Special Educational Needs
Children with special educational needs and disabilities may face lots of challenges at home and at school, which may have been impacted more due to the previous COVID pandemic. As a parent or carer you may feel concerned about how it will affect your child in the short term and long term.
Every child with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) is different and will have different support needs. Here at St Mary's we’re here for parents and carers and have advice to help you and your child find ways to overcome any challenges together.
At St Mary's we are committed to the belief that every child is an individual who brings something special to the school community. All children, regardless of ability, background or ethnicity, have the right to participate in and enjoy all aspects of school life, and have the opportunity to meet their full potential. Like most schools, we have a number of pupils who have some additional needs. That means they may need a little more help and support from us. The support we provide to these pupils is coordinated by Miss Berry. She liaises with a range of agencies such as Speech & Language Therapy Services, Occupational Therapy and the Community Paediatrician. We do our best to provide work that meets the needs of each child, but sometimes we see that, despite our best efforts, they are not making the progress we anticipate.
What to do if you feel your child has a problem Speak to your child’s class teacher. The teacher may then refer you to the SENCO who will explain the procedures in place in school to address your child’s needs.
Designated person for SEN Mrs R Love – (SENCO) Please feel free to make a telephone appointment if you wish to discuss anything with her. TEL: 01706 873123
Special Educational Needs At St. Mary’s we are working in line with the new SEN Code of Practice, 2014. The school has a special needs register which records children who receive SEN Support and children who may require an EHC Plan (Education, Health and Care Plan). In addition, the school has a focus group of children who receive additional support to enable them to ‘catch up’.
Interventions A child may access Catch Up interventions if evidence collected by the class teacher suggests that the pupil is not making progress and additional provision is needed. Interventions are reviewed termly and progress measured. All classes have a Provision Map that is reviewed termly. This will detail what provision is to be made, the time taken to carry it out and the person responsible for managing the programme.
SEN Support If the child is placed in SEN Support, following discussion with parents after Catch Up interventions have been accessed, and it is felt that further provision is needed (over and above that of the Quality First Teaching taking place in each class) this will often include the involvement of outside specialists e.g. Educational Psychologist, Speech and Language Therapist or Child Psychologist.
Education, Health and Care Plan A Statutory Assessment can only be requested if the child demonstrates a significant cause for concern eg exceptionality or complex needs and if Quality First Teaching and SEN Support does not meet their needs. This would be in agreement between outside agencies involved as well as parents and School. If you would like any further information about Statutory Assessment, please do not hesitate to contact our SENCo, Miss Berry. At all stages, the SENCO will discuss the individual needs of the child with the parents.
What the school may do to support and help your child There are many Intervention Programmes that the school can put in place to help your child. The interventions fall into 3 Waves:
WAVE ONE – Quality First Teaching Pupils are offered an inclusive and differentiated experience in everyday lessons, with the majority of pupils making good progress without additional support.
WAVE TWO – ‘Catch up’ or Booster Programmes Pupils are offered additional help to accelerate learning. This may be a small group, targeted intervention, timetabled to ensure children benefit from the experience.
WAVE THREE - Intensive Targeted Support Individual support, linked to specific personal targets. Pupils receiving this level of support will often require additional input/advice from outside agencies. Care Plans can be implemented for intervention for specific/medical needs.
To view the Lancashire local offer for SEN please go to: https://www.lancashire.gov.uk/send/
To view the Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulartion 2014, please go to: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2014/1530/contents
