Special Needs Policy

Document Status
Date of Policy Adoption by Governing Body: October 2009
Reviewed February 2013
Next Review February 2015

Signed (Chair of Governors)

Eskdale School
Special Educational
Needs Policy

Eskdale School aims:

To develop as a vibrant, dynamic community committed to the principles of “Every Child Matters” so
that all of our students
! are safe and healthy
! enjoy and achieve
! make a positive contribution
! experience success so that they are equipped to make their way in the world of work.

1
Introduction

The school’s Special Educational Needs (SEN) Policy has been drawn up with regard to the Code of
Practice. It is designed to ensure that any student, who may have special needs that might hinder their
normal educational development, has those needs accurately assessed and appropriately met in order
that their time at Eskdale is both productive and enjoyable. Eskdale is proud to hold North Yorkshire
County Councils Inclusion Quality Mark at level 3.

Special Educational Needs may relate to the following:-

Learning
Behaviour
Emotional
Sensory Impairment
Physical disability
Social
Medical

Objectives

1. To identify support needs as early as possible through a flexible and responsive system of referral
and assessment.
2. To provide a range of sensitive and effective responses to a student’s individual needs.
3. To maintain an effective system of monitoring and record keeping.
4. To maximise access to the National Curriculum and facilitate a differentiated curriculum to help
meet individual needs and ability.
5. To ensure that all students with a special educational need are fully included in all aspects of
school life and that they are consequently made to feel part of the whole school community.
6. To secure links with parents as partners to allow them access to information and to encourage
their participation in the decision making process.
7. To initiate and facilitate staff development concerned with SEN issues.
8. To foster and maintain links with outside agencies and educational support services.
9. To respect and respond to the student’s perspective of their support requirements.

SEN Coordination

The Headteacher and Governing Body have overall legal responsibility for ensuring the effective co-
ordination of SEN provision within the school. A link governor with particular responsibility for special
needs should be appointed. A meeting will be convened each year between the Inclusion Manager and
link governor prior to the Headteacher’s Annual Report to Governors when information regarding the
effectiveness of the policy will be reviewed and evaluated and targets set for the year ahead.

The school’s Inclusion Manager is responsible for:-
! The day to day operation of the SEN Policy.
! Liaising with and advising fellow teachers.
! Co-ordinating provision for students with special educational needs.
! Deploying, liaising with and overseeing the work of TAs, within the school.
! Overseeing the records of students with support needs and maintaining the school’s SEN register.
! Liaising with the parents/guardians of students with support needs.
! Contributing to the in-service training of staff.
! Liaising with external agencies.
! Ensuring that statutory obligations with regard to SEN are met

2
Admission Arrangements

Students transfer to Eskdale at the end of Year 6 from a large number of feeder primary schools (see
Schools Admission Policy). It is, therefore, essential for the following arrangements to be in place in order
to facilitate the smooth transition of students with special and support needs:-
• The Inclusion Manager will attend Year 6 Annual Reviews. The Headteacher and/or the Learning
Manager (Year 7) will attend as and when it is deemed necessary.
• Additional and relevant information will be gathered from feeder primary schools, including Inclusion
Passports (see appendix 1) for students with Special Educational Needs.
• The making of appropriate transition arrangements on an individual basis.

Eskdale School has made modifications to the buildings in order to accommodate students with particular
needs; these conform with the Disability Discrimination Act. Access arrangements are always reviewed
prior to the admission of students with particular physical or sensory special needs.

Allocation of Resources
Resources are allocated on the basis of a staged model of assessment of needs and according to the
school’s annual budget. This money, in conjunction with the money allocated by the LEA to provide for
support and resources, is used to meet a wide range of needs in a flexible and responsive way by:-
! Providing classroom support to mainstream classes.
! Providing staff development opportunities.
! Providing a resource/teaching base for SN students, teachers and assistants.
! Providing the resources for individual learning and support programmes.
! To allow for smaller teaching groups throughout the ability range.
! Provide administrative assistance.
! For external liaison.

Additional funds are provided by the LEA for the provision of additional support as specified in a student’s
statement of special needs. This may be Educational Psychology, Physical and Sensory, ASD and SALT.

ACCESS TO A BROAD AND BALANCED CURRICULUM

All students with a special educational need have the right of access to a broad, balanced and relevant
curriculum at a level and pace appropriate to their needs. Students with support needs follow the full
National Curriculum requirements at Key Stage 3 and also participate fully in all subject areas as defined
in the school timetable. Both whole school and individual Provision Maps show the provision made
through wave 1, 2 and 3 practice (appendix 3).

It is the responsibility of all members of staff and particularly subject teachers to ensure that the
curriculum is accessible to all students with a special educational need in order to enable them to achieve
their potential. They do this by:-
! The use of differentiated resources for their subject area.
! Use of appropriate teaching styles to enable students to fully participate in the learning process.
! Work in co-operation with learning support staff in their lessons.
! Teaching in line with whole school and individual provision maps.

Any withdrawal from subjects for additional support will be monitored for the impact upon the Student’s
performance in that subject. Where possible, students will not be withdrawn from core subjects.





3
Identification of Students with a Special Educational Need and Assessment
Arrangements

The school follows a five-stage model of assessment in line with the Code of Practice (currently under
review) and a register is maintained and updated as students are identified.

Identification is through:-
! An internal referral system enabling staff to register a particular concern about a student.
! Transfer of records from and liaison with feeder primary schools. Attendance at Year 6 Annual
Reviews.
! Screening of test results. These include Key Stage 2 SATs results/teacher assessments, transfer
documents and STAR Reading tests conducted with all Year 7 students.
! Responsiveness to parental concerns, either directly or expressed to any member of staff.
! Self-referral by students.

Once a need has been identified, this leads to:-
! The gathering of any appropriate information from the identification process.
! Liaison with parents.
! An assessment of the support need, using appropriate diagnostic techniques by the Inclusion
Manager and/or learning support teachers.
! Entry at the appropriate level on the Special Needs Register and the setting up of support and
monitoring arrangements.

Support and monitoring arrangements include:-
! The withdrawal of students whose needs are additional to Wave 1 quality first teaching in the
classroom for individual/paired/ small group support, (Wave 2 and Wave 3). The resources for
this are met from the school budget. All staff involved in the withdrawal of students, complete a
Wave 2 or 3 Planning Sheet. This is reviewed and evaluated as appropriate to enable progress to
be assessed and future targets to be set.
! Target classroom support where it is most appropriate.

ANNUAL REVIEWS OF STATEMENTED STUDENTS

Reviews and assessments of students with statements of SEN are carried out in accordance with North
Yorkshire County Council procedures and the Code of Practice. The Learning Manager from Whitby
Community College and/or Year 10 Pastoral Head from the next school are invited to attend the
transitional reviews of students in Year 9. This allows for the student’s needs/support to be met in line
with their Inclusion Passport and in place for the transition period to their next school. Individual
Transition Plans are written for Year 9 statemented students.

LINKS WITH EXTERNAL AGENCIES

The Inclusion Manager has an effective working relationship with external support agencies. This is
enhanced by the fact that Eskdale provides a base in Whitby for these members, therefore informal as
well as formal contact can be made on a regular basis. The importance of working as a partnership is
emphasised by:-

! Regular meetings at Eskdale between the Educational Support Worker (ESW), Learning Managers
and the Inclusion Manager. These meetings provide the opportunity to share information about
students and discuss the involvement of the ESW with individual students.
! Students are referred to The Educational Psychologist as part of the Statutory Assessment
procedure.
4
! Meetings also take place regularly with agencies, such as the Hearing-Impaired Service, Vision
Support, Speech and Language development and Autism Outreach, depending on the particular
needs of the student presently at Eskdale.
! The School Nurse visits school each week. Students can be referred to her as and when it is
considered necessary and always before an Annual review takes place.


The Inclusion manager attends the cluster meeting with SENCos from the local Primary Schools once a
term, the Whitby Secondary Partnership Liaison meetings with the Special Needs Co-ordinators from
Caedmon and Whitby Community College take place formally once each term. Informal contact is made
on an ongoing basis.

Internal Liaison and Staff Development

Contact between learning support staff and subject teachers is ongoing, with the day to day transfer of
information and the collaboration that is a necessary part of the whole school approach of dealing with
students with special needs. Also:-

! The Inclusion Manager meets with staff delivering wave 2 and 3 interventions on a regular basis
and formally support is being evaluated.
! The Inclusion Manager meets with all TAs informally on a regular basis and formally each term.
! Meeting with all staff at the beginning of each term to disseminate information about ‘vulnerable’
students. This meeting also formally provides staff with the opportunity to discuss issues
concerning SN students. Informal exchanges take place on a regular basis.
! Fortnightly meetings between the Inclusion Manager and Learning Managers to exchange
information and discuss future action which needs to be taken concerning any SN students.
! The Inclusion Manager provides discussion papers and re-written recommendations e.g. strategies
which can be used in the classroom to enable students to learn more effectively at whole staff
training days.
! The Inclusion Manager and Learning Support staff, work closely with the Maths and English
departments on issues of Literacy and Numeracy.

Parents as Partners

Eskdale welcomes and values a close partnership with students who have a Special Educational needs,
parents and guardians. The school shares any concern that it has about a student’s support needs as
quickly as possible and invites the parents/guardians to participate dully in any plans which may be drawn
up to meet those needs.

The views of students who are referred for statutory assessment and their parents/guardians are actively
sought. Parents/guardians are always invited to attend Annual reviews. They are made aware that any
concerns they may have can be addressed if contact is made with the Inclusion Manager /Form
Tutor/Learning Manager by telephone, email or letter.

Parents/guardians also have a formal opportunity to discuss concerns at:-

! An annual parent/Form Tutor meeting.
! An annual Full Consultation Evening with subject teachers, Learning Support Staff are always
present at the consultation evenings and open evenings to discuss specific concerns.
! By making an appointment with the Inclusion Manager/ Form Tutor / Learning Manager outside of
these opportunities.

5
Handling Complaints

The following suggestions for handling complaints related to SEN should be read in conjunction with the
Governing Bodies Procedures for investigating complaints generally. All Governing Bodies have sub-
groups for handling complaints.
! Any parent can contact the Headteacher, Inclusion Manager, Class Teacher or Learning
Manager and arrange an appointment should a problem arise.

! If a problem cannot be resolved following discussions, a parent may take their complaint to the
Governing Body.

Staff Training

All staff can request training relating to SEN. Priorities for training are:-

! Courses which have a close link with the school’s Development Plan targets and the Special Needs
Action Plan.

! Courses which are closely linked to an area identified by an individual teacher as a development
need.

! The school will firstly consider courses initiated by North Yorkshire LEA. Courses by other providers
may be considered to meet the needs of the school and individual teachers.

Outside Support

Contact names and numbers for all key personnel who provide support for the school can be obtained
from the Inclusion Manager.