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.
Early Identification of Need
In deciding whether to make special education provision to support educational, social, physical or emotional needs, we:
- Work in partnership with parents/carers and pupils
- Consult with relevant external agencies
- Use assessment tools & materials
- Use observations
- Use Short Notes
- Marking and Feedback
- Timely use of Assessment data
SEND Support
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
- Plan the provision to meet your child’s aspirations and agreed outcomes
- Do put the provision in place to meet those outcomes
- Review the support and progress
As part of this approach every child with SEN 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 the 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.
All pupils have access to a broad and balanced curriculum in each year group which is adapted and/or made accessible for pupils with SEN through:
- Quality First Teaching and what this means for your child;
- Specific group work and what this may be;
- Specialist group support from outside agencies e.g. Speech and Language Therapy;
- Specific individual support for children whose learning needs are severe, complex and lifelong and what this means for your child;
- Range of teaching and first hand experiences;
- An innovative and supportive curriculum;
- Mentoring and Counselling;
- A broad range of extra-curricular activities;
- Differentiated materials.
For more detailed information see the Local Offer
Details of Identification and Assessment of Pupils with SEND:
Staff use the SEN planning toolkits which can be found on the Durham Families Information Service site to ensure they are meeting the needs of the SEND children in their class. These offer support and suggestions for strategies they can use with children based on their specific learning needs.
Half termly assessments assess the progress of the class. As children with Special Educational Needs often make slower progress than their peers, we use PIVOTS where necessary to get a better and more detailed understanding of the small steps of progress they have made. In PIVOTS, objectives are broken down into smaller, more specific steps so teachers can be sure that SEND children are indeed making progress.
Assessments and progress are recorded in our assessment tracker, where SEND children’s progress can be monitored and recorded against age-related expectations
Parental concerns are responded to sensitively and appropriately. Where necessary, staff will support parents to complete any paperwork needed to support their child. Parents are always informed about the Local Offer and how they can find out what support is available for their child.
Senior Leaders carry out regular lesson observations of staff to ensure teaching is of the highest quality and children with SEN are being planned for appropriately.
At Fishburn Primary School, our behaviour policy aims to support pupils in making the right choices and see what consequences their behaviour has on themselves and others around them. All children at Fishburn Primary School are respected and listened to by staff who use a restorative approach once an incident has occurred to try and ensure a child understands what they have done and how their actions have affected others.
Staff have regular training from the SENCO and outside agencies as the need arises. Provision is constantly changing with the needs of the children and action is taking promptly by the SENCO to ensure that staff have the necessary training and understanding of specific Special Educational Needs to give our children the best education possible.
In the lead-up to National tests, the necessary measures are taken to ensure children with SEND have the right access arrangements to achieve the very best they can. Permission is sought to give children additional reading time or to have a reader for maths tests for example.
We may provide the following support to children within our school (this is not an exhaustive list):
Support for children with physical needs:
Durham Movement Difficulties Service provide advice and programs which we incorporate into classroom routine. Specialist equipment is available if required. The school has worked with Tree Tops Paediatric Occupational Therapy Service and staff have accessed quality training.
Support for children with speech, language and communication needs:
Staff work closely with SaLT – Speech and Language Service to deliver individual programs provided
Support for children with a hearing, visual or multi-sensory impairment:
Specialist equipment is provided where required and adaptations to classroom organization are made in order to provide access to the curriculum working with the Hearing impaired Service/Visually Impaired Service.
Support for children with social, emotional and mental health difficulties:
School is supported by CAMHs – Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services
Support for children with medical needs:
The school nurse (or specialist nurses) provide advice and any training required to meet the child’s need. A health care plan is provided.
Support for children with English as an Additional Language:
School will seek support from EMTAS – Ethnic Minorities and Travellers Achievement Support.
Support for Looked after Children with SEND:
We pride ourselves on the fact that staff make an effort to know pupils really well. Most issues are dealt with directly by the teacher. We have a school council that brings up pupil issues and suggestions, they have created an ‘anti bullying’ box which enables pupils to report issues. Bullying and its impact has a focus week each year.
Pupils with disabilities are included in all our activities. We aim to make access available wherever possible.
We track progress of children with specific difficulties using our school system of assessment. This enables us to check learning as a whole.
We evaluate the provision for pupils with SEND through outcomes of externally moderated SATS and the progress indicated on our tracking system. Achievement rather than Attainment is a school focus.
Pupils are encouraged to express their views and we have a ‘Childrens Leadership Team’. Our school has an Anti-Bullying Policy which applies to all pupils. Staff deal with any issues quickly and sensitively.
All pupils, including those pupils with SEND access all aspects of the curriculum. Although some pupils may be offered additional support and assistance where appropriate.
The SENCO/Headteacher regularly monitors and evaluates the effectiveness of provision for SEND pupils through discussions, meetings, reviews and data analysis.
For further information please view or download our Accessibility Plan which can be found in the School Policies section of our website.
