Special Educational Needs and Disabilities

 

 

Special Educational Needs (SEN) at Colby School

 

We feel that Colby school’s culture, ethos and curriculum create an environment where all children can thrive.

 

What is Colby School’s vision for children with SEN?

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• All children feel safe and happy. 

• All children, irrespective of SEN, achieve their potential – personally, socially and academically – and feel ready for the next steps in their learning. 

• All pupils have opportunities to participate fully in all areas of school life.

 

Aim: To be the setting that families of vulnerable learners within the community trust.

 

More information about how we support children with SEN can be found in our SEN Information Report here.

 

Our Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Policy can be found here.

 

Specific examples of the ways that we support children with SEN can be found in our Provision Map here.

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Paper copies of these policies are available free of charge from the office.

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SENCo

 

Every school has a Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCo) who oversees the day-to-day provision for children with SEN to ensure that support makes a difference for pupils. The SENCo works closely with the Headteacher, Christine Mead, and with staff, families and other agencies. 

 

Colby’s SENCo is Hannah Everett. Hannah is contactable via the school office on 01263 733381 or via email: heverett9hrw@nsix.org.uk.

 

Working with children and families

 

At Colby School, we believe that involving children and their families in decisions about their support is really important to make sure that the right provision is put in place. We want parents and carers to feel that they can talk to the SENCo, teachers and the Headteacher about their children on an everyday basis. Examples of the ways we work with families can be found in our SEN Information Report.

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What is SEN?

 

At Colby School, every teacher is expected to teach in a way that reflects the range of ability and understanding among the children their class; this is called the normal differentiated curriculum.  However, some children need something extra in order to learn effectively – we call this special educational provision. When a child needs special educational provision, we identify the child as having special educational needs (SEN) and they are added to our SEN Register.

 

Any ‘extra’ provision is dependent on the individual’s needs and is designed to overcome or remove barriers to their learning. Examples of barriers to learning could include: reading, working memory, anxiety, attention, hearing, social communication skills, language comprehension etc. Barriers can be identified in a range of ways: through conversations with children and families; through observations by school staff; or through routine or specialist assessments. Once we identify a barrier to learning, we consider how it is impacting a child and what support is needed to overcome or remove these barriers. This might involve the class teacher adapting a lesson to take account of your child’s needs, or planning extra one-to-one or small group sessions to address an area of difficulty. 

 

What is disability?

 

The Equality Act 2010 definition of disability is: 

“A person has a disability for the purposes of this Act if (s)he has a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on his ability to carry out normal day-to day activities.” Section 1(1) Disability Discrimination Act 1995 

 

All staff at Colby School are aware of the requirements of the Equality Act 2010. This legislation places specific duties on schools, including the duty not to discriminate, harass or victimise a child or adult linked to a protected characteristic defined in the Equality Act and to make ‘reasonable adjustments’ to ensure that disabled children are not at a substantial disadvantage compared with their peers. 

 

What is SEND?

 

Together we refer to these two groups – SEN and disability – as SEND. 

External support for SEN

 

Please see below information on useful external support services that are regularly involved in meeting the needs of pupils with SEND and in supporting their families: 

 

The Norfolk SENDIASS (Information, Advice and Support Service) 

 

The Norfolk SENDIASS provides information, advice and support to children, young people and parents/carers about SEND. This includes health and social care where it is linked to education. It is a free, dedicated, confidential and impartial service based in Norwich. You can contact the service by calling 01603 704070, or emailing norfolksendiass@norfolk.gov.uk. You can also find more information on their website: https://www.norfolksendiass.org.uk/about-us/about-us/ 23 

 

The Norfolk Local Offer 

 

The Local Offer sets out the local services available to support children and young people with SEND and their parents and carers. It includes all the information about education and health and social care in one place. To access the Norfolk Local Offer click on this link: https://www.norfolk.gov.uk/children-and-families/send-local-offer

 

Just One Norfolk 

 

Just One Norfolk is the single point of access for all Norfolk Healthy Child Programme services. Your call might be for an appointment change, or you might have a parenting question or a worry about your child's physical or emotional health.

• Just One Norfolk 

• Visit: https://www.justonenorfolk.nhs.uk/

• Phone: Just One Number on 0300 300 0123 

• Text: Parentline on 07520 631590

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