This short video offers some responses to frequently asked questions Rotherham SENDIASS hear when families are worried their child or young person has special educational needs. This focuses on children who access a mainstream school.
Welcome to our Ram sendas video this video will cover frequently asked questions about supporting mainstream schools for student with special educational needs or disability in this video we’ll try to address some questions that we’re often asked when parents are worried about their child may have special educational needs or a
Disability it will also be helpful to also take a look at our CIA YouTube video called send supportting mainstream schools so one of our first questions we are often asked is does the school have to help my child if they have special educational needs or a disability the very quick answer to that
Is yes they do schools and other educational settings have several legal duties and expectations when working with children who may have special educational needs or a disability some of those duties include schools must not discriminate against harass or victimize disabled children and they must make reasonable adjustments maintain schools and
Academies will make arrangements to support pupils with medical conditions every school is required to identify and address the scn of the pupils that they support schools will ensure that pupils with senen engage in school activities together with those who do not have senen and schools and colleges must use
Their best Endeavors to make sure that a child with senen gets the support that they need and this means doing everything they can to meet children and young people’s scen so is there anything that says schools must help children with scnd and the quick answer to that is yes
There is a document called the send code of practice the code is statutory and that means that bodies that are going to be listed on the next slide must have regard to it it means whenever they’re making decisions they must give consideration to what the code says they
Can’t ignore it where the code of practice uses the word must it refers to a statutory requirement under primary legislation regulation or send case law and where the code uses the word should it means that the guidance must be considered and those who must have regard to it will be expected to explain
Any any departure from it you can find the send code of practice on the following link if your child is in early years you might find chapter five of the send code of practice interesting if your child’s in compulsory school age then chapter six might be useful and if they’re post 16
Chapter 7even would also be useful alongside there’s also the equality act which describes duties on schools and other areas around disability so who has to follow the send code of practice on the previous slide I mentioned that there was a list that was within the send code of practice on
Those who have to follow it that list is as follows local authorities which include education social care and relevant housing and employment and other services the governing bodies of schools including non-maintained special schools the governing bodies of further education colleges and six form colleges the Proprietors of academies
Including free schools utc’s and Studio schools the management Committees of pupil referral units Independent Schools and independent specialist providers that are approved under Section 41 of the children and families act all early years providers in maintain private volunt and independent sectors that are funded by the local Authority the National Health Service
Commissioning board and the integrated care board NHS trusts NHS Foundation trusts and local Health boards there’s also youth offending teams and relevant youth custodial establishments and the first TI s tribunal so how will I know my child has scend class and subject teachers should make regular assessments of progress for all
Pupils these assessments should help identify pupils making less than expected progress given their age and individual circumstances they may identify a child with special educational needs or a disability if those assessments show a child is significantly slower than a lot of their peers starting from the same
Baseline fails to match or better the child’s previous rate of progress that they made fails to close the attainment gap between their child and their peers or the Gap gets wider the first response to such progress should be high quality teaching targeted at their areas of weakness where progress continues to be
Less than expected the class teacher or subject teacher working with the sener in the school should assess whether a child has special educational needs or not further details on some different needs are also covered in chapter six of the send code of practice for example if children have englishes in additional
Language or if they have emotional and behavioral difficulties which may be related to development the school must inform you as a parent if scend provision is being put in place to support your child parents often come to our surveys because they believe their child has special educational needs or disability
But that school haven’t mentioned anything to them at that point first it’s important to know what we mean by special educational needs or a disability when looking at whether a child has or young person has scen there are two questions that need to be asked and if both are answered yes then the
Child or young person is defined in law as having SC so the first question is does your child have at least one of the following a learning difficulty or a disability now these two things are also defined so a learning difficulty is considered to be the case if they have S
Significantly greater difficulty in learning compared to the majority of others of the same age and a disability is a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial which means more than minor or trivial and and a long-term impact which is likely to be more than one year and that needs to have an
Effect on their ability to carry out day-to-day activities and if that disability makes it difficult for them to use the facilities that are normally provided for others of the same age in mainstream schools or college so if the answer to the above question for one of the follow for one
Of the following learning difficulties or disability is yes then we need to ask the next question which is does that learning difficulty or disability require special educational provision to be put in place now special educational provision is a education or training provision that’s additional or different to what’s
Normally provided for the children of the same age so if they answer to both of those questions is yes they have a learning difficulty or disability and yes they need special educational provision to be put in place to meet those needs then they have senen if the answer is no to
One of those questions then they don’t now it may be that your child doesn’t have scen but they might have medical needs which impact on school if that’s the case there is a link to some national guidance on meeting medical needs at the end of this video so following on from the previous
Slide if you think your child has sem but School haven’t mentioned anything here’s some things that you might want to do next think about the messages that you’re receiving from the school what’s being discussed in parents evenings or other discussions with the class teacher have previous school reports mentioned
Anything worrying or concerning about progress that’s been made friendships feeling settled or following school routines or behavior and attitude towards learning what does your child say about school do they seem happy to go in in a morning are they worried about the work what’s your child like with homework do
They seem happy to do this can you see them getting frustrated or worried does it seem to take them a very long time to complete it do they refuse to do homework and has this become a bit of a battle in the home the first step is always to talk to your class
Teacher so here’s some top tips for discussions with your child’s class teacher first of all pick your mm or make an appointment class teachers are usually really really busy people and unfortunately their most busy times of day tend to be when you’re also on school premises which might be drop off
Or pickup times if you try to speak to them during these times you might both have your attention on other things making Communications feel rushed or unclean unfortunately that could easily lead to frustration or miscommunication consider where your discussions takes place if it feels like privacy might be needed or you don’t
Want to be overheard by other parents then a phone call or a face to-face appointment might work better be realistic when you’re asking for a time to discuss things if you think your discussion would take a bit longer please don’t say I only need five minutes but be aware that concise
Discussions can also be more proactive and pro and productive if you’re making an appointment give some indication of what you want to discuss this might help the class teacher feel more able to feel prepared for example if you’re worried about progressing maths they might be able to bring some maths examples to show
You for secondary schools it can be more challenging to speak to a specific staff member as your child will often have more than six or seven class teachers per week as such you might wish to start with your child’s form tutor unless you have a subject specific issue you might want to
Discuss there’s also ahead of years and some schools have behavior for learning members of Staff too check with a School Reception as some schools are happy to share staff email addresses and so communication could take place via this method instead other schools however might prefer phone calls or
Visits when you’re talking to your class teacher share some positives when you speak about school your child might have enjoyed a particular lesson or topic and this could be good feedback for a teacher to hear use I stud ments it’s often really good to share your thoughts
And your feelings rather than views from someone else’s perspective for example I want to speak with you because I’m worried about my child’s homework my son says he’s finding the learning too hard I’m concerned he may be falling behind I’m aware that my child’s having a lot
Of consequences and so I’m starting to wonder what might be happening for her listen to what the class teacher shares with you this will help you understand their perspective ask them if they also share your concerns or if they’ve seen anything similar to that’s making you worry share your observations you might
See things at home that they might not see in a busy classroom environment if this is the case be descriptive and ask if they can keep an eye open for anything similar ask if there are any supportive strategies that could be implemented both at home and in school which might address your
Worries summarize what you believe has been discussed and go over any agreed actions before you leave it can be helpful to check your understanding of actions for example by saying so following our conversation I understand that you’ve agreed to keep an eye on his Mass over the next few weeks and check
If he’s understood the task before he starts work you’ve also agreed to give him verbal prompts if he looks like he isn’t working as you’d expect this gives the class teacher the opportunity to say who actually know you might have misunderstood that this is what I said
Instead or for you both to come away from the meeting with the exact same understanding of what’s been agreed ask if you can have a review of any agreed actions in the next month or so a further discussion may help you both reflect if more needs to be
Considered it might be helpful for everyone’s time management to agree a date and time of your next discussions before leaving your interaction this time following your next review with the class teacher if you’re still worried you might find it helpful to ask for a discussion with the school Seno or a
Member of the inclusion team in school so if you’ve shared your worries with the class teacher and maybe they also agree with some of your concerns what should you do next you could ask the class teacher if they will be sharing this information with the Seno in
School you might wish to arrange a discussion with the Seno yourself although again please be aware that a lot of senos are also class teachers too and so again you might wish to arrange a time to speak that’s mutually convenient for your birth some you useful points or
Questions to ask the sener could be you could update them on the discussions you’ve had with the class teacher so they know that you’ve gone to the class teacher first and the class teacher has been focused on quality first teaching to address any worries initially again you might want to share your
Observations or worries ask if they’re happy with the progress your child’s making and if they too have worries around this ask what support can be implemented in addition to the support that’s already offered by the class teacher ask if they’re able to seek advice from other services or what point
They might consider doing this ask if a plan will be drawn up to monitor progress for many strategies and if so ask for a copy if they’re not planning on drawing up a plan ask for Clarity on why not and how will they money to progress against any additional
Strategies again you might want to have a look at what it says in the send code of practice ask to be involved in future reviews of strategies so you can kept be kept informed as with your discussions with the class teacher it might be helpful to have a date in the diary
Where this can be reviewed before you leave your discussion this time round families often come to us asking about what the send register is and whether their child should be on it or not the send Cod of practice doesn’t actually say that schools must have a send register instead it says every
School is required to identify and address the sen of pupils that they support schools often keep a record of which children are on their school role who have scnd and this helps them to keep a track of who they’re supporting how support is offered and when it might
Need to be reviewed This Record can then be referred as a send register if your child has been identified as having special educational needs or a disability and again please remember the description that we had on one of the previous slides then ideally their name should appear on this
Record so how does schools record what special educational needs and disabilities has been identified and what provision and support has been put in place there’s no longer a one- siiz fits-all approach to recording support in schools schools are able to decide how they do this for themselves the send Cod of practice says
It’s for the schools to determine their own approach to recordkeeping the provision made for pupils with scen should be recorded accurately and kept up to datee as part of any inspection ofstead will also expect to see evidence of pupil’s progress a focus on outcomes and a rigorous approach to the monitoring and
Evaluation of any senn support provided schools should particularly record details of additional or different provision made under seen support and this should form part of regular discussions with parents about the child’s progress expected outcomes from the support and planned next step steps they should ensure that they have
Accurate information to evidence the scn support that’s being provided over the pupil’s time in their school as well as the impact it’s had so if there’s no one siiz fits all to record in scen support here’s a list of a couple of really common forms that have have being placed in modern
Schools so first you might hear about an IEP this stands for individual education plan and usually it’s a document on one page that has a few chosen t targets the support that will be implemented and the date to review it these targets are usually very educationally based there’s then an sen support plan
This type of document usually builds over time and so can evidence what has been implemented each term changes to the support previous reviews and evidence other agency involvement another common one is a provision map this is usually an internal School document that can show what send provision has been allocated
How often it’s been allocated if it’s being onetoone or group work for example and how much that might cost as a resource to the school this can be particularly helpful if you’re considering an EC needs assessment for the school there’s also an ibp which is an individual Behavior plan this is really
Similar to an IEP but with a focus on behavior management strategies instead so we often get asked how long a child will be on scn support for there’s no set time limit for a child or young person being on sensible support send support is offered to meet needs there
Are different strategies that can be offered and different Services the school can gain advice and support from too as described in our sendas YouTube video for send support in mainstream schools send support is a cycle and as such can continue all the way through a child’s education if needed there’s no
Real end goal to it other than to meet your child’s needs that cycle consists of assess plan do and review so where can I find information about the support my school offers please take a look on your child’s School website you might find the following policies particularly
Useful to consider and this is dependent on the needs of your child the send policy is one that I would recommend every family have a look at if their child has special educational needs or a disability some others might include the behavior policy or exclusions policy intimate care policy communication
Policy but you usually find those might be in send Rel at ated schools the school might also have an inclusion policy that runs alongside their send policy and you might also find their send information report helpful too if you can’t find a copy of these policies on the school website ask
School Reception if they could email you a copy a lot of school policies have to adhere to particular statutary guidance or legislation so are there any national guidance that would be helpful to be aware of too the answer to that is is Yes again I’m mentioning the send code
Of practice because that’s the document that would outline everything for special educational needs or a disability there’s also statutory guidance on exclusions from schools for medical needs and School attendance and these might be the main ones that you might want to consider as a starting point there’s also some local resources
That might be helpful for you as well the send local off is a website that contains all the information that’s expected to be put in place for children and young people with scnd in that local area and that’s for not to 25 so for rodam send local offer you’ll find the link
Here there’s also a website that RAM have pulled together called rodam sendco website this was actually ideally built for senos to be aware of so that they had a tool to be able to find information but because it’s on a website it’s accessible to families too and it’s really useful because it
Details what the graduated approach is um expected to be and send support there’s also our website that contains lots of information and our YouTube channel too so if you’ve looked at this information and seen the send supporting mainstream schools video on our YouTube channel but still have questions if you
Have a specific question that relates to you and your child and you feel that hasn’t been answered please feel able to get in touch with us the easiest way to do this might be through our contact us page on our website and the link to that
Is here we aim to respond to all inquiries within five working days we hope you found this frequently asked questions video useful please also take a look at our YouTube Channel video send support in mainstream schools