Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) Policy September 2023

Gascoigne Primary is a Rights Respecting school; Article 23 states that

 ‘A child with a disability has the right to live a full and decent life with dignity and, as far as possible, independence, and to play an active part in the community’.

The Special Educational Needs Co-ordinators are:

• Cheryl Monks – Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1.
• Selina Alexander (NASENCO) – Key Stage 2.

They can be contacted via the school office on 020 8270 4291 or via the school website using the Contact Form on the SEND page.

The Special Educational Needs Governor: Ms Tanaz Noor

Rationale

All children share a common entitlement to a broad and balanced curriculum which meets their social, emotional and learning needs.

We recognise that it is the teacher's responsibility to set high expectations, inspire, motivate and challenge all pupils. By adapting teaching to respond to the strengths and needs of all pupils, either through environment, teaching materials, strategies, topic or use of language, the teacher provides the child with the means to engage with learning and make good or better progress.

Our guiding principle is one of inclusion. We want to identify and break down possible barriers to learning in order that all children can achieve their best and become confident individuals living fulfilling lives.

Objectives

1. To implement the requirements of the SEND Code of Practice 2014 in accordance with L.E.A. guidelines.
2. To work in partnership with pupils and parents to enable pupils to achieve their short- and long-term goals.
3. To ensure that all staff are aware of the systems and procedures in place within the school in order that all children have the opportunity to make progress.
4. To ensure the most effective use of school staff, (teaching and non-teaching) and resources for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities.
5. To use whole school assessment procedures to facilitate the early identification and assessment of pupils with special educational needs.
6. To ensure the ongoing use of consistent record keeping, assessment, planning, monitoring and reviewing procedures.
7. To ensure effective working arrangements with external agencies.
8. To promote continuity of SEND provision between phases and effective transition between schools.
9. To enable staff, Head Teacher and Governors to evaluate the effectiveness of SEND provision within the school.

Identifying Special Educational Needs

Gascoigne School follows the DfE SEND Code of Practice in defining special educational needs and disabilities:

“A pupil has SEND where their learning difficulty or disability calls for special educational provision, namely provision different from or additional to that normally available to pupils of the same age.”

The school will seek to identify pupils making less than expected progress given their age and individual circumstances. This can be characterised by progress which:

• Is significantly slower than that of their peers starting from the same baseline;
• Fails to match or better the child’s previous rate of progress;
• Fails to close the attainment gap between the child and their peers;
• Widens the attainment gap.

It can include progress in areas other than attainment, such as social development. 

Limited progress and attainment may not always be identified as SEND.

Persistent disruptive or withdrawn behaviours do not necessarily mean that a child or young person has SEND. Where there are concerns, there should be an assessment of any underlying causes such as undiagnosed learning or language difficulties.

If other circumstances such as housing, domestic circumstances or bullying may contribute to disruptive behaviour or learning delay, a multi-agency approach may be appropriate. Such events will not always lead to children having SEND, but it can have an impact on a child’s well-being and progress.

Slow progress and low attainment should not automatically lead to a pupil being recorded as having SEND. However, they may be an indicator of a range of learning difficulties or disabilities.

A child must not be regarded as having learning difficulties solely because the home language is not English.

There are four broad areas of SEND, although in practice, individual children often have needs that cut across all these areas and their needs may change over time. At Gascoigne, we identify the needs of pupils by considering the needs of the whole child.

Broad areas of need:

A Graduated Approach to SEND Support.

High Quality Teaching

As part of high quality teaching, all teachers constantly assess every child’s attainment and progress (See Assessment Policy). If a child is making less than expected progress, then the teacher will adapt their teaching to target the areas of weakness. This may include modifying teaching, use of apparatus or in class support. (See Suggested Inclusion Strategies on the SEND provision map, appendix 1). The majority of pupil’s needs will be met through high quality teaching.

Where progress continues to be less than expected, the class teacher will do the following:

1. Talk to the child about what they are finding difficult and discuss ways to help them.
2. Talk to the parents/carers about their child’s areas of strength and difficulty, concerns, the agreed outcomes sought for the child and the next steps.
3. Talk to our Inclusion Managers (SENCOs) for further advice.
4. Make further assessments.
5. All this information forms part of an initial assessment and will help to:
6. Identify the child’s strengths and weaknesses.
7. Decide what the child and parents want to achieve.
8. Decide what strategies will help the child.

The class teacher will record this information on The Initial Assessment form (appendix 2) and discuss it with our Inclusion Managers (SENCOs). If it is decided that the child may have SEND, then targeted provision will begin.

Targeted Provision

SENCo will enter the child’s needs into the school record keeping system. Copies of all information regarding the child’s special needs will be stored in their individual profile. Each class has a class provision map, identifying pupils with SEND and medical needs, and this will be shared with all staff that teach in that class in order that medical and SEND needs are met. The class provision map will be maintained by the class teacher and updated termly.

SEN support will take the form of a four-part cycle known as the graduated approach. The graduated approach works as a spiral, giving increasing knowledge about how to meet a child’s needs. The class teacher will maintain the child’s individual chronology and passport. This records the assessments, interventions and outcomes of the child’s SEND support.

The Graduated Approach

Review

If this cycle of assessment and support does not lead to expected outcomes for the child, and they continue to have significant, long-term difficulties, then the parents/carers and the school may decide to request an Education, Health and Care Plan.

Education Health Care Plan (EHCP)

If school or parents/carers request the local education authority to undertake an assessment for an EHCP, the authority will seek the views of all professionals working with the child. The most important views sought will be those of the parents/carers and the child. The EHCP will be reviewed at least annually. https://www.lbbd.gov.uk/sites/default/files/attachments/2014-08-26-EHC-Guidance-and-Pathways.pdf

Criteria for Exiting the SEND Record

If a child is making progress and has reached broad national attainment, without further need of additional provision, then they may be removed from the SEND record. This must be done with the agreement of the pupil, parents/carers and professionals working with the child.

Supporting Pupils and Families

The school is committed to working in partnership with parents to support pupils with special educational needs and recognises that parents hold key information, knowledge and experience to contribute to the shared view of the child's needs and the best ways of supporting them. Parents’ views are sought at all stages and are recorded at review meetings and at any other time they discuss the needs of their child. 

Should parents wish to discuss a concern, they are welcome to make an appointment to do so with the class teacher or SENCo via the school office or website.  Individual arrangements will be made for parents who experience literacy or communication difficulties or who speak English as an additional language.

Parents have access to the SEND policy and can find further help and information, including where to find independent support and advice, in the schools SEND Information Report, both of which can be found on the school’s website. 

Supporting Pupils with medical conditions   

The school recognises that pupils with medical conditions should be properly supported so that they have full access to education, including school visits and physical education.

The school works closely with the School Nursing and Health Visiting services and where a medical condition requires special arrangements or adjustments in school, a planning meeting will be arranged. Pupils' needs and the school’s care arrangements will be recorded on a Health Care Plan. The School Nursing Service provides training for school staff as required.

Where pupils have a medical condition which requires prescribed medication to be administered in school, this can be arranged with the SENCo.

Full arrangements for supporting pupils with medical needs can be viewed in the Medication and Health Needs Policy on the school website.

Monitoring and Evaluation of SEND

The SENCos will meet termly to review the SEND development plan and to evaluate the success of SEND provision. The following criteria can be used to measure effective implementation of the school’s SEND policy.  They can be used in the annual report to parents by the governors.

• Accurate records of intervention are kept for all pupils with SEND.
• The monitoring of pupils’ progress shows improvement in attainment.
• Parental and pupil satisfaction is evident through review meetings and school evaluation.
• Annual reviews are successfully completed on time.
• Pupils with SEND have well-defined and realistic Pupil Passports which facilitate full participation in school life.
• All staff are following the procedures laid out in the policy.
• All staff feel confident in managing the needs of SEND pupils.

There is a governor appointed as SEND Governor who is responsible for monitoring SEND policy and provision.

The Head Teacher makes a termly report to the full governing body meeting.  An annual report is made by the Governing Body to parents.

Allocation of Resources to Special Educational Needs

The Governing Body allocates a percentage of the school budget to special educational needs. The SEND team is funded from this budget.  This currently comprises two Special Educational Needs Co-ordinators, a team of Teaching and Learning Advocates (TLAs), a social inclusion team comprising learning mentors, nurture staff and family liaison practitioners, a social communication team, and two teachers with a responsibility for supporting SEND.  The SENCos are non-class based and are responsible for the day-to-day operation of the special needs policy and provision. They work in partnership with the Head Teacher, Senior Leadership Team, class teachers, parents and external agencies as appropriate.

Additional teaching resources in the form of cover for class teachers is provided to enable liaison with parents, SENCo and other professionals. Funds are allocated annually for the purchase and development of special needs resources.  Rooms are allocated which act as bases for the SENCOs and for SEND resources.

Additional support for pupils with SEND is determined by the SENCos according to need and available resources.  This occasionally takes the form of individual support but is more usually small group or in class support.

The School’s arrangements for SEND In-Service Training

The school actively encourages in-service training and the professional development of staff both teaching and non-teaching, in order to ensure good practice. The SENCos and Senior Leadership Team regularly observe and share feedback with class teachers and support staff in order to develop good practice. The SENCos attend Borough SEND inset and support group meetings and also external training sessions where appropriate.

Training may include the following areas:

• Thrive
• SCLN
• Autism / Social Communication
• SEMH / Social Inclusion
• Phonics
• Reading Intervention
• Mathematics Intervention
• Colourful Semantics
• Zones of Regulation

School SENCOs and LEA advisory staff provide SEND inset for teaching and support staff where appropriate. This may be whole school based or working with individual teachers. Teachers are also encouraged to attend training with external agencies.

SENCOs provide induction sessions for NQTs and new members of staff to familiarise them with the SEND procedures.  At the beginning of each school year, SENCOs remind all staff of the SEND procedures and advise of any update on SEN arrangements.

Roles and Responsibilities

The class teacher is responsible for:

• Ensuring that all children have access to high quality teaching and that the curriculum meets the pupil’s individual needs,
• Monitoring the progress of all pupils and identifying, planning and delivering any additional help pupils may need. Discussing with SENCo as necessary.
• Ensuring that all members of staff working with the class are aware of individual needs and what specific adjustments need to be made to enable everyone to be included and make progress.
• Ensuring that the school’s SEND Policy is followed in their classroom and for all the pupils they teach with any SEND.

The Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCo) is responsible for:

• Coordinating provision for children with special educational needs or disabilities (SEND) and developing the schools SEND Policy to make sure all children get a consistent, high quality response to meeting their needs in school.
• Ensuring that parents are involved in the graduated approach.
• Liaising with other agencies, e.g. The Speech and Language Therapy Service, The Educational Psychologist.
• Updating the schools SEND record of need, and ensuring accurate record keeping.
• Providing specialist support for teachers and support staff.
• Supporting class teachers in meeting the needs of all pupils in their class.
• Organising training for staff, so they are aware and confident about how to meet the needs of pupils within our school.

Teaching and Learning Advocates are responsible for:

• Working under the direction of the class teacher, to support pupils to make progress and achieve independence. This may be done through:
  • In class support.
  • Small Group interventions
  • 1:1 work

Social Inclusion Team and Social Communication Team are responsible for:

• Working under the direction of the SENCo to support pupils with social, emotional and mental health needs (SEMH) and social communication needs.

Headteacher is responsible for:

• The day to day management of all aspects of the school includes support for children with SEND and/or disabilities. She will give responsibility to the SENCos and class teachers but is still responsible for ensuring that your child’s needs are met.
• She must make sure that the Governing Body is kept up to date about any issues in the school relating to SEND.

SEND Governor is responsible for:

• Making sure that the school has an up-to-date SEND Policy.
• Making sure that the school has appropriate provision and has made necessary adaptations to meet the needs of all children in the school.
• Making sure that the necessary support is made for any child who attends the school who has SEN and/or disabilities.

Admission Arrangements for Pupils with Special Educational Needs

Pupils are admitted to the school according to the LEA admissions criteria, provided their needs can be met in a mainstream school.

Admissions of children with EHC plans are discussed with the L.E.A. Special Needs Team and a planning meeting is held prior to admission.

Links with Other Mainstream and Special Schools

Gascoigne School works closely with pre-school groups and nurseries to ensure a smooth transition for children coming into our school or nursery.

Advance planning for pupils in Year 6 is also essential to allow appropriate choices of school to be considered and transition support to be put in place. The SENCO will liaise with SENCOs of secondary schools to ensure that effective arrangements are in place to support pupils at the time of transfer.

SEND records for children transferring into the school at other times are requested from the previous school and, where possible, information is sought by the SENCO by telephone or by a visit, if appropriate.  SEND records of children transferring out of school are passed on to the receiving school and direct contact made where appropriate.

Dealing with Complaints

If a parent/carer wishes to make a complaint about the special educational provision made for their child, they should contact the SENCO via the school office.  A meeting will then be held to discuss the nature of the complaint.  This will be recorded in writing, as will the agreed action.  A review date should be set.

If a parent has a serious cause for complaint which has not been resolved to their satisfaction through meeting with school staff, they should submit their complaint in writing to the school with the course of action they hope to achieve.  This letter will be dealt with by the Governing Body and a response made to the parent/carer.

Appendices:

1. Initial assessment form
2. Pupil Passport

Links to:

• The SEND information report
• The Assessment Policy
• Local Authority Advice for Parents