The best thing to do is to make an appointment to have a chat with your child’s class teacher. They will listen to your concerns and talk about what your child is like at school.

Together you will decide what needs to happen next. This might simply be a case of monitoring the situation, or together you might decide to put some extra support in place. Sometimes it might be appropriate for you to have a chat with the SENCO (special educational needs co-ordinator); the class teacher will discuss this with you.

If your child’s class teacher has any concerns about progress, they will arrange to meet with you to talk about what those concerns are. They will be interested in hearing your views too and might ask you questions about what your child is like at home, what their strengths are as well as the areas they need to develop. They might also ask you questions about your child’s development before they started school and ask for your permission to contact previous settings. We may also suggest that you have your child’s sight and hearing checked.

Together you will decide what needs to happen next. This might be a case of monitoring the situation, together you might decide to put some extra support in place, make a referral to a specialist service such as Speech and Language. We would create a 1 Page Profile for your child detailing their strengths have how it is best to support them; this means that all adults that come into contact with your child will know how to support them in a consistent way. At this point your child would be included on our Inclusion Register at ‘Early Action’. This information is not reported to the Local Authority and is used purely for in school monitoring, this stage does not mean your child is on the SEND Register. Sometimes it might be appropriate for you to have a chat with the SENCO (special educational needs co-ordinator); the class teacher will discuss this with you.

To decide whether or not a pupil has special educational needs we look at the legal definition of SEN in the SEND Code of Practice 2014. This says that:

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

• Have a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others of the same age; or

• Have 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 in mainstream schools.”

Our decision is based on lots of things. Your views are very important, as are the views of your child and the class teacher. We look at progress and the work in books. We observe pupils both inside and outside the classroom. We sometimes carry out a range of tests so that we have a better understanding of your child’s strengths and weaknesses. This helps us to target support more effectively. If your child does go on the Inclusion Register at ‘SEN Support’ they will have individual targets, their needs are met by the provision in school; they may have some support from external specialist services such as Speech and Language.

The type of support your child receives will depend upon their individual needs and is tailored to help them to achieve positive outcomes. The type of support currently offered in school includes:

• Differentiation and scaffolding – these are when the class teacher modifies work to enable pupils to do similar work to the other children in the class

• Small group work – either in or out of the classroom with adult support

• One to one support

• Specialised programmes for pupils with specific learning difficulties such as reading, spelling or mathematical difficulties

• Social skills programmes

• Interventions to support sensory needs e.g., sensory circuits

• Communication programmes for pupil with interaction difficulties

• Interventions that support language and vocabulary development

• Speech and language therapy programmes

• Fine and gross motor skills programmes

• Behaviour programmes

Many pupils with SEN have specific targets that they are working towards which make up and Individual Education Plan (IEP) and which provides details about the extra support they are receiving in school. Parents and teachers meet termly to review the IEP and update the targets, this helps parents to support their child at home. The class teacher and SENCO will also be happy to help you with ideas for home.

Most of the time your child will work with their class teacher. Whoever else works with your child, the class teacher retains responsibility for their education. Other adults who might work with your child could include:

• A TA (Teaching Assistant) or a SA (Support Assistant)

• Another teacher from the same year group

• The SENCo

• Specialists from outside the school such as the educational psychologist, teachers from Specialist Inclusion Teams such as Occupational Therapist, Physiotherapists, Speech and Language Therapists and ASD Outreach teachers, this also includes the school nurse.

• Our EMHP (Education Mental Health Practitioner) based in school

We will always let you know before someone from outside the school comes in and works with your child.

You will be invited to attend regular progress meetings with your child’s class teacher. At the meeting you will have the chance to discuss the progress that has been made and together you can plan what the next steps are. If you have concerns about your child’s progress, however, you don’t need to wait until the next progress meeting and your child’s class teacher may ask to meet with you more frequently. Contact the school via the office to make an appointment to see your child’s class teacher.

Some pupils can find it difficult when they make the move from one class to another at the start of a new school year. This can be a very worrying time for parents too, especially when pupils move from one stage of their education and especially the move from infant to junior school.

We support all pupils at times of transition, this support includes:

• Preparation of a transition book which includes photographs of key people and places in the new classroom or setting, as well as other useful information

• Short visits to the new classroom or setting

• Introducing new staff to pupils in familiar surroundings

For children who have additional needs we:

• Pass on 1 Page Profiles and IEPs containing important information about the child to share with new staff

• Our SENCo meets with the SENCo from the new school

• SENCo’s from new schools are invited to final reviews of IEPs and any Annual Reviews for EHCPs.

For further information about the transition from infant to junior school please visit the transition page on our website.