St Teresa’s is committed to providing an appropriate and high quality education to all the children who attend our school. We believe that all children, including those identified as having special educational needs have a common entitlement to a broad and balanced academic and social curriculum, which is accessible to them, and to be fully included in all aspects of school life.

We will grow together to promote high quality education to all children through an inclusive curriculum and environment, whilst promoting positive mental health and well-being.

St Teresa’s is committed to inclusion. We work to develop cultures, policies and practices that include all learners. We respond to learners in ways which take account of their varied life experiences and needs.

At St Teresa’s RC Primary School we aim to raise the aspirations of and expectations for all pupils with SEN, through quality first teaching, early identification and through graduated as well as personalised approaches to learning.

Through our Catholic values, we will create an environment where the children will feel safe, happy and build their sense of self-worth.

Our SENDCO

The school SENDCO (Special Needs and Disabilities Coordinator) is Miss McCandless.  If you have any concerns or would like to discuss anything further, please make an appointment at the school office.

SEND Objectives

Our objectives are to:

  • To ensure the SEN and Disability Act and relevant Codes of Practice and guidance are implemented effectively across the school.
  • To provide learning opportunities of quality that challenge our pupils to reach their full potential.
  • To develop a whole school approach towards addressing SEND.
  • To ensure that children’s needs are identified and appropriate action taken as early as possible.
  • To ensure that children’s progress is regularly monitored and evaluated.
  • To consult with other professionals as and when necessary.
  • To ensure that the Governors are aware of, and make provision for, all children with SEND.
  • To provide specific input, matched to individual needs, in addition to differentiated class room provision, for those pupils recorded as having SEND.
  • To involve parents/carers at every stage in plans to meet their child’s additional needs.
  • Where possible, to involve the children themselves in planning and in any decision making that affects them.

Identifying Special Educational Needs

There are four broad areas of need outlined in the SEND Code of Practice 2014.

  • Communication and Interaction.
  • Cognition and Learning.
  • Social, Emotional and Mental Health Difficulties.
    Sensory and/or Physical Needs.

At St Teresa’s RC Primary School we understand these categories broadly identify aspects of primary areas of need. However, we also understand that we must consider the needs of the child as a whole.

The responsibility for initial assessment of a child’s SEND lies with the class teacher, in consultation with the SENDCo.

As a graduated response and quality first teaching are at the heart of whole school practice, we are continually assessing, planning, implementing and reviewing our approach to teaching all children.

However, where a potential special educational need has been identified, this process becomes increasingly personalised, as it responds over time to a growing understanding of the child’s barriers to and gaps in learning and an increasingly individualised assessment of need.

We are committed to early identification of children with SEND in order to implement programmes of work which will help the children make progress. We use formal and teacher assessment to help with this identification as well as parental information and involvement.

SEND Code of Practice

The SEND Code of Practice outlines a category of support called SEN Support as well as children who have an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP).

We apply the Assess-Plan-Do-Review cycle of steps before placing pupils on the SEND register.

In identifying children who may have special educational needs we can measure children’s progress by referring to:

  • their performance monitored by the teacher as part of ongoing observation and assessment
  • the outcomes from baseline assessment results
  • their progress against the objectives specified in the National Curriculum
  • their performance against the level descriptions within the National Curriculum at the end of a key stage
  • standardised screening or assessment tools
  • use of pre-key stage standards if not reaching level one of National Curriculum expectations
  • use of BSquared assessment tracking tool
  • input from parents/carers

The school maintains a SEND register which contains details of all children identified as having special educational needs. The register is revised and updated throughout the year.

Strategies employed to enable the child to progress will be recorded within an Individual Education Plan (IEP). The IEP will include information about:

  • the short term targets set for the child
  • the teaching strategies to be used
  • the provision to be put in place
  • when the plan is to be reviewed
  • outcomes (to be recorded when the IEP is reviewed)

The IEP will only record that which is additional to, or different from, the differentiated curriculum and will focus upon three or four individual targets that match the child’s needs and have been discussed with the child and their parents. IEP’s will be reviewed in October, January and May. Thereafter, new targets will be set, with the child wherever possible.

Coffee Morning

Every year we have an SEND Coffee Morning. It is a chance to meet the school’s SENCo, Miss McCandless.  It is an opportunity to meet other parents, share advice, swap strategies and ask questions.  We also invite professionals from outside agencies that work with children with SEND. For example: Speech and Language Therapist, Learning Support Service teachers, Educational Psychologist.

This year’s SEND coffee morning is Friday 11th November at 9am – 10.30am

Complaints

If you want to complain about our school’s SEN support, you should do so whilst your child is registered with us. This includes complaints that school has not provided support required by your child’s Education Health and Care Plan.

Please talk to our special educational needs co-ordinator Miss McCandless about your complaint. If you do not feel your complaint has been resolved, you should follow our school’s complaints procedure.”

St Teresa’s is a Dyslexia Friendly School and we re-achieved our award successfully in 2019.