All children are individuals and have varying needs throughout their time at Malcolm Sargent School. All staff recognise that every child has gifts, abilities and weaknesses, which need to be adequately addressed by their class teacher. We believe that “every teacher is a teacher of every child or young person including those with SEN” (Nasen, 2014) and, in line with the SEND Code of Practice 0 – 25 (2014) class teachers are responsible for the learning and progress of all children. The school’s SENCO, Senior Leadership Team (SLT) and Teaching Assistants support teachers and pupils with additional provision and strategies to ensure all pupils make progress towards achieving their personal potential. This policy includes children who have significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of children of the same age and those with a medical diagnosis or disability where any special provision needs to be made.

All children must have an equal opportunity to take part in a broad and balanced curriculum and in all activities of the school. Where necessary, special arrangements may need to be made for those children with specific needs, e.g. hearing impairment, communication difficulties, physical disabilities, medical disabilities. Those who have additional needs will be encouraged to develop their strengths, take responsibility and be helped to become as independent as possible.

Through our inclusive practices we endeavour to:

• achieve maximum inclusion of all children (including vulnerable learners who may have additional barriers to learning other than special educational needs such as ‘disadvantaged children’) whilst meeting their individual needs.
• provide differentiated learning opportunities for all the children within the school and provide materials appropriate to children’s interests and abilities. This ensures that all children have full access to the school curriculum.
• make every effort to narrow the gap in attainment between vulnerable groups of learners and others.
• focus on individual progress against the child’s potential as the main indicator of success.
• make a clear distinction between children who are not achieving their personal potential due to special educational needs and those who are achieving below age related expectations, but are deemed to be achieving in line with their underlying personal potential. For example:
  • Some pupils may be assessed as having a low underlying innate capability in tests such as verbal and non-verbal reasoning. These children may be below expectations for their age, but working at their potential, and NOT underachieving or be considered to have a special educational need.
  • Other pupils will have special educational needs and this may lead to them not achieving their personal potential. It is our responsibility to ensure that pupils with special educational needs have the maximum opportunity to attain and achieve in line with their potential. Accurate assessment of need and the use of evidence-based programmes, which address the root causes of any learning difficulty, are essential ingredients of success for these pupils. These will be provided, initially, through additional support funded from the devolved schools budget.

Our Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Coordinator is Tim Cox. Please contact Mr Cox via the school office  click here.  To see a copy of the SEND Policy, including the complaints procedure for SEND provision, please visit the policies section of this website by clicking on the link here.

For the SEND Local Offer, please click here.