Morpeth All Saints CE Aided First School Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Policy

Rationale 
Morpeth All Saints First School believes that the purpose of education for all children is the same; the goals are the same but the help that individual children need in progressing towards them will be different. All children are seen as special and as such all are valued equally.

Definition 
Children have special educational needs if they have a learning difficulty which calls for special educational provision to be made for them.

Children have a learning difficulty if they:

• a) have a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of children 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 children of the same age in schools within the area of the local education authority; or 
• c) have a social disability which hinders them from making progress in their learning,

• d)  are disabled under the Equality Act 2010 if they have a physical or mental impairment that has a ‘substantial’ and ‘long-term’ negative effect on their ability to do normal daily activities,

SEND Code of Practice 2014   0 - 25 years 
A child having Special Educational Needs may have learning, emotional, social, behavioural or physical needs which are significantly different from those of the majority at any given time.  Also refer to: The Equality Act 2010 and The Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014 

Policy Aims/Key Principles 
We aim to ensure that all children regardless of race, gender and educational ability have the same educational opportunities as their peers and the same right of access to a broad balanced curriculum. We aim to value each child and to take positive steps to build self-esteem.  Children’s work and efforts will always be recognised. We believe that all children should be given the opportunity to participate fully in the life of the school. We aim to provide all children with an environment which:

a) encourages respect both for themselves and for others
b) promotes a desire to learn
c) gives them a sense of pride in their achievements thus developing their full potential

We aim to involve parents in all aspects of school life so that we can work together as partners in their children's education.  When liaising with parents and children we aim to be both positive, sensitive and alert to the importance of building the child's self esteem.  We believe that all staff share the responsibility for the care of all children within our school including those who have special education needs and disabilities.  We aim to work closely with other professionals in providing for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities.

Guidelines for Practice Identification and Assessment 
In our school early identification of special educational needs and disabilities will be on going, using a variety of the following methods:

Teacher assessment - To assist in the early identification of children with special educational needs and disabilities the teacher may keep a note of observations, these initial assessments will be informal, taking place during normal classroom activities where the child will be observed in an everyday working situation 

• The 2014 Curriculum targets and assessments
• Screening and diagnostic tests
• Parents' concerns will also be taken into account
   

Concerns will be discussed with the SENDCO (the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Co-ordinator and interventions may be provided that are additional or different from the school’s usual differentiated curriculum offer. Provision Management is the strategic management approach we use which provides an ‘at a glance’ way of showing all the interventions that our school uses. Some children will have an Individual Learning Profiles as appropriate to their needs.

Curriculum Provision

Our curriculum will be sufficiently flexible to accommodate learners contributing at different levels within the same learning objectives. This will mean a commitment to differentiation where appropriate, by all teachers and will be an on going process to maximize their potential/achievement. The forms of differentiation that will be evident in planning and delivery will be:
 

• Resource
• Tasks/outcomes
• Support
• Response to work
• Occasionally it will be necessary for children to be withdrawn from the classroom for short spells, with support, for specific purpose. Our school will assess, monitor and review our children with Special Educational Needs by the procedures laid down by the Code of Practice. 

Review Procedures  In addition to procedures laid down by the Code of Practice, the Special Educational Needs coordinator will update, review and evaluate children on our Provision Management Plan at the beginning of each term. All the interventions used are monitored for their effectiveness following completion.  Social Integration All children are encouraged to take an active part in the day-to-day life of the school; this includes children with specific behavioural problems. We encourage and support all children who want to take part in school outings and visits. We expect that attitudes would be consistent with our policy for Behaviour Management. We are committed to the integration of pupils with Special Educational Needs during P.E. and sports activities. 

Complaints Procedure

• Any complaints about the provision of special educational needs will be recorded and reported to the Governing Body

Home School Partnership

In this school we conduct our home school partnership by means of:

• Home/School agreement
• Parent information sessions
• Newsletters and letters for general information and specific purposes
• Individual interviews
• Parents meetings
• Achievement assemblies
• Home/school reading diaries

 
Partnership for Parents of children with Special Educational Needs Parents should be aware of the school’s Special Educational Needs Policy.  Parents will be involved from the initial stages when concern is expressed within the school and will continue to be kept fully informed.

Parents will be involved in decision making
The children included in the Additional Needs Register will also be be consulted for their views.  This is completed formally if a child is referred for an Early Help Assessment (EHA) or an Education and Health Care Plan (EHCP).

Working with other agencies 

In our efforts to provide maximum help to children with special educational needs we need to draw in other agencies.

These are some of the agencies we may draw from: 

• Educational Psychologist
• Educational Welfare Officer
• Hearing Impairment Team
• Visual Imapirment Team
• Occupational Therapist
• Behaviour Support Team
• Speech Therapists
• Medical Professionals
• School Nurse LIST Team (Morpeth, Ashington and Central)                       
•                                            

Sometimes with the support provided, children do not make the progress expected.  At this point, we, with parental support can apply for an EHA (Early Health Assessment) in order to gain a multi- agency perspective on the situation.  Children with complex and severe needs may be eligible to apply for an EHCP (Education Health Care Plan).  This Plan provides specific support and is reviewed annually.

Working with other schools

We are mindful that our children transfer to Middle School after Year 4, and for those children on the SEND register extra specific transition visits are arranged in order to support their needs. Those children who arrive new in our school, are supported by friendship buddies, assessed using an internal baseline assessment and any data from previous schools used to inform any specific needs that they have. In our efforts to provide information to parents, Northumberland County Council have published their Local SEND off, which signposts parents and schools to local charities which support families and children with SEND needs 

Roles and Responsibilities 
The Governing Body
The named Governor for Special Educational Needs is Mrs. S. Alexander.

The Governing Body should, in co-operation with the Headteacher: Mr N. Reeson 

• Determine the school’s general policy and approach for provision for children with Special Educational Needs
• Make sure that a pupil with Special Educational Needs is made known to all who are likely to teach them
• Make sure that all teachers in the school are aware of the importance identifying and providing for pupils who have Special Educational Needs
• Ensure that the pupils join in all activities of the school together with pupils who do not have Special Educational Needs, so far as is reasonably practical, bearing in mind the education of the other children in the school and the efficient use of resources

The SENDCO (the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Co-ordinator)
The named SENDCO is Mrs. J. McLaughlin who will:

• Monitor agreed policy
• Develop and share own expertise
• Purchase appropriate resources
• Monitor assessment and provision
• Provide and arrange training for all staff as appropriate to need (see the School Development Plan).

The Class Teacher

• Deliver programme as agreed with SENDCO
• Develop and share own expertise
• Assess the on going provision
• Discuss with parents the progress of the children with SEND

Learning Support Assistants

• Deliver small group and interventions programmes as agreed with SENDCO
• Develop and share own expertise
• Assess on going provision
• Discuss with SENDCO who feeds back to class teachers the on going provision