SEND

Inclusion

Barry Primary and Nursery School follow both local and national changes involving Special Educational Needs (SEN) and Inclusion when considering our provision for pupils.  All schools follow the Government's SEN Code of Practice and the Education and Health Care plan system (EHC).

In West Northamptonshire, schools are also required to follow the West Northamptonshire Council's SEND Ranges 0-25 guidance (2022) in order to identify the level of need for students.  A copy of this can be requested via the link below.

The Government has recognised that in the past, students may have been over identified as having SEN, when more probably they were simply underachieving in certain areas related to the curriculum and required intervention to enable them to make progress and catch up.  The SEN Code of Practice focuses on schools meeting the wide variety of individual needs of its pupils, by ensuring access to appropriate provision. This will not necessarily mean that pupils will be identified as having a specific SEN.

Barry Primary and Nursery School is committed to ensuring provision for all of its pupils including those with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) in line with section 69 of the Children and Families Act (2014).  We pride ourselves on meeting the needs of all learners either academically, socially or emotionally.  We ensure the delivery of varied provision to cater for the needs of pupils whatever their barriers to learning.

In order to identify the level of support a child requires, Barry Primary and Nursery School follow the graduated approach. This is essentially 3 levels of support as described below:

  • Universal SEN Support - additional support provided in school via adaptive teaching methods and quality first teaching
  • Targeted SEN Support - additional support provided by the educational setting, along with the advice or involvement of external agencies
  • Specialist SEN Support - an assessment of educational, health and care needs can be carried out through a range of agencies for children and young people with complex needs - this will establish what provision should be and if an Education Health Care Plan is needed or if the pupil’s needs can be met at the SEN Support level

Pupils accessing extra provision in school will be added to the school’s provision mapping system, but may not necessarily be identified as having SEND or added to the SEND register.  Provision is closely monitored and targeted specifically to the needs of the group or individual by the child’s class teacher.  Progress is also reviewed by the class teacher supported, where necessary, by the Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCo).  Any concerns will always be discussed with parents and carers and they will be kept informed of their child’s progress.  Progress for some pupils may not be in line with the expected national average however, this is progress, none the less and will be celebrated.

Pupils with SEND will be added to the SEND register when they have outside agencies involved and working with them or when their needs warrant further assessments to establish what they are - this will always be discussed with parents/carers.  These pupils may have an Individual Education Plan (IEP) with targets focused around the advice of the external agency involved.  These targets will be reviewed three times a year, using the assess, plan, do, review model and parents will be informed of progress and next steps.

The Government and the Local Authority are keen to ensure that all pupils’ needs are met within a mainstream setting without the need for an Education Health Care plan (EHCP).  Sometimes as a school, we may be unsure if we can meet the specific needs of an individual pupil.  We may feel that a pupil requires a more specialist provision.  If we are unsure what the need of an individual pupil is or if we feel we are unable to provide the necessary provision required, we may consider applying for Statutory Assessment towards an Education and Health Care plan.  The Local Education Authority will then decide what the appropriate support for the pupils’ needs are.  In order for us to request a statutory assessment, children in West Northamptonshire schools must be working at Range 4a or above in more than 2 broad areas of need.

Support Staff

At Barry Primary and Nursery School, we are very lucky to have a team of experienced teaching assistants who support the school, our learners and their families in different ways.  Teaching Assistants within our school support all learners in class in a variety of ways tailored to the individual children’s needs. We believe that providing 1 member of staff to work exclusively with 1 child is not in the best interest of any child and we therefore timetable support in a variety of different ways.  This could include some individual sessions, group sessions, or time in our provision room or 1 of our nurture spaces.  Support staff are a valued and hugely beneficial part of our school and a key part to ensuring that our learners make good social, emotional and academic progress.

Class teachers make adaptations to learning for all ability groups within their class and all children receive support from Teaching Assistants who are part of the support team.  If the Inclusion Manager/SENCo and class teacher feel that any child is not making expected progress they may consider whether to offer him or her suitable intervention in order for that child to receive additional help and support for their learning within small group sessions or sometimes on a one to one basis. These are run by various members of the team.  Children, who receive any form of intervention, will be added to the schools’ provision mapping system.  This does not mean that the child requires an Individual Education Plan (IEP), although this may be offered if class teacher and SENCo feel that this would be appropriate. Intervention will be targeted in order to support them to make progress.

Recommended Links for Parents

Please follow the link below for the local offer:
https://www.westnorthants.gov.uk/local-offer

Information Advice Support Service for SEND in Northamptonshire:
www.iassnorthants.co.uk

To request a copy of the West Northamptonshire Council's SEND Ranges 0-25 guidance (2022):
https://www.westnorthants.gov.uk/directory/local-offer/f54062f2-62a9-49d1-bcf8-3d267836e45d