Richmond School
Policy | Policy List | Special Educational Needs Policy
SPECIALL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS POLICY
THE PRINCIPLE GUIDING THE POLICY FOR SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS
1. Richmond School is committed to equality of opportunity for all. There is a policy of open admission.
2. Richmond School has a whole school approach to provision for students with special needs. Every student has an entitlement to study all subjects of the National Curriculum, to learn in every area of the School and to participate in all school activities.
3. Every teacher has responsibility for meeting the needs of individual students.
4. The School recognises that any student can at any time in her or his school career have a special need. This need may be for the whole of his or her school career, or for as short a term as a few weeks. It is recognised that when this occurs it will be necessary to make extra provision available to ensure that difficulties are addressed.
5. The School follows the recommendations of the Code of Practice on the Identification and Assessment of Special Educational Needs and the legislation from which it arises.
6. The School aims for equality of access for all its students, particularly those with special educational needs, by providing:
• equal access for all to all areas of the School's curriculum (formal and informal);
• an efficient education in all aspects of the National Curriculum at the appropriate level of opportunity to participate in all aspects of school life;
• the opportunity to be socially and educationally integrated in school life;
• the opportunity to contribute in a positive way;
• recognition for achievements;
• physical access wherever possible.
The School is committed to staffing a Learning Support Team with wide experience of meeting special needs.
This policy supercedes any previous policies for Special Educational Needs within Richmond School.
INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL’S POLICIES FOR IDENTIFICATION, ASSESSMENT AND PROVISION FOR ALL STUDENTS WITH SEN
ALLOCATION OF RESOURCES TO STUDENTS WITH SEN
The School:
Recognises that a greater investment in some students with special needs is necessary to enable equality of access. This is reflected in:
• staffing;
• capitation for the Learning Support Department;
• range of materials provided by Departments;
• provision of two Learning Support Bases to facilitate:
- individual teaching;
- literacy workshops;
- review meetings;
- assessment;
- consultation with students;
- consultation with parents ;
- outside agency work with students.
The Learning Support Department:
• receives capitation with which resources to support individual students are purchased;
• allocates staff to support in subject areas;
• provides special equipment to meet individual needs;
• equips and maintains resources in the Learning Support Bases.
Subject Departments and Faculties:
• use capitation to meet the learning needs of the full range of abilities of students by purchasing and/or devising appropriate resources.
IDENTIFICATION AND ASSESSMENT ARRANGEMENTS; REVIEW PROCEDURES
Richmond School recognises that students present a wide range of different special needs. We endeavour to obtain a full picture of the student in diagnosing needs. We recognise the importance of building on the strengths of the student and providing strategies to support him/her in overcoming difficulties, or minimising the effects of them, to enable the student to benefit as fully as possible from the School.
The School works on a staged approach to identification, assessment and provision. Students and parents are informed of action taken at School Action and consulted at all other stages. Tutors and teachers are involved and consulted at every stage.
Identification and Assessment
• by liaison with Primary Schools;
• by examination of Primary School Records;
• by testing of Reading, Spelling and Maths;
• by diagnostic testing;
• by teachers, parents, outside agencies expressing a concern for the individual student;
• by observation in the learning area;
• by gathering information from all sources relevant to the particular student
• by obtaining the views of the student and his/her parents/carers.
When all relevant information has been gathered, an Individual Education Plan is devised to meet the student's needs. This will be for an agreed period of time. Only rarely will a student be put on a higher stage as a first option.
Review Procedures
At the end of an Individual Education Plan the Learning Support Department will initiate a Review involving the appropriate parties.
A decision will be made at this meeting: whether the student's needs have been met, whether the Individual Education Plan needs to stay in operation for a further period of time, or whether the student needs to be moved to the next stage. If the student moves to the next stage the procedure begins again.
CO-ORDINATION OF EDUCATIONAL PROVISION
The Learning Support Co-ordinator is: Janet Clarke
The Learning Support Co-ordinator has responsibility for:
• ensuring that the SEN register is up to date;
• overseeing the records of all students with special educational needs;
• the day to day operation of the SEN policy;
• the allocation of all support staff to students (individual or small groups) according to their needs;
• the use of the Learning Support Bases and the maintenance of resources;
• the management of finance allocated to the Learning Support Department;
• ensuring that there is Learning Support Department representation on the Curriculum and Pastoral Groups;
• overseeing the spending of any supplementary provision;
• ensure Performance Management of departmental staff is in place.
It is the responsibility of the Learning Support Department to:
• investigate whenever a concern is expressed which indicates that a student may have special educational needs;
• involve parents and the student in consultations about what those needs are and how they can be met;
• carry out appropriate assessment where necessary;
• co-ordinate provision to meet the student's needs in co-operation with the Pastoral Team, Departments, Faculties and individual teachers;
• disseminate information internally to Departments, Faculties, Pastoral Teams and individual teachers;
• work co-operatively with outside agencies and parents when required;
• set up Individual Education Plans for the student and review progress on a regular basis;
• keep accurate records appertaining to the student in the appropriate Learning Support Base;
• chair Review Meetings;
• run Literacy Workshops.
School will:
• endeavour to allocate resources related to the number of students on the SEN Register and Statement List.
Departments and Faculties will:
• liaise with the Learning Support Department in appraising the special needs of students, in line with the Code of Practice;
• appoint a member of staff to attend the SEN Forum as the department's delegate;
• provide teaching that facilitates the integration of students with special education needs;
• provide equal access to facilities, experiences and activities related to the subject;
• develop an appropriately differentiated curriculum to ensure that students are able to participate and achieve at a level which is appropriate to their needs;
• implement Individual Education Plans;
• report on the action taken;
• provide materials that allow differentiated, accessible approaches to the study of the subject for students with learning difficulties;
• consult with the SEN Co-ordinator that resources purchased or produced for students with SEN are appropriate for their needs.
Pastoral Teams will:
• liaise with the Learning Support Department in providing for students with special needs within School and with outside agencies;
• work in co-operation with the Learning Support Department in line with the Code of Practice using the staged approach to meeting individual needs;
• alert the Learning Support Department at an early stage when there is a concern for the wellbeing of the student;
• take a lead role in devising and implementing Individual Education Plans where appropriate.
SEN Forum will:
• facilitate communication between LSD and individual subject areas;
• monitor the effectiveness of implementation of the SEN policy and Code of Practice;
• ensure that SEN issues are on the Agendas of department meetings;
• share strategies to support the learning process for SEN students;
• raise concerns of departments;
• communicate information to departments from LSD;
• meet half-termly.
ARRANGEMENTS FOR PROVIDING ACCESS FOR STUDENTS WITH SEN TO A BALANCED AND BROADLY BASED CURRICULUM, INCLUDING THE NATIONAL CURRICULUM
Learning Support teachers are placed to ensure that those students with special needs have access to learning at the appropriate level. Some subject teachers are also timetabled for support.
In Years 10 and 11 students can opt for Support Studies. This takes place two lessons per week and students bring work from other subjects, and receive help in understanding and developing their work for these subjects.
For those students with reading difficulties in Years 7, 8 and 9 there are Reading Workshops. These take place during the afternoon tutorial time.
How students with Special Education Needs are integrated within the School as a whole
Students are placed in mixed ability tutor groups and largely remain together as a tutor group throughout their school careers for registration and PSHE. They are encouraged to participate in the many extra-curricular activities. They participate fully in all aspects of the School Curriculum and have full access to the National Curriculum.
Criteria for Evaluating the Success of the School’s SEN Policy
In meeting the needs of individual students through the staged approach, holding regular reviews, and devising appropriate plans for addressing needs, we will be monitoring closely how well we are succeeding to implement the School's SEN Policy.
Evidence will include:
• improvements in literacy and numeracy;
• improvements in attendance;
• positive changes in student behaviour;
• increased motivation to learn;
• increased self esteem and confidence;
• feedback from parents;
• feedback from staff;
• feedback from students;
• feedback from outside agencies;
• improvements in physical ability.
Arrangements for Considering Complaints about Special Educational Provision within the School
If there are concerns about any aspects of a student's education, there is a procedure in place enabling parents to express their concerns. As a first step, these concerns should be discussed with the Head of Year. If the student is already on the Special Educational Needs Register, then the Learning Support Co-ordinator will be contacted.
If after discussion parents are still concerned, then a meeting with the relevant Head of School, Deputy Head or the Head can be arranged. In the day to day administration of the policy for students with special educational needs, parents and students have the opportunity to express any concerns they may have, including the appropriateness of arrangements made both at review meetings and prior to plans being formulated. Arrangements made for consulting and working with parents closely means that there should be few complaints about how a student's special needs are met.
Admission Arrangements
The following arrangements apply:
• The School maintains close links with its feeder primary schools;
• Primary Schools invite attendance at Review Meetings of students with special needs in Year 6;
• Primary Schools send written notification of any students with special needs on the Transitional Information Form to the school in the summer term, and other school records;
• The appropriate member of the Learning Support Department and/or Head of Lower School visit Primary Schools during the summer term to gather information from teachers about students who have special educational needs;
• In some cases we use an Advanced Teaching Assistant to do outreach work with a child in the final summer half term;
• Parents and students visit the school prior to entry;
• Special visits are arranged for any students with special needs for whom it is felt to be beneficial prior to entry;
• Information about students with special needs is disseminated to all staff prior to entry;
• In the first term, parents of all students on the Special Needs Register are invited to come into School to discuss any concerns which may have arisen as a first step in building good working relationships with parents/carers;
• Integration plans are implemented for those students with special needs entering the school part way through the academic year.
INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL’S STAFFING POLICIES AND PARTNERSHIP WITH PARENTS AND OUTSIDE AGENCIES
Provision for Staff Training
It is the policy of the School to provide:
• workshop sessions to assist staff with teaching techniques and approaches that will give students with difficulties greater access to their subjects;
• opportunities to allow, within available resources, subject teachers to plan with the support staff with whom they will be working during all or part of the following academic year, their joint approach to helping students in the class. This will take place once support teaching timetables have been allocated by the Head of Learning Support in consultation with Heads of Department and the teachers affected;
• sessions within staff training days that enable staff to address problems of accessibility that some students may face in studying their subject area.
Partnership with Parents
It is the School's policy to:
• keep parents regularly informed by the Learning Support Department of difficulties experienced by students at school;
• inform parents when a student is put on the Special Needs Register at School Action;
• consult with parents before any action is taken within the Code of Practice at School Action or above;
• work closely with parents when developing learning or behavioural techniques that are designed to help the student overcome difficulties and problems;
• involve parents in the development of Action Plans to meet the needs of the student and ensure as far as possible that the parents have an active role;
• provide open access for all parents to this policy and to promote a collaborative and open approach to working with all parents whose children have Special Educational Needs;
• involve parents in review meetings to assess the success of action taken and to play an active role in devising new action plans where this is needed.
The Assistance of Pupil Support Services
It is the policy of the School to:
foster a close working relationship with North Yorkshire Pupil Support Services who:
• advise staff about learning and behavioural support resources and strategies;
• evaluate the School's support for students with learning difficulties;
• assess the needs of individual students;
• support specific students whose needs cannot be met from within the resources of the School;
• have regular liaison meetings with the Learning Support Department.
(See the appendices to this document which explain the range of services available to the School and the process to be followed when involving Pupil Support Services.)
Links with other Schools and Transfer of Students
The School operates procedures that:
• seek the collection of detailed information from previous schools for students with difficulties transferring to Richmond. When all information is collected then an Action Plan for the student's integration is devised in consultation with all interested parties;
• make use of case conferences involving all concerned when planning specific provision for students with difficulties who are transferring to Richmond;
• utilise monitoring systems, with feedback from all relevant staff, to provide parents and guardians with a clear evaluation of the degree to which the student has settled in at Richmond during the first half term at the school;
• collect details about student progress to inform transitional reviews, held under the terms of the Code of Practice and the 1993 Education Act, to assist preparations for the transfer of students to further and higher education;
• furnish receiving schools with all necessary information to assist the transfer of students who move to their schools in the middle of their courses.
Links with other Agencies
Representatives from the Senior Management, the Learning Support Department, and the Pastoral Team meet with:
• Social Services
• Pupil Support Services
• The School's Medical Officer
• The Police
• Other Agencies involved with the student's wellbeing
either as a group or separately in order to devise co-ordinated approaches to helping individual young people whose difficulties warrant a combined approach to overcome them.
THE GOVERNING BODY’S ANNUAL REPORT TO PARENTS
This report will give an account of the workings of the School's SEN policy by:
• noting the number of students with Statements of SEN and the number on the SEN register, in comparison with the previous 3 years;
• summarising the improvement in numeracy scores achieved by students with low levels of numeracy over a 12 month period;
• summarising the improvement in literacy scores achieved by students with low levels of literacy over a 12 month period;
• making note of GCSE results of students whose learning difficulties place them within the 18% category of students with special educational needs;
• explaining the use made of the Code of Practice in identifying, assessing, monitoring and providing for students with SEN during the course of the school year;
• giving a summary report of the progress made in general terms of the students listed on the Special Educational Needs Register;
• giving an account of the strategies used by the school, in conjunction sometimes with external agencies, to help students with emotional and behavioural difficulties and evaluating the success of those strategies.
The Report will identify any specific changes that have been made to the SEN Policy and explain the reasons for those changes, stipulating a future review date, if appropriate.
The Report will give a brief account of the meetings that have taken place during the year with the Pupil Support Service and other agencies which have a part to play, liaising with the school, in assisting children with Special Needs achieve their full potential.
The report by the Governing Body will give an account of:
• the amount of the School's budget that has been allocated to students with Special Educational Needs;
• how this is allocated to Departments, The Learning Support Department, and the Pastoral Teams;
• how this money has been spent in making provision for students with SEN;
• and comment on the proportion of funding that has been allocated to students with SEN in the light of information from the LEA, other schools, national statistics etc whichever are obtainable at the time the report is presented.
Review: November 2007
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