SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS AND DISABILITY POLICYSCHOOL AND NURSERY
The Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) Code of Practice 0-25, 2014
states that ‘a child or young person has SEN if they have learning difficulty or disability
which calls for special provision to be made for him or her’. For young children, special
provision means any additional or different provision to what is provided for other
children of the same age.
The code of Practice states that children are only identified as SEN if they don’t make
adequate progress once they have had all the intervention/adjustments and good
quality personalized teaching.
A child of compulsory school age has a learning difficulty or disability if he or she:
 Has a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others of
the same age; or
 Has a disability which prevents or hinders him or her from making use of
educational facilities of a kind generally provided for others of the same age in
mainstream schools or post 16 institutions
A child under compulsory school age has SEN if he or she is likely to fall within the
definition above when they reach compulsory schools age or would do so if special
educational provision was not made for them.
Many children and young people who have SEN may have a disability under the
Equality Act 2010 – that is “… a physical or mental impairment which has a long term
and substantial adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day to day activities”.
This definition includes children and young people with long term medical conditions
such as asthma, diabetes, epilepsy and cancer. Children and young people with such
conditions do not necessarily have SEN but where a child requires special educational
provision over and above the adjustments, aids and services required by the Equality
Act 2010, they will additionally be covered by the SEND definition.
Children for whom English is an additional language do not have a learning difficulty
or disability.
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Policy Review Date ~ April 2016 Page 1of 6
Introduction
The policy is in line with the Code of the Practice 2014 and Equality Act 2010
The Special Needs Coordinators are Agnes Staruch and Kasia Janda for the
nursery and Nicky Good for the school.
Statement
At The Villa we are committed to enabling each child to access the curriculum. In order
to achieve this, learning opportunities must be provided to meet individual learning
needs. This applies to both children who have learning difficulties and children who
are gifted and more able.
We believe that all children have a right to experience and develop alongside their
peers no matter what their individual needs.
For children with statements of special needs we will ensure that the needs of the child
are met within the terms of the statement.
We believe it is vital to involve parents at every stage for consultation, discussion and
sharing of concerns, successes and agreements.
We liaise and consult with external support agencies where it is necessary to provide
further professional support for pupils with special needs.
The support agencies we use are varied:
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Speech and language therapy (Southwark)
Early Intervention Officer (Southwark)
Bloomfield Centre (Great Ormond Street)
Aims and Objectives
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To recognise any special needs a child may have and ensure all staff are aware of
the DfE code of practice on identification and assessment of special needs
To employ a special needs co-ordinator who is experienced in the care and
assessment of children with special needs
To assess each child's specific needs and adapt our facilities as appropriate.
To work in partnership with parents/carers at all stages
To liaise with other agencies including the health and education authorities and
seek advice, support and training
To develop and maintain a core team of staff who are experienced in the care of
children with special needs
To ensure that all children are treated as equals and are encouraged to take part
in every aspect of the day
To promote positive images of those with special needs
To understand that each child’s needs are unique, therefore any attempt to
categorise children is inappropriate
To understand that children learn from interacting with each other and to
enable all children to be educated and develop as far as practicable with their
peers
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Depending on the individual child’s needs we will aim to provide a ratio of 1:1
where appropriate
We feel it is paramount to find out as much as possible about a particular child’s
condition and the way that affects his/her educational needs by:
Liaison with the child’s parents
Liaison with any professional agencies
Reading any reports that have been prepared
Attending any review meetings with the local authority
Regular monitoring of observations done on the child’s development
Role of the SENCo
The roles and responsibilities of SENCO are laid out in the Code of Practice. These are:
 Ensure that parents are closely involved throughout and their views inform
action taken by the setting
 Liaise other professionals in respect of children with SEN prior to their
transition to The Villa, during their time at the setting and at times of the
transition to other settings
 Advise and support other practitioners within the setting and ensure that they
understand their responsibilities to children with SEN
 Ensure that appropriate individual plans are in place and that the provision is
supporting the child effectively and relevant information is collected and kept
up to date
A graduated approach to SEN support
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All practitioners are responsible and accountable for the progress and
development of the children in their care, including where children
access support from teaching assistants or specialist staff
High quality teaching and provision, differentiated for individual pupils,
is the first step in responding to children who have or may have SEN
When a child is aged between two and three, early years practitioners
must review progress and provide parents with the short written
summary of their child’s development- Progress Check. It focuses on
communication, physical and personal, social and emotional
development
In the final term of the year in which the children turn five their EYFS
profile is completed, providing picture of child’s knowledge,
understanding and abilities
These above formal checks are particularly helpful for children with SEN and should
inform plans for future learning and identify any additional needs for support.
In addition to the formal checks, early years practitioners working with children
should monitor and review the progress and development of all children throughout
the early years.
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Assess-Plan-Do-Review
Close observations in the classroom, team discussion and liaison with parents may
identify special needs.
Concerns about the progress and needs of an individual child can be raised by parents
and practitioners and discussed informally with the Keyworker / SENCo /Manager /
Head Teacher at any time.
The SENCO and child’s parents will carry out analysis of the child’s needs and use CAF
form. The CAF aims to help the early identification of children and young people’s
additional needs and promote coordinated service provision to meet them.
Practitioners and SENCO with parents’ involvement should agree on targets and
outcomes they are seeking and support to be put in place for the child, which will be
recorded in Individual Educational Plan (Early Years Action).
If there is little or no improvement despite the intervention and the SEN Support
within the setting we may seek advice from other professionals with parents’ consents
using the CAF form.
When other professional and outside agencies are involved a Team Around Child will
be formed (TAC) to consolidate and coordinate the delivery of support to the child by
all practitioners and professionals involved. As a result the family and practitioners
have a clear assessment and record of needs, strengths and actions that are shared,
build on and reviewed recorded in a Delivery Plan. The identified person (SENCO) will
be responsible for co-ordination of the service delivery.
With support from the SENCO the practitioners (keyworkers/class teachers) are
responsible for implementation of plans and programmes agreed as part of SEN
support.
The support should be reviewed regularly in line with the agreed date with parents’
and other professionals involved.
EHC
Majority of children with SEN will have their needs met within the setting. Some
children who have more complex needs and have not made expected progress will
require co-ordinated assessment of their needs in the form of Education, Health and
Care plan (EHC plan). EHC plan is a legal document describing all child’s needs within
education, health and care, the provision to meet those needs and the suitable
education placement.
Where a child has an EHC plan, the local authority must review the plan minimum
every twelve months.
Local Offer
Local Offer consolidates information, services and provision available for children and
young people with SEN and Disability in the local area. You can view the local offer at
http://localoffer.southwark.gov.uk
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Policy Review Date ~ April 2016 Page 4of 6
Transition
The Nursery and School will support the transition of children with SEN on admission,
moving on to the next class or key stage and in preparation for a new school or setting.
To support the transition we share the information about the child with the receiving
setting or school and we organize transition meetings or/and home/school visits.
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