“I don’t have a dis-ability, I have a different-ability”
Robert Michael Hensel who was born with Spina bifida.
SEND @ KVS
WHAT IS SEND?
Special educational needs are referred to as SEN. The abbreviation SEND relates to special educational needs and/or disabilities. Guidance, legislation, and regulations sometimes use the abbreviation SEND.
“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 of compulsory school age or a young person has a learning difficulty or disability if he or she:
(a) has a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others of the same age, or
(b) 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 in mainstream schools or mainstream post-16 institutions.”
THE 4 BROAD AREAS OF NEED
Children and young people will have different types of SEND. The type of support they might need will depend on their main area of need. These are generally talked about as four broad areas of need which are described in more detail in the SEND Code of Practice 2015.
Communication and Interaction
How children communicate, understand, and play with others around them. This will also include children with speech, language, and communication needs.
Social, Emotional and Mental Health
Factors which impact a child’s overall wellbeing, such as: emotions, social interactions, and relationships with others which may result in behaviours of concern.
Cognition and Learning
This includes difficulty with learning or remembering basic skills. They may have difficulty with literacy or numeracy or learn at a slower pace than others.
Sensory and/or Physical Needs
This includes vision, hearing or multisensory impairments, physical disabilities, or sensitivities to aspects of the environment.
For more information about the '4 Areas of Need' please refer to our SEND Information Report 2023-2026.
THE GRADUATED RESPONSE
SEN Support is provided through a graduated approach. This is set out in the SEND Code of Practice (p.100) and supported by the Children and Families Act 2014, which both state very clearly that early years settings, schools and colleges have to meet the needs of all children and young people with Special Educational Needs, including those that do not have an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan.
Staff must use the graduated approach four-step process: Assess, Plan, Do, Review.
- Assess - analyse the child or young person’s special educational needs
- Plan - identify the additional and different support needed
- Do - put the support in place and
- Review - regularly check how well it is working so that they can change the amount or kind of support if needed
A very small number of children and young people may not make progress despite SEN support. In these cases, an Education, Health and Care (EHC) needs assessment may be appropriate. This is a detailed assessment of a child or young person’s special educational needs and the support they may need in order to learn and progress.
WHAT IS AN 'ASSESS, PLAN, DO, REVIEW' CYCLE?
- Individual children/young people at SEND support and those with an EHC Plan receive the best possible provision. They also achieve positive outcomes.
- SEND provision made by an educational setting evolves to meet the needs of all children/young people with SEND.
- The EHC Needs Assessment, Planning and Review processes support:
- Children/young people
- Their families
- Educational settings
ASSESS - Clear analysis is made of needs based on:
- Views of the child/young person and their parents/carers
- Teacher assessments and observations
- The pupil’s current attainment
- The pupil’s previous progress and attainment
- Tracking of progress and comparisons with national data
- Assessments by external agencies if appropriate
- Time-limited outcomes for the pupil
- The adjustments, support and interventions to be put in place
- A date for review
All planning must be pupil centred and outcomes focussed and recorded.
DO - All the pupil’s teachers and support staff are made aware of the plan and put in place the adjustments, support and interventions. Teachers are responsible for:
- Differentiating and personalising the curriculum using Subject Specific Curriculum Adaptations
- Delivery of ‘additional and different’ provision for a pupil with SEND
- Planning, support and impact measurement of all group and one-to-one interventions. This is delivered by support staff.
- Linking interventions to classroom teaching