2 a) Quality First Teaching
For your child this would mean:
- That the class teacher has the highest possible expectations for your child and all pupils in their class.
- That all teaching is built on what your child already knows, can do and can understand.
- That different ways of teaching are in place, so that your child is fully involved in learning in class. This may involve things like more practical learning.
- That teachers use Dyslexic Friendly Strategies
- That specific strategies and/or resources (which may be suggested by the SENCO) are in place to support your child to learn.
- Your child’s teacher will have carefully checked your child’s progress and will have gained an understanding as to what possible gap or gaps in their understanding/learning and needs to provide them with any extra support to help make the best progress possible.
2b) Your child might have Specific Group Work or an Intervention
Intervention which may be:
- Run in the classroom or group room.
- Run by a teacher, teaching assistant (TA) or Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCO).
2c) Your child might also participate in a Specialist Intervention run by outside agencies e.g. Speech & Language Therapy, Physiotherapy,
SEND Support
This means a pupil has been identified a by the SENCO team/class teaching team as needing some extra specialist support in school and in most cases support from a professional outside the school.
This may be from:
- Local Authority Services, such as the SFSS (Schools and Families Support Service), SEMH (Social Emotional and Mental Health) Team, Educational Psychology Services (EPS) or Sensory Service for students with a hearing or visual need.
- Health Agencies such as the Healthy Families Team, Community Paediatrician, Mental Health Support Team
What could happen?
- You will be asked to give your permission for the school to refer your child to a specialist professional e.g. Speech & Language Therapist (SALT) or Educational Psychologist. This will help the school and you to understand your child’s particular needs better and to be able to support them more effectively in school.
- The specialist professional will work with your child to understand their needs and make recommendations as to the ways your child is given support. This may lead to specific group or individual work being carried out.
- With your written consent we could discuss your child at a Family Springboard meeting.
Family Springboard is a meeting where the Family of schools meet with representatives from the School and Families Specialist Services (SFSS) and Educational Psychology Service (EPS) to provide a forum for seeking mutual support and share expertise and negotiate the direct involvement of SFSS and EPS.
2d) Specified Individual Support
This type of support is available for children whose learning needs might be severe, complex and lifelong.
This is usually provided via an Education, Health & Care Plan (EHCP). EHC Plans have now replaced Statements of Special Educational Needs. This means your child will have been identified by professionals as having complex and lifelong needs for which a particularly high level of individual or small group teaching may be required.
This type of support is available for children with specific barriers to learning that cannot be overcome through Quality First Teaching and intervention groups.
Your child might also need specialist support in school from professionals outside the school. This might be from:
- Local Authority Services such as SFSS, SEMH, PDSS Teams and the Sensory Service (part of SFSS, for children with a hearing or visual need).
- Outside health agencies such as the Speech & Language Therapy (SALT) Service.
For your child this could mean:
- That you (parents) or school request that Local Authority Services carry out a statutory assessment of your child’s needs. This is a legal process which sets out the amount of support that will be provided for your child.
- After the request has been made to the ‘Panel of Professionals’ (with a lot of information about your child including some from you) they will decide whether they think your child needs (as described in the paperwork) seem complex enough to need a statutory assessment. If this is the case, they will ask you and all the professionals involved with your child to write a report outlining your child’s needs. If they do not think your child needs this they will ask the school to continue with the current support.
- After the reports have all been submitted, the ‘Panel of Professionals’ will decide if your child’s needs are severe, complex and lifelong. If they decide this is the case they will write an Educational Health Care Plan (EHCP). If they decide this is not the case, they will ask the school to continue with the current level of support and also set up a meeting in school to ensure a plan is in place to provide the support your child requires to make as much progress as possible.
- The EHCP will outline your child’s strengths, difficulties, the provision and strategies that should be in place. It will also have long and short-term goals for your child.
- An additional adult may be used to support your child with whole class learning, run individual programmes or run small groups including your child.
