Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) information.

The staff of the Hundon and Thurlow Primary Federation believe that all members of the school should be treated with respect; have individual, diverse needs recognised, and be given the opportunity to reach their full potential, regardless of gender, ethnicity, disability, religious beliefs/faith tradition, sexual orientation, age or any other of the protected characteristics (Single Equalities Act 2010). The Equality Act 2010 states that a person has a disability "if they have a physical or mental impairment and the impairment has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities."

If you would like to discuss SEND in relation to your child, please contact your child's class teacher initially and Mrs Budinger, the Federation’s Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Co-ordinator, (SENDCo). Mrs Budinger can be contacted at either school via telephone (Hundon 01440 786217 or Thurlow 01440 783281) or alternatively please email either school office, (admin@hundonschool.co.uk or admin@thurlowschool.co.uk,) and they will get your message to Mrs Budinger so she can contact you directly. 

 

• To achieve our aims we will:
• Ensure high quality teaching is available for all pupils, which is differentiated and personalised, with high expectations of progress and achievement.
• Identify need as early as possible and provide effective support
• Adopt a whole school approach to the identification, assessment and provision for children with special educational needs
• Use the graduated response to SENC (Assess, Plan, Do, Review)
• View our special needs provision as an ongoing, developing process
• Make reasonable adjustments to the usual school practice to enable children with disabilities to access all aspects of school life, including for breaks, clubs and trips (E.g. Quiet area for break)
• Provide appropriate in-class support which enables all children to have access to the whole curriculum, including the National Curriculum and Early Years Foundation Stage
• Plan for support to have a clear set of challenging outcomes
• Interventions will be evidence based.
• Develop an effective partnership between school, parents and outside agencies
• Encourage parents/carers to use their statutory right to participate in decision-making about provision to meet the special educational needs of their child and where possible to also involve the child in the process. (Person-centred approaches)
• Ensure that assessment and record-keeping systems provide adequate means of recording progress and attainment and gives sufficient information for carefully planned intervention so children make significant progress. (as well as providing evidence for the effectiveness of the intervention)
• Involve the Governing Body and all staff, both teaching and non-teaching, in the regular review, development and evaluation of policy and guidelines
• Involve parents and children in the regular review, development and evaluation of policy and guidelines
• Ensure all those involved with children with special educational needs work as a team to support the child’s learning

 

Special Educational Needs and Disabilities – defined:

The 2015 Code of Practice says that:

• A person has SEND if they have a learning difficulty or disability which calls for special educational provision to be made for him or her. At compulsory school age this means he or she has a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others 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 mainstream schools. (Taken from 2015 SEN Code of Practice: 0 to 25 Years – Introduction xiii and xiv

It can also include progress in other areas- for instance social needs to make a successful transition to adult life.

Please see our full policy HERE for further details.

The link for the full code of practice, which our policy is based on is HERE

We have also provided an Information Report so you can see an overview of provision at the school.

Our Accessibility Policy and Planning document which covers the required areas can be can be accessed here

What does SEND mean?

Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) a young person has a learning difficulty or disability if he or she:

(a)    Has a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others of the same age, or
(b)   Has a disability which prevents or hinders him or her from making use of facilities generally provided for others of the same age in a mainstream school.

There are four categories of SEND. A child's needs may fall into any one of the categories or they may have difficulties across a number of the categories.

The four categories, as outlined in the SEND Code of Practice are:

 

 

SEND at the Hundon and Thurlow Primary Federation – how we support a child with SEND

 

Identification and Initial Action 

If the school or parents/carers have any concerns about a child's progress or behaviour, a meeting will be scheduled to discuss this in more detail and to:

•  listen to any concerns parents/carers or the school may have
•  plan any additional support the child may receive
•  discuss with any referrals to outside professionals to support your child’s learning

It may be appropriate at this stage to provide a child with a Pupil Support Passport. This is a target-setting device, which allows parent/carer and the class teacher to set appropriate targets to assist the child in making progress towards academic or social goals. The Passport will be reviewed termly by the parent/carer and the child's class teacher, and is also shared with the child.

SEND Provision by the school/outside agencies/alternative or specialist providers

SEND Provision at the Hundon and Thurlow Primary Federation is multi-layered and children may have access to any or all of the following stages of support:

Class teacher will provide Quality First Teaching:

• That the teacher has the highest possible expectations for all pupils in their class.
• That all teaching is based on building on what a child already knows, can do and can understand.
• Different ways of teaching are in place so that a child is fully involved in learning in class. This may involve things like using more practical learning and technology where appropriate.
• Specific strategies (which may be suggested by the SENCO or outside staff) are in place to support a child to learn.
• Monitor progress and provision to identify if there are gaps in their understanding/learning and needs some extra support to help the child make the best possible progress.

All children in school should be getting this as a part of excellent classroom practice when needed.

Specific group work with a smaller group of children. 

Within the classroom environment, teachers may plan specific activities for your child to work on, either one-to-one or in a group with a classroom Learning Support Assistant (LSA). These will be monitored and reviewed by the both the teacher and LSA, and will be adapted according to the needs of the child.

Specialist groups run by outside agencies for example Speech and Language therapy (SaLT) or Occupational Therapy (OT)

Sometimes, children have a need which has been identified by the class teacher/SENDCo as requiring some extra specialist support in school from a professional outside the school. This may be from:

• Local Authority central services such as Specialist Education Services (SES)
• Outside agencies such as the Speech and Language therapy (SALT)

 For a child this would mean:

• You may be asked to come to a meeting to discuss your child’s progress and help plan possible ways forward.
• You may be asked to give your permission for the school to refer your child to a specialist professional e.g a Speech and Language Therapist. This will help the school and yourself understand your child’s particular needs better and be able to support them better in school.
• The specialist professional will work with your  child to understand their needs and make recommendations, which may include:
• Making changes to the way your child is supported in class e.g some individual support or changing some aspects of teaching to support them better
• Support to set better targets which will include their specific expertise
• A group run by school staff under the guidance of the outside professional e.g a social skills group
• Group or individual work with an outside professional 

This type of support is available for children with specific barriers to learning that cannot be overcome through Quality First Teaching and intervention groups.

Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP).

An Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP).These are in place for a child whom has been identified by the class teacher/SENDCo as needing a particularly high level of individual or small group teaching.

 For your child this would mean:

• The school (or parent/carer) can request that the Local Authority carry out a statutory assessment of a child’s needs. This is a legal process which sets out the amount of support that will be provided for your child.
• After the school have sent in the request to the Local Authority (using information and evidence about the child, including information from the parent/carer and child), will decide whether they think the child’s needs (as described in the paperwork provided), seem complex enough to need a statutory assessment. If this is the case they will ask parents/carers and all professionals involved with your child to write a report outlining your child’s needs. If they do not think your child needs this, they will ask the school to continue with QFT.
• After the reports have all been sent in the Local Authority will decide if a child’s needs are severe or complex and that they need specific support in school to make good progress. If this is the case they will write an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP). If this is not the case, they will ask the school to continue with the support and also set up a meeting in school to ensure a plan is in place to ensure the child makes as much progress as possible.
• The EHCP will outline individual/small group support your child will receive from the LA and how the support should be used and what strategies must be put in place. It will also have long and short term goals for your child.
• Throughout the process, the child's class teacher and/or the SENCo will keep parents and carers up to date with information and how the child is progressing.
• If you would like to know more about requesting a statutory assessment in Suffolk, more information can be found by clicking here.

Sometimes, a child's class-teacher, the SENDCo and parents/carers may conclude that a child's needs would benefit from a fixed-term specialised teaching provision from outside the school. In Suffolk, we have the opportunity to refer children to one of several special schools in the county.

A child will sometimes be offered outreach support from these schools, or it may be decided that a fixed-term dual attendance would be more beneficial. In this instance, a child would attend the other school for part of the week.  At all times, you and the class teacher will be kept up to date with their progress.

Monitoring, Assessing and Reporting

A child’s progress is continually monitored by his/her class teacher. Progress is reviewed throughout the year and relating to the National Curriculum expectations given in reading, writing and numeracy.

At the end of each key stage (i.e. at the end of Year 2 and Year 6) all children are required to be formally assessed using Standard Assessment Tests (SATS). This is something the government requires all schools to do and are the results that are published nationally.

Children who are identified as having a Special Educational Need or Disability will have a Pupil Support Passport which will be reviewed with parent/carer involvement, every term and the plan for the next term made.

The progress of children with an EHCP is formally reviewed at an Annual Review with all adults involved with the child’s education.

The SENDCo and Class Teacher will also check that a child is making progress within any individual work and in any group that they take part in.

Interventions that children are taking place are constantly monitored and their effectiveness evaluated. Interventions will be tailored to the child's needs based on these evaluations.

 

Useful Information:

Suffolk SENDIASS Home - Suffolk SENDIASS  (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Information Advice and Support Service) is a confidential and impartial information, advice and support service on issues related to Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND). It is free, easy to access and confidential. The service can help children, parents and young people take part in decisions that affect their lives.