Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Policy

Purpose & Scope

SENse support are a special educational needs specialist service and recognise that all children in our setting have the right to access the activities we provide and have reasonable adjustments wherever possible to ensure inclusivity for children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities. We recognise that the vast majority of children and young people accessing our service will either have a diagnosed and known special educational need, or require assessment for special educational needs.

What are Special Educational Needs and Disabilities?
"Children are classed as having SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) if they have:

• a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others of the same age, or

• 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 or mainstream post-16 institutions."

Introduction xiv SEND Code of Practice: 0 to 25 years, 2014

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In 2014, the Special Educational Needs and Disability Code of Practice came into effect. This highlights that all children and young people are entitled to an education that enables them to make progress. The named SENCO for our provision (Special Educational Needs Coordinator) is Claire Daniels.

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We have access to and, where necessary, will refer to the SEND Code of Practice for for further information.

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How does SENse Support identify children who might have Special Educational Needs and Disabilities?

As an alternative provision provider, we are aware that all of our children may have Special Educational Needs or Disabilities and may need additional support to access the curriculum, to learn and make progress. We are a SEN resource rich provision, who can access, monitor and target all our students development.

 

Our multidisciplinary team of SEN professionals includes SEN teachers; SENCOs; Educational Psychologists; Speech and Language Therapists; Occupational Therapists; and CAMHs clinicians.

 

If we feel that a child in our care is not meeting the expected developmental milestones for their age or has difficulties in accessing the curriculum at the expected level, we will monitor and share our concerns with the child's parents/carers and/or commissioner as soon as possible.

 

Any such discussions will be kept confidential at all times on the child will only be discussed with other agencies with their parent/carer’s permission.

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What if a child is not meeting expectations because they have English as an additional language?

“Practitioners should look carefully at all aspects of a child's learning and development to establish whether any delay is related to learning English as an additional language or if it arises from SEN or disability.

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Disabilities relating solely to learning English as an additional language are not SEN.”

Section 5.30 SEND Code of Practice: 0 to 25 years, 2014

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Children with EAL (English as an Additional Language) will be supported in SENse Support, with appropriate resources and learning opportunities to meet their needs. We will assess the child's understanding of English and speaking skills, then build on what they already know.

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How are children with identified Special Educational Needs and Disabilities supported at SENse support?

All children referred to SENse Support will undergo detailed and bespoke assessment in accordance with the Assess, Plan, Do, Review approach. A targeted plan of intervention will then be agreed and created by the team working with the student.

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All intervention will be carefully delivered by specialist teachers and teaching assistants, and reviewed every six weeks by the Key Worker SENCO working with the student and their family.

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Our focus is working with students to aid their recovery and reintegration into their local community and education, so each and every support plan will be entirely spoke and unique to the student, and reviewed and monitored on a six week basis by the multi-disciplinary team assigned to the student and their family.

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How does SENse Support work with parents/carers when a child has Special Educational Needs?

We work in close partnership with parents/carers, asking for their contributions when creating plans for how to support a child with special educational needs and disabilities. If your child is able to have an input, they will also be consulted. In addition, we will contact other relevant agencies for advice, where appropriate. This may include health visitors, other childcare settings, local authority agencies, etc.

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When a plan has been created, parents/carers will be encouraged to use similar techniques at home as those used in the setting; this will help to provide continuity for the child and to allow them to achieve their best outcomes.

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Will children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities have access to specialist support agencies and resources?

SENse Support Is a specialist support organisation and SEN resource rich provision. Where necessary, we will discuss with parents/carers about the possibility of external agency involvement. We may encourage that further advice, guidance and assessment be sought if this would benefit the child and/or adults who care for them.

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This might be done via the child's GP, a health visitor all the local authority’s SEND team. SENse Support Will lead on the coordination of such assessments to ensure a cohesive approach is achieved. In some cases, specialist equipment, facilities and/or training might be necessary in order to provide appropriate care for a child with SEND.

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We will seek additional funding, where available, to provide such resources if necessary. However, this may not always be possible due to restrictions such as lack of funding, available space in the setting, time, etc.

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Will plans for children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities be reviewed?

All plans put in place for a child with SEND will have a suggested review date, usually on half termly basis. During a review, previous targets and support provided will be analysed and either continued, adjusted or replaced, as required.

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Reviews will be done in consultation with parents/karis, as well as external agencies (where involved and available). All plans will include SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely) targets.

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What if SENse Support is unable to provide everything that a child with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities needs?

SENse Support Will work with the named school setting to develop a bespoke re-integration/transition/return to education plan.

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This plan will be based on the needs of the student and delivered at a pace deemed right for the student. SENse Support will it ensure that students key worker provides support throughout the period of transition and, where necessary, this will include attending the school/setting with the student to support their placement. In such cases, this will be for a pre-determined period of time (often a few weeks), with a gradual withdrawal of support included in the transition plan. Key workers can and will provide transition support for as long as deemed necessary to ensure any transition/re-integration to education is successful.