Our SEND Provision

At Skerne Park Academy we have experience of working with children with a wide range of needs which include:

• Cognition and Learning

• Autism Spectrum Condition

• Speech and Language needs

• Social, Emotional and Mental Health needs

• Physical and Sensory

Our Approach

At Skerne Park Academy, we are committed to offering an inclusive curriculum to ensure the best possible progress for all our children whatever their needs or abilities. 

A child or young person has SEND if they have a learning difficulty or disability, which calls for special educational provision to be made for him or her. The educational provision made for them is ‘additional to or otherwise different from, the educational provision made generally for children of their age’.

There are four broad areas of Special Educational Need. These are:

• Communication and Interaction – This area of need includes children with Autism Spectrum Condition and those with Speech, Language and Communication Needs.
• Cognition and Learning – This includes children with Specific Learning Difficulties, Moderate Learning Difficulties, Severe Learning Difficulties and Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulties..
• Social, Emotional and Mental Health Difficulties – This includes any pupils who have an emotional, social or mental health need that is impacting on their ability to learn.
• Sensory and/or Physical Difficulties – This area includes children with hearing impairment, visual impairment, multi-sensory impairment and physical difficulties.

We have experience of supporting children and young people with a range of needs, including:

• Speech, language and communication needs
• Autistic Spectrum Disorder
• ADHD
• Attachment and developmental trauma
• Gross and fine motor difficulties
• Sensory processing difficulties
• Social, emotional and mental health needs
• General and specific learning difficulties including Global Developmental Delay
• Down’s Syndrome

Our Curriculum

How we adapt the curriculum and learning environment for children with SEND

We believe that inclusive education means supporting all pupils to learn, contribute and participate in all aspects of school life alongside their peers. Our curriculum includes, not only the formal requirements of the National Curriculum, but also a range of additional opportunities to enrich the experiences of our children. Our curriculum also includes the social aspects that are essential for life-long learning, personal growth and development of independence.

Skerne Park Academy considers all teachers to be teachers of pupils with SEND. Staff are trained to be able to identify and provide for pupils with SEND to ensure they can achieve their potential. 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 (QFT).

Interventions and their impact are reviewed termly to ensure that bespoke or targeted additional support delivered continues to be purposeful and is positively impacting on progress and outcomes for pupils. You can find details of how we adapt the curriculum and make it more accessible for pupils with SEND below:

• Use a range of teaching and learning styles
• Differentiated learning materials
• Access to ICT and Technology
• Provide additional in class support
• Provide additional out of class support
• Provide enrichment and enjoyment opportunities to stimulate and motivate learning
• Use flexible groupings – including small group work and intervention
• Ensure that all pupils have access to the school curriculum and all school activities.
• Help all pupils achieve to the best of their abilities, despite any difficulty or disability they may have.
• To identify at the earliest opportunity, all children that need special consideration to support their needs (whether these are educational, social, physical or emotional)
• Ensure that teaching staff are aware of and sensitive to the needs of all pupils, teaching pupils in a way that is more appropriate to their needs.
• Work in partnership with parents/ carers, pupils and relevant external agencies in order to provide for children’s special educational needs and disabilities.
• Make suitable provision for children with SEND to fully develop their abilities, interests and aptitudes and gain maximum access to the curriculum.
• Give every child the entitlement to a sense of achievement.
• Use appropriate rewards and consequences.
• Regularly review the policy and practice in order to achieve best practice.

Early Identification

How we identify, assess and review children with special educational needs

At Skerne Park Academy we identify the needs of the children by considering the needs of the whole child which include not just the special educational needs. The purpose of identification is to work out what action we need to take and not to fit a child into a specific category. Most children and young people in mainstream schools will have their special educational needs met through good classroom practice.

Early Identification of Need

At Skerne Park Academy we also consider what is not considered to be SEND but may have an impact on progress and attainment. These include;

• Disability (this alone does not constitute SEND)
• Attendance and punctuality
• Health and welfare
• English as an Additional Language (EAL)
• Being in receipt of Pupil Premium
• Being a Looked After Child (LAC)
• Being a child of serviceman/woman

Children are identified as having Special Educational needs (SEND) through a variety of ways, which may include some of the following:

• Liaison with a previous school or setting
• Concerns raised by the parent/guardian
• Concerns raised by the teacher
• Child performing below age related expectations despite undergoing a range of interventions
• Children with an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) have their needs clearly identified

In deciding whether to make special education provision to support educational, social, physical or emotional needs, we:

There are a range of ways this can be done, for example:

• Termly parents/ carers consultations;
• Ongoing discussions with a class teacher and/or SENDCO;
• An ‘open-door’ policy, where parents and carers are welcome to come into school to discuss any concerns they may have;
• Through a review of a child’s SEND Support Plan or the Annual Review of their EHC Plan;
• Consult with relevant external agencies.

SEND Support

Where a pupil is identified as having a special educational need we follow a graduated approach which takes the form of cycles of “Assess, Plan, Do, Review”.

This means that we will:

Assess a child’s special educational needs based on:

• Views of the child and parents/carers
• Teacher assessments and observations
• Children’s previous progress and attainment
• Assessments by external agencies (if appropriate)

Plan the provision to meet your child’s aspirations and agreed outcomes by:

• Setting time limited outcomes for the child
• Planning adjustments, interventions and support
• Setting a date for review

Do put the provision in place to meet those outcomes. Teachers are responsible for:

• Differentiating and personalising learning and the curriculum.
• Facilitating the delivery of ‘additional and different’ provision for a child with SEND
• Linking interventions to classroom teaching

Review the support and progress.

• The quality, effectiveness and impact of the provision will be evaluated by the review date.

As part of this approach every child with SEND will have an individualised SEND Support Plan that describes the child’s needs, outcomes and provision to meet those needs. Parents/carers and child (where appropriate) views are integral to the process.
A small percentage of children and young people with significant and/or complex needs may require an assessment that could lead to an Education, Health and Care Plan.
For more detailed information see the local offer.

Details of Identification and Assessment of Pupils with SEND

Children identified as having SEND will be recorded on the school SEND register.

• High quality teaching, differentiated for individual pupils, is the first step in responding to pupils who have or may have SEND.
• Children will be identified if they have not made adequate progress once they have had all of the interventions/adjustments and good quality personalised teaching.
• Teachers are responsible and accountable for the progress and development of the pupils in their class, including where pupils access support from teaching assistants.
• Additional intervention and support cannot compensate for a lack of good quality teaching.
• Skerne Park Academy follows a pupil progress cycle where class teachers alongside phase leaders review the quality of teaching for all pupils, including those at risk of underachievement. This includes reviewing, and, where necessary, improving teachers’ understanding of strategies to identify and support vulnerable pupils and their knowledge of the SEND most frequently encountered.
• When making special educational provision the teacher and the SENDCo consider all of the information gathered from within school about the pupil’s progress, alongside national data and expectations of progress. For higher levels of needs, it may be necessary to call on external agencies and professionals and the SENDCo with consent will make referrals to these services from parents/carers.
• Teachers have the responsibility of informing parents/carers of a child’s progress.

Engagement

How children with SEND engage in all activities?

We enable all children to engage fully in all aspects of school life. To do this, we:

• Ensure that all children with SEND are fully included in all activities of the school in order to promote the highest levels of achievement.
• Ensure that all pupils have access to the school curriculum and all school activities.
• Ensure every child has the entitlement to a sense of achievement.
• Seek professional advice and/or training from external agencies to promote engagement, enjoyment and success for all – educational psychologists, occupational therapy, speech and language support, ADHD and ASD needs plus mental health team support.

Evaluation

How we evaluate the effectiveness of SEND Provision

We continuously ensure the provision has a positive impact on the outcomes for all of our children/young people.

We do this in a variety of ways, including:

• Robust evaluation of policy and practice
• Book scrutinies with subject leaders
• SENDCO/SLT/Governor monitoring through: regular meetings of SLT; meetings with link governor for SEND; sharing of SEND information and data at Full Governing Body Meetings; and through the Head Teacher’s Report to governors.
• Learning walks to focus on: progress, quality and impact of interventions and evidence of Quality First Teaching strategies being implemented into the classroom
• Performance management
• Taking on board feedback from external agencies
• Continually looking to up-skill staff through Continuing Professional Development to meet the needs of all children in school
• Feedback from parents/carers