SENCO:  Mrs Sarah Davies

Contact: 01522 788395 (via the school office)

SEND Governor:

Useful SEN related terminology:

SEND – Special Educational Needs and Disabilities

SENCO – Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator

EHCP – Education Health and Care Plan

Bassingham Primary School currently follows, and complies with, the Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations (September 2014) as well as the Equality Act 2010. Along with supporting local advice and systems, these allow us to support children with additional needs effectively to ensure they have access to the breadth of the curriculum. Please find some important documentation below. 

Aims

Bassingham Primary School is an inclusive school that values all of its children: the teaching and learning achievements, attitudes and well-being of every pupil are at the heart of everything we do. The diversity of individuals is valued and respected and new opportunities are offered to pupils who may have experienced previous difficulties. We aim to encourage all pupils to recognise their own unique qualities, as well as the characteristics they share with other pupils. Bassingham primary School provides access to the full National Curriculum for all pupils.

What is SEND?

The code of practice defines SEND as: a child or young person who has a learning difficulty or disability which calls for special educational provision to be made for him or her.

A child has a learning difficulty or disability if he/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 generally available in mainstream school.

During their time at school, many children experience difficulties in one or more areas of learning and development; some may experience difficulties in more than one area at a time. The SEND Code of Practice identifies four key areas of SEND which are used to help us identify additional needs and plan support.

• Communication and Interaction (CI)
• Cognition and learning (CL)
• Social, Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH)
• Sensory and/or physical (SP)

Identification and Assessment

All pupils at Bassingham Primary School have access to high quality teaching and support, regardless of ability. Many pupils will need extra help in one or more areas of the curriculum at some point during their school lives and for the most part this is done within the classroom by adapting teaching or resources. For a small number of children, more specific support or resources are often needed to help them continue to develop and these would be coordinated by the class teacher and the SENCO. This might mean more targeted spelling support, participating in a motor skills development group or referral to external professionals, such as a Speech and Language or Occupational Therapist who can advise us further or may be able to diagnose specific difficulties.

Pupils who are identified as having SEND are recorded on the SEND register, which is maintained and monitored by the SENCO. The SEND register is a fluid document; some children may come off the register after a short period of support and some may need help all the way through school. 

Working with Parents and Carers is essential to supporting learning and development in all our pupils. Parents and Carers are kept informed of the support a pupil may be receiving through a termly Individual Learning Plan (ILP) as well as contact with the class teacher and SENCo. Parents and Carers are involved in reviewing support at the end of each academic term; this may be through informal face to face or telephone meetings with the class teacher or SENCO, written feedback, Parents’ Evenings or more formal progress review meetings.

Identifying SEND usually happens in one of four ways: 

• Working out how to best support a pupil is a joint effort between home and school and sometimes other professionals. Often, you as parent/carer are very often the first to be aware of your child’s additional needs and will come in to talk to us about how best to move forward.
• In many cases the class teacher, through continual informal and formal assessment, becomes aware of a pupil’s additional academic needs and a widening gap between the child and his/her peer group.
• Through observation, teachers may become aware of a pupil’s behavioural or physical needs.
• In some situations, the school may be informed by outside services such as health providers, or from a pupil’s previous setting that a pupil needs additional arrangements to be made to support them in school.

If a pupil’s needs could not be met within everyday classroom teaching or additional resources or specialist knowledge were needed, then the class teacher would involve the school SENCO to help plan and coordinate specific support.

The SENCO, in partnership with parents/carers may then arrange for further assessments. Reports from any visits and assessments are shared with parents/carers and influence our day to day classroom practice and resource provision.

How would school support my child?

Bassingham Primary School has high expectations of all pupils, including those with special educational needs. All pupils are set appropriate challenge targets and staff work strategically with the pupils to support them in achieving their personal best. We teach all pupils together in their classes whenever possible, with the teachers and teaching assistants differentiating and supporting the pupil to ensure they are always part of the topic or activity. At times it may be necessary for a pupil with SEND to access additional support: this might be as part of targeted intervention to boost progress and may take place either as part of a group or 1:1 For a few pupils, the school may use outside support and agencies that work with pupils during the school day.

All teachers and teaching assistants are aware of target SEND pupils that are identified each half term, where there may be concerns with attainment or progress levels. In these instances class teachers write personal targets for pupils to further support them; wherever possible this is done in collaboration with pupils (and often parents) to encourage taking ownership of learning and/or behaviours.