Early Identification of Need
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.
In deciding whether to make special education provision to support educational, social, physical or emotional needs, we:
- Work in partnership with parents/carers, pupils
- Use assessment tools & materials
- Use observations and monitoring
- Consult with relevant external agencies
When your child joins our school, their current attainment is assessed to establish a baseline from which progress can be measured. If your child has SEND, further assessments may be carried out to accurately identify their needs. These may include classroom observations, in-school assessment tools and, where necessary, collaboration with external professionals such as an Educational Psychologist.
SEND Support
If your child has Special Educational Needs our SENCO will:
- Ensure the right support is put in place for each child
- Advise other teachers and teaching assistants on how to help each child and ensure they have an up to date SEND support plan
- Arrange training for staff so they understand each child’s needs
- Work closely with parents on a regular basis to talk with them about their child’s needs and listen to any ideas or concerns they might have
- Work with other professionals (if necessary) who may be able to help individual children, e.g. speech and language therapist /medical professional/educational psychologist
At Shincliffe CE Primary School we follow the Local Authority’s Graduated Approach.
The identification of SEND is built into the overall approach to monitoring the progress and development of all pupils in school. Termly, pupil progress meetings support the early identification of pupils who may have SEND. Where concerns are identified this is discussed with the SENCO. They may then decide that a Short Note is appropriate to establish current needs and targets in the short-term. They may decide that a SEND support plan is appropriate.
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. Through collection of data, class-based tasks, observations and discussions with parents/carers we will ascertain the need of the child.
- Plan the provision to meet your child’s aspirations and agreed outcomes. In discussion with the child, parents/carers and class teachers an agreed plan of action of SMART targets will be put in place.
- Doput the provision in place to meet those outcomes. This is an opportunity to work towards the agreed targets over an agreed period of time.
- Review the support and progress. A meeting will be held with parents/carers and, where appropriate, children, to review the impact of the agreed actions. If it is felt further action and support is required then the process will be repeated.
As part of this approach every child with SEND 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 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.
- This is a very detailed assessment of each child’s needs. Parents or carers, the school and a range of professionals will all be asked to provide written reports.
- At the end of the assessment phase the Local Authority will consider these reports to help decide whether or not to issue an Education, Health and Care Plan for the child.
- Parents/carers also have the right to ask the Local Authority to carry out this assessment although it is usually best if you can do this with the support of the school.
- Education, Health and Care Assessment is only appropriate for a small number of children. Your school SENCO or Durham Local Offer will be able to advise you
- For children currently with an EHCP an annual review takes place with all stakeholders and a termly review of the targets takes place between the class teacher and parents/carers.
For more detailed information see the Local Offer
Details of Identification and Assessment of Pupils with SEND
If your child has SEND, it is important for us to carry out assessments to identify their strengths and identify their needs accurately. To do this, we will use a range of methods depending upon their needs. When your child enters our school, their current attainment is assessed to give us a ‘baseline’ from where they will progress. In addition to the assessments that all children take part in and depending upon their needs, other assessments may be needed. These could include:
Communication and interaction (SLCN, ASC)
- Speech and Language Link Assessment
- Speech Therapy Assessments – which may focus on sound production, language understanding, or other relevant assessments of your child’s needs
Cognition and learning (MLD, PMLD, SLD, SpLD)
- Subject specific assessment
- Education Psychology Assessments – which may include memory, understanding, reasoning, logic, and general skills assessment.
Social, Emotional and Health Difficulties
- THRIVE Programme
- Assess through observations of pupils
Sensory and/or Physical Difficulties
- Movement Programme baseline assessment
- Handwriting and copying skills baseline assessment
At Shincliffe CE Primary School, we evaluate the effectiveness of SEND provision to ensure that pupils receive the best support to meet their needs and as part of the Graduated Approach of Assess, Plan, Do and Review. We currently evaluate the effectiveness of SEN across the four broad areas of SEN provision in the following ways:
Communication and interaction (SLCN, ASC)
- We will use various SLCN assessment tools and work closely with the Speech and Language Team to assess before and after any intervention to evaluate the impact of provision.
Cognition and learning (MLD, PMLD, SLD, SpLD)
- We use the assessment data provided by teaching and support staff to assess before and after any intervention to evaluate the impact of provision.
Social, Emotional and Health Difficulties
- We use the THRIVEProgramme assessment tool to assess before and after any intervention to evaluate the impact of provision.
Sensory and/or Physical Difficulties
- We use the Movement Programme to assess before and after any intervention to evaluate the impact of provision with Gross Motor Skills. In Fine Motor Skills we use the Speed UpProgramme and handwriting evidence from before and after interventions to evaluate the impact of provision.
How are resources made available to support children with SEND?
The resources we use to support children with SEND depend upon their needs and they are allocated on an individual basis. Once your child has been identified as SEND, their needs will be assessed and targets and outcomes will be identified. It is the responsibility of the SENCO to ensure that the resources that are required are made available and that staff are aware of their individual needs. We are very flexible in our approach and we constantly monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of our interventions and the provision that we provide.
As part of our staff professional development, all members of staff received training to support children with SEND:
- School-based CPD – systems and procedures, staff audit, staff planning and agreed action points
- SEND Outcomes –good quality outcomes, SEN Support Plans and Primary Areas of Need
- Supporting children with ASC
- Speech and Language Specialist Training
Staff Training will vary each year depending upon the needs of the children.
If a pupil does not make expected progress over a sustained period of time, school will consider involving specialists. The next steps may require the involvement of specialist support or advice for example, Educational Psychology, SENDIASS (Parents Advice and Support Service) or another of education health and social care professional. It is important to understand that the involvement of professionals does not always seek to label or diagnose but to seek advice and strategies to enable a child/young person to reach their full potential.
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 (EHCP).
The purpose of an EHCP is to make special educational provision to meet special educational needs of the child or young person, to secure the best possible outcomes for them across education (SEND Code of Practice p.142). It is a legal document that describes a child or young person’s special educational, health and social care needs.
For more detailed information see the Local Offer.