The Special Educational Needs Code of Practice gives guidance to education settings that helps to identify, assess and provide help for children with special educational needs. It sets out the processes and procedures organisations must or should follow to meet the needs of children.
Principles underlying the Code
The SEND Code of Practice describes the principles that should be observed by all professionals working with children and young people who have SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities). These include:
- taking into account the view of children, young people and their families
- enabling children, young people and their parents to participate in decision-making
- collaborating with partners in education, health and social care to provide support
- identifying the needs of children and young people
- delivering high quality provision to meet the needs of children and young people
- focusing on inclusive practices and removing barriers to learning
- helping children and young people to prepare for adulthood
What are Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND)?
The term ‘Special Educational Needs’ has a legal definition. Children with SEND all have learning difficulties or disabilities that make it harder for them to learn than most children of the same age. These children may need extra or different help from that given to other children of the same age.
The law says that children do not have learning difficulties just because their first language is not English. Some of these children may have learning difficulties as well.
Children with SEN may need extra help due to a range of needs. These are often in the areas of cognitive understanding, physical or sensory, emotional and social, and communication.
All of our pupils have a diagnosed learning disability or difficulty. For our younger pupils under five years of age, this is often referred to as Global Developmental Delay.
Support for SEND
Alfreton Park School caters for pupils with severe, complex and profound learning difficulties. Additionally, many of our pupils have ASD and associated behaviours that challenge. We also meet the needs of pupils with a range of medical needs.
Pupils are identified by the Local Authority as having a learning difficulty or disability prior to admission into the school and placement is in agreement with the Local Authority or the pupil’s home Local Authority.
We base all education on person centred approaches involve parents and pupils in the planning of individual learning plans as far as possible. The pupils annual review of progress is an opportunity for parents, pupils and all professionals involved to join together to discuss pupil progress and future learning needs.
Pupils may progress through the school from 3-19 years and we strive to ensure that effective transition arrangements are in place at each phase; pupils and parents being supported particularly on entry to school and transition to post 19 provisions. Our family support worker plays a crucial role in these transition arrangements. Additionally, we work closely with the careers personal advisor to ensure that effective college placements are provided and movement into adult services as appropriate.
Our youngest pupils follow the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum and are assessed within this framework. This curriculum is based on developing skills through play and exploration.
As pupils move through the school we follow a personalised curriculum that covers all subject within the National Curriculum for primary schools but is adapted to meet the learning needs of individual pupils taking into consideration their strengths, needs, interests and individual learning styles. Many pupils need highly specialised approaches to meet their needs.
Our older pupils follow a curriculum that is focused on ensuring that all pupils are as independent as possible and are prepared for adult life.
All of our learning pathways aim to prepare pupils for their next stage, whether that be key stage transitions, further education or employment, or to pursue vocational interests.
We strive to give all pupils access to learning activities across the school and ensure that pupils access a wide range of learning activities and environments including visits to foreign countries, outdoor learning opportunities and access to the community to develop independence skills.
Activities such as Forest Schools, and close working relationships between pupils and staff foster a supportive environment where all individuals feel valued and able to develop as a whole child. An active school council support pupils in feeling listened to and promotes pupil voice. The school very much embraces individuals ‘differences’ and expects all members of the school community to support each other. Bullying is not tolerated and any incidents are dealt with immediately.
Multi-agency working is intrinsic to the working of the school and partners from health, social care and other voluntary organisations are a highly valued part of the support we provide to pupils and their families.
Parents are encouraged to participate in developing individual learning plans for their child and have an active voice in the provisions made.
We recognise that children make progress at different rates and have different ways in which they learn best. Teachers take account of this by looking carefully at how they organise their lessons, the classroom, the resources they give to each child and the way they teach. All teachers consider a number of options and choose the most appropriate ways to help each child learn from a range of activities and strategies. This is referred to as ‘adaptive teaching’ and ‘scaffolding’.
Parents – what to do if you have concerns/worries
Parents may contact the Headteacher – Josie O’Donnell or Sharon Walker – Senior Family Support Practitioner. Alternatively, your child’s class teacher will be happy to discuss any day to day concerns.
Working together with your child’s teachers will often help to sort out worries and problems. The closer you work with your child’s teachers, the more successful any help for your child can be.
We will consult parents about all the decisions that affect their child. If parents have concerns or worries at any time, you should share them with your child’s teacher or class team.
Parents will be made fully aware of the planned support and interventions and, where appropriate, plans will seek parental involvement to reinforce or contribute to progress at home. Parents will also be involved in reviews of support provided to their child and have clear information about the impact of the support and interventions, enabling them to be involved in planning next steps.
If you want to talk to someone who is independent and knows about special educational needs, you can get advice from the local Derbyshire Information and Advice service or from national or local voluntary organisations.
Derby and Derbyshire Parent Partnership Service
Telephone number: 01629 533660
Email address: parent.partnership@derbyshire.gov.uk
We will provide an annual report for parents on their child’s progress and at annual review of progress and provision through Education Health and Care (EHC) plans. The views of the pupil will be included in these discussions. This may be through involving the pupil in all or part of the discussion itself, gathering their views as part of the preparation, or advocating for the child if they are unable to share their views.
A record of the outcomes, action and support agreed through the discussion is kept and shared with all the appropriate school staff and a copy given to the pupil’s parents.
SEN Support in School
There are four broad areas of need and support which give an overview of the range of needs that are planned for. We regularly review how we provide support across these areas. They are:
- Communications and interaction
- Cognition and learning
- Social, emotional and mental health difficulties
- Sensory and/or physical needs
All pupils are assessed using our own AP Levels, and the Engagement Model for our learners at the earliest stages of development. All pupils have a baseline assessment on entering the school and are assessed throughout the year periodically to ensure progress is in line with expectations.
Assessment of pupils will include:
- AP Level judgements
- Earwig evidence (work based evidence)
- Teacher observation
- Information and advice from other agencies
- Views of the pupil
- Views of parents
Assessment enables us to put in the correct level of support or challenge to meet pupils’ needs and encourage progress appropriate to their starting points. We do this through identified and targeted interventions during the school day.
Consideration of what special educational provision is required starts with the desired outcomes and the identified end point or destination for the individual child (who we hope they will be when they leave Alfreton Park). This incorporates the views and wishes of the pupil and their parents.
The outcomes considered include those needed to make successful transitions between phases of education and to prepare for adult life.
We take action to remove barriers to learning and put effective special educational provision in place. This support takes the form of a four-part cycle (assess, plan, do, review) through which earlier decisions and actions are revisited, refined and revised with a growing understanding of the pupil’s needs and of what supports the pupil in making good progress and securing good outcomes. This is known as the graduated approach. It draws on more detailed approaches, more frequent review and more specialist expertise in successive cycles in order to match interventions to the children and young people.
Staff are alert to other events that can lead to wider mental health issues and have an impact on well-being. We ensure appropriate provision is made in order to prevent these from escalating.
Teachers are responsible and accountable for the progress and development of the pupils in their class, including where pupils access support from teaching assistants or specialist staff. High quality teaching, adapted and scaffolded for individual pupils, is the first step in responding to pupils.
Our approach to record keeping is in line with the requirements of the Data Protection Act 1998. The provision made for pupils is recorded accurately and kept up to date. As part of any inspection, Ofsted will expect to see evidence of pupil progress, a focus on outcomes and a rigorous approach to the monitoring and evaluation of support provided.
Involving specialists
Pupils with specific needs will often have other specialists involved such as Speech and Language Therapists, Physiotherapists and Occupational Therapists, including Sensory OTs. They will often work with our school staff to enable our staff to carry out suitable programmes under the guidance of the therapist.
Requesting an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP)
All of our pupils will have an EHC plan prior to entry. If a pupil requires changes to an EHCP, this can be done through the annual EHCP review process. A meeting is held at school every year to do this.
As young people prepare for adulthood, EHCP outcomes should reflect their ambitions which could include higher education, employment, independent living and participation in society.
To support transition, we share information with the school, college or other setting the child or young person is moving to. We agree with parents and pupils the information to be shared as part of this planning process.
Use of support staff
We ensure Teaching Assistants are appropriately prepared and trained to support the curriculum, and that pupils are not separated from the curriculum as a result of being supported by a Teaching Assistant. Teaching Assistants work in teams lead by a teacher to provide in all aspects of teaching and learning and in supporting pupils health and hygiene needs.
Equipment
We provide for pupils with high incidence requiring low cost, non-customised equipment, e.g. non customised ICT equipment. For more specialist customised equipment Derbyshire LA provides funding for an Individual Children’s Equipment Budget to meet these needs.
The school staff are highly trained and possess an expertise in supporting children and young people with SEN. In house and external training is ongoing to ensure that all staff have the skills to meet the educational, medical, social and emotional needs of our pupils.
We aim to train all staff in areas such as TEACCH, PECS PROACT-SCIPr-UK®, Makaton and other teaching strategies used across the school.
The school takes part in a rigorous self-evaluation process which is quality controlled by the Local Authority. School improvement plans address any areas for development and these are regularly monitored by the governing body.
CODE OF PRACTICE EXTRACTS
6.80 The above should include arrangements for supporting children and young people who are looked after by the local authority and have SEN.
The school plans for Looked after Pupils and individual Pupils Education Plan are reviewed to meet the statutory framework for this.
6.81 Schools should ensure that the information is easily accessible by young people and parents and is set out in clear, straightforward language. It should include information on the school’s SEN policy and named contacts within the school for situations where young people or parents have concerns. It should also give details of the school’s contribution to the Local Offer and must include information on where the local authority’s Local Offer is published.
http://www.derbyshiresendlocaloffer.org/
Add in a link to the website.
6.82 In setting out details of the broad and balanced curriculum provided in each year, schools should include details of how the curriculum is adapted or made accessible for pupils with SEN.
6.83 Schools should also make data on the levels and types of need within the school available to the local authority. The data will be required to inform local strategic planning of SEN support and to enable the local authority to identify pupils who have or may have SEN. Such data, collected through the School Census, is also required to produce the national SEN information report.
School procedures dealing with complaints from parents of children with special educational needs (SEN) about the support the school provides.
The school takes all complaint seriously and complaints from parents of children with special educational needs (SEN) about the support the school provides should initially be taken to the Headteacher who will consider the complaint and potential remedial activities.
The Headteacher will respond to the parent within 2 weeks.
The Headteacher should consider the pupils needs within the context of the financial and logistical limitations. Consideration of transparency and equality in provision must be made to ensure that all pupils are treated fairly and without prejudice.
The Headteacher will consider the individual Pupils EHC plan and parents may request a reassessment of needs if required.
Parent should be made aware of the procedures in place for personal budgets and EHC plan requirements.
Parents have the right to appeal and any such appeals should betaken to the governing Board in writing.
For the full versions of the new Code of Practice please see:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/send-code-of-practice-0-to-25
