Special Educational Needs Policy

Our Vision

"Every child valued, nurtured and empowered to excel" is the core vision of St. John the Baptist’s College and is the driving force in outlining the components of this policy. As a non-selective, all ability, inclusive school we aim to identify and remove the barriers to learning that children entrusted to our care may face so that they make excellent progress commensurate or in excess of their current levels of attainment and perceived ability. We believe that meeting the needs of all learners is the responsibility of every teacher, in every classroom.

Introduction

This document outlines the policy in St. John the Baptist’s College for the identification, assessment and provision for children with Special Educational and Additional Needs. Current legislation including "The Code of Practice on the Identification and Assessment of Special Educational Needs 1998" and "The Supplement of the Code of Practice 2005", and "The Special Educational Needs Disability Order 2005" have been used to inform the writing of this policy.

Other documents consulted with the intention of forming a best practice model for SEN includes "Every School a Good School 2009" and "Summary Report of Responses to the Consultation on Every School a Good School – The Way Forward for Special Educational Needs and Inclusion and the associated Equality Impact. As with any policy within the school, this is a working document which is updated in line with new research, DE guidance, and work practices piloted. 

This policy will be further updated to reflect changes brought about by SEND 2016 once DE instruct schools that it has been passed by the Stormont Executive.

 

Current Legislation

Definition of Special Educational Needs

The Education Order (NI) 1996, Part II defines “Special Educational Needs” as ‘a learning difficulty which calls for special educational provision to be made’.  For the purposes of this policy, a student has a “learning difficulty” if

1. a) He/she has a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of children of his/her age, or
2. b) He/she has a disability which either prevents or hinders him/her from making use of educational facilities of a kind generally provided for children of his/her age in ordinary schools or

In the Education Orders, “special educational provision” means educational provision which is “additional to” or “otherwise different from” the educational provision made generally for other children of his/her age in an ordinary school. 

The LSC will work under guidance of the EA’s SEND Provision Team to revise this policy when the new Education Order comes into law. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Definition of a Disability

The Special Educational Needs and Disability (NI) Order 2005 (SENDO) defines a disabled student as ‘a pupil who is a disabled person’.  The terms ‘disability’ and ‘disabled person’ are defined in the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) 1995.  A ‘disabled person’ means a person who has a disability.  A person has a disability ‘if he/she has a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on his/her ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities’. 

 Under SENDO, St. John the Baptist’s College has a duty:

• Not to treat disabled students and prospective students less favourably for a reason related to their disability and,
• To make reasonable adjustment to all policies, procedures and practices, to ensure that a disabled student/prospective student is not placed at substantial disadvantage compared to students who are not disabled.

 

 

Guiding Principles

St. John the Baptist College’s statement and ethos of aims is supported by the SEN policy.  The aims of education for students with SEN are the same as those for all students.

• The Vision of our school and its aims, values and ethos are supported by the Special Educational and Additional Needs Policy.
• High expectations are communicated for all students including those with Special Educational and Additional Needs.
• We see our role as supporting students to make progress commensurate or in excess of their current levels of attainment as indicated through baseline assessment.
• Students who have barriers to learning which are preventing them from fulfilling their potential are identified early, and suitable targets and interventions are put in place so that they get to experience success.
• Students with Special Educational Needs, need a safe and supportive environment where high expectations and mutual respect are embodied and students enjoy their learning experiences.
• We operate an inclusive policy, so mixed ability with blended support is the model that allows students to feel valued equally and obtain opportunities for support without stigmatisation. By working in a range of partnerships, we aim to provide learning experiences that meet the needs of the learner with Special Educational and Additional Needs and enable them to develop the knowledge, skills and confidence needed in adult life.
• Through capacity building and differentiated teaching via mixed ability grouping, consideration of Special Educational Needs is the responsibility of all teachers; and encompasses all aspects of learning and teaching which will lead to good practice for all students.
• Students are encouraged to take responsibility for their learning and behaviour and we seek to develop each students’ understanding of their rights and responsibilities as active learners and citizens within the school community.
• Movement to becoming more independent learners with minimum support as students progress through the Key Stages, is key to becoming independent in the modern world.

 

 

 

 

 

Objectives

• Identify students with Special and Educational Needs and disabilities as early as possible, to ensure that their needs are assessed and being met
• Ensure that all students can access the curriculum which is differentiated, by identifying their barrier to learning using baseline testing and communicating data with all staff so that their needs are recognised and addressed
• Provide blended provision of specialist mentoring in literacy, numeracy or behaviour in addition to some adult assistant hours where appropriate
• Seek the views of students and parents and take them into account, as appropriate
• Acknowledge and draw on the parents/carers knowledge about the child, and take this into account when making decisions/plans
• Monitor progress of students with Special Educational Needs
• Effective deployment and use of resources including external agencies, use of Nurture Centre, deployment of LSAs, intervention strategies etc
• All teachers see meeting the needs of all learners as their responsibility – our collective responsibility.

In order to successfully achieve these objectives, provision for Special Educational Needs is a priority for all staff in learning and teaching, and subject to a continuous cycle of assessment and review.

Development

• Make sure that St. John the Baptist’s College is a dyslexia friendly school
• Make sure that St. John the Baptist’s College is a safe place for ASD students
• Promote and increase the use of assistive technology to help students access the curriculum both in the classroom and at home
• Promote capacity building amongst staff by reviewing staff training needs and holding in-service training, or advising on courses, where appropriate, to allow staff to adapt to meet the needs of learners with Special Educational Needs
• Continue assessment of KS3 students for examination access arrangement requirements at GCSE and beyond, in liaison with the Examinations Officer.
• Develop the appropriate use of our Nurture Centre for academic, emotional and behavioural support
• Attendance at SEND 2016 Act training updates by SENCO, Principal and Board of Governors in line with mandatory DE training regarding the forthcoming changes with SEN and the Code of Practice.

Roles & Responsibilities

Provision for students with Special Educational Needs is the responsibility of all staff. We work as a team to provide the best possible environment and educational experience in order to allow children to break down barriers to learning and make excellent progress. The Learning Support Coordinator (previously known as SENCO), in collaboration with the Principal and Board of Governors, plays a key role in helping to determine the strategic development of the Special Educational Needs Policy and provision in the school to raise the achievement of pupils with Special Educational Needs.

The LSC takes day-to-day responsibility for the operation of the Special Educational Needs, working closely with staff, parents and outside agencies. 

 

The Principal

The Principal has the responsibility for the day-to-day management of all aspects of the school's work, including provision for students with Special Educational Needs. The Principal keeps the Governing Body fully informed regarding developmental work within and across the Special Educational Needs Support Team.

 

 

 

The Governing Body

The school's Governing Body has specific responsibility to:

• Designate a teacher on the staff as having responsibility for coordinating the provision of education for those pupils attending the school who have SEN. (SEND Act 2016)
• Do its best to ensure that necessary provision is made for any student who has Special Educational and Needs;
• Ensure students’ needs are made known to all who may teach them;
• Ensure teachers are aware of the importance of assessing, identifying and providing for those students with special educational needs;
• Ensure parents are notified when provision is being made for a child with special educational needs.

 

 

The Learning Support Coordinator's Role

The LSC is responsible for:-

• The day-to-day operation or the school's SEN policy and effective deployment of resources. The Learning Support Coordinator will be involved, in conjunction with the learning support team, in responding to requests for advice from other teachers/parents/carers of students who have or may present with special educational needs;
• Maintaining and continually updating of both the Internal and SIMS SEN register;
• Contributing to the writing of student PLP targets/ Annual Reviews and Transition plans in liaison with students and parents;
• Undertake departmental evaluation with support from departmental colleagues;
• Liaising with parents of children with special educational and additional needs;
• Establishing the SEN in-service training requirements of staff and contributing as appropriate to their training;
• Liaising with external agencies;
• Maintain close links with Principal and SLT about developments within the department;
• Seeking the views of students, parents and staff for maintaining the cycle of improvement within the department;
• Identification through baseline testing students who may require further psychometric testing or referral for further supports from external agencies;
• Conduct assessment reports in support of applying for access arrangements and applications for psychology;
• Contribute to the school improvement teams by providing up to date information to help inform future interventions of the teams - KS3 and KS4 raising standards team/ Teaching and Learning team/ Assessment and Recording team.

The Subject Teacher

“All teachers are responsible for the day to day teaching and learning in their classroom of all children whom they teach including pupils with SEN and must have regard to, and consistently apply, the guidance set out in the Code”   (Draft Code of Practice 2020, 2.50)

All teachers are teachers of special educational needs; with support from the Learning Support team, they adapt their teaching methods to overcome the barriers to learning of the students who may present in their class. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the subject teacher to:

• Plan to meet the needs of all learners in their classes;
• Working with CA/GA to pan for and provide optimum in-class support for SEN
• Communicate high expectations for all learners;
• Consult the SEN register and be informed of the special educational needs of their students;
• For students on stage 1-3 of Code of Practice (be aware of the general area of need and consult best practice guidelines and the BTC SEN Toolkit for possible strategies to break down the barriers to learning;
• Maintain a record of inital strategies applied in class to help students access the curriculum;
• Forward concerns to Head of Department and Head of Year if a student is not making progress in his/her learning as a result of interventions and reasonable adjustments;
• Consult PLPs for students and be informed of the targets set;
• Consult Pupil Files within the Learning Support Folder for a summary of Ed Psych reports, medical reports and other external agency reports on students;
• Ensure opportunities are provided through differentiated instruction for students to meet their targets;
• Contribute to/ maintain record of evidence of where a student had opportunities to meet his/her target;
• Contribute to reporting on the progress of Statemented Students, in terms of meeting their targets in order to inform the Annual Review Process.

 

 

 

Heads of Department

A Head of department is responsible with departmental colleagues for developing policies, procedures and teaching strategies which ensure access to the mainstream curriculum for all children. The HOD will:

• Ensure planning is effective in meeting the needs of all learners;
• Support individual teachers as they respond to the Special Educational Needs of their students;
• Develop and manage resources which support efficient and effective teaching strategies that meet the individual needs of students and which implement differentiation/personalised learning;
• Contribute to subject enquiries about specific pupils’ progress in order to help inform appropriate placement on SEN register (tracking/concerns from department colleagues);
• Forward concerns to Head of Year if students are not making progress after initial interventions have been put in place for students not on the register;
• Ensure, to the best of their ability, that all members of the department are aware of students in their class on the SEN register, and that they are making provisions that afford students opportunities to meet their targets.
• Make temporary or sub-teachers within your department aware of SEN students and support practices within your department.

Triggers for intervention

 

Interventions will be triggered by analysis of baseline data PtE/PtM, if possible barriers aren’t identified earlier via parental/previous school reports.

or

A teacher's concern (underpinned by evidence) as a result of differentiated/personalised learning opportunities showing that the student:

(Examples of evidence)

• Makes little or no progress even when teaching approaches are targeted particularly in a student's identified area of weakness
• Shows signs of difficulty in developing literacy or mathematical skills that result in poor attainment in some curriculum areas;
• Presents with persistent emotional and or behavioural difficulties which are not ameliorated by the behaviour management techniques, usually employed in the school according to the positive behaviour for learning policy;
• Has sensory or physical problems and continues to make little or no progress despite the provision of specialist equipment;
• Has communication and/or interaction difficulties, and continues to make little or no progress, despite provision of a differentiated curriculum.

Provision / Support available for students

 

KS3

Access arrangements for internal exams Allocation of devices to support learning in school and at home Annual Review for Statemented Students Aspire Behaviour support withdrawal Breakfast Club EA Autism Advisory and Intervention Support EA Careers Service and EA Transition Service involved in Yr10 Annual review EA Visual and Auditory Service Support Good Relations Programme In-class LSA support KS3 Tracking Learning Mentors Literacy support withdrawal Lunch club Numeracy support withdrawal Nurture Provision REACH Mentoring School Counsellor Supervised homework club within Nurture Transform Programme Transition Support for new Yr8 ASD Students (Moving On Programme)

KS4

Access arrangements for internal and external exams Allocation of devices to support learning in school and at home Aspire Behaviour Support withdrawal Breakfast Club EA Visual and Auditory Service Support Explore In-class LSA support KS4 Tracking Learning Mentors Literacy support withdrawal Numeracy support withdrawal Revision classes for KS4 pupils Supervised homework club within Nurture Transition Review for Statemented Students Youth work Group

 

The SEN Policy is a working document and will be reviewed in line with DE changes to SEN Legislation and recommended practices. 

It is anticipated this policy will be reviewed during the academic year (2021-2022) once the NI Executive has ratified the new SEND 2016 Act. 

This Policy acknowledges the current changes (since June 2021) in the Code of Practice from a 5 stage to a 3 stage model.