SEND
St Agnes’ is a mainstream inclusive school, which ensures that all pupils achieve their potential; personally, socially, emotionally and academically in all areas of the curriculum, regardless of their gender, ethnicity, social background, religion, sexual identity, physical ability or educational need.
We offer a range of provision to support children with communication and interaction, cognition and learning difficulties, social, emotional and mental health or sensory or physical needs.
We have a SEN team comprising of:
- Mrs Breslin (SENCo)
- Mrs Hartshorn (Speech & Language SEN Teacher)
What is SEND?
SEN as defined in the 2014 Code of Practice:
“A child or young person has SEN if they have a learning difficulty or disability which calls for special education 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:
a) has a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others the same age,
or
b) 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 or mainstream post-16 institutions.
How do we identify SEND?
Some children arrive at St. Agnes’ with identified SEND, in which case the SEND Team
(Special Educational Needs & Disability) will liaise with the previous school, nursery or
special unit to ensure there is a smooth transition and continuity of provision.
Where pupil’s progress is significantly slower than that of their peers, or fails to match their previous rate of progress, despite high quality teaching targeted at specific areas of difficulty, it may be that the child has SEND. Information will be gathered, including seeking the views of parents and the pupil, as well as from teachers and assessments. There can be many reasons for learners ‘falling behind.’ These may include absences, attending lots of different schools, difficulties with speaking English, or worries that distract them from their learning.
The school understands that children who experience these barriers to learning are
vulnerable. This does not mean that all vulnerable learners have SEN. Only those with a learning difficulty that requires special education provision will be identified has having SEN.
Our graduated approach to SEND
Wave 1: Initially, children receive inclusive Quality First Teaching for all, which may include the provision of adapted activities / tasks. Some children at this level may be on our concern list as we are carefully tracking and reviewing their progress.
Wave 2: If concerns continue or increase, then children may receive additional, time-limited and targeted interventions to accelerate their progress to help them to catch up.
Wave 3: If there are still concerns, children will receive highly personalised interventions to accelerate their progress and enable them to achieve their potential, with the possibility of referrals to outside agency support. At this point there would be considerations of SEN.
If parents raise concern over their child, they should initially discuss these with the
classteacher. If the classteacher shares these concerns following the wave 1 and wave 2
approach (as outlined above), then they will complete an initial concern form and discuss these with the SEN team who may observe the child, provide advice, use assessment tools or consider referral to an outside professional.
