Identify, Assess And Review
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, pupils
- Consult with relevant external agencies
- Use assessment tools & materials
- Observe children
- Meet with other staff members to discuss targets/ expectations
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
- We assess through observations, assessments and discussions with other staff and parents.
- Plan the provision to meet your child’s aspirations and agreed outcomes
- We plan our provision and learning by meeting with parents, children, staff members and outside agencies to make sure we have the correct targets and outcomes to ensure a high level of teaching and care is given.
- Do put the provision in place to meet those outcomes
- We carefully look at each outcome and link it to our provision and trial it. We discuss as a team what works well and we ensure that it is embedded into our daily routines.
- Review the support and progress
- We review support plans and targets every term to make sure we address positives and any changes we may need to make. We ensure that we listen to pupil voice and we meet with parents ins school to go over the outcomes to ensure they are involved with the process and their views are also incorporated in the process.
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.
An Educational, Health and Care Plan would be discussed if children who have support plans are not making progress due to their complex needs. As a school we review support plans termly and adapt our teaching and levels of support to meet the need of every individual. However, in some cases this support is not enough and we look at the option of an EHCP. Children with an EHCP may receive additional support and resources to ensure their needs are being met. We always discuss this with parents and require parental support with this.
Children who attend our school with an EHCP have additional support when necessary and have additional resources to support their learning.
For more detailed information see the Local Offer
Details of Identification and Assessment of Pupils with SEN
- At Cestria we use a range of assessment strategies. We assess the children throughout the day, through marking and through end of week/topic/term assessments. We record our assessments in the same way throughout school to ensure all staff understand and we can clearly identify if children are not making the expected progress and attainment.
- Changing the way activities are planned and delivered
- Matching activities to the ability / need of each child (differentiation)
- Adapting learning materials such as equipment and activities to suit each child’s needs
- Offer small group support to promote skills identified in the child’s Individual Education Plan
- We assess through parental consultations, assessments and reporting to staff and SENDCO.
- We talk to parents/carers if they think their child has a special educational need and let them know what special help the school is giving. Mrs. Ward is appointed as the Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCO)
- Our teachers/teaching assistants’ work in partnership with parents and the SENCO to find ways to support each child with their needs, including giving parents ideas on how to help their child at home
Our provision, approaches, curriculum and learning environment.
- Ensure that all pupils have access to the school curriculum and all school activities.
- Help all pupils achieve to the best of their abilities, despite any difficulty or disability they may have.
- Ensure that teaching staff are aware of and sensitive to the needs of all pupils, teaching pupils in a way that is more appropriate to their needs.
- Pupils to gain in confidence and improve their self-esteem.
- To work in partnership with parents/ carers, pupils and relevant external agencies in order to provide for children’s special educational needs and disabilities.
- To identify at the earliest opportunity, all children that need special consideration to support their needs (whether these are educational, social, physical or emotional)
- To make suitable provision for children with SEND to fully develop their abilities, interests and aptitudes and gain maximum access to the curriculum.
- Ensure that all children with SEND are fully included in all activities of the school in order to promote the highest levels of achievement.
- To promote self worth and enthusiasm by encouraging independence at all age and ability levels.
- To give every child the entitlement to a sense of achievement.
- To regularly review the policy and practice in order to achieve best practice.
- Parents have a termly meeting with teachers (additional if required) and support plans are shared. We discuss the plan, do, review approach with parents and ensure they are supportive of the targets and our plan going forward.
- We use teaching assistants and additional support effectively and we also have the use of additional rooms. As a school we review the use of our staff frequently to ensure we have the best support where needed.
- Every year group has individual and personalised interventions to target children in their class/year group. This is assessed through intervention trackers and observed by members of senior leadership.
- Progress is measured in accordance to EYFS development matter. In EYFS every child has a baseline assessment carried out when they start school and assessments at the end of Reception to measure progress. There are also assessments carried out throughout the year to ensure children are achieving their targets and next steps. This carries on to children throughout the school who are assessed on the National curriculum. Children with SEND are assessed individually and as part of their cohort.
- Our behavior policy is differentiated for children with SEND and staff are all aware of the different steps which need to be taken. We fully understand that not all children can follow instructions first time and they often need time to process demands. Lunchtime staff are also aware of the behaviour policy for children on the SEND register.
- Children with SEND have individual risk assessments if needed. For example our fire safety policy and health and safety policy for the rest of the school is differentiated for children who may have hearing disabilities.
- Support is offered to children with SEND whilst undertaking exams and tests. In accordance to the LA, if a child needs additional time or a reader this can be arranged.
For further information please view or download our Accessibility Plan which can be found in the School Policies section of our website.