SEN
The SENCO at our school is Mrs Burrow.
At Menheniot Primary School we are totally committed to doing our best for all children in our school. We aim for all children to make progress and to develop academically, socially and emotionally within a caring and supportive environment. We value our relationship with parents and regard them as important partners in their child's education. We regard every child as an individual and it is our aim that each and every one reaches their full potential.
When children with SEN transfer to or from our school we will liaise with the other settings to ensure that transitions are as smooth as possible. When children within our school move to the next class, teachers share information and the SENCO ensures that the receiving teacher is fully aware of any SEN needs.
The following paragraphs will give you some further information about the approach to SEND within our school. If you have any questions or you wish to chat to our SENCO about any concerns that you have, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Our Approach to SEN
Definition of SEN
“A child or young person has SEND 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 educational facilities of a kind generally provided for others of the same age in mainstream schools”. (SEND Code of Practice 2014)
Graduated Response
At Menheniot Primary we apply the Graduated Response. As part of a Universal Offer we strive to meet the needs of all the children within our classroom through quality first teaching. Teachers ensure that their classroom is an inclusive environment, providing a range of learning styles and strategies along with appropriate differentiation. Differentiation may mean adapting a task, providing additional resources or extra support.
If a child appears to be making insufficient progress overall or in a particular area, he or she will become part of an intervention group or will be given some additional support from a trained adult. This is known as Targeted Support. Intervention groups often effectively address needs but if despite additional support, there is still insufficient progress then the teacher and/or SENCO will meet with parents to consider the way forward. At this stage, a child may be formally identified as having an ongoing Special Educational Need and as such, their name is recorded on the SEN Register, Sometimes the support needed may be met by the existing staff and resources but sometimes, there is a need for outside agencies to become involved. Examples of outside agencies are Speech and Language, Educational Psychology and Behaviour Support.
Specialist support is usually sought when the school has assessed, implemented a course of action and reviewed the results over at least two terms. Schools are often asked to give evidence of the Assess, Plan, Do, Review cycle when seeking the support of agencies.
The Assess, Plan, Do, Review process
- Assess: Pupil’s needs are assessed and identified.
- Plan: An Educational Plan is produced which specifies targets. Parents and teachers meet to agree these targets and to review progress towards meeting them.
- Do: Support is put into place and the plan followed. The support may include specific interventions (eg 1 to 1 or small group work), strategies and/or support resources.
- Review: The support is reviewed with the involvement of both parents and the pupil. Changes to the actions and support are made as needed.
If, after advice from outside agencies, the school and parent/carer considers that further help is required a request for an Education Health Care Plan (EHCP) can be made to the Local Authority.
The documents at the bottom of this page give further information about Special Educational Needs at Menheniot Primary School.
AUTISM FRIENDLY SCHOOLS
Our Autism Champion is Mr J Haslam
Autism is a lifelong developmental disability which affects how people communicate and interact with the world. One in 100 people are on the autism spectrum and there are around 700,000 autistic adults and children in the UK (National Autistic Society)
As a school, we have been working on the Autism Friendly Schools initiative.
This is an audit tool and consultation package that enables SENCOs and Senior Leaders to ‘know what good looks like’, celebrate successes in this area and identify necessary developments within the time-frame of the package and longer term. Matt Wilmott, an Autism Advisor, has worked closely with us during the last academic year to improve the experience, attendance and attainment of pupils with an Autism Spectrum Condition or social communication difficulties.
The Audit tool was developed by the Autism Spectrum Team using national and local benchmarking of good practice. It covered eight areas in detail – these are: 1. Statutory Requirements, Policies and Continuous Professional Development 2. Advocacy 3. Meeting Individual Needs 4. Relationships 5. Transitions 6. Curriculum 7. Sensory Needs 8. Environments
AUTISM FRIENDLY SCHOOLS
OUR TOP TEN
- There will be a daily visual timetable in each classroom. This will be consistent across every class.
- Safer handling and positive handling techniques and communication will be used.
- There will be a quiet working area in or near each classroom which children can access when needed.
- All staff will avoid using ambiguous language (eg sarcasm) as part of their everyday dialogue with children.
- Each lesson will be broken down and shown on a whiteboard (step by step) with pictures where possible.
- Pupils with SEN will be involved in IEP reviews. Their views will be incorporated into the IEP paperwork.
- There will be a display in school which celebrates Neurodiversity and depicts ASC and other conditions in a positive way.
- A class timetable will be displayed on the class pages on the website.
- Movement breaks will be taken during the school day (to include Brainbreaks, Go Noodle, Supermovers).
- Visuals will be used as much as possible in every lesson.