top of page

Special Educational Needs (SEN) Policy (2019-2020)

Date agreed: December 2019.

Date of next review: July 2020.

Approved by: Elena Vlasenko (School Director)

Printable Version

Introduction

​

Pushkin’s School believes that every child has an entitlement to develop their full potential. We recognise a child’s right to a broad, balanced, relevant and challenging curriculum, which is appropriate to their individual abilities, talents and personal qualities. Diversity is greatly valued and supports everyone’s learning. Our school provides education that develops children's achievements and recognises their individuality.

​

Every teacher is a teacher of every child, including those with Special Educational Needs (SEN). Pushkin’s School utilises different methods to present learning opportunities to children and carefully differentiates tasks and outcomes to match individual needs and abilities.

​

This policy includes the school’s SEN Information Report, which details our approach to identifying, assessing and making provisions for pupils with SEN. This will be reviewed and updated annually.

​

Anchor 1
Anchor 2

Legislation and Guidance

​

This policy complies with the statutory requirements presented in the Special Educational Needs and Disability Code of Practice 2015, and has been written regarding the following guidance and legislation:

​

Anchor 3

Aims

​

Pushkin’s School aims to:

​

  • provide equality of educational opportunity;

  • assess, record and review the specific educational needs of pupils;

  • apply best practice consistently;

  • promote a caring atmosphere within a happy, healthy and secure environment;

  • help pupils develop their skills, abilities and personalities;

  • provide appropriate teaching that makes learning challenging and enjoyable;

  • ensure that all pupils have access to a broad, balanced and relevant curriculum;

  • meet the needs of the individual child, helping them reach their true potential; and

  • encourage parents to take an active part in supporting their child’s learning and development.

Anchor 4

Objectives

​

The school will fulfil the aims of this policy by integrating the following objectives:

​

  • Implementing the government’s SEN recommendations.

  • Ensuring that this policy is consistently implemented by all staff.

  • Eradicating any discrimination or prejudice.

  • Identifying barriers to learning and participation and meeting a diversity of needs.

  • Identifying and monitoring children’s individual needs from the earliest possible stage so that appropriate provision can be made, raising their attainment.

  • Ensuring that all SEN pupils have access to an appropriately differentiated curriculum.

  • Recognising, valuing and celebrating pupils’ achievements, however small.

  • Working in partnership with parents and carers in supporting their child’s education.

  • Guiding and supporting all school staff and parents in SEN issues.

  • Ensuring that parents are kept fully informed on how SEN provision is organised, how it is identified, managed and provided for.

  • Meeting the individual needs of pupils irrespective of whether they have physical, sensory, emotional, behavioural, specific or general learning needs.

  • Involving the child in the process of identification, assessment and provision and ensuring that the child is aware that their wishes will be considered.

Anchor 5

Definitions

​

A child has SEN if he or she has a learning difficulty or disability which requires special education provision to be made for him or her, namely that which is additional to or different from the normal adaptations that are made in the general teaching process. A child has a learning difficulty if he or she:

​

  • have a significantly greater difficulty in learning than most children of the same age; or

  • have a disability which prevents or hinders them from making use of educational facilities of a kind generally provided for children of the same age.

​

Children are identified as having SEN if they are not making progress within a curriculum that:

​

  • sets suitable learning challenges;

  • responds to pupils’ diverse learning needs; and

  • overcomes potential barriers to learning.

​

Many children who have SEN may have a disability under the Equality Act 2010 – that is ‘… a physical or mental impairment which has a long-term and substantial adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities’. Children with such conditions do not necessarily have SEN, but there is a significant overlap between disabled children and those with SEN. Where a disabled child requires special educational provision, they will also be covered by the SEN definition.

​

It should not be assumed that all children will progress at the same rate. Slow progress and low attainment do not necessarily mean that a child has SEN and should not automatically lead to a pupil being recorded as having SEN. Equally, it should not be assumed that attainment that is in line with the pupil’s age means that there is no learning difficulty or disability.

​

Children will have needs and requirements which fall into at least one of four areas and many children will have inter-related needs. These areas are:

​

  • communication and interaction (e.g. language difficulties, autistic spectrum disorders);

  • cognition and learning (e.g. dyslexia, dyspraxia);

  • social, emotional and behavioural development (e.g. ADHD, anxiety disorders); and

  • sensory and/or physical (e.g. sight or hearing loss, injuries).

Anchor 6

Roles and Responsibilities

​

The Special Education Needs Coordinator (SENCo) at the High Wycombe, Hemel Hempstead and Bracknell school branches is Elena Vlasenko (School Director). The SENCo at the Chelmsford and Southend-on-Sea school branches is Olga Kisil (School Manager). The SENCo is responsible for:

​

  • the day-to-day operation of this SEN Policy;

  • approving changes made to this policy.

  • having regard for the SEND Code of Practice when carrying out duties towards all children with SEN;

  • liaising with and advising class teachers on the importance of identifying and providing for children with SEN;

  • ensuring that the procedures for monitoring and measuring all children are in place consistently by all teachers to ensure early identification and support of children who may require SEN support;

  • managing the provision for pupils with SEN;

  • overseeing the records of all pupils with SEN;

  • maintaining the SEN Register, actions taken and outcomes;

  • creating and reviewing a personalised SEN Support Plan;

  • contributing to SEN training for all staff;

  • attending review meetings of SEN pupils where appropriate;

  • overseeing the working relationship between staff and parents of pupils with SEN; and

  • informing parents on the success of this policy, including information about identification, assessment, provision, monitoring and record keeping.

​

The School Administrator (Anton Vlasenko) is responsible for:

​

  • reviewing and updating this SEN Policy and SEN Information Report annually;

  • keeping records of SEN identification, provision and monitoring; and

  • providing SEN related information to teachers during training.

​

The Teaching Staff are responsible for:

​

  • ensuring that all pupils with SEN are included in the activities of the school and with other children;

  • the quality of teaching pupils with SEN;

  • the progress of all pupils in their class including those with SEN;

  • providing appropriately differentiated learning outcomes for SEN pupils, with the objectives and levels of work set according to their needs and abilities; and

  • monitoring and tracking all pupils’ progress to assist in the early identification of learning difficulties.

Special Educational Needs (SEN) Information Report

Anchor 20
Anchor 7

1. School Admissions

​

Pushkin’s School strives to be a fully inclusive school, and the admission arrangements for children with SEN are no different than for other children. All children will be treated according to their needs in line with the equality of opportunity. No child will be denied admission because of his or her academic attainment or physical ability.

Anchor 8

2. Provisions to Support SEN Pupils

​

  • Differentiated classroom work and activities.

  • Personalised homework.

  • Appropriate teaching strategies.

  • SEN identification, assessment and regular review, using a graduated approach.

  • SEN Support Plan.

  • Small classroom sizes (up to 8 pupils per class).

  • Option to change class set which determines the difficulty of the curriculum.

Anchor 9

3. Disabled Access

​

Disabled access is provided at each of the school’s branches, along with accessible toilets, which can be used by children with physical disabilities and those using wheelchairs. Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans (PEEPS) are in place for every child with a physical disability to ensure their safety in the event of a fire or emergency.

Anchor 10

4. Specialist Facilities

​

There are no specialist facilities or special unit at each of our school branches. Although Pushkin’s School cannot provide specialist facilities, the SENCo will ensure that all appropriate provisions are made for children with SEN.

Anchor 11

5. Resources

​

Most of the resources used by children with SEN are available within the classroom. The SENCo will be able to give information to parents about what resources at available at each school branch. The SENCo will also consider any requests for further additional resources.

6. Identification, Assessment Arrangements and Review Procedures

​

The SEND Code of Practice 2015 recommends a graduated approach to identifying, assessing and reviewing pupils with SEN. Pushkin’s School follows this guidance to ensure that appropriate provisional arrangements are in place.

Anchor 21
Anchor 12

Identification:

​

For some children, SEN can be identified at an early age. However, other children may have difficulties becoming evident only as they develop. Teachers are responsible and accountable for the progress and development of all pupils in their class, and they will regularly make assessments of this progress. This seeks to identify pupils making less than expected progress given their age and individual circumstances. This can be categorised as progress which:

​

  • is significantly slower than that of their peers starting from the same baseline;

  • fails to match or better the child’s previous rate of progress;

  • fails to close the attainment gap between the child and their peers; or

  • widens the attainment gap.

​

The SEND Code of Practice 2015 suggests that pupils are only identified as having SEN if they do not make adequate progress once they have had good quality personalised teaching and intervention/adjustments. High quality teaching, differentiated for individual pupils, is the first step in responding to pupils who may have SEN. It should be noted that inadequate progress might arise from the following factors, which may or may not constitute SEN:

​

  • Russian language reading, writing and speaking ability and knowledge;

  • disability;

  • attendance and punctuality;

  • health and welfare; and

  • behaviour.

​

In deciding whether to make special educational provision, the SENCo will consider all the information gathered about a pupil’s attainment and expected progress. This could also include an early discussion with the pupil and their parents/carers to determine the child’s strengths and difficulties. Where a child is identified as having SEN, action is taken to remove barriers to learning and provisions are put in place. The SEN Support Plan will provide initial actions and decisions that will be revisited and refined in the future, which will give the SENCo a better understanding of the pupil’s needs and how it is best to support them in making good progress. This is known as the graduated approach.

Anchor 13

Assessment:

​

Once a pupil is identified as having SEN, the SENCo will assess their needs and progress by considering the following information:

​

  • the individual assessment from each of the pupil’s teachers;

  • the pupil’s classroom experience and participation;

  • the pupil’s homework attainment;

  • previous progress and attainment;

  • the pupil’s development in comparison to their peers;

  • the pupil’s classroom behaviour;

  • the views and experience of parents; and

  • the pupil’s own views.

​

Where it is decided that SEN provision is necessary, the pupil will be formally recorded on the SEN Register and a SEN Support Plan will be drawn up. Working together with the pupil, their parents and teachers, the SENCo will detail the adjustments, interventions, outcomes sought, support provided and teaching strategies that may be required. The pupil’s teachers will be responsible for implementing the SEN Support Plan. Some common adjustments to the pupil’s learning experience could include:

​

  • Modifying the classroom work and activities. Pushkin’s School has a maximum of 8 pupils per class, which allows our teachers to put more focus on individual needs and attainment. Every class has learning objectives which can be approached and attained in various ways. If a pupil is struggling to reach their learning objectives, the class teacher will differentiate their teaching to match the pupil’s needs.

  • Differentiating homework. Teaching staff can modify the homework given to each pupil so that the challenging aspects of classwork can be explored further. Additional homework can be provided to give the pupil more time to reach the learning objective. Pupils and parents are encouraged to give feedback to the SENCo on the appropriateness and difficulty of homework, who will inform the class teachers and make changes if needed.

  • Lowering the pupil’s class set. Currently, Pushkin’s School curriculum is split into six different sets, which take into account pupil age and their knowledge of the Russian language. Each higher set is more challenging than the previous set, and all pupils progress through the sets consecutively every school year. Moving to a lower set will give the child more time to master the more foundational aspects of the Russian language, helping to prepare them for the following set the next school year.

​

As each circumstance is different, it is possible that other adjustments will be made. Specific adjustments will be authorised by the SENCo who will discuss its implementation with the pupil, their parents and teachers.

Anchor 14

Review:

​

The pupil’s assessment and SEN Support Plan will be reviewed regularly. This helps to ensure that support and intervention are matched to need, and barriers to learning are identified and overcome. For some types of SEN, the way in which a pupil responds to an intervention can be the most reliable method of developing a more accurate picture of their needs. The class teacher, working with the SENCo, will revise the support by considering the pupil’s progress and development, deciding on any changes to the support and outcomes. Parents will be informed on any changes made, and their suggestions will be included in the review process.

​

As a pupil starts to make adequate progress, support will gradually be reduced. Where a pupil continues to make adequate progress without the SEN differentiated provision, over the period of at least one term, they will be removed from the SEN Register. Their progress will continue to be carefully monitored and reviewed regularly.

Anchor 15

7. Access to the Full Life of the School

​

All children, whether they have SEN or not, will be involved in the full life of the school. This includes all activities such as:

​

  • class work and homework;

  • theatrical plays;

  • playground access during break and lunch times; and

  • out of school activities such as school holiday trips.

Anchor 16

8. Complaints

​

All efforts will be made to ensure that provision is appropriate to the child’s needs, and parents are encouraged to participate in this process. If a parent is not satisfied with any aspect of provision or teaching, it is best to try and resolve these concerns informally without invoking formal complaints procedures. Any complaint concerning the child’s provision should be primarily discussed with the school’s SENCo. In most cases the SENCo will be able to appropriately modify the SEN Support Plan and teaching strategies with consideration to the views and suggestions of parents. However, if the matter is still not addressed to a satisfactory level, parents should follow the school’s Complaints Procedure which is available on the school’s website.

Anchor 17

9. Training

​

The SENCo will provide regular training for all teaching staff regarding the SEN information available in this document. The training will involve going over the graduated approach, as well as the best methods to differentiate classwork, homework and teaching styles. The SENCo will also provide information on how to implement each SEN Support Plan.

Anchor 18

10. Storing and Managing Information

​

Pushkin’s School is committed to the health and well-being of its pupils and will ensure that staff, parents and children can feel confident that any entrusted information is treated sensitively and only shared with the relevant members of staff. Any information about SEN provision and the SEN Support Plan will only be available to the SENCos, the School Administrator, the pupil and their class teachers and parents. Additional details on how information is stored and managed can be found on the school’s GDPR and Data Protection Policy and the Pupil and Parent Privacy Notice.

Anchor 19

11. SEN Policy and Information Report Evaluation

​

Both the SEN Policy and Information Report will be reviewed and updated annually. Parents, teachers and pupils are welcome to give feedback on this policy and to suggest any potential improvements.

bottom of page