that a pupil is making insufficient progress despite significant support and intervention at School Action, we may seek further advice and support from outside professionals. (Appendix D triggers for School Action Plus). These professionals will be invited to contribute to the monitoring and review of progress. Pupils and parents will be fully involved and kept informed about the involvement of external agencies and proposed interventions.

For pupils who have statements of SEN, as well as the review of their IEPs, their progress and the support outlined in their statement will be reviewed annually and a report provided for the Local Education Authority. When pupils are due to transfer to another phase planning for this will be started in the year prior to the year of transfer. Advanced planning for pupils in Year 5will allow appropriate options to be considered. The SENCO will liaise with the SENCO of the secondary schools serving the area to ensure that effective arrangements are in place to support pupils at the time of transfer.

When pupils move to another school their records will be transferred to the next school within 15 days of the pupil ceasing to be registered, as required under the Education (Pupil Information) Regulations 2000.If a pupil makes sufficient progress a statement may be discontinued by the Education Authority.

The schools’ complaint procedures are set out in the school prospectus.

Your child’s class teacher will work closely with parents at all stages in his/her education and should be the first port of call in case of any difficulty. Parents of pupils with SEN or disabilities whose concerns cannot be resolved by the usual school procedures can request independent disagreement resolution. The school will make further information about this process available on request.

The school makes an annual audit of training needs for all staff taking into account school priorities as well as personal professional development. The school is allocated funding from the Standards Fund each year that it may use to meet identified needs. Particular support will be given to NQTs and other new members of staff. The SENCO takes responsibility for prioritising the training needs of staff. (Appendix CIncreasing Accessibility Plan Strand A).

The school will provide information about the Parent Partnership Service to all parents of children with special educational needs. Our local Parent Partnership worker is Peter Holman. Parents of any pupil identified with SEN may contact the Parent Partnership Service for independent support and advice.

External support services play an important part in helping the school identify, assess and make provision for pupils with special education needs.

  • The school receives regular visits from the nominated Education Welfare Officer and Educational Psychologist for the area.
  • In addition the school may seek advice from specialist advisory teaching services for children with sensory impairment or physical difficulties.
  • Termly liaison meetings with the Health Visitors/Playgroup Leaders are held to ensure a smooth start to school for children in the Foundation Stage
  • The speech and language therapist contributes to the reviews of children with significant speech and language difficulties

Appendices to this policy:

Appendix A: Termly SEN reports to the Curriculum sub-committee

Appendix B: Success criteria for SEN policy and Accessibility Strategy

Appendix C: Increasing Accessibility Strategy: Strands A, B and C

Appendix D: Triggers for School Action and School Action Plus

Appendix E: Sample IEP

Appendix F: Allocation of resources: Provision Map by Key Stage / area of need

Elspeth Goodwin

SENCO

July 2010

Appendix A

Report for Governors March 2010

The current position of SEN at A.P.S.

Currently there are 52 children on the special needs register at School Action or above. 7 of these have statements for a range of needs including autism, learning difficulties, speech and language difficulties and physical disability.

School Action / School Action Plus
(Involvement of outside agencies) / Undergoing statementing procedure / Statement
31 / 13 / 1 / 7

Although the overall numbers are very similar, the SEN register does change each term. This term 3 pupils on the SEN register have left and 1 has joined the school. 1 child has been removed from the register due to good progress and 3 have been added - 2 of these children are in the Foundation Stage.

Funding provision from LEA to support pupils:

The current provision from the LEA is currently:

  • 0.8 support (pro-rata) for a child in a Year 1 Class with Cerebral Palsy. This child’s attendance has now increased from 2 to 3 days each week and he now works partly in Year 1 and partly in Foundation Stage.
  • 0.8 support for a child in a Year 3 class with Juvenile Polymyositis (a rare multi-organ auto-immune condition of childhood) and Dermotamyositis .
  • 0.6 support for a year 4 pupil working partly in a year 4 class and partly in Year 1, with complex speech, language and communication difficulties
  • 0.6 support for a year 4 pupil with an Autistic Spectrum disorder and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
  • 0.6 support for a year 5 pupil working partly in a year 5 class and partly 1:1 with a TA, with complex speech and language disorder.
  • 0.6 support for a year 5 pupil with an Autistic Spectrum Disorder
  • 0.4 support for a year 6 pupil with an Autistic Spectrum Disorder

Support for children at other stages on the SEN register is provided by using the teaching assistants that are employed by the school, community helpers and also by using the support assistants allocated to individual children when appropriate.

Two children with complex speech, language and communication difficulties follow individual programmes with their TAs during morning sessions: one Year 4 pupil joins Year 1 to benefit from the language rich, play based learning; one Year 5 pupil works on individual learning projects, regularly joined by other pupils for specific sessions.

The school has been asked to join a pilot cohort of schools working towards a ‘Communication Friendly Schools Award’. This involves auditing the school’s current practice in 5 key areas – the provision of an effective learning environment, communication, visual support, teaching strategies and the promotion of CommunicationFriendlySchool. We will then develop, implement and review an action plan to improve provision in these areas. Many of these aspects underpin teaching and learning throughout the curriculum and will support and complement our current foci. The school was invited to join the scheme in recognition of current good practice, and we look forward to this process helping us to become outstanding in these areas.

A thorough assessment of phonic skills throughout Key Stage 2 was carried out in December and a programme of phonic intervention (using Ruth Miskin materials) has been implemented for over 40 pupils working with 6 teaching assistants in small groups. The current programme will be completed by April and a review as to its success and further needs will be undertaken.

Teaching assistant support for pupils continues to be focused in-class as much as possible, particularly for Literacy and Numeracy. Due to staff changes and the current budgetary constraints, teaching assistant support was reduced by 0.6 in January 2010 which we have taken from Year 4 (our highest achieving cohort). Further staff changes in April 2010 mean that we will lose a further full time TA (1.0 FTE) – this post is currently providing Literacy and Numeracy support in Year 6 and a range of intervention provision for Key Stage 2 pupils in the afternoons. The impact of these reductions on achievement will need to be monitored.

Wider school support staff (Pastoral Care, Librarian and Speech & Language) time is being used this term to provide for the additional needs of a pupil in the Foundation Stage. This early intervention is having a positive effect and it is hoped the extra provision will be dramatically reduced or negligible by the Summer Term.

As reported previously, we continue to liaise with a wide range of external agencies (see below) for advice and support. We now also use the services of a Parent Support Adviser (this was a new post in October) who is undertaking essential work with 5 families.

  • Educational Psychology Service including County Autism Team and Advisory Teacher
  • Support and Advisory Teacher Service – advisers from the Hearing Impairment Team, ICT team and Communication Interaction Disorders Team
  • CAMHS – Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service
  • Occupational Therapy Service
  • Speech and Language Therapy Service
  • School Nurse
  • Educational Welfare Officer
  • Joint Agency Team
  • Consultant Paediatricians

Elspeth Goodwin SENCo

March 2010

Report for Governors July 2010

The current position of SEN at A.P.S.

Currently there are 57 children on the special needs register at School Action or above. 7 of these have statements for a range of needs including autism, learning difficulties, speech and language difficulties and physical disability.

School Action / School Action Plus
(Involvement of outside agencies) / Undergoing statementing procedure / Statement
31 / 19 / 1 / 7

Although the overall numbers are similar, the SEN register does change each term. This term 2 pupils have been removed from the register due to good progress and 7 have been added due to concerns arising from assessments. 7 pupils have moved from School Action to School Action Plus as we are seeking advice / support from external agencies; 1 pupil has moved from School Action Plus to School Action as we are meeting his needs effectively within school resources.

Funding provision from LEA to support pupils:

The provision from the LEA is currently:

  • 0.8 support (pro-rata) for a child in a Year 1 Class with Cerebral Palsy. This child attends 3 days each week and is now based in Foundation Stage.
  • 0.8 support for a child in a Year 3 class with Juvenile Polymyositis (a rare multi-organ auto-immune condition of childhood) and Dermotamyositis .
  • 0.6 support for a year 4 pupil with complex speech, language and communication difficulties
  • 0.6 support for a year 4 pupil with an Autistic Spectrum disorder and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
  • 0.6 support for a year 5 pupil working with complex speech, language and communication difficulties
  • 0.6 support for a year 5 pupil with an Autistic Spectrum Disorder
  • 0.4 support for a year 6 pupil with an Autistic Spectrum Disorder

Support for children at other stages on the SEN register is provided by using the teaching assistants that are employed by the school, community helpers and also by using the support assistants allocated to individual children when appropriate.

Two pupils with complex speech, language and communication difficulties have a morning programme of personalised Literacy and Numeracy with shared TAs. In the afternoons they rejoin their class bases with some 1:1 support.

The school has begun work on the ‘Communication Friendly Schools Award’. An audit is underway and the resulting Action Plan will be in the School Development Plan. All teaching assistants are undertaking online CPD in Speech, Language and Communication Needs.

Assessments following the phonic intervention programme in Key Stage 2 (Spring term) showed significant improvements in phonic knowledge in both reading and spelling. This phonic ‘sweep’ will be repeated in Autumn 2010 to assess retention of these skills and the level of need for a repeated programme.

In-class teaching assistant support is currently planned to return to 0.3 or above (decreasing from 1.0 in Foundation Stage to 0.3 in Key Stage 2) for the year 2010 – 11. This will be used to support learning in Literacy, Numeracy and for interventions or individual work. The use of other school support staff (Pastoral Care, Librarian and Speech & Language) to provide for the additional needs of a pupil in the Foundation Stage in the Spring Term was an effective intervention and is no longer necessary.

Transition is a significant focus in the Summer term. The enhanced transition programme for pupils with additional needs both joining and leaving the school includes meetings with parents, pupils, external agencies and staff working with those pupils; exchange of information; small group support and additional visits to the next setting. Within school, ‘New Class Week’ is supplemented with ‘Transition booklets’ for pupils who find transition stressful.