A Definition

A child or young person has Special Educational Needs if they have a learning difficulty or disability which calls for special educational provision to be made for him or her.

A child or young person has a learning difficulty if he or she:

• has a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others of the same age
• has a disability which prevents or hinders him or her from making use of facilities of a kind generally provided for others of the same age

For children aged 2+ special educational provision is educational or training provision that is additional to or different from that made generally for others (SEND code of practice 2014).

Special Educational Needs & Disabilities (SEND) is split into 4 broad areas…

Inclusion & Equal Opportunities

Our school is a mainstream setting where all children have an entitlement to access a broad and balanced, social and academic curriculum.  We endeavour to eliminate all prejudice and discrimination and to develop an environment where all children can feel safe and flourish. We aim to give all learners equal opportunities whatever their age, gender, ethnicity, impairment, disability, attainment and background.  As a truly inclusive school, we will always make reasonable adjustments to ensure an individual’s needs are met; often going ‘above and beyond’.  However, we also strive to ensure that every decision made is always in the best interest of the individual child and we will always support families to access the most effective provision for their child. 

Admission arrangements for a child with SEND or a disability would follow our admissions policy.  As part of the application process, particularly where a child has a SEND support plan, an Education, Health, Care Plan or an External Agency working with them already the SENCo would arrange an initial meeting (communications) with the family (and other professionals) to begin planning, assessing and arranging provision.  Depending on the age of the child and the type of transition, an induction package would be agreed using all advice and information (often this is bespoke in nature to meet the individual’s needs).  Once an individual has started school, regular review meetings would be scheduled until the schools’ SEND systems could provide effective support- for more information read, SEND at our School.

To ensure greatest success, access and opportunity for pupils with SEN or disabilities we;

• Have a highly skilled well trained Inclusion team
• Are committed to continuous professional development and update and undertake new training regularly
• Regularly review our Accessibility plan (see website)
• Deliver a range of high quality interventions/ strategies that are based on research and evidence
• Work closely and pro actively with a range of professionals, including commissioning our own solution focussed Educational Psychologist for 1 day per month

The SENCo undertakes termly monitoring to ensure equality, inclusion and to evaluate effectiveness.

This document is written in line with a range of policies, legislation and guidance:

Children and Families Act (2014)

SEND Code of Practice (2014)
Working together to safeguard children 2022 (DfE)
The Children Act 1989
Equality Act 2010
Reasonable adjustments for disabled pupils (2012)
Supporting pupils at school with medical conditions (2014)
The Mental Capacity Act Code of Practice: Protecting the Vulnerable (2005)

Click here to see our graduated response