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Longfield Academy
Special Educational Needs Policy

This policy document is a statement of the aims, principles and strategies to ensure the effective and efficient provision for pupils with Special Educational Needs (SEN) at Longfield Academy.

Leadership team manager with responsibility for SEN: Mr N Willis
SEN Coordinator : Mrs D Whiteing
Link Governor: Mrs S Craddy

Section A:

LEA guidelines and DFES Code pf Practice have been taken into consideration in the formulation of this policy. Pupils have SEN if they have a learning difficulty which calls for Special Educational Provision to be made for them.

Special Educational Provision means:

• For children of two or over, educational provision which is in addition to, the education provision made generally for children of that age in Schools maintained by the LEA, other than special schools in the area.

(Code of Practice Chapter1 - 1.3)

This document provides a framework for the identification of and provision for pupils with Special Educational Needs. It is written for the benefit of all members of the school community to ensure that the potential of every child is maximised, irrespective of ability, disability, race, gender and social origin and to enable equality of access to the curriculum in an environment where every child is valued and respected.

Aims

• To identify all pupils who need specific consideration to support their physical, sensory, social emotional, communication or cognitive development.
• To ensure that these pupils are given appropriate support to allow every child full access to the National Curriculum in a positive framework.
• To ensure that these pupils are fully included in all activities of the school in order to promote the highest levels of achievement.
• To involve parents, pupils and others in developing a partnership of support, enabling them full confidence in the strategy as adopted by the school.

Objectives

• To provide a broad, balanced and suitably differentiated curriculum relevant to pupil needs, through all staff sharing responsibility for SEN.
• To demonstrate that meeting the needs of pupil’s learning and/or behaviour is part of mainstream education.
• To plan for any pupil who may at some time in their school education have special educational needs.
• To promote self-worth and enthusiasm by encouraging independent learning at all age levels.
• To give every pupil the entitlement to a sense of achievement.
• To identify, monitor and support pupil’s who will need extra resources and/or teacher help.
• To work in partnership with the pupil’s parents and other external agencies to provide for the pupil’s special educational needs.

Roles and Responsibilities
All members of the school community work towards the school’s aims by:

• Using school procedures for identifying, assessing and making provision for pupils with special educational needs.
• Sharing a commitment to inclusion and a partnership approach to provision.
• The governing body in co-operation with the Head Teacher, determines the school’s general policy and approach to the provision for pupils with special educational needs, establishes the appropriate staff and funding arrangements and maintains a monitoring oversight of the school’s work. They are responsible for reviewing the SEN policy and reporting to parents annually.
• The governing body has appointed Mrs Sally Craddy as the governor who takes a particular interest in and monitors the school’s work on behalf of pupils with special educational needs.

(Code of Practice 1:21 and 1:39)

The head teacher has strategic responsibility for overseeing the provision for pupils with special educational needs and keeping the governing body fully informed. In conjunction with the management team the head teacher will be responsible for monitoring and evaluating the success of this policy and ensuring that necessary revisions are undertaken. The head teacher will also work closely with the SEN co-ordinator. Regular meetings are scheduled within the line management structure to enable planning and implementation.

Co-ordinating and Managing Provision. The SEN Co-ordinator (SENCO) is responsible for:

• The daily implementation of the school SEN policy.
• Liaising with and advising teaching staff and LSAs (Teaching Assistants) on SEN matters.
• Managing LSAs (Teaching Assistants)
• Co-ordinating the provision for children with SEN.
• Overseeing the records of all children with SEN.
• Contributing to the in-service training of staff.
• Liaison with parents and external agencies including the LEAs support and Educational Psychology Service, Cognition & Learning Service, Health & Social Services and Voluntary bodies

(CoP Chapter 6 -6.35)

All teaching and support staff are involved in the development of the school’s SEN policy and must be fully aware of the school’s procedure for identifying, assessing, monitoring and making provision for pupil’s with special educational needs. Teachers have responsibility for managing the work of LSAs (Teaching Assistants).

Admission Arrangements for Pupils with Special Educational Needs. This School strives to be a fully inclusive school. It acknowledges the range of issues to be taken into account of in the process of development. All pupils are welcome, including those with special educational needs, in accordance with the LEA Admissions Policy. See Appendix.

According to the Education Act 1996 ( Section 316), if a parent wishes to have their child with a statement educated in the mainstream, the LEA must provide a place unless this is incompatible with the sufficient education of other children, and there are no reasonable steps that can be taken to prevent the incompatibility.

(See also Annex C in Inclusive Schooling for arrangements
for admission of pupils with a Statement of SEN)

Specialisms and Special Facilities

• The school has a specialist Autistic Spectrum Disorder Unit on site known as The Spectrum Centre formerly the Autism Unit.
• The ASD Base (Autistic Spectrum Disorder ) situated in the main school which allows for a higher percentage of interaction within the mainstream environment.
• The school employs a teacher from the Dyslexia Institute at Tonbridge who is on site addressing the needs of pupils with Specific Learning Difficulties (SpLD) 2.5 days a week.

Section B:

Identification, Assessment and Provision

Allocation of resources
The SEN budget is determined each year according to Form 7 data. This aims to distribute available funds as equitably as possible between schools according to relative levels of need based on socio-economic and Additional Educational Needs ( AEN ) factors. Those factors which can create barriers to learning.

The base budget covers teaching & curriculum expenses as well as cost of SENCO.

The delegated SEN budget covers the additional support required.

Specific funds are allocated to pupils with statements of educational need.

The governors always use all of the SEN budget share and additional funds accessed from the school budget. The SENCO in consultation with the head teacher is responsible for the use of these resources and the deployment of the designated support staff.

Action to meet pupils’ SEN aims to promote independent learning and tends to fall within 2 broad strands.

Assessment, planning and review.
• Grouping for teaching purposes.
• Additional human resources.
• Curriculum and teaching methods.

This may include the development of practice through training and collaborative work with other schools, planning, review and liaison time, improved staff-child ratio and the use of alternative resources.

Identification, Assessment and Monitoring
This follows a graduated approach as required by the 2001 SEN Code of Practice. The National Curriculum Inclusion Statement emphasises the importance of providing effective learning opportunities for all pupils and offers 3 principles for inclusion:

• Responding to pupil’s diverse needs.
• Overcoming potential barriers to learning and assessment.
• Setting suitable learning challenges.

The new Code does not assume that there are hard and fast categories of SEN but recognises broad areas:

• Communication and Interaction (Language & Autistic Spectrum Disorder)
• Cognition and Learning (General Learning and Specific Learning difficulties)
• Physical and Sensory.
• Behavioural, Emotional and Social.

School Action Schools should arrange the additional and different provision required to enable children to make adequate progress. This is the key indicator to determine the graduated response. An IEP (Individual Education Plan) may be devised if this is deemed appropriate. A common format is used across all areas of the school.

The subject teacher makes appropriate arrangements for differentiating the curriculum and providing additional support for the pupil. Clear targets to monitor and review progress should be set within a realistic time frame.

School Action Plus
If there is inadequate progress at School Action, the subject teacher in conjunction with other curriculum teachers for this pupil and the SENCO, will assess the pupil’s difficulties using a range of assessments that are available to them. This may involve the interaction of specialist internal or external support. Internal support and advice may be sought via our teacher from the Dyslexia Institute and the Spectrum Centre. Whilst outside agencies may be involved such as Pupil Support Services, Educational Psychology and Health Services.

An appropriate Individual Education Plan (IEP) will be devised. It may suggest alternative strategies, learning programmes, modifications to the curriculum. It will outline the extra support for the pupil, which may be initiated individually or in small groups.

Parents are kept informed at all stages of intervention. This partnership and the exchange of information with external agencies are particularly important in order that the needs of the majority of pupils with SEN are met effectively.

Providing Curriculum Access and Inclusion: Pupils with special educational needs will have access to a balanced and broadly based curriculum, including the National Curriculum, with the opportunity to join in all the activities of the school.

Different teaching strategies are used depending upon the nature of the pupil’s needs.

Schools should take account of the Inclusion Statement in Curriculum 2000. See Appendix for our Inclusion document.

Evaluating Success
The success of the school’s SEN Policy and Provision is evaluated through:

• Monitoring of classroom practice by SENCO and subject coordinators
• Analysis of pupil tracking data and test results
  • For individual pupils
  • For cohorts
• Value added data for pupils on the SEN register, as part of the whole school population.
• Termly monitoring of procedures and practice by SEN Governor
• School self evaluation, using a variety of approaches
• School Based Review Meetings ( SBR)
• The Governors’ Annual Report to Parents
• The SEN moderation process
• The School Development Plan (The SEN Development Plan)
• Regular planning and evaluation meetings between the SENCO and her line manager.

Complaints
Any complaints regarding the SEN policy or the provision made for pupils with special educational needs should be addressed in the first instance to the subject teacher. If parents need further advice they are welcome to arrange a meeting with the SENCO. If they feel their child’s needs are still not being met they should make arrangements to see the Head teacher. If however, parents are still concerned they may contact the governor responsible for SEN and /or the Partnership with Parents Service who may allocate an individual parent supporter or refer to the mediation service. The school will inform parents of these services. See the appendices of this document for contact details of these and other related services.

Section C:

Partnership Within & Beyond the School

Staff Development
The auditing of training needs is based on the TTA National Standards for SENCOs and specialist teachers of SEN as well as School Improvement Plans.

SENCOs, Teachers and LSAs (Teaching Assistants) will attend SEN courses which are of interest and have a particular bearing on children they are supporting.

Staff are given regular opportunities for INSET to develop their confidence and skills in working with SEN children. Governors will be informed of school-based training and are invited to attend. Staff will be involved in developing practices, which promote Whole School approaches in SEN.

Newly Qualified Teachers ( NQTs) will access specific training and induction programmes.

Working In Partnership with Other Agencies

External Support Services
The school has arrangements for securing access to external support services for pupils with special educational needs. This may include liaison with special schools and other specialist provision. There is regular liaison and exchange of information between the SENCO and these services, particularly at School Based Review ( SBR)

Partnership with Parents
We aim to promote a culture of co-operation with parents, schools, the LEAs and other organisations. We will do this through: Ensuring all parents are made aware of the school’s arrangements for SEN including the opportunities for meetings between parents and SENCO. Involving parents as soon as a concern is raised. This may be done at a parent consultation or by personal appointment with the subject teacher. Providing access to the SENCO to discuss the pupil’s needs and approaches to address them, perhaps using the Individual Education Plan. Supporting parents understanding of external agency advice and support. Undertaking Annual Reviews for children with Statements of SEN.

See the appendices of this document for contact details of these and other related services.

The Voice of the Student
In this school we encourage parents to participate in their learning by: Being involved in target setting and identifying teaching and learning strategies that work for them. Incorporating their views in every aspect of their education. Encouraging self-advocacy and independence.

Links with other Schools
We will ensure that all transfers between schools are planned, monitored and supported to ensure successful outcomes for children. We will consult the LEA and governing bodies of other schools, when it seems to be necessary or desirable in the interests of the coordinated special educational provision in the area as a whole.

We will collaborate with all other support services and agencies involved with the child and with parents and where appropriate make joint planning arrangements.