SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS DISABILITY AND INCLUSION POLICY

January 2023

Derbyshire context

Following the implementation of the Children and Families Act 2014 in September 2014, Derbyshire County Council provides information about the ‘Local Offer’ available to children and their families across Derbyshire. This is via www.derbyshiresendlocaloffer.org Part of this provides details of local services which are on offer to meet the needs of children with Special Educational Needs or Disabilities (SEND). This policy provides the details of the local offer to children from Peak Tor Federation in line with the Special Educational Needs Code of Practice 2014.

Rationale at Peak Tor Federation

Peak Tor Federation is committed to providing appropriate and high quality education to all the children who attend.   We believe that all children, including those identified as having special educational needs and disability (SEND), have a common entitlement to a broad and balanced academic and social curriculum, which is accessible to them and to be fully included in all aspects of school life.

We believe that all children should be equally valued in school.   We will strive to eliminate prejudice and discrimination and to develop an environment where all children can flourish and feel safe.

The school is committed to inclusion. Part of the school’s vision is to develop cultures, policies and practices that include all learners.   We aim to engender a sense of community and belonging and to offer new opportunities to learners who may have experienced previous difficulties.   This does not mean that we will treat all learners in the same way but that we will respond to learners in ways which take account of their varied life experiences and needs.

We believe that educational inclusion is broader than including children with identified SEND and is about equal opportunities for all learners, whatever their age, gender, ethnicity, impairment, attainment and background.   We pay particular attention to the provision for and the achievement of different groups of learners:

• Equal opportunities for girls and boys
• Minority ethnic and faith groups, travellers, asylum seekers and refugees
• Learners with special educational needs
• Those who are gifted and talented
• Others such as those who may be sick or who are in families under stress
• Any learners who are at risk of disaffection and exclusion

As a school we are committed to helping every child, including groups of children who could be considered vulnerable. Examples may include:

• Learners who need support to learn English as an additional language (EAL)
• Learners who are disabled
• Learners who are Looked After by the local authority

We are a church school and as such we promote a Christian ethos. In line with this ethos, those of other faiths are welcomed.

This policy describes the way we meet the needs of children who experience barriers to their learning. These may relate to needs within:

• communication and interaction
• cognition and learning
• sensory and/or physical
• social, emotional or mental health

We recognize that pupils learn at different rates and that there are many factors affecting achievement, including ability, emotional state, age and maturity.   We are particularly aware of the needs of our Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1 pupils, for whom maturity is a crucial factor in terms of readiness to learn.   We believe that many pupils, at some time in their school career, may experience difficulties which affect their learning and we recognize that these may be long or short term.

We aim to identify these needs as they arise and provide teaching and learning contexts which enable every child to achieve to his or her full potential.

We see the inclusion of children identified as having special educational needs and disability as an equal opportunities issue and we will also aim to model inclusion in our staffing policies, relationships with parents/carers and the community.   We try to act quickly when SEND issues are identified and look at what additional provision we can make for specific children.

The development and monitoring of the school’s work on inclusion will be undertaken by the Executive Headteacher.

The Special Educational Needs and Disability Co-ordinators (SENDCO) are the Executive Headteacher, who also takes the lead role in relation to inclusion, and Miss Birkin, who is currently working towards achieving the National Award for Special Education Needs (NASEN) and Disability.

The SEN Governor is Samantha Pawley

Objectives

1. To ensure the Children and Families Act 2014 and relevant Codes of Practice and guidance are implemented effectively across the school.
2. To ensure equality of opportunity for and to eliminate prejudice and discrimination against, children with special educational needs.
3. To continually monitor the progress of all pupils to identify needs as they arise and to provide support as early as possible.
4. To provide full access to the curriculum* through differentiated planning by class teachers, SENDCO and support staff as appropriate.   *Except where formal disapplication is relevant - disapplication is very rare and we aim to offer the full curriculum to all our pupils.
5. To provide specific input, matched to individual needs, in addition to scaffolded classroom provision, for those pupils identified as having SEND.
6. To ensure that pupils with SEND are perceived positively by all members of the school community and that SEN and inclusive provision is positively valued and accessed by staff and parents/carers.
7. To ensure that we are able to meet the needs of as wide a range as possible of children in our school community.
8. To enable children to move on from us well equipped in the basic skills of literacy, numeracy and social independence to meet the demands of secondary school life and learning.
9. To involve parents/carers at every stage in plans to meet their child’s additional needs.
10. To involve the children themselves in planning and in any decision making that affects them.

Identification of pupil needs

In line with the SEN Code of Practice definition of Special Educational Needs from Section 20 of the Children and Families Act 2014:

‘A child or young person has SEND if they have a learning difficulty or disability which calls for special educational provision to be made for them. A child of compulsory school age or a young person has a learning difficulty of disability if they:

a.) have a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others of the same age; or

b.) have a disability which prevents or hinders them from making use of educational facilities of a kind generally provided for others of the same age in mainstream schools or mainstream post-16 institutions

A child under compulsory schools age has special educational needs if they fall within the definition at (a) or (b) above or would do so if special educational provision was not made for them

Children must not be regarded as having a learning difficulty solely because the language or form of language of their home is different from the language in which they will be taught’

Peak Tor Federation adopts a graduated approach as a model of action and intervention for children with SEND.

The approach recognises that there is a continuum of SEND and where necessary increasing specialist expertise will be accessed to provide support for both children and staff.

A graduated approach:

Quality First Teaching

A key strength of Peak Tor Federation is the opportunity for teachers to know each child’s strengths and needs in detail. Teachers are skilled in scaffolding provision to meet the needs of a wide age group of children in each class. This enables the next step of closer monitoring where concerns arise to follow naturally from the existing close knowledge of each individual child.

• Any pupils who are falling significantly outside the range of expected academic achievement in line with predicted performance indicators will be closely monitored. Consideration will also be given to pupils who are not making expected progress in their broader development e.g. social and emotional. At this stage, these pupils will be considered to possibly have SEND.
• Teachers will have conversations with the child and parents to help to build a holistic view of the child and to understand any external factors which may be affecting progress.
• The child’s class teacher will take steps to provide adapt teaching instruction and scaffolding that will aid the pupil’s progression and enable the teacher to better understand the provision and teaching style that needs to be applied
• The SENDCO will be consulted as needed for support and advice and may wish to observe the pupils in class.
• The teacher and SENDCO determine together the type and level of provision going forward.
• Parents will be involved at every stage of their child’s development and the circumstances under which they are being monitored. They are encouraged to be partners in their children’s development by sharing information and knowledge with the school.
• Pupil progress meetings are used to monitor and assess progress being made by the child. These may be in line with the school’s usual parents’ evenings or be more frequent if needed.

SEND support

Where it is determined that a child has SEN, this will be discussed with parents and with parental consent the child’s name will be added to the school’s SEN register. The aim of identifying a pupil with SEN is to help school ensure that effective provision is put in place and so reduce barriers to learning and enable the child to make progress. The support provided consists of a four-part process:

• Assess
  Teachers can assess through observations of learning and behaviour, conversations with children and parents, formal assessment methods and assessments made by external professionals.
• Plan

The teacher, SENCO, parent and, where appropriate, the child agree on interventions and support to be put in place to work on specific targets. At Peak Tor Federation we record these on an Individual Education Programme (IEP). Expected impact on progress and development or behaviour is discussed. The review date is set.

• Do

The class teacher retains responsibility for working with the child day-to-day and work closely with any additional staff to put in place the agreed interventions and support.

• Review

The child’s progress will be reviewed at 3 points in the school year and will take account of the impact and quality of support and intervention, the pupil’s and parents’ views. Support and intervention will be revised based on the pupil’s progress and development.

This ongoing cycle enables the provision to be refined and revised as the understanding of the needs of the pupil grows. This cycle enables the identification of those interventions which are most effective in supporting the pupil to achieve good progress and outcomes.

As part of this SEND support, school may access guidance and expertise from relevant professionals. Whenever this is considered appropriate parents will be consulted and consent sought.

School will allocate resources to support children where required and, where children meet the criteria, additional resources will be accessed.

Request for an Education, Health and Care Plan

If a child has severe and complex needs requiring complex arrangements, they may undergo a Statutory Assessment Process which can be requested by the school, parents or other professionals. This may occur where the complexity of need or additional clarity around the needs of the child are such that a multi-agency approach to assessing that need, to planning provision and identifying resources, is required.

The application for an Education, Health and Care Plan will combine information from a variety of sources including:

• Parents
• Teachers
• SENDCO
• Other Educational professionals who are involved
• Social Care
• Health professionals

Information gathered relating to the current provision is gathered and the Local Authority decide whether an EHC assessment is appropriate. If agreed, there then follows a formal process of information gathering from the parents, child, school and any involved educational professionals, Educational Psychologist, Social Care and Health Professionals. The EHC plan is then written by the LA and reviewed at least annually.

Further information about EHC assessments and plans can be found at www.derbyshiresendlocaloffer.org

Evaluating the success of SEND provision

Individual pupil progress is monitored on a termly basis in line with the SEN code of practice. This is an extension of the detailed assessments of pupil progress undertaken for all pupils.

Information from provision management can be used to identify how effective different provision is in enabling pupils to achieve academic and wider outcomes.

There is an annual formal evaluation of the effectiveness of the school SEND provision and policy. This evaluation is carried out by the SENDCOs and SEND governor. Information is collated and published by the governing body on an annual basis in accordance with section 69 of the Children and Families Act 2014. This is called the Special Educational Needs and Disability Information Report (see school website).

Arrangements for SEND and Inclusion In-Service Training

• The SENCO attends relevant briefings.
• In-house additional needs and Inclusion training is provided through staff meetings by the SENCO.
• All staff are given SEN training annually and where requested

The school has established links with all the necessary support agencies from health and education

Parents/carers are always informed if any outside agency is involved and written consent is requested before any assessments or observations are carried out.

Addressing SEND stereotyping and bully

Bullying creates a barrier to children’s learning and prevents them from leading a fulfilled and happy life. Research shows that pupils with SEND are at greater risk of bullying and victimisation. The definition of bullying is when an individual or group repeats behaviour which is intentionally hurtful to an individual or group, either emotionally or physically.

We develop effective anti-bullying practice by:

• Championing inclusion
• Raising staff awareness through training on disability and equality
• Reviewing our anti-bullying and behaviour policies and promoting the involvement of SEND pupils in these policies
• Ensuring less tolerant and understanding peers learn about respect and difference diversity positively
• Displaying our British values around school
• Holding annual anti-bullying weeks
• Visible staff at lunch times
• Including every child in the whole curriculum, including sports days and productions, extra-curricular activities and learning outside the classroom
• Displaying positive Images of disabled individuals
• Having books throughout school which include and represent individuals with disability.

Arrangements for partnership with parents/carers

All at Peak Tor Federation believe that a close working relationship with parents is vital in order to ensure:

• Early and accurate identification and assessment of SEN leading to the most appropriate intervention and provision
• Continuing social and academic progress of children with SEN
• Personal and academic targets are set and met effectively

In cases where more frequent regular contact with parents is necessary, this will be arranged based on the individual pupil’s needs.

If an assessment or involvement of other professionals indicates that a pupil has additional learning needs the parents and the pupil will be consulted with regards to future provision. The pupil’s views will always be considered and the most appropriate ways of seeking these should be used.

Regular communication between school and home will enable us to ensure that any concerns raised by parents are promptly acted on.

Access to the Environment (see Rowsley C of E/Stanton-in-Peak C of E Primary School Accessibility Plan)

Admission arrangements

• Children with additional educational needs are considered for admission to the school on exactly the same basis as for children without additional educational needs.
• Admission to reception can be on a part-time basis for the first few weeks.   These arrangements are flexible to cater for individual needs.
• Prior to starting school, parents/carers of children with an existing  Statement of SEN or EHC plan will be invited to discuss the provision that can be made to meet the child’s identified needs.

Monitoring and Reporting

• The Executive Headteacher’s report to governors includes SEN issues.
• The SENDCO will meet with the SEND governor to discuss inclusion and current SEND concerns on an annual basis. This will be reported to governors.
• Whole school monitoring and evaluation procedures will include sampling of work and observations.   Outcomes pertinent to SEND provision and planning will be taken forward by the whole staff and used to build upon successful practice.
• Target setting for all pupils takes half-termly and within each Key Stage. These targets are based on a close working knowledge of each child which is enhanced by the use of regular formal assessments.
• Percentage targets are set for children to achieve age related expectations at the end of Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2.   These targets aim towards increasing the number of children with additional needs who achieve age related expectations.
• The policy itself will be reviewed annually.

Dealing with complaints

• If a parent wishes to complain about the provision or the policy they should, in the first instance, raise it with the SENCO who will try to resolve the situation.
• Any issues that remain unresolved will be managed according to the school’s Complaints Policy.   This is available, or request, from the school office.

Further information

For the full SEN code of practice see www.gov.uk/government/publications/send-code-of-practice-0-to-25

Reviewed January 2023