At St Augustine’s we aim, in partnership with parents/carers, to meet the individual needs of every child attending our school, including those with additional needs.
Special Educational Needs (SEN): What Does It Mean?
The term special educational needs has a legal definition: children with special educational needs have learning difficulties and/or disabilities which make it harder for them to learn than most children of the same chronological age. Children with special educational needs may need extra help or different support from that given to other children of the same chronological age. It is widely acknowledged that many children may have special educational needs at some time in their educational career. At St Augustine’s we seek to help all our pupils to overcome the barriers to learning that their additional needs may present.
What can you do if are you are worried that your child may have additional needs?
Please talk to us. If you think your child may have additional needs that have not been identified or you are concerned about your child’s development and progress, it is best to begin by talking to your child’s class teacher. You can also make an appointment to see the school’s Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Coordinator (SENDCo) or the Headteacher. Remember – you know your child better than anyone! We want to work with you in order to resolve any worries or concerns that you may have. The closer the partnership between home and school, the more successful any interventions/support for your child will be.
Who’s Who?
All primary schools are required to have a person who is responsible for coordinating the day-to-day provision for pupils with special educational needs. This person is known as the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Coordinator or, for short, the SENDCo. At St Augustine’s, this person is Mrs. Sarah Bennett. She is also a full-time class teacher. If you would like to contact Mrs. Bennett, please telephone the school office.
At least one member of the school’s governing body is appointed to have particular oversight of special educational needs provision within school. At St Augustine’s this person is Mr John Brennan. He liaises closely with the school’s SENDCo.
We have a Special Educational Needs Policy that gives more detail about how we aim to provide for our pupils with special educational needs.
Our SEND learners make very good progress from their starting points and class teachers take part in a range of professional development opportunities enabling them to provide outstanding Quality First Teaching. Quality First Teaching will enable the majority of pupils to make sustained progress.
We follow the Lancashire Toolkit for SEND and provide our children with a Graduated Approach to meeting need, Children will be given the amount of support required for them to make progress. For those children with complex needs, the school will support an application for an Education and Health Care Plan. EHCPs, as the name implies, ensures a much greater cohesion between educational, health services and social care organisations. This plan can potentially remain in place until the young person is 25 years of age, supporting the child through further education and additional alternative learning options.
All class teachers are supported through ongoing Professional Development to meet the majority of needs through Quality First Teaching. Quality First Teaching may involve making small changes to the provision available to children at school. For example, providing a dyslexic child with a multi-sensory spelling scheme (which may be provided to the whole class), or by providing physical resources to help visual/hands-on learners in mathematics.
Quality First Teaching includes the ability for teaching staff to identify children who may be struggling with acquiring certain skills. When this is the case, the class teacher puts an intervention in place that is designed to address these difficulties. Our interventions are generally bespoke, linking to current classwork and, while overseen by teachers or the school SENCO, they may be delivered by teachers or experienced teaching assistants.
If interventions do not accelerate progress, it may be necessary for the child to have some form of specific, '1 to 1' work. The school may also involve other professionals such as Speech and Language Therapists and Educational Psychologists in order to support and suggest programmes of support for some children or to discuss possible next steps.
If you are worried about your child's progress, please do contact their class teacher in school.
Explanation of Additional SEND Terminology
If you have any other terminology you would like adding onto this list, please fill out the contact form below and I will include your recommendations.
