Falla Park Community Primary School prides itself in being very inclusive and will endeavour to support every child regardless of their level of need. All pupils follow the National Curriculum at a level and a pace that is appropriate to their abilities. At times and when it is felt appropriate, modifications to the curriculum may be implemented and for most children and young people in a mainstream school their needs can be met through Quality First Teaching and good classroom practice.
How would my child be assessed and would we be informed?
Early Identification of need
Most children and young people will have their special educational needs met in mainstream schools through good classroom practice. This is called Quality First Teaching.
As a school, we assess all children continuously. We carry out formal assessments at the end of every term to measure their progress and identify the next steps in their learning. We work in partnership with parents/carers and pupils to build working relationships. If there is an identification of need then a class teacher will meet with parents/carers to discuss areas of strength and difficulty and agree outcomes and next steps. We may begin to consider the involvement of relevant, external agencies or use assessment tools, classroom observations and materials to support the early identification of SEN status for a pupil.
Where a pupil is identified as having a special educational need school will follow a graduated approach which takes the form of cycles of “Assess, Plan, Do, Review”.
- 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, we will produce an Individualised Education Plan (IEP) that describes the provision that we will make to meet a child’s special educational needs and agreed outcomes. Parents and carers will be fully involved in this process. A small percentage of children and young people with significant learning difficulties might need further assessment that could lead to an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP).
The purpose of an EHC Plan is to make special educational provision to meet the special educational needs of the child or young person, to secure the best possible outcomes for them across education, health and social care and, as they get older, prepare them for adult hood. (Ref CoP p142)
Details of identification and assessment of pupils with SEN
Depending upon their needs, other assessments may be needed. These could include:
- Speech Therapy Assessments – which may focus on sound production, language understanding, or other relevant assessments to your child’s needs.
- Education Psychology Assessments – which may include memory, understanding, reasoning, logic, and general skills assessments.
- The outcomes of all assessments are shared with parents. If other agencies are invited to work with your child, you will be invited to attend a meeting where the outcomes of these assessments and their next steps will be shared with you.
- Your child’s school achievements may be assessed against the levels expected for children who are working on the National Curriculum (i.e. the same as the majority of other children in their year group), or they may be assessed against other measures for children who are not ready to work on National Curriculum Levels (i.e. the steps before the National Curriculum).
How are resources made available to support children with SEN?
The resources we use to support children with SEN depend upon their needs and they are allocated on an individual basis. Once your child has been identified as SEN, their needs will be assessed and targets and outcomes will be identified. It is the responsibility of the SENCO to ensure that the resources that are required are made available and that staff are aware of their individual needs. We are very flexible in our approach and we constantly monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of our interventions and the provision that we provide.
