SEN Support
SEN Support is a staged approach to identify needs, providing support which will involve conversations with school / setting, parents / carers, children and young people. The staged approach is in the form or a four part cycle known as the graduated response. The graduated response starts at a whole school level. Teachers are continually assessing, planning, implementing and reviewing their approach to teaching to all children. However, where a potential special educational need has been identified, this is a staged process that becomes increasingly personalised.
Role of Educational Settings
The SEND Code of Practice 2015 sets out the duties which must be observed by early years settings, schools and further education providers identifying children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and providing support for them.
Treating people equally means treating them differently according to their needs. All learners are unique and all are entitled to an education that enables them to make progress so that they achieve their best, become confident individuals fulfilling lives and make a successful transition into adulthood.
Mainstream early years settings, schools and colleges will support most learners with SEND by making reasonable adjustments to remove or reduce barriers to learning. They will use specific parts of their budget (called ‘notional SEN funding’ and for some pupils ‘Pupil Premium funding’) to create provision that is additional to or different from that made generally for other learner of the same age in school.
Settings are required to use their best endeavours in not only identifying children and young people with SEND but also in providing support for them. The support that is ordinarily available must be set out and published by the educational setting and placed on its website.
The graduated approach to meet Special Educational Needs
High quality teaching, differentiated for individual pupils, is the first step in responding to pupils who may have SEN. Additional intervention and support cannot compensate for a lack of good quality teaching. Schools should regularly and carefully review the quality of teaching for all pupils, including those at risk of underachievement. This includes reviewing and where necessary improving teachers understanding of strategies to identify and support vulnerable children and young people and their knowledge of the SEN most frequently encountered.
Where a child or young person is identified as possibly having SEN, settings are expected to adopt a graduated response following the Assess, Plan, Do and Review cycle.
Where a child or young person is identified as having SEN, the setting should take action to remove barriers to learning and put effective special educational provision in place. This SEN support should take the form of a four part cycle, through which earlier decisions and actions were revisited, refined and revised with a growing understanding of the pupil’s needs and of what supports the pupil in making good progress and securing good outcomes. This is known as the ‘graduated approach’ and is shown in figure 1.
Figure 1 – The Assess, Plan, Do, Review cycle
Assess - A problem has been recognised. A baseline is been collected to show where the child is now.
Plan - Intervention (Known to work) is determined and proposed outcomes (i.e. what skills the child will achieve) are developed. The lenght of time that the intervention will run is determined.
Do - Intervention is put in place and tweaked as required.
Review - Child's skills are checked
- Has the child made progress from when the baseline was collected?
- Where is the child in comparison to the expected attainment for their age?
The graduated approach draws on more detailed approaches, more frequent review and more specialist expertise in successive cycles in order to match interventions to the SEN of the child or young person.
5 key ingredients to evidence a ‘high quality’ graduated response.
1. Telford and Wrekin Council fully expects individual learner support plans/provision maps showing ‘waves’ of support that feature assess, plan, do review cycles at universal (element1), targeted (element 2) and specialist (element 3) levels.
2. Within individual learner support plans/provision maps there are clear targets with well-defined outcomes. These are articulated using SMARTA (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time, Agreed) principles. A baseline must be included so that the starting point of the child or young person is known and evaluation should focus on progress made from that starting position.
3. Outside agencies have contributed over time throughout APDR cycles and their involvement is clearly evidenced.
4. Progress data is provided over time and clearly shows where the child is currently attaining and how that compares to the expectation for children of the same age.
5. Person-centred approaches have been used throughout cycles of APDR. Individual support plans/provision maps show that children and parents have been involved in target/outcome setting and their views and wishes are represented.
Use of outside professionals
The use of outside professionals within educational settings are critical to supporting children and young people with special educational needs both in terms of early intervention, building capacity and the provision of specialist advice for those learners who require cycles of APDR.
The Code of Practice 2015 highlights that establishments are likely to need to commission these services directly and that such services include, but are not limited to, Educational Psychologists, Specialist learning and behaviour support services and teachers of Hearing/Visual Impairment. This may also include therapists such as speech and language therapists, occupational therapists and physiotherapists.
In Telford and Wrekin there is a changing culture away from a traditional expert model of delivering services by educational professionals (where one-off assessments and standalone reports have been completed) to actively contributing to cycles of APDR. Evidence that Indicator 3 has been met will include meaningful contribution of appropriate professionals, relevant to the child or young person’s need, and that recommendations have been put in place and reviewed over time.
SEND Provision Matrix
Settings must provide evidence that they have contributed to additional needs, including the Pupil Premium (if appropriate) to provide target programmes, support and resources that are unique to the child individually or in a group environment. Schools are expected to fund up to £4000 from their base budget for the provision of high quality differentiated teaching (element 1) and an additional £6000 from their notional SEN budgets (element 2) to support their graduated approach as specified with section 11 of the Schools and Early Years Finance Regulations, 2015 (page 12).
In 2019 schools and parents helped to coproduce the SEND provision matrix that shows what provision is ordinarily available for children with SEND and can be found via the link below.
SEND Self Review
Telford and Wrekin has created a framework to support schools’ self-assessment of SEND.
Parent Carer SEND Support workshop information January 2018
POD’s parent carer forum and Independent Advice and Support Service (IASS) worked with the Local Authority to create and deliver an SEND support workshop to our parent and carers.
The aim of the workshop was to provide key messages about our work, with parents and carers, and to develop greater confidence in deliver of SEN Support. The workshop looked at:
1. SEN Support – what does it mean and how does it work
2. Initial support provided by settings and schools
3. The graduated approach and the cycles of assess, plan, do, review
4. Recent changes to promote inclusive practice
5. The Local Offer
6. NEW Parent carer Newsletter.
There were lots of positive comments mixed with some tricky issues to consider. We felt it important that all of our parents / carer has access to the presentation and handouts used on the day so all everyone has the information to hand.
SEND Support presentation for parents and carers
Video at the end of the presentation
Terminology you may hear at SEND Support
Nasen Guide: SEN support and the Graduated Approach
Information of each of the broad areas of need
Inclusive School Forum (ISF)
A school led forum providing support and challenge for Telford and Wrekin schools regarding provision and practice for children with Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND).
SEND Transition in Education (STEP)
The move from primary school to secondary school is an exciting and apprehensive time for all children. However, for those with Special Educational Needs, it can be a time of high anxiety, after being settled within a smaller primary school setting. Sometimes these fears can be around their access to lessons and learning, but often they can be around the bigger picture of how to find their way around the building, whether they will make friends, and knowing which teachers they should speak to if they have any worries. This phase of ‘transition’ is important for the children, the parents/carers and the school. In Telford and Wrekin, it has been raised as a matter of importance through conversations with schools and at the SENCO termly forums... Click here for more information
ELSA
ELSA stands for Emotional Literacy Support Assistants. Originally developed in Hampshire by EP Sheila Burton, ELSA is a national programme. It is well researched and there is an excellent evidence base. Telford and Wrekin Educational Psychology Service (EPS) is a member of the national ELSA network and provides ELSA training, supervision and further development opportunities to key school support staff. Click here for more information
Autism Education Trust (AET)
Telford and Wrekin Council is an AET hub. This means we have a licence with the AET to deliver their Schools and Early Years Programmes. The AET is a national partnership between the voluntary sector, schools, colleges, universities and local authorities; it is supported by the Department for Education. Click here for more information
Early Years SEND Support Team
Our Early Years SEND Support Team have significant teaching experience in Early Years learning environments, including identifying and teaching children with a range of additional needs.
Behaviour Support Advisory Team (BSAT)
The Behaviour Support Advisory Team are an experienced and highly talented group of practitioners who work with children and young people aged 3-18, TAs, school support workers, teachers and senior leadership teams. We work to support inclusion in schools and settings in the area of personal and social development, behaviour for learning, Social, Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH) and wellbeing.
Find out more: http://www.telfordeducationservices.co.uk/behaviour-support-advisory-team-bsat
Education Resources
IDL Literacy - Dyslexia Intervention
IDL Literacy is a cloud based intervention software, specifically designed to help improve the reading and spelling ability of those with dyslexia and dyslexic tendencies. Many schools have also reported the benefit of using IDL with those who: are autistic, have Meares-Irlen Syndrome, are EAL learners or struggling with reading and spelling in general. The programme consists of over 1,000 lessons, which provide structured, sequential learning with a multi-sensory approach.
Over 1,400 schools use IDL nationally, providing positive feedback on how IDL is helping pupils to improve their literacy skills. By visiting our website, you will find a 'Walkthrough' video explaining how IDL works, the facility to request a free seven day trial of the programme and further information.
Cost: IDL costs just £399 + VAT for primary school and £599 + VAT for a secondary school multi user site licence. Our software is also available as a home user licence for £99.99 + VAT.
Independent Support
Independent Support (IS) is a government funded programme to provide additional support to parent and young people during the implementation of the Children and Families Act 2014.
National Literacy Trust
We work to improve the reading, writing, speaking and listening skills in the UK's poorest communities, where one in three people have literacy problems.
Workforce Development
CPD - Nasen
On-line learning and webcasts for early years providers
Advanced-Training
Online training materials for autism; dyslexia; speech, language and communication; emotional, social and behavioural difficulties; moderate learning difficulties.