Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND)
Intent
At St Francis Catholic Primary School we are an inclusive school where every child matters. We have high aspirations for all of our children and to ensure that they reach their full potential we closely monitor all children to ensure every child is challenged and makes progress at their level in a happy, safe and secure environment.
Implementation
We work in partnership with our children, parents and outside agencies to provide the best possible educational outcomes for all our children, including those with a range of additional and complex needs. Our inclusion procedures ensure that high quality first teaching, high expectations, early intervention and appropriate support for all our children are in place to allow all of our children to succeed.
We are very lucky to gain support through our cluster services - their role is to work within the Morley Primary Partnership to provide support to our children and families, this includes access to many services such as speech and language therapy.
Our Catholic Schools Partnership works together on a regular basis to share good practice and keep up to date with research, sharing best practise and changes to legislation. This ensures we fulfil our mission statement of the partnership:
Jesus Christ is at the centre of the life of the Partnership. We work together to ensure that all children reach their full potential by striving to offer the highest possible standards of education. We recognise that every child is unique, created in God’s image. We celebrate and nurture their individual gifts and talents. Inspired by faith, our partnership shares its achievements offering each other challenge and support, as together we follow Christ in self giving love and service.
Policies
The following school policies, available on our website, reflect the school’s commitment to inclusion, safety and well-being of the children:
- Accessibility Plan
- Special Educational Needs and Disability policy
- SEMH policy
- Behaviour policy
- Safeguarding and Child Protection policy
- Anti-Bullying policy
Definitions
SEND means Special Educational Needs and Disabilities. Children have a special need if they have a learning difficulty which calls for special educational provision to be made. This will be if the child:
- Has significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of children of the same age.
or
- Has a disability which prevents or hinders then from making use of educational facilities of a kind generally provided for children of school age within Local Authority area.
The area of special need will be identified as either:
- Cognition and Learning (general of specific learning difficulties)
- Communication and Interaction (speech and language difficulties and Autism)
- Social, Emotional and Mental Health
- Physical, Sensory and Medical (hearing, visual impairments, physical and medical difficulties
Accessibility Plan
The accessibility for the school community is reviewed regularly within the school year and our accessibility plan therefore is a working document.
Curriculum Provision
We plan a lively, broad and balanced curriculum where every child can be successful. All of our staff support individuals and groups of children, where necessary, to ensure that all children are able to participate and achieve well. Our class teachers, alongside other support staff, plan an appropriately differentiated curriculum for our children with additional needs to ensure high quality teaching and learning with effective support and resources. Key assessments ensure that children are on track to meet targets and planning accurately addresses needs. Progress, targets and plans are regularly reviewed with the children and evaluated to inform next steps. An appropriate and accessible learning environment is provided within the school’s means and confines of the building, and is adapted where possible.
Interventions and support
Please find below information about the different levels of support provided for our children:
Each class teacher produces a detailed provision mapping document which provides details about the barriers to learning and support provided for all targeted children. These are regularly updated and monitored by SLT.
Medical conditions
If you would like any further information about how the school manages medical conditions please do not hesitate to ask. The following link will take you to the medical conditions at school website which has a wealth of information that you might find useful.
SEND Governor
Our designated SEND governing body lead is Mrs Rees.
Mrs Rees is a Head of School at a local Catholic Primary school, where she has been SENDCO for 22 years and currently works within the Local Authority FFI working party for SEND improvements across the city.
Further information
Complex Needs Leeds Local Offer Leaflet
If you need any further information please do not hesitate to contact us (via email sendco@stfrancismorley.org.uk or by contacting the school office on 0113 323 0554) and we will be only too happy to help and advise. Mrs Gibbons is our School SENDco.
