SEND
Our Vision for SEND at Oatlands Junior School
At Oatlands Junior School, we aim to offer excellence and choice to all of our children, whatever their ability or needs. We strive to ensure all children experience a fulfilment in learning every single day, delivered through our broad curriculum. At OJS, we have high expectations of all our children. We aim to achieve this through the removal of barriers to learning and participation. We want all our children to feel that they are a valued part of our school community. We understand and acknowledge that some of our learners require additional support and/ or provision for them be able to embrace learning and to experience success and enjoyment within school. Through appropriate curricular provision, we respect the fact that children:
- Have different educational and behavioural needs and aspirations;
- Require different strategies for learning;
- Acquire, assimilate and communicate information at different rates;
- Need a range of different teaching approaches and experiences.
Where we (school staff, parents or pupils) recognise that extra support is needed, we work together to assess a child’s additional needs and to put in place timely and appropriate support to address the Special Educational Need (SEN). The school SENDCo co-ordinates and monitors this additional and differentiated support, liaising closely with parents and carers, school staff, pupils and external agencies to ensure that all children’s needs are being met and all children enjoy and embrace learning at Oatlands Junior School.
WHAT IS A SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEED OR DISABILITY?
A child or young person has SEN if they have a learning difficulty or disability which calls for special educational provision to be made for him or her.
A child of compulsory school age or a young person has a learning difficulty or disability if he or she:
- has a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others of 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
The SEND Code of Practice: 0 to 25 years; Department for Education; January 2015 SEND needs fall into four broad categories:
Communication and Interaction
Children and young people with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN) have difficulty in communicating with others. This may be because they have difficulty saying what they want to, understanding what is being said to them or they do not understand or use social rules of communication.
Cognition and Learning
Some children and young people learn at a slower pace than their peers, even with appropriate differentiation. Cognition & Learning difficulties cover a wide range of needs, including difficulty in accessing and understanding parts of the curriculum; difficulty with organisation and memory skills; or having a difficulty which affects one particular part of their learning, such as displaying dyslexic, dyscalculic or dyspraxic traits.
Social, Emotional and Mental Health Difficulties
Children and young people may experience a wide range of social and emotional difficulties which manifest themselves in many ways. These may include becoming withdrawn or isolated, as well as displaying challenging, disruptive or disturbing behaviour.
Sensory and/or Physical Needs
Some children and young people have a disability which prevents or hinders them from making use of the educational facilities generally provided, for example visual and / or hearing impairments, or a physical disability which requires additional ongoing support and equipment to access all the opportunities available to their peers.
The profile for every child with a Special Educational Need is different and their needs may change over time. They may have difficulty with one, some or all of the different categories of SEND at different times of their lives.
WHAT SHOULD I DO IF I THINK MY CHILD HAS A SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEED OR A DISABILITY (SEND)?
School staff at Oatlands Junior School are trained to meet the needs of all the children. If they feel that your child needs extra support, they will contact you to talk this through. Staff recognise that you know your child best and will want to talk through their concerns and observations and how best to support your child. We also recognise and understand that you see your child in a wide range of environments and may have concerns of your own. If you have any concerns your child's teacher is usually the best person to raise these with.
It is important to remember that many children just need a few simple changes to make a big difference.
If you have any concerns about your child and the progress they are making at school:
- make an appointment to speak to your child's class teacher to discuss your concerns
- following these discussions, if it is felt that your child would benefit from additional and different support or provision, the teacher may discuss it with the SENDCo before deciding on the best course of action for your child
- the teacher will meet with you again and discuss a plan for your child and explain how the school will provide additional and different support or provision to help meet your child’s needs
- school will closely monitor the impact of the plan, review and adjust it at least every term (or earlier if necessary), taking information for this from your child, the class teacher and support staff, assessments and yourself where appropriate
- school will keep you informed about the additional support your child is receiving, and the impact this is having, by sending you the reviewed and adjusted plans
WHAT CAN I EXPECT FROM OATLANDS JUNIOR SCHOOL IF MY CHILD HAS SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS AND / OR A DISABILITY?
Following an initial meeting with the class teacher, and where it has been established that your child requires additional support or provision, you can expect Oatlands Junior School to put this in place to ensure that your child has the best chance of success.
At Oatlands Junior School, we will:
- Discuss your child's needs with you. This will usually involve a discussion with the class teacher, although it may also be appropriate for the SENDCo, Teaching Assistants or other Staff to be present at these discussions.
- Identify your child’s need and put in place extra support and / or provision. This may be in the form of:
· small group work around a specific learning need so your child can make rapid progress
· specialist programme of support or intervention around a learning or an emotional need
· a parallel curriculum developed with specialist support
· support from outside of school, e.g. Speech and Language Therapy (SALT), HKRC SEND HUB, Early Help Team, Educational Psychologist (EP), The Healthy Child Team,
· a 'Connect with Me' support plan with that identifies:
- the specific need(s) / barrier to learning faced by your child,
- assessments and evaluated impact of support and interventions,
- child and parent voice,
- information provided by external agencies,
- termly targets,
- a plan for additional and different support or provision,
Staff at Oatlands Junior School will keep you informed about the progress your child is making. This could be through:
- parent consultation meetings
- specially additional arranged meetings with the class teacher
- copies of the 'Connect with Me' support plan
- Annual Review meetings for children with an EHCP
- Early Help Plan meetings
- annual reports
At Oatlands Junior School, we ensure that our staff are trained in general SEND issues. For example:
- how to identify children with SEND
- understanding our legal duties
- sharing good practice
- keeping up with relevant educational research
- having an overview of typical SEND needs and the strategies to support the needs
- liaise with external agencies to provide specific support / advice / training when necessary
Staff will monitor the impact of additional support for children with SEND. We keep a register of children who are receiving additional and different support and / or provision. This is known as the SEND Register. This register is continually reviewed. When the targets have been achieved and additional support is no longer required, a child may be removed from the register.
Some children will be on the SEND Register only for short periods of time. Children with more complex needs, may be on the register and receiving additional and different support for much of their time at Oatlands Junior School.
We constantly monitor and review the type of additional and different support / provision provided in our school to ensure that it is having the required and expected impact. Staff in school are adept in identifying when support / provision is ineffective and will adapt and change this as necessary.
On occasion, it is necessary for the school to access further advice, information and recommendations from external agencies.
HOW DO I GET A DIAGNOSIS FOR MY CHILD?
We understand and recognise that it can feel very stressful and upsetting when you feel that your child has a complex need which will require them to have additional and different support for a longer period of time, within an educational setting. While the process of diagnosing some medical or physical issues are clear and easy, for example, asthma or diabetes; the process for diagnosing more complex or neurodevelopmental disorders can take much longer.
No-one at Oatlands Junior School is trained, qualified or able to make a diagnosis. What we can do is identify symptoms or barriers your child is experiencing within our school setting. We can put strategies in place to support your child, and help to minimise the impact the symptom or barrier is having on your child’s ability to be a happy and successful learner. We can provide information for you to pass on to medical practitioners to support a diagnosis for your child.
At Oatlands Junior School, support will be put in place regardless of whether your child has a diagnosis. Often a diagnosis does not change the support a child gets in school.
To pursue a medical diagnosis for your child, you will firstly need to discuss your concerns with your GP. Often, this discussion will lead to a consultation with another member of the medical body, usually a paediatric consultant. School is often consulted and asked for further information to support a diagnosis for complex needs such as ADHD, ASD, Childhood Mental Health Needs etc. With this is mind, it is useful for you to inform the school, via the class teacher or SENDCo, when you are pursuing or investigating a diagnosis so that we are able to gather information for this in a timely manner. Unfortunately, demand for initial assessment, diagnosis and external support for complex needs is very high and waiting times for these can often be very long.
WHAT IS AN EHCP AND HOW CAN MY CHILD GET ONE?
EHCP stands for Education, Health and Care Plan. This is a legal document which outlines a child’s Educational, Health and / or Care needs; the provision required to meet these needs and who is responsible for providing this.
Usually, a child with an identified and assessed SEND can have their needs met through additional and different support and / or provision within their classroom. Class Teachers differentiate their provision and curriculum to help all children, including those with SEND, access learning within the classroom. Where a teacher is supporting a child to work towards closely monitored individual targets set out in a 'Connect with Me' support plan, this child is placed on to the SEND Register. This is known as SEN Support.
On occasion, it can become apparent that a child or young person requires even more support than the school can currently provide. Once a SEND has been identified and a 'Connect with Me' support plan has been in place, this is reviewed, adjusted and new targets are worked towards. This cycle is referred to as – ASSESS, PLAN, DO, REVIEW. If it becomes apparent that, even with additional and different support, a child is not making expected progress then the school can ask the Local Authority to carry out an EHC needs assessment.
An EHCP is provided by the Local Authority for children with very complex and high level additional needs, where it has been proven that they are unable to make progress without significant changes to their educational provision.
If you feel that your child has significant difficulties and will require an EHCP, please discuss this with your class teacher who can arrange a meeting with the SENDCo. North Yorkshire County Council have recently introduced banding for EHCP’s which outline the needs and provision required for children who are assessed as requiring an EHCP. It is often useful to discuss these with the SENDCo prior to making this decision.