Supporting Children with Special Educational Needs & Disabilities (SEND)
Welcome to Redhill Primary School, a place where staff, parents and pupils work together to ensure all our learners make excellent progress and realise their potential.
We are a mainstream school providing education to approximately 220 pupils between the ages of 4-11. SEND stands for Special Educational Needs and/or Disability. Many children will have special educational needs of some kind during their time in education. Schools and other organisations can help most children overcome the barriers their difficulties present quickly and easily. A few children will need extra help for some or all of their time in school.
The Code of Practice 2015 states that:
‘A student has SEND where their learning difficulty or disability calls for special educational provision, that is different from or additional to that normally available to Children and Young People of the same age.’
If, following observation in school and discussion with parents, a child is judged as requiring special educational provision, class teachers, the special needs co-ordinator, the pupil and their parents will work together to put together an Individual Education Plan (IEP). This document details the specific learning obstacles observed, the targets set for the child and the measures put in place to meet these targets. IEPs are reviewed in an ongoing way to support pupil progress and respond to developing needs. They are produced through a consultation between teachers, support staff, parents and pupils as part of a 4-step process of assess, plan, do and review. These child-centred consultations take place at least termly and an IEP will remain in place for as long as special educational provision is required to help the pupil reach their full potential.
In addition, some children may have individual health care requirements that could be a barrier to their full participation and prevent them making the most of every learning opportunity. Some children may have a documented Education Health Care Plan (EHCP) focused on reducing learning barriers and ensuring full participation in lessons.
Special Educational Needs Co-Ordinator (SENCO)
Our SENCO is Mrs Greaves and she coordinates support for children with additional needs throughout the school. We have a number of Teaching Assistants who support children with specific educational or health needs on an individual basis. Furthermore, all of our Teaching Assistants and staff recieve regular training, providing them with the skills to support pupils with additional needs, including diagnosing barriers to progress, best-practise in delivering tailored interventions, supporting the mental health and well-being of learners and the delivery of specific and general medical care.
Progress of children on the SEND register is monitored on an individual basis by Mrs Millar (Head Teacher) and Mr Cicinski (Deputy Head Teacher), working with our SENCO and class teachers to ensure children on the SEND register make progress in-line with or better than their peers.
Class teachers are happy to discuss any day-to-day needs and enquiries relating to our SEND provision and our SEND Governor is Mrs Bev Malysz.
Pupil Voice
We value and celebrate each child and encourage them to express their views on all aspects of school life. This is usually carried out through regular meetings of the Class Councils.and School Government.
If your child has an EHCP or is on the SEND register, they will be involved in adding their views to the writing and reviewing of their Individual Education Plan (IEP) as appropriate to the age and communication abilities of the child. They will be asked about what is working for them in school, what they enjoy and what they would like to focus on and how they like to be helped. These views are recorded and shared with everyone involved in their learning.
We also use the following strategies to communicate with our pupils:
Pupil Voice Questionnaires
Class Council
Annual Reviews
Personal Interviews
Parent Voice
Here at Redhill, we recognise the importance of working in close partnership with parents and honest and frequent communication is an important part of this. There are many ways that school will contact parents to discuss issues, assess progress, plan transitions and to discuss support at home. School and Parent communication is available through the following:
Telephone
Email
Teacher/SENCO/Head teacher meetings
Parents’ evenings
IEP Progress Review meetings
Parent view questionnaires
School website and useful links
If you have any concerns about your child’s progress or that your child has an unmet special educational need, you should at first speak to your child’s class teacher. If you feel your concerns are not dealt with after this, please contact the school office to arrange a meeting with our SENCO.