At Hardwicke, we believe that every teacher is a teacher of SEN. We work effectively and closely with partnerships across education health and care.
In line with the Code of Practice 2014, we have high expectations and aspirations for children with SEN. We believe that ALL children are entitled to an education that enables them to:
We ensure that the Hardwicke Special Educational Needs and Disabilities policy works within the guidelines and inclusion policies of the Code of Practice (2014), the Local Education Authority, Equality Act 2010 and other relevant policies and legislation.
In compliance with the Code of Practice 2014, we plan and provide for children with
SEND within the four broad areas outlined below:
Some children and young people with a physical disability (PD) require additional ongoing support and equipment to access all the opportunities available to their peers.
PRINCIPLES
At Hardwicke we adopt the following principles regarding successful inclusive education.
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.
GIFTED AND TALENTED
Hardwicke 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 Inclusion Lead works closely with teachers to monitor these pupils and ensure that challenge is provided in their area of skill. Hardwicke 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
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. Hardwicke promotes an ethos towards positive behaviour management and the children and staff are encouraged to use and display the Hardwicke Values.
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, Hardwicke 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, BLAST, Talk Boost and Lucid Screening 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
Heather Gregory is the SENDCo at Hardwicke Parochial Academy.
SENCO role will include:
Other members of the SEND Team:
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:
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 Gloucestershire 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.
Click this link to read the Gloucestershire Local Offer