Special Educational Needs

SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS

 Summary of Provision and Support for SEN

 The SEN Department at Danesfield School has the ethos of “Family Care”. We aim to look after the whole child and the child within the family context.

We support, through the TA (teaching assistant) team, pupils in class with their learning needs.  Further, we also support emotional and social needs in various ways, pupils with specific learning difficulties or language and communication needs with withdrawal (in one to one or group situations) and behavioural difficulties and family issues.

In each year group there are TA’s attached to the classes where there are pupils with learning difficulties.  There may be some intervention work in class in small groups with the TA’s attached.  Also, each pupil with identified specific difficulties will have a withdrawal time with a HLTA or some other group work outside of the main stream setting.

There are Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 3 Nurture Groups and also pupils visit either of these Nurture Group sessions for emotional literacy and social skills programmes.  For pupils who attend the Nurture Group the provision focuses on developing basic skills, heightening social skills and emotional awareness, developing self-awareness and independency skills and language and communication abilities.

 Pupils with specific learning difficulties are overseen by a qualified teacher of Dyslexia and a Senior TA and pupils are withdrawn as appropriate.  Similarly, pupils with language and communication and speech and language difficulties are supported by an HLTA specialist in this area.  Some pupils also access another HLTA for emotional support and one to one talk time as appropriate.  This particular TA also does some family outreach work and liaises with some of the Social Services support staff.  The federation of schools has a Parent Support Advisor who works closely with the head of the Pastoral Team, the SENCo and pupils and their families.  There are specialist TA’s for literacy and numeracy who deliver intervention and booster programmes.

All children who have a Statement or School Action Plus funding or are at School Action are placed on our SEN lists.  Each has a key worker and regular contact is kept with home.  Most of these pupils either have an Individual Support Programme, Education Support Programme or a Pastoral Support Programme which is reviewed each term or twice yearly.

There are SEN lunchtime and break clubs where staff support children who may be physically or emotionally vulnerable. 

As part of all of the provisions which are at School Action and above, pupils can access some of the following activities as judged to be appropriate:

Horse riding for the disabled

Swimming

Emotional Literacy

Socially speaking programmes

Gardening

Project time

Forest School programme

Electronic Library

Wave 3 Maths

Wave 3 Literacy

One to one talk time

Counselling with the School Nurse

Pastoral Support Programme meetings.

Parents are welcomed into the school to discuss the special educational needs of their child and the SENCo and Assistant SENCo’s work across the Federation ensuring excellent liaison, good transfer and continuity of individual programmes.

The Federation Special Educational Needs policy detailing procedures is available from the School Office on request.