What is SEN?
At different times in their school life a child may have a Special Education Need (SEN). The code of practice defines SEN as follows:
‘A child or young person has SEN if they have a learning difficulty or disability which calls for a special educational provision to be made for him/her. A child of compulsory school age or a young person has a learning difficulty or disability if he or she:
· Has a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others the same age, or
· Has a disability which prevents or hinders him/her from making use of facilities of a kind generally provided for others of the same age in mainstream schools.’
Types of SEN
In the Code of Practice, SEND and provision falls under four categories:
· Communication and Interaction
· Cognition and Learning
· Social, Emotional and Mental Health
· Sensory and/or Physical
This includes a wide range of needs such as:
· Moderate learning difficulties and global delay
· Autism and social communication differences
· Specific learning differences e.g. dyslexia and dyscalculia
· Speech and language difficulties
· Social, emotional and mental health difficulties
· Visual or auditory difficulties
· Anxiety, anger and depression
How is SEN identified?
When a child is making significantly slower progress than their peers or is struggling to achieve their predicted potential they could be considered to have Special Educational Needs (SEN).
In partnership with the Class teacher, SENDCo and parents we will look for any barriers to learning.
Barriers could include:
· Absences or lateness
· Changing schools or moving house
· Difficulties in speaking English
· A temporary illness or injury e.g. broken arm
· Worries or concerns such as a family bereavement
· Being a young carer
We know that children who experience these types of issues may be vulnerable students but this does not mean they would be identified as a child with SEND.
The learning of all children at New Valley Primary School is regularly and rigorously assessed. School leaders check books, observe lessons and monitor the achievement of the children.
We also use formal assessment to monitor progress:
· Phonics screening in Year 1
· SATs in Year 2 and Year 6
· PIXL Diagnostic Assessments
· SALT assessment
· Boxall Profile
After collecting information on progress and attainment and following agreement with parents; a child experiencing long term and complex barriers to their learning will be placed on the SEND register.
More information about how pupils with SEND are identified and supported at New Valley Primary School can be found on our SEND Pathway document.
Outside Agencies
The use of outside agencies very much depends upon the individual needs. However, some are frequent visitors to school.
1. The Educational Psychologist
Our school Educational Psychologist is Nicola Tallis. Children are referred to Nicola if they are not making the expected progress given the amount of support that they are receiving. Nicola observes and assesses the pupil and then, in consultation with the parent, helps the school decide the best way forward for the pupil.
2. Speech and Language Therapy
We are visited regularly by Sandra Corbo-Stewart, a highly specialised speech therapist from Croydon NHS. In addition, we have a highly trained and experienced Speech and Language Teaching Assistant who supports our children. Parents and staff can refer children to this service.
3. Occupational Therapy
Parents and staff can refer a child to this service. The pupil is assessed and a care plan is written. The care plan has actions and targets for the individuals which are carried out both in lessons and in additional OT sessions e.g. Funky Fingers and Gross Motor Skills group.
4. Physiotherapy
Parents and staff can refer a child to this service. The pupil is seen by a physiotherapist and a care plan is written. The care plan has actions and targets for the individuals which are carried out as required.
Additional Support for children at New Valley
Additional Literacy Support:
· We have a team of well-trained teachers and teaching assistants who work with small groups of children and provide individual support.
· We offer a range of reading support for children across all year groups. This may take the form of one-to-one reading, additional phonics, support with decoding or reading high frequency words, additional/supported guided reading groups, reading intervention programmes such as Hornet and comprehension support.
· Depending on their age, children benefit from guided writing groups based on the teaching in the classroom, writing intervention programmes focusing on grammar, punctuation and spelling, and spelling support programmes.
Additional Maths Support:
· We target small groups of children throughout the school, giving them additional number work.
· Maths support can also be given as one-to-one support, targeted maths resources, differentiated maths meetings, group intervention programmes, pre and post teaching and booster groups.
Occupational Therapy:
· We run Dough Disco and other fine motor skills groups for pupils who have a care plan from an Occupational Therapist or who have been selected by their teacher to receive additional support. Time is spent on cutting, threading, writing, sticking etc. Anything to get those fingers working!
· Some children may require additional equipment to help them achieve; we take advice from our occupational therapist to ensure that our children have the correct pencil grips, writing slopes, chairs etc.
Speech and Language:
· We have regular visits from the NHS speech and language therapist who shares her care plans with our speech and language teaching assistant.
· We have regular support from Love to Communicate (private speech and language therapists).
· We have a highly trained additional speech and language TA who supports children’s speech and language needs.
· Any difficulties in communication are identified quickly and the appropriate support is put in place.
1:1 Teaching Assistant Support
Some children might need short term individual support to help them achieve academically or to help them manage their physical or emotional needs.
Pastoral Support
We know that an anxious child is not a learning child and cannot learn unless he or she is ready to do so emotionally. We are fortunate to have a trained ELSA to support children with their emotional literacy needs. Our pupils also benefit from another therapeutic intervention called Drawing and Talking which is run by another trained teaching assistant and supports pupils with anxiety, bereavement and trauma.
Special Educational Needs & Disability Policy - February 2022