SEN Support in Schools
All schools have a duty to provide support to children and young people with SEN, whether or not they have an EHC plan.
What to expect from your child's school regarding special educational needs (SEN) support.
If your child has SEN, your school needs to use do its very best to give your child the support they need. That could include getting advice and support from specialists outside the school.
If you think your child has SEN or a disability, you should talk to your school class teacher and/or SENCO.
If your child’s school thinks your child has SEN, they should talk to you to see what you think and gather evidence such as reports about your child’s progress.
Your child’s school must provide you with an annual report on your child’s progress. They should also talk to you regularly about your child’s progress It is important that the views of your child are included in these discussions.
Assess, Plan, Do, Review
In Barking and Dagenham, we promote the Graduated Approach Model for SEN support. The four stages of SEN support are: Assess, Plan, Do and Review.
Assess:
Your child’s difficulties must be assessed so that the right support can be provided. This needs to be reviewed regularly so that the support provided continues to meet your child’s needs.
Plan:
Your school needs to agree, with your involvement, the outcomes that the SEN support is intended to achieve.
Do:
Your school will put the planned support into place. The teacher remains responsible for working with your child on a daily basis, but the SENCO and any support staff or specialist teaching staff should work closely to track your child’s progress and check that the support is being effective.
Review:
The support your child receives should be reviewed at the time agreed in the plan.
What to expect in the Graduated Approach?
Effective Inclusive Classrooms
- The teachers notice some difficulties
- Teacher and Teaching Assistant work to differentiate tasks as appropriate
- Staff analyse tracking data
- A conversation with the SENCO takes place
- The SENCO should consider checklists/audit of current provision
- Discuss with the child/young person and with their parents/carers and record any concerns raised
- Compare with school assessment and information on how the child/young person is developing
Focused Intervention/Low Level Support
- This is the point we should be removing barriers to learning and achievement
- Intervention is put in place to meet the need of the child/young person. In some cases intervention may be used to get a more accurate picture of the individual needs
- Personalisation begins and a clear picture of intervention and the desired outcomes are developed
- Discuss in progress meetings and with parents/carers
Specific Provision/High Level Support
- Personalisation continues and provision maps capture the individual support that is made to meet the outcomes
- Consider referral to external agencies
External Agency
- Act on the advice and link advice to target/goal/short term outcome setting and put in place more specialised intervention programmes and support that is designed to secure progress both academically and socially
- Discuss progress at Review Meetings and continue to personalise provision available
High Needs Top-up Funding
- Review and gather evidence of need – use SEND Descriptors/Top-up Guidance.
- Completion of Individual One Plans for all children who require additional funding
- Costed Provision Map developed and shared with LA
Gather evidence for EHC Needs Assessment
- Tracking data and progress on previous targets/goals/short term outcomes
- Completion of EHC Assessment Request, submitting further evidence of the individual needs based on previous ‘Assess, Plan, Do and Review’ cycles
Summary of Barking and Dagenham’s Graduated Response
Universal Support | High Quality Teaching within an Inclusive Setting•Differentiation of activities and materials by presentation, outcome, timing, scaffolding and additional resources •Teaching approaches place a high emphasis on direct training, very finely graded and practical tasks which provide opportunities for frequent repetition and reinforcement •Differentiated questioning and targeted simplified level/pace/amount of teacher talk |
Universal Plus Support | Additional to and Different from Interventions and Strategies•Best Endeavours and reasonable adjustments made •Some weekly additional adult support (pro rata) comprising of small group and 1:1 to facilitate access to the curriculum and deliver individually planned programmes of work. •One page profile capturing CYP views, short term interventions & targets •Begin to involve parents and carers to form the roots of co-production •Advice from agencies •Link to other plans – CAF, CIN, CP, EHH, PEP •Local offer – universal, targeted, specific |
Enhanced Support | Bespoke Intervention – time bound and quantifiable•Assess, plan, do, review – evidenced formally through a My One Plan • Involves parents, children and young people through co-production taking a person-centred approach around their aspirations •Monitors and records short term outcomes and provision; encourages independence and the development towards preparation for adulthood •Provides a summary of agency involvement and outlines Health and Care information •More weekly additional adult support (1:1 and small group support) to facilitate access to the curriculum and deliver individually planned programmes of work / interventions May be eligible for SEN Top Up funding |
Targeted and Specialist Support and EHCP | Additional support in line with EHCP (mainstream)•Additional adult daily support (pro rata) comprising of 1:1 and small group support to facilitate access to the curriculum and deliver individually planned programmes of work and interventions / strategies. Deliver outcomes as outlined in EHCP May be eligible for SEN Top Up funding |