Most children and young people in mainstream schools will have their special educational needs met through good classroom practice. This is called Quality First Teaching.

Early Identification of Need

In deciding whether to make special education provision to support educational, social, physical or emotional needs, we listen very carefully to the views of parents, staff and the child themselves. We are committed to working with parents and carers to identify their child’s needs and will be involved throughout the process. Parents or school staff may initially identify a concern, after observations or assessments. We would liaise with the parents at the earliest opportunity to discuss such concerns and agree ‘next steps’ – this may be documented on a Quality First Teaching short note to record the child’s strengths and what we can put in place to support them.

There is a range of ways this can be done, for example:

  • Termly meetings with parents/carers.
  • Ongoing discussions with a class teacher and/or SENDCO/SENDCO Assistant.
  • An ‘open door’ policy, where parents and carers are welcome to come into school to discuss any concerns they may have.
  • Through a review of a child’s SEN Support Plan or the Annual Review of their EHC Plan.

With the permission of parents we may seek additional advice from outside specialists such as health professionals, specialist teachers or educational psychologists who would:

  • Support a child directly.
  • Carry out further assessment of the child’s needs.
  • Provide advice to schools on how to best support the child.
  • Suggest resources that would help the child make progress.
  • Provide a report / recommendations to share with other professionals involved with the child.

It is important to understand that the involvement of professionals does not always seek to ‘label’ or ‘diagnose’ children but to seek advice or strategies to help them to reach their full potential.

SEN Support

Where a pupil is identified as having a special educational need we follow a graduated approach which takes the form of cycles of “Assess, Plan, Do, Review”.

This means that we will:

  • Assess a child’s special educational needs
  • Plan the provision to meet your child’s aspirations and agreed outcomes
  • Do put the provision in place to meet those outcomes
  • Review the support and progress

As part of this approach every child with SEN will have an individualised SEN Support Plan that describes the child’s needs, outcomes & provision to meet those needs.  Parents/carers and child/YP (where appropriate) views are integral to the this process.

For those who have a school ‘SEN Support Plan’ we hold termly meetings to review children’s progress towards their outcomes and to devise new outcomes for the following term. The ‘SEN Support Plan’ is a working document- staff may find that outcomes are met before the termly meeting. In this instance they may invite parents into school early to review and set new outcomes.

A small percentage of children and young people with significant and/or complex needs may require an assessment that could lead to an Education, Health and Care Plan.  This is for children and young people aged up to 25 who need more support than is available through special educational needs support. EHC plans contain detailed assessments from relevant professionals and identify educational, health and social needs and set out the additional support to meet those needs. Children at this level have their plans initiated and ceased by the Local Authority, but reviewed and monitored by the school and parents at least annually. This is a child centred ‘Annual Review’ for all pupils with an Educational Health and care Plan.

Parents / carers have the right to ask the local authority for a Education, Health and Care assessment.

We value the contribution that parents can make to their child’s education and both school and home must work together. Parents and carers are always welcome to call in and see how their child is doing and you are encouraged to contact the class teacher or SENDCO if you want an update on progress.

For more detailed information see the Local Offer

Details of Identification and Assessment of Pupils with SEN

At St. John’s we have various ways of identifying and assessing pupils with SEN. Each class have termly assessments which the SENDCO will check to ensure that ensure that progress is being made by children with SEN and to identify any new needs. If there are children not making the expected level of progress for them, the SENDCO along with the Head Teacher and Class Teacher will meet to discuss the reasons for this.

We can use:

  • Speech and Language Link to assess and identify speech and language needs.
  • Dyslexia Screener, Accelerated Reader, NFER Reading assessments and Single word spelling test to assess and identify literacy needs.
  • Visual stress assessment for eyesight linked to literacy difficulties.
  • BLAST – Boosting Language, Auditory Skills and Talking.
  • Maths assessments such as the Early Years Maths screening to assess and identify numeracy needs.
  • Trained members of staff who can assess and identify physical, motor skills and occupational therapy needs.

We record all assessment information using iTrack and all other relevant information on CPoms.

Parents are always welcome to come into school to see a member of staff to discuss any concerns they may have.

We have an SEND policy in place which is reviewed yearly along with our SEND audit.  We are passionate in ensuring that the right support is put in place for each child regardless of their level of need. We:

  • Ensure pupils follow a support plan at a level and pace that is appropriate to their ability.
  • We have a very experienced staff who work together on how to help each child and ensure that they access appropriate high quality teaching.
  • Arrange training for staff so they understand each child’s needs.
  • Work closely with parents on a regular basis to talk with them about their child’s needs and listen to any ideas or concerns they might have
  • Work with other professionals (if necessary) who may be able to help individual children, e.g. Speech and Language Therapist /Medical Professional/ Educational Psychologist
  • We understand that children’s Mental Health is extremely important and do everything we can to provide a holistic approach in addressing all needs.
  • Each term, along with support plan reviews, staff provide an evaluation of interventions and the impact they have had.
  • Risk Assessments are in place to protect those children who may require one for various reasons.

For further information please view or download our Accessibility Plan which can be found in the School Policies section of our website.