What is SEND?

Special Education Needs & Disability Provision

What are Special Educational Needs?

A special educational need can be a number of different things. For example, your child may be having problems with reading, maths or struggling with social and emotional difficulties. School can help by putting extra support in at school and by working in partnership with yourself. It may also be due to a disability which makes it harder for a child to use the same educational facilities that the school provides for the majority of children. For some children this may be a temporary difficulty, while others may have a long term need for special help.

Many children at some stage in their development have special educational needs. Typically, these needs can be met within the classroom situation. Teachers use different teaching styles, resources and plan differentiated levels of work in the classroom to cater for the various ways in which children learn. This is called Quality First Teaching and is something schools must provide for all children.

Some children have more specific needs and may require special support or alternative learning techniques either temporarily to overcome some difficulty or permanently to ensure that learning is effective.

Who to speak to about SEND?

Miss S Fautley is the Special Educational Needs Coordinator

Mrs L Brown is the Shadow Special Educational Needs Coordinator

Mrs C McCormack (HLTA) is a supporting member of the SEN Team

Lisa Ahmed is the Special Educational Needs Governor

What to do if I think my child has SEND?

You know your child better than anyone else. At St Mary’s we work in as a close partnership with parents/carers.

If your child is pre-school, don’t wait for their next routine health check – visit your GP and ask for their opinion. If your child attends a pre-school speak to their teacher or key worker.

If your child is already in school (including nursery) talk to their teacher. Ask also to speak to the school’s Special Needs Co-ordinator (SENCO), who organises extra help for children with SEN.

Talk to the teacher/SENCO about:

• why you think your child has SEN
• whether you are concerned about your child’s progress in their learning
• what the school can do to help
• what you can do to help

Your child’s teacher and the SENCO will use the SEN Code of Practice to work out whether your child has SEN, using the Graduated Approach of Assess, Plan, Do and Review.

We pay close attention to individual needs, personalised planning and the essential contribution of parents and carers to help us educate the whole child.