Children with Additional Needs
Some children at St Bede’s have Additional Needs. This may be due to a variety of reasons, including specific medical conditions or Special Educational Needs (SEN).
We want every child to fulfil their potential and we use the full range of strategies in order to support our pupils in this.
Special Educational Needs (SEN):
Children with Special Educational Needs will require additional support in school for different reasons. We may need to help some children to further their communication skills or develop social skills or manage their emotions. The school listens to all available advice when deciding whether a child needs such additional support. We want to work in partnership with families and external agencies.
Schools are required by law to keep a record of those children who have been identified as having Special Educational Needs and needing additional support- this is called a SEN Register. This helps to ensure that no child is missed. Children on this register are monitored closely to ensure that they are making good progress. This list is reviewed regularly and children may go on to the list for a short time, such as a term, or for a longer period. Children come off the register when their needs are no longer having a significant impact on preventing them from learning well.
When we have concerns about a child, we will talk to the child and to their parents to find out more including their views around strengths, difficulties and then collect ideas of what we can put in place to support them. We carry out assessments. We then plan what we will put in place. We will also set a target around the child’s particular area of need, in addition to the usual targets set at St Bede’s. The document produced is called a Pupil Passport. We evaluate a child’s progress and review and update this document termly.
Support for children usually happens within the classroom as part of everyday teaching; however, some children may take part in an activity- which we call an intervention- outside of the classroom. Interventions provide additional support for areas such as reading comprehension, development of speech and language or fine motor skills. We also have interventions to support children with their self-esteem and social skills- these are just as important as anything else as without both, they will not learn as well as they might.
More information about SEND can be found in the Policy folder in a document called the SEND Policy and Information Report.
If you have concerns about your child and their progress or have any questions, please do not hesitate to speak to the class teacher or contact the school Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCo), Janet Oatham. Janet can usually be seen on gate duty, so please do come and say ‘Hello’.
For a longer chat, please contact Janet by email janet.oatham@st-bedes.redbridge.sch.uk
Further information:
Redbridge Local Offer- this gives an overview of provision in Redbridge https://find.redbridge.gov.uk/kb5/redbridge/fsd/site.page?id=hnwIEXB1V2E
Redbridge Special Education Resource Centre (SERC) has lots of useful information for parents and schools. It has overviews of a range of conditions, links to websites and ideas of activities to try. http://www.redbridgeserc.org/