SEN - Special Educational Needs
Inclusive Learning at Chilton
At Chilton Primary School we recognise that every child is a unique individual. Our mission statement is:
Empowering Children Through Education: One Childhood, One Chance
With this in mind, it is our responsibility to ensure that every child in our school truly matters and reaches their full potential. Your child will be helped and encouraged to achieve to the best of their ability and their achievements will be celebrated. Your child will learn to make choices, be responsible for his or her own actions, be polite, to be co - operative, to get along with others and to care for the environment in which we live and learn.
INCLUSION AT CHILTON
Carly Reavill (Assistant Head & Inclusion Lead) is the SENCO for Chilton Primary School
carly.reavill@chiltonprimary.co.uk
Chilton Primary School is a fully inclusive primary school in the county of Kent and follows the inclusive policy of all Kent schools. Inclusion looks at the needs of all pupils; children with learning disabilities such as dyslexia, children who are ‘Gifted and Talented’, children who have English as an additional language, children who have issues with their behaviour and children with social and emotional needs.
PRINCIPLES
At Chilton we adopt the following principles regarding successful inclusive education.
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To ensure all pupils are offered full access to a broad, balanced and relevant curriculum.
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All pupils will be given the opportunity to reach their full potential educationally, emotionally and physically.
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All teachers view themselves as teachers of pupils with special educational needs, teaching such pupils is a whole school responsibility.
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Pupil's Special Educational Needs will normally be met in the mainstream classroom.
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Pupils' views should be sought and taken into account.
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Parents/carers have a vital role to play in supporting their child's education and therefore good home/school links are established.
SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS
Children who are seen to have Special Educational Needs are monitored carefully and are given appropriate interventions according to their specific needs. Click here to read the DfE SEND Code of Practice. Click here to view our SEND Policy
GIFTED AND TALENTED
Chilton is keen to promote the learning and skills of children deemed as being Gifted and Talented whether it be on the academic side or the arts and sports. The G&T leader works closely with teachers to monitor these pupils and ensure that challenge is provided in their area of skill. Chilton children are always encouraged to promote their specialist areas and become involved in projects that can complement this. We promote opportunity with after school clubs, links within the community and local secondary schools as well as extending the learning of the children within the mainstream classroom.
CHILDREN WITH ENGLISH AS AN ADDITIONAL LANGUAGE
Chilton is a multi-ethnic school and promoting equality is one of our highest priorities throughout the whole school. We have high expectations of all our pupils and they should have the opportunities to achieve the highest possible standards as well as helping all children to develop a sense of personal and cultural identity that is confident, open to change, receptive and respectful towards other people. The teaching takes into account pupils' cultural and religious backgrounds, linguistic needs and varying learning styles. We create an environment where pupils feel safe and feel they can contribute fully, and where all feel respected and valued. Staff are assisted in the classroom to support pupils’ development of their language and learning needs, through termly targets and liaison time with the Inclusion Team.
BEHAVIOUR, SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL NEEDS
Inclusion takes into account all the needs of the children and these include how a child behaves. Chilton promotes an ethos towards positive behaviour management and the children and staff are encouraged to use and display the Chilton Values: Respect, Equality, Courage & Kindness.
Children's social and emotional needs also need to be considered carefully if a child is to reach their full potential. To help us in this, Chilton have a dedicated pastoral team who support children across the school in a variety of ways. A major role of the pastoral team is to run Nurture and Self-esteem groups to support the children. They are given the opportunity to speak about how they feel and to support each other, developing a child’s emotional intelligence.
All pupils’ progress will be monitored through robust monitoring systems. This process will address the need for all pupils including Looked after Children, Gifted, Talented and children identified with a Special Educational Need.
Where pupils are not making expected progress, the SENCO and/or Senior leaders will work with the class teacher in identifying possible support strategies for the class teacher and teaching assistant to implement.
Screening tools such as Language for Learning, Speech Link, Language Link and Lucid Cops will be used to identify any language or memory difficulties and then a specific support programme can then be implemented to address an area of weakness. Further targeted support for literacy and maths will also be used depending on the need of the individual, with the aim of ensuring we close all achievement gaps.
Annual Data such as ASP (Analyse School Performance) will be used to identify whole-school issues that have occurred over the previous year. This will enable the leadership team to identify relevant training or support that may be required to address a certain need. Assessment data will be collected three times a year and analysis will be used to identify current trends within the school and where weaknesses may be occurring. This will then become targeted action for the SENCO and leadership team. This will enable the school to identify individual pupils that are not making significant progress. These pupils can then be supported further by class teacher, TA or SENCO as appropriate.
THE ROLE OF THE SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS COORDINATOR
SENCO role will include:
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Ensuring the school meets all requirements for special educational needs and disabilities as set out through legislation;
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Monitor the progress of all pupils across the school identifying where pupils may be making less than expected progress and implement strategies to support this;
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Evaluate the impact of provision (including effective use of teaching assistants) and address any concerns that arise;
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Develop systems that ensure all pupils needs are met and that staff are accountable for the progress of pupils;
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Audit whole school systems such as use of language for learning and provision mapping so that impact can be measured and a cost analysis can be completed;
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Liaise with agencies when appropriate for further support with specific pupil needs or whole staff training either through LIFT or CAF process;
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Liaise with parents and develop parental involvement when supporting a child identified as requiring additional support or vulnerable;
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Be accountable to the governors and report to them three times a year;
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Click Here for our accessibility policy
Other members of the SEND Team:
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Mrs Kate Law - Head of School and Designated Safeguarding Lead
Kent Local Offer
Children and Families Bill 2013
The Children and Families Bill takes forward the Coalition Government’s commitments to improve services for vulnerable children and support families. It underpins wider reforms to ensure that all children and young people can succeed, no matter what their background. The Bill will reform the systems for adoption, looked after children, family justice and special educational needs.
The Government is transforming the system for children and young people with special educational needs (SEN), including those who are disabled, so that services consistently support the best outcomes for them. The Bill will extend the SEN system from birth to 25, giving children, young people and their parents/carers greater control and choice in decisions and ensuring needs are properly met.
It takes forward the reform programme set out in support and aspiration: A new approach to special educational needs and disability: Progress and next steps by:
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replacing statements and learning difficulty assessments with a new birth- to-25 Education, Health and Care Plan, extending rights and protections to young people in further education and training and offering families personal budgets so that they have more control over the support they need;
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improving cooperation between all the services that support children and their families and particularly requiring local authorities and health authorities to work together; and
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requiring local authorities to involve children, young people and parents in reviewing and developing provision for those with special educational needs and to publish a ‘local offer’ of support.
What is the Local Offer?
The Local Offer was first introduced in the Green Paper (March 2011) as a local offer of all services available to support disabled children and children with SEN and their families. This easy to understand information will set out what is normally available in schools to help children with lower-level SEN as well as the options available to support families who need additional help to care for their child. Parents can find this information on the following the link at the bottom of this page.
What will it do?
The Kent framework will allow the Local Offer to provide parents/carers with information about how to access services in their area, and what they can expect from those services. With regard to Education, it will let parents/ carers and young people know how school and colleges will support them, and what they can expect across the local settings. During the last year, the Local Offer Steering Group has developed questions for schools, and trailed them with a small number of settings.
There are 14 questions, devised in consultation with parents/carers and other agencies, which reflect their concerns and interests. These will be answered by agencies, schools and colleges to provide information to parents and carers to enable them to make decisions about how to best support their child’s needs.
Click this link to read the Kent Local Offer.
How does Chilton know if children need extra help?
We know when children need help if: Concerns are raised by the child, parents /carers , teachers or the child’s previous school; there is lack of progress; there is poor attainment levels; there is a change in the child’s behaviour; there is a change in the child’s well-being.
How will I know how Chilton supports my child?
Each child’s education will be planned by the class teacher. It will be differentiated accordingly to suit the child’s individual needs. This may include additional general support by the teacher or a teaching assistant in class. If a child has needs related to more specific areas of their education, such as spelling, handwriting, numeracy and literacy skills etc. then the child will receive focused support. This will be delivered by a teacher or teaching assistant. The length of time of any intervention will vary according to the need, but will generally be for a term. The interventions will be regularly reviewed by all involved, including the children, to ascertain the effectiveness of the provision and to inform future planning. These interventions will be recorded on the child’s provision map (this is a record of the interventions, timings and impact of the intervention). A provision map is also a record of support that the child is receiving including the impact it is having on the child’s learning. If you have any queries related to the interventions please do not hesitate to contact the class teacher or Inclusion Manager. Pupil Progress Meetings are held regularly through-out the year. This is a meeting where the class teacher meets with the Leadership team to discuss the progress of the children in their class. This shared discussion highlights any potential difficulties in order for further support to be planned. Occasionally a child may need more specialist support from an outside agency. Referral forms are completed in conjunction with the child and the parents/carers and then forwarded to the most appropriate agency. After a series of assessments, a programme of support is usually provided to the school and parents/carers. The Governing Body is responsible for both rigorous challenge and for supporting Chilton in being as inclusive as possible. It ensures all children, parent/carers and staff are treated in an equitable way. They monitor and review the accessibility plan and all other statutory policies as defined by the DfE.
What support will there be for my child's overall well-being?
Every member of staff is committed to ensuring the well-being of all children.
We offer a wide variety of pastoral support for children who are encountering emotional difficulties. These include:
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Members of staff such as the class teacher, learning mentors, Inclusion Manager and Head of School being readily available for children who wish to discuss issues and concerns.
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Where appropriate mediation sessions are carried out by the learning mentor.
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Specific interventions such as social skills groups can be run if needed
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Peer mediators (year 6 children) are available during play and lunch times for children to talk to if they have friendship issues or worries.
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Where required, referrals will be made to specialist outside agencies such a play therapy team and the Educational Psychologist Service.
Children with medical needs
If a child has a medical need then a detailed Care Plan is compiled with you and Mrs Hughes. Where appropriate this will be supported by an external healthcare professional.
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Health Care Plans are shared with all staff and reviewed yearly.
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First aid training is regularly updated.
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Specific health care training such as Epipen Training , will be delivered by a healthcare professional.
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Where necessary and in agreement with parents/carers, prescribed medicines are administered in school, but only where signed consent is in place and, where necessary a Health Care Plan, to ensure the safety of both child and staff members