‘Special Educational Needs and Disabilities’ (SEND) describes the needs of children who have a difficulty or disability that makes it harder for them to learn than most children and young people of the same age. This means they may require additional support and resources to help them thrive in their education. 

The SEND code of practise has four broad areas of need :

• communication and interaction
• cognition and learning
• social, emotional and mental health
• sensory and/or physical needs

In accordance with the SEN Code of Practise (6.44), support and provision for children with SEN should take the form of a four-part cycle, which is known as the graduated approach. It draws on more detailed approaches, more frequent reviews and more specialist expertise in successive cycles in order to match interventions to the SEN of children and young people.

The four-part graduated approach is as follows (SEN Code of Practise sections 6.45 – 6.56)

• Assess
• Plan
• Do
• Review

This graduated approach begins with the Class Teacher, with the help of the SENCO when needed (ASSESS). Planning must include differentiated work for children with additional needs and effective deployment of Learning Support Assistants and HLTAs (PLAN).

When a specific need is identified (phonics, Maths, English, social skills, etc), the pupil may be placed in an intervention group or this may be delivered on a 1:1 basis (DO). Interventions and progress are carefully tracked and monitored regularly throughout appropriate intervals in the term to ensure children are making progress. (REVIEW).

This is clearly laid out for teachers in our comprehensive flowchart - 'The Graduated Response Flow Chart' - which can be found at the bottom of this page.

At Downsview, all children in school receive quality first teaching. Teachers plan, in collaboration with their year group team, to ensure lessons can be accessed by all children, including those with individual needs and requirements. Differentiation is approached in a range of ways to support access and ensure that all pupils can experience success and challenge in their learning.

We organise groups flexibly to ensure that every child has the opportunity to thrive. Children work in both ability and mixed-ability groups, allowing us to maximise learning opportunities and support individual progress.We make effective use of Learning Support Assistants (LSAs) throughout the school. LSAs work both in and out of the classroom, complementing and enhancing the high-quality teaching.

In Reception, there are three LSAs supporting the year group. From Year 1 to Year 6, there are 2 LSAs supporting across the year group, ensuring consistent support for all pupils.

Some children with SEND may require provision that is additional to, or different from, what is offered to most children. To help overcome a range of difficulties, we offer a variety of targeted interventions, including:

• Catch up phonics groups
• Speech Link (speech and language program to support pronunciation)
• Wellcomm (support with speech and language)
• Colourful Semantics (support with speech and language, as well as sentence structure)
• Language for Thinking (supports verbal reasoning and thinking skills by developing language abilities)
• Literacy Gold (support with reading and spellings)
• Precision teaching (to help address gaps in knowledge/understanding)
• Same-day/next-day interventions (support after a lesson to address misconceptions) 
• Maths skills interventions
• Dynamo Maths
• Memory magic (strategies to support working memory)
• Lego Therapy (support with speech and language and social skills) 
• Social Skills groups
• Learning Mentor
• ELSA

We also support children by providing a range of tailored resources to help them access learning and develop independence. These include Talking Tins, visual overlays, sentence starters, word mats, access to technology, visual supports, Now/Next boards, task management boards, fidget toys, wobble cushions, and more.

Moving classes within the school:

At the end of the year, a transition meeting between the current teacher and the new teacher will take place to discuss all children. There will be a day when the children will go into their new classroom (nearer the end of the Summer term) to see their new classroom and teacher. If it is felt that more opportunities for your child are needed to meet their new teacher, or see their new class, we will facilitate this.

We also provide Transition Mats at the end of the academic year, that have pictures, information and even short introductory videos from the adults to support those children with transition over the summer. 

Secondary Transitions

In the Summer Term, the SENDCO attends a Secondary Transitions day to meet with all Croydon Secondary schools to ease the transition into year 7. We also work with secondary schools to facilitate additional visits if needed.

If your child has an EHCP, then the secondary SENDCo is invited to the annual review, or a separate meeting is arranged to support transition.   

Class Teacher

Initially, you should contact your child’s class teacher with your concerns. Also, if the class teacher has a concern about your child, you will also be invited in for a discussion about this. The teacher may then refer you to the Head of Year (HOY).

Your child's class teacher and HOY are responsible for:

• Providing high quality teaching and learning which is differentiated and personalised, responding to the strengths and needs of all children;
• Checking on the progress of your child and identifying, planning and delivering any additional support required to support progress in the classroom;
• Developing Year Group and Individual Provision Maps to prioritise and focus on the next steps required for your child to make progress in learning;
• Discussing ways in which you can help your child at home;
• Applying the schools SEND policy.

SENDCo

Once you have contacted and had a discussion with the class teacher, you may wish to speak to the SENDCo. At Downsview, our SENDCO is Mrs Allison Hearne-Reed.  Miss Emma Ricketts oversees Inclusion in her role as Deputy Headteacher (DHT). 

The SENDCo is responsible for:

● Coordinating provision for children with SEN and developing the school’s SEN policy.

● Ensuring that parents are:

- Involved in supporting their child’s learning and access to the curriculum

- Kept informed about the range and level of support offered to their child

- Included in reviewing how their child is doing

- Supported and informed about planning a successful transition to a new class or school.

● Liaising with a range of agencies outside of school who can offer advice and support to help pupils overcome any difficulties.

● Providing specialist advice and facilitating training to ensure that staff are skilled and confident about meeting a range of needs.

● Evaluating, along with other teaching and learning staff, the effectiveness of the school’s provision for pupils with special educational needs. This takes place through regular monitoring including observations of interventions, tracking of pupil progress and written/verbal feedback from those involved.

Parents are welcome to contact the SENDCO or Deputy Head Teacher at a convenient time if they have concerns or require advice.

Both the SENCO and DHT will attend a variety of meetings when requested by staff or parents; including multi-agency meetings and meetings relating to child protection.

There is also the SEND Support Leaflet available for parents and carers. This summarises how the SEN process works at Downsview (there is a link to this at the bottom of the page).