SEND

The definition of SEND in the new Code of Practice is a child who has a learning difficulty or disability which calls for special educational provision to be available. A child 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 a mainstream school (SEN Code of Practice 2014 page 4)

Under the new Code of Practice children can receive:

• SEND Support
• Educational Health and Care Plans (EHCP’s)

 

Nationally, Special Educational Needs are currently identified in four broad areas of need:

• Cognition and Learning
• Behaviour, Emotional and Social
• Communication and Interaction
• Sensory and Physical

 

At Weald Community Primary School,  the Leader of Learning Success or Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCO) oversees the provision for all pupils who require additional support to enable them to access the curriculum. We aim to identify difficulties early and support children’s’ learning with differentiated tasks and activities within the classroom.  Progress is carefully monitored and additional teaching in small groups or one to one may be recommended. Pupils who require additional support are identified as needing SEND support and are placed on the school’s SEND register.

We identify and monitor pupils who may not be making expected progress and provide short term support and interventions with the aim of raising attainment. If progress remains slow over a period of time and the attainment gap is not closing, we may identify a pupil as having special educational needs.

Under the new Code of Practice children can receive:

• SEND Support
• Educational Health and Care Plans (EHCP’s)

Regular meetings are held three times a year with parents to track pupil progress and identify pupils who need additional support. Provision maps identify interventions and targets to raise attainment.  A Personalised Plan with short and long term targets may be drawn up for a pupil with very specific needs.

We support pupils at Weald Community School in a variety of ways, including quality first teaching in the classroom with differentiated learning opportunities for pupils. Teaching Assistants including two Higher Level Teaching Assistants support the teaching and learning in the classroom and lead small intervention groups or work one to one with pupils.

At Weald Community School we hold the belief that ‘what is good for pupils with dyslexia and other differences is good for all pupils’ and we use a variety of strategies and adjustments to make our classrooms child friendly:

• a daily visual timetable in the classroom and pupils have access to a homework timetable either in the back of their contact books or displayed in the classroom.

• we provide visual support during lessons, for example, punctuation, vocabulary, word banks, openers and connectives pyramids for writing; hundred squares, dyslexic number squares, number lines and times tables squares for Numeracy and topic vocabulary for all subjects.
• pre-teaching topic vocabulary and using the font ‘Comic Sans’ or ‘Sassoon Primary’ for display captions or topic vocabulary and on the interactive whiteboard.
• we change the background colour to a pastel shade when using the interactive whiteboard to reduce glare and using pastel shades of paper when photocopying printed text.
• we encourage the use different coloured pens to ‘chunk’ information when writing information on the whiteboard.

• offer mini coloured ‘book-markers’ to assist pupils to keep their place in a text book.
• use coloured overlay ‘reading rulers’ when pupils are reading to help them stay on the line.
• encourage the use of mind mapping as a planning tool or as an alternative method of recording and using writing frames to assist Literacy activities.
• provide a task management board to help personal organisation
• offer a specialist dictionary such as ACE or Oxford Spelling Dictionary in key stage 2.

Some examples of intervention groups at Weald include:

Enhanced Read Write Inc phonics groups.

Read Write Inc spelling groups.

Differentiated reading programme.

Touch typing.

Targeted reading and handwriting support.

TRUGS – teaching reading using games.

Memory Magic.

Sensory circuits.

Beam and Jump Ahead – these programmes support fine and gross motor skills development, memory and listening skills.

Social and Communication skills groups which help pupils make positive relationships and talk through their worries.

Lego therapy.

Clever Fingers.

Communicate in Print

Advice for parents of children with dyslexia: Dyslexia document

Useful websites:

Partnership with parents: partnershipwithparents@kent.gov.uk

National Association of Special Educational Needs: www.nasen.org.uk

Kent West Dyslexia Association: www.kentwestdyslexia.org.uk

Dyspraxia Foundation: www.dyspraxiafoundation.org.uk

National Autism Society: www.autism.org.uk

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: www.adhd.org.uk

Asthma UK: www.asthma.org.uk

Deaf Association: www.ndcs.org.uk

Blind Association: www.rnib.org.uk

Young Healthy Minds: www.cxk.org.uk

More detailed information about special educational needs and disabilities (SEN & D) can be found in the SEND policy (see below).

The Local Offer is a list of provision for SEN children or children with disabilities within the local authority of Kent.  You can find the local authority’s Local Offer via the following link:

http://www.kent.gov.uk/education-and-children/special-educational-needs

Please contact the school to make an appointment with the Learning Success Team for support to gain the information required on 01732 463307.