If a child is identified as having a special educational need/disability (SEND), it may be necessary for a school to intervene to provide additional support for that child. This support should be provided through a process known as ‘SEN Support’. This is designed to help remove any barriers the child has to learning and put in place provisions that will enable that child to benefit fully from their education, whilst also having a broad and balanced curriculum.

This support is provided through a continuously repeated 4-part cycle known as the ‘graduated approach’, revisiting and reappraising the support, and concentrating on what works best for the child. In this way, the support should become more refined and specialised over time, to ensure that the child continues to make good progress at school and that the desired outcomes are reached.

Your child’s class teacher is responsible for the work that is done with your child, they work closely with Learning Support Assistants and any specialist adults involved with your child.

The school offers many different forms of additional provision. This can include:

• Adapting our curriculum to ensure all pupils are able to access it, for example, by grouping, 1:1 work, teaching style, content of the lesson, recording methods etc.
• Adapting our resources and staffing
• Access to a wide range of outside agencies
• Using recommended aids, such as laptops, coloured overlays, visual timetables, larger font, etc.
• Adapting our teaching, for example, giving longer processing times, pre-teaching of key vocabulary, reading instructions aloud, etc.
• Additional in-class support or additional out-of-class support

The most important point is that additional provision depends on the needs of the child.

For many children, targets will be connected to learning and will often be specifically to do with literacy and numeracy. For other children, they may be to do with social interaction, communicating with children and adults, emotional needs, overcoming physical issues (for example difficulties with fine motor control) … the list is endless!

Teachers are advised by the SEN team about how to adapt the learning to ensure that all pupils have access to the curriculum. We use the advice sent in by professionals to support this. Learning is scaffolded according to needs and requirements. We work closely with the child and their family to ensure a child-centred and collaborative approach is taken.