SEND

Aims and philosophy

We passionately believe in an inclusive education for all and are dedicated to providing a ‘whole school’ approach to raising achievement in line with the students’ starting point. This is very much who we are as an academy and as a community.

We are incredibly proud of the personal, social and academic achievements of our young people with Special Education Needs and Disabilities and are confident that through an inclusive learning environment and high quality learning experiences we help students go from Flitcham well-equipped to make the most of the next stage of their learning.

Through our high aspirations and inclusive ethos we aim to encourage all pupils to be actively involved in their own learning. This involves valuing all pupils and staff equally and supporting them in reducing barriers to learning and participation. 

We use the ‘Assess, Plan, Do, Review’ cycle.   We ensure that any additional needs that a pupil may have are identified early and we offer a package of support to meet those requirements.

Mrs Chrissie Reddey is our Federation SENDCo (Special Educational and Disability coordinator) and she can be contacted via the school office on 01485 600383 or by email on – creddey@swn.dneat.org

What is SEND?

As set out in the SEND Code of Practice 2015, a child or young person has a special educational need if they have a learning difficulty or disability which calls for special educational provision to be made for them which is different from or additional to that normally available to pupils of the same age.

All mainstream schools (which includes maintained schools and academies) have a similar approach to meeting the needs of pupils with SEND and are supported by the Local Authority to ensure that all pupils, regardless of their specific needs, make the best possible progress in school.  All schools are supported to be inclusive, with the needs of pupils with SEND being met in a mainstream setting wherever possible, where families want this to happen.

Additionally, schools have to provide details of the school-specific offer which should reflect the Norfolk SEND Local   

The Local Offer has two key purposes:

• To provide clear, comprehensive and accessible information about the provision 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.
• To make provision more responsive to local needs and aspirations by directly involving children and young people with SEND, parents/carers and service providers in its development and review.

As part of the Local Offer, all schools and county councils must publish on their website information about what support there is for children with SEND in the school and cluster.

We aim to:

• Ensure that the academy’s statutory duties are met for students that have an Education Health and Care Plan. 
• Ensure that pupils are enabled to become independent, resourceful and resilient learners. 
• Ensure every child achieves their potential regardless of their barriers to learning or starting point. 
• Ensure there are strong links with parents and families in regard to supporting their child
• Ensure that the views of individual pupils are considered when determining the nature of provision required to support them. 
• Ensure all advice from professionals is integrated into planning and provision. 
• Ensure we use the data and progress of pupils to inform planning and provision.
• Please click on the links below for further information about Flitcham Primary Academy SEND provision

How we evaluate the effectiveness of our SEND Provision

We continuously ensure that provision has a positive impact on the outcomes for all of our children. We measure all student’s academic progress through summative assessments and where applicable, through targeted intervention. The progress of students with SEND is monitored by the teacher and the SENDCo. Information regarding progress is then used to evaluate the effectiveness of the support that is given. We will also gather information from the young person, parents/carers, Teaching Assistants and, where applicable, professionals from other agencies.

We place great importance on effective SEND provision and regularly review the impact of our intervention.

Evaluation methods include:

• Pupil and parent voice – questionnaires
• Assess, Plan, Do, Review outcomes
• SENCo/SLT/Governor monitoring

With the permission of parents, we may also seek additional advice from outside specialists. This extra advice may come from health professionals, specialist teachers or educational psychologists.  

These professionals may:

• Carry out further activities to show what the child finds easy and what they may need specific help with
• Provide advice to schools on how to best support the child
• Suggest resources (things) that would help the child make progress

If your child needs support from a range of professionals to succeed in school and in life, we will talk with you. We may, with your permission, ask the Local Authority to carry out an Education, Health and Care Needs Assessment.

Interventions

As part of the Assess, Plan, Do, review cycle we adopt the following approach :

During their educational journey, a student may require a more bespoke and personalised approach to their learning. In which case, the student may receive some additional intervention as part of their provision. At Flitcham, we offer optional personalised learning interventions to identified pupils. 

For those pupils who have disabilities, guidance is sought and all reasonable adjustments are made.