The SEN stages of SEND in our school are:

• SEN support
• Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP)

Why would your child be placed on the SEND register?

• If a parent has a concern about their child and feels that it is affecting their child’s learning.
• If on-going staff observations highlight a learning/communication difficulty
• If adequate progress is not shown through teacher assessment

We would look at the strategies that have already been put in place with quality first teaching, support and catch-up interventions. If your child is still not making adequate progress, a meeting will be put in place to discuss concerns/observations and agreed outcomes. If it is decided that the child needs additional support and monitoring on the SEN register, all adults working with the child will be informed. If a child is making adequate progress following a period on SEN support, a meeting may be called to decide if the child needs to remain on the SEN register or come off.

Every child on the SEN register should have a termly support plan (TSP) in place. At these meetings outcomes / targets will be agreed and strategies for the outcomes will be put into a Termly Support Plan. The plan will be typed up and shared with parents via our Edukey system, where they will be able to read and comment on the plan. The targets will be shared with the child and where appropriate put onto a child friendly target card which will be used as a working document for the child.

SEN Support

A child is on SEN support if they:

• Make little or no progress.
• Demonstrate difficulty in developing literacy or numeracy skills
• Have been assessed or screened for Dyslexia and have a moderate to severe profile.
• Show persistent emotional/social difficulties which are not affected by in class strategies.
• Have sensory/physical problems, and make little progress despite the provision of specialist equipment.
• Experience communication and/or interaction problems and make little or no progress in this area.
• In collaboration with the class teacher, the SEND Team decides the action required to help the child make progress using school resources. Based on the results of previous assessments, the actions might be:
• Provision of alternative learning materials/special equipment
• Small group (or individual) support or intervention, with an additional adult, in or out of the classroom
• Provision of additional adult time in planning programmes of work, and monitoring their effectiveness
• Staff development/training

This will be detailed in the Termly Support Plan.

The Termly Support Plan will form part of the graduated response. If the child makes little or no progress or continues to experience difficulties in any area of learning or development, we may request further advice and support from outside agencies. This may be the Educational Psychology Service, Speech & Language Therapy Service, Sensory & Physical Teaching Service or other health and social services as necessary.

Parents will be consulted and asked to sign a request for involvement before any referral is made to outside agencies.

External support agencies will require access to a child’s records. The agency specialist may be asked to provide further assessments and advice, and possibly work directly with the child. Parents will be informed if outside agencies want to observe their child in school or do any further assessment. All reports will be shared with parents.

Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP)

If children fail to make progress, in spite of high quality, targeted support at SEN Support, we may apply for the child to be assessed for an EHCP. Parents are fully consulted at each stage. Parents and external agencies may also request an EHCP, in which case the school will provide appropriate information to the Local Authority (LA).

Generally, we apply for an EHCP if the child has a complex disability and/or the child’s achievements are so far below their peers that it is not possible to meet the child’s needs from within school’s resources.

Having a diagnosis (e.g. of ASD, ADHD or dyslexia) does not necessarily mean that a child needs an EHCP.

Each Local Authority provides assessment guidelines on thresholds for EHCP’s. For more guidance, please see the Local Offer.

If the application for an EHCP is successful, a member of the Local Authority will call a meeting for parents, the child and the school together with any health or social care professionals who are involved with the family. The meeting will record the child’s strengths, their dreams and aspirations as well as the barriers they face. Following the meeting, the Local Authority will produce the EHCP which will record the decisions made at the meeting.

Personal Budget

Below is a useful link to a website for you to look at about how you can receive personal budgets.