SEND Teaching, Learning and the Curriculum

How We Support SEND

St Cuthbert’s Catholic Primary School prides itself in being very inclusive and will endeavour to support every child regardless of their level of need.  All pupils follow the National Curriculum at a level and a pace that is appropriate to their abilities. At times and when it is felt appropriate, modifications to the curriculum may be implemented.
To successfully match pupil ability to the curriculum there are some actions we may take to achieve this:

• 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.
• 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.
• Pupils to gain in confidence and improve their self-esteem.
• To work in partnership with parents/ carers, pupils and relevant external agencies in order to provide for children’s special educational needs and disabilities.
• To identify at the earliest opportunity, all children that need special consideration to support their needs (whether these are educational, social, physical or emotional)
• To make suitable provision for children with SEND to fully develop their abilities, interests and aptitudes and gain maximum access to the curriculum.
• Ensure that all children with SEND are fully included in all activities of the school in order to promote the highest levels of achievement.
• To promote self worth and enthusiasm by encouraging independence at all age and ability levels.
• To give every child the entitlement to a sense of achievement.
• To regularly review the policy and practice in order to achieve best practice.

At St Cuthbert’s Catholic Primary, we believe in participation and progress for all. We aim to create an inclusive culture in our school and value high quality teaching for all learners.
We understand that children learn and develop in different ways. Teachers and teaching assistants recognise this and use different teaching styles, resources and plan different levels of work in the classroom to cater for the various ways children learn. The majority of children in our school will receive support through good quality teaching in the classroom (Quality First Teaching). This will include:

• Differentiating work and highly focused lessons
• Appropriate use of teacher questioning, modelling and explanations
• Small group support by the teacher or classroom assistant
• Opportunities for pupils to learn through dialogue, with regular opportunities to talk within groups
• Short term interventions to aid catch-up

However, some children, at some time in their school life, may need extra help and support in a variety of different ways. If staff feel that a child’s needs cannot be met through quality first teaching alone, then additional support or intervention may be put into place.
Each learner identified as having SEN is entitled to support that is ‘additional to or different from’ a normal differentiated curriculum. The type of support is dependent on the individual learning needs, and is intended to enable access to learning and overcome the barrier to learning identified.
The waves of intervention model describes how different levels of intervention can be used to facilitate learning.

Wave 1 Quality First Teaching

This is about what should be on offer for all children: the effective inclusion of all pupils in high-quality everyday personalised teaching. This could include:

• Differentiated and personalised work to meet pupils’ needs
• High expectations which inspire, motivate and challenge pupils
• Good subject and curriculum knowledge
• Well structured lessons
• Adapting teaching to respond to the strengths and needs of all pupils
• Behaviour managed effectively to ensure a good and safe learning environment which promotes progress
• Deploying support staff effectively.

Wave 2 Interventions

Where children need additional support they may be given some Wave 2 intervention to help them ‘Catch Up’ with their peers or prevent a gap from appearing. Wave 2 interventions are often targeted at a group of pupils with similar needs. Intervention programmes such as The Power of Two , Lexia would be would be regarded as Wave 2 interventions.

Wave 3 interventions

If pupils continue to make inadequate progress, despite high-quality teaching targeted at their areas of weakness, the class teacher, with support from the SENDCO, should assess whether a pupil has a significant learning difficulty, which may require highly- tailored interventions. This may include specialist or one to one provision.

Types of SEND

At St Cuthbert’s Catholic Primary School, we have experience of supporting children and young people with a wide range of need including:

• General learning Difficulties
• Dyslexia
• Dyspraxia
• Downs Syndrome
• Epilepsy
• Autism
• Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
• Speech and Language Difficulties
• Behavioural Difficulties
• Selective Mutism
• Other medical needs including nut allergy and Diabetes.

The school provides data on the levels and types of need to the Local Authority.  This is collected through the school census.    

Need	Total
Communication and Interaction	41%
Social, Emotional and Mental Health	6%
Cognition and Learning	53%

Teaching, Learning and the Curriculum

At St Cuthbert’s Catholic Primary School, we believe that inclusive education means providing all pupils with appropriate education and support alongside their peers. The Curriculum is all the planned activities that the school organises in order to promote learning, personal growth and development.
It includes not only the formal requirements of the National Curriculum, but also the range of additional opportunities that the school organises in order to enrich the experiences of our children. Our curriculum also includes the social aspects that are essential for life-long learning.

How we identify and assess children with special educational needs

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.
At St Cuthbert’s Catholic Primary the progress of the whole child, not just academic, is regularly assessed. Any children whom we feel may require extra support to achieve their potential or remove any barriers to learning are quickly identified and appropriate support implemented. Any extra support that is required is discussed with the child and their parents. If it is felt appropriate, the class teacher may involve the SENDCo who in turn may seek advice from outside agencies.
At St Cuthbert’s Catholic Primary School, we follow a graduated support approach which is called “Assess, Plan, Do, Review”.
This means that we will:

• Assess a child’s special educational needs
• Plan the provision to meet your child’s aspirations and agreed outcomes
• Do put the provision in place to meet those outcomes
• Review the support and progress

1. Assess

The class teacher, working with the SENDCo, will identify the pupil’s needs. Where appropriate, professionals will help to inform the assessment. Parents will be asked to contribute to the assessment.

2. Plan

Parents will be formally notified about any initial concerns during a consultation meeting and will involved in in subsequent meetings to discuss the progress their child has made. Interventions will be recorded on the school provision map and targets set on the child’s Pupil Profile.

3. Do

The class teacher will remain responsible for working with the pupil on a daily basis and retain responsibility for their progress and outcomes. The class or subject teacher will plan and assess the impact of support and interventions with any teaching assistants or specialist staff involved. The SENCO will support the above.

4. Review

The effectiveness of the support and interventions and their impact on the pupil’s progress will be reviewed on the agreed date. Reviews will be held with parents at least three times per year. The class teacher, working with the SENDCo if needed, will revise the support in light of the pupil’s progress. If a pupil does not make expected progress over a sustained period of time school will consider involving specialists.

As part of this approach, we will produce a SEN Support Plan that describes the provision that we will make to meet a child’s special educational needs and agreed outcomes.  Parents and carers will be fully involved in this process. Please see below for an example.
BLANK PROFILE

A small percentage of children and young people with significant learning difficulties might need an assessment that could lead to an Education, Health and Care Plan. Full details can be found on the Local Offer website.

You can find details of how we adapt the curriculum and make it more accessible for pupils with SEN below:

Staffing and any Specialist Qualifications/Expertise

Staff have received training in the following aspects of SEND:

• ASD and strategies to support children
• SEND and new Code of Practice
• Dyslexia
• Administering EpiPen medication
• Safeguarding updates

If you would like to discuss your SEND requirements in detail please contact the school to arrange an appointment.