Most children and young people in mainstream schools will have their special educational needs met through good classroom practice. This is called High Quality Teaching.
Early Identification of Need
In deciding whether to make special education provision to support educational, social, physical or emotional needs, we:
- Work in partnership with parents/carers, pupils
- Consult with relevant external agencies
- Use assessment tools & materials
- Use observations
At Tudhoe Colliery Primary School we continually monitor the progress of all children over the four broad areas of need; Communication and Interaction, Cognition and Learning, Social, Emotional and Mental Health and Physical or Sensory. This may be done from analysing assessment and tracking data, the use of special assessment activities, general observations around school or in class and/ or if a parent or child has reported a concern. Staff will communicate any concerns to parents and to the school SENDCO, who will become involved further in the identification and assessment process. This provides the basis and starting point to a graduated approach for identifying and supporting pupils with SEND. Further information can be found below.
Details of Identification and Assessment of Pupils with SEND
Our school is committed to the early identification of pupils with SEND. We use rigorous assessment processes and track pupil progress between assessment points. Class teachers, support staff, parents and pupils are involved in pupil progress meetings/parent consultations which are arranged on a termly basis but also occur as and when necessary. Observations of pupils and the views of parents/ carers and pupils also inform the early identification process. Parents/ carers can raise a concern with any member of school staff.
When a concern is raised, the SENDCO will liaise with parents and class teachers to clearly identify the child’s strengths and any areas of difficulty. These will be documented and some next step actions will be agreed by all involved. It is possible that these actions may include the need for further specialist assessments from external agencies eg. Speech and Language Therapy, Occupational Therapy, CAMHS, the Local Authority SEND Advisory teams. With the consent of parents, the SENCO will make a referral to the necessary agency for further assessment or support. The actions will be reviewed according to need but this will be within the school term. A decision will then be made collaboratively on whether to continue with an action; to identify and monitor progress towards outcomes or to move to an SEN Support plan with a more detailed approach to identifying the child’s needs, outcomes and the provision necessary to meet those needs. At this stage, the child’s name will be added to the school’s SEND register with parental consent.