SEND Specialist Staff
Mrs Scott is the school SENCO. She may be contacted by phoning the School on 01732 882405 or emailing Senco@ightham.kent.sch.uk
Special Educational Needs Report and Policy
You can download our report and policy below:
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SEND
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SEND
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SEND Definition
At different times in their school life a child may have a Special Educational Need (SEN).
Definition of SEN
A child or young person has SEN if they have a learning difficulty or disability which calls for special educational provision to be made for him or her.
A child of compulsory school age or a young person has a learning difficulty if he or she:
- Has a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others of the same age; or
- Has a disability which prevents or hinders him or her from making use of facilities of a kind generally provided for others of the same age in mainstream schools or mainstream post-16 institutions. SEN Code of Practice (2014, p 4)
Definition of disability
Many children and young people who have SEN may also have a disability under the Equality Act 2010 – that is’…a physical or mental impairment which has a long-term and substantial adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities’. This definition provides a relatively low threshold and includes more children than many realise: ‘long-term’ is defined as ‘a year or more’ and ‘substantial’ is defined as ‘more than minor or trivial’ SEN Code of Practice (2014, p5)
Types of SEN
In the Code of Practice, SEN and provision falls under four categories:
- Communication and Interaction
- Cognition and Learning
- Social, Emotional and Mental Health
- Sensory and/or Physical
This includes a wide range of needs such as:
- Moderate learning difficulties and global delay
- Autism and social communication differences
- Specific learning differences e.g. dyslexia and dyscalculia
- Speech and language difficulties
- Social, emotional and mental health difficulties
- Visual or auditory difficulties
- Anxiety, anger and depression
Identifying and assessing pupils with SEN
How is SEN identified?
When a child is making significantly slower progress than their peers or is struggling to achieve their predicted potential they could be considered to have Special Educational Needs (SEN).
In partnership with the Class teacher, SENCO and parents we will look for any barriers to learning.
Barriers could include:
- Absences or lateness
- Changing schools or moving house
- Difficulties in speaking English
- A temporary illness or injury e.g. broken arm
- Worries or concerns such as a family bereavement
- Being a young carer
We know that children who experience these types of issues may be vulnerable students but this does not mean they would be identified as a child with SEN.
The learning of all children at Ightham Primary School is regularly and rigorously assessed. School leaders check books, observe lessons and monitor the achievement of the children.
We also use formal assessment to monitor progress:
- Phonics screening in Year 1
- SATs in Year 6
- SpeechLink
After collecting information on progress and attainment and following agreement with parents; a child experiencing long term and complex barriers to their learning will be placed on the SEN register.
Provision for special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND)
The Pioneer Academy Trust Mantra confirms the commitment to ‘Putting children first’ and ‘pupils succeed in a supportive environment’. This is translated into practice at Ightham Primary School.
All pupils are given quality first teaching. This means that class teachers are well trained; lessons are well planned, exciting and differentiated to ensure that all pupils can access the learning at their own level.
For pupils with SEN this could mean that they are given a slightly different task to achieve or are using visual clues or equipment to help them complete their task. Some may require additional support from the class teacher or teaching assistant as part of a small group, pair or individual.
Additional support for pupils
As part of our budget we receive ‘notional SEN funding’. This funding is used to ensure that the quality of teaching is good or better in the school and that there are sufficient resources to deploy additional and different teaching for pupils requiring SEN support. The amount of support required for each pupil to make good progress will be different in each case and the interventions we offer that pupil are detailed on Personalised Learning Plans.
For some children we deliver interventions to support their needs across all the need types. Examples include:
- Sensory Circuits
- Pre-reading
- Precision Spelling
- Precision Reading
- Phonics Booster groups
- Fine motor support
- Bucket time
- BEAM
- Touch Typing
- Individual reading
However interventions vary depending on the needs of the pupils.
All clubs, trips and activities offered to pupils at Ightham Primary School are available to pupils with special educational needs either with or without an Education, Health and Care Plan. Where it is necessary, the school will use the resources available to it to provide additional adult support to enable the safe participation of the pupil in the activity.
Support for improving the emotional and social support for pupils with SEND
At Ightham Primary School, we actively support pupils to develop emotional resilience and social skills, both through direct teaching, for instance during PSHE and circle time, and indirectly with every interaction adults have with pupils throughout the day.
For some pupils, with the most need for help in this area, we also can provide the following:
- consistent positive behaviour strategies detailed in our behaviour policy
- a time-out space for children to use when upset or agitated
- personalised behaviour strategies according to need
- training in the development of social skills through programmes such as “Talk Boost”
- referral to external support agencies such as the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAHMs) or other services accessed via the Common Assessment Framework (CAF)/ Kent Family Support Framework.
Pupils in the early stages of emotional and social development because of their special educational needs will be supported to enable them to develop and mature appropriately. This will usually require additional and different resources, beyond that required by pupils who do not need this support.
Examples of interventions we provide are:
Emotional wellbeing support
Meet and greet
- My Hidden Chimp
- Socially Speaking
- Time to Talk
Expertise and training of staff
Details of additional training staff have undertaken to meet the needs of pupils are available from the Senco and Headteacher.
Where a training need is identified beyond this we will find a provider who is able to deliver it. Training providers we can approach are:
- Specialist Schools and schools with specialist units in Kent
- The Educational Psychology Service (Edukent)
- Kent Integrated Care & Therapy Co-ordination Services for Children (ITACC) which include Speech and Language, Occupational Therapy and Physiotherapy.
- School Nursing Service
- Dyslexia specialists
The cost of training is covered by the notional SEN funding.
Arrangements for consulting parents of pupils with SEND
Details of additional training staff have undertaken to meet the needs of pupils are available from the Senco and Headteacher.
Where a training need is identified beyond this we will find a provider who is able to deliver it. Training providers we can approach are:
- Specialist Schools and schools with specialist units in Kent
- The Educational Psychology Service (Edukent)
- Kent Integrated Care & Therapy Co-ordination Services for Children (ITACC) which include Speech and Language, Occupational Therapy and Physiotherapy.
- School Nursing Service
- Dyslexia specialists
The cost of training is covered by the notional SEN funding.
Speech and Language Resources
The website (below) has lots of ideas and resources for parents of children with Speech, Language and Communication needs.
Support Services for Parents
Information, Advice and Support Kent (IASK) provides free, impartial, confidential, advice, support and options around educational issues for parents who have children with special educational needs or disabilities (0-19). They empower parents to play an active and informed role in their child’s education. They can be contacted on:
HELPLINE: 3000 41 3000. Monday to Friday, 9am – 5pm.
Office: 03000 412 412
E-mail: iask@kent.gov.uk
Mainstream Core Standards
We follow the Mainstream Core Standards advice developed by Kent County Council to ensure that our teaching conforms to best practice.
The Mainstream Core Standards – KELSIAdmission of pupils with SEN and disability information
The School Admissions Code states:
The admission authority for the school must set out in their arrangements the criteria against which places will be allocated at the school when there are more applications than places and the order in which the criteria will be applied. All children whose statement of special educational needs (SEN) or Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan names the school must be admitted. If the school is not oversubscribed, all applicants must be offered a place (with the exception of designated grammar schools).