How does the school identify if my child has special educational needs?

There is no one single answer to this question. It will depend on your child and their particular needs. We use a variety of ways to assess children’s needs and review their progress. These include (in no particular order);

• Discussions between staff in school
• Observations of your child
• School based test results
• Discussions with parents / carers
• Discussions with your child
• Specialised assessments carried out by members of the school’s support services
• Information from previous schools/setting
• Discussions with other professionals who have worked with your child, for example pediatrician, speech and language therapist, occupational therapist, physiotherapist.

Staff are continually reviewing the children’s progress and adapting their teaching to meet the differing needs of the children in their care. In addition, at the end of each term we carry out a more formal review of every child’s progress in every subject. If your child is not making the expected progress or is working significantly below the level at which we would expect a child of their age to be working, we would look at why this might be happening and what additional support they may need. This may be in class or in targeted intervention groups. You would be informed during parent’s evening about the targeted interventions groups your child is included in. If after a further period of assessment, we still had concerns about the progress your child is making, we would invite you into school to discuss this and at that stage your child may be included on the SEND register.

If at any point staff had any concerns about your child’s progress or development, we would talk you immediately. We would not wait until the end of term review.

Click here to return to the main SEND page.