SEND: Adapting our Curriculum Offer

HOW OUR LEARNING IS ADAPTED TO ENSURE EVERYONE ACHIEVES AND MAKES PROGRESS

We understand that a child’s area of need may change throughout their school journey. 

Some children’s levels of need (especially those with a diagnosed condition) will mean that they have special educational needs for their entire school career. 

Others may have fluctuating or isolated needs. For example, putting in place an intervention to improve gross motor skills in the early years could lead to issues being successfully addressed, bringing skills back in line with age expectations. 

We know that many of the ways we support our children with SEN are simply an extension of our good practice in the classroom. However, often more specific strategies may be particularly useful in supporting particular needs.

Therefore, when we plan lessons we:

• Ensure tasks are effectively differentiated and ambitious in their outcomes for all students. Organise work for learners with SEN in smaller chunks with plenty of opportunities for revisiting and over learning, where appropriate. This might involve smaller follow-up tasks.
• Use technology where appropriate to scaffold the learner. This may include equipment, apps, or specialist software which can effectively support SEN. 
• Deploy other adults in the classroom to effectively facilitate learning.
• Incorporate flexible grouping – do not always group children with similar SEN together; allow them to learn from their peers.
• Plan in the use of talk partners – this gives children with SEN access to peer support and the ability to rehearse their responses.

We always ensure that our communication with the children we teach is appropriate and is adapted both when spoken and written in order to support all children.

When we communicate with our classes we:

• Keep instructions clear and concise.
• Deliver instructions facing the children.
• Don’t issue multiple instructions at once.
• Give children an opportunity to repeat instructions back to a peer or adult.
• Accompany verbal instructions with visual aids for those who need it.
• Allocate other adults (or peers) to re-word and re-frame instructions and information for those with Speech, Language and Communication needs.
• Verbalise our thought process whilst modelling activities, including strategies to remember what you need to do.

We complement our high-quality teaching with small group and one-to-one interventions

Often, we have learners in our classes who need to access particular interventions in order to fulfil their potential, in addition to the high-quality whole-class teaching that we are providing.

Inventions are allocated for a pre-agreed period of time, accompanied by measurable goals, and regularly evaluated. 

All teachers to produce a provision plan detailing the interventions that are taking place within the class. This is adapted regularly.

All learners have a statutory right to a broad and balanced curriculum, so we take care to ensure that those children with SEN are not consistently removed from the same lessons for interventions. 

We understand that children can experience both academic and social barriers due to their SEN, meaning that they are unable to reach their personal potential.

Without proper support or accommodations in place, those barriers could manifest in anxiety, disengagement, and frustration, sometimes resulting in challenging behaviours within school. 

These could include:

• Withdrawn behaviours, including expressing anxiety, school phobia, truancy, and social isolation.
• Disruptive behaviours, such as calling out in class, angry outbursts, swearing, screaming, or refusing to follow instructions.
• Violent and/or unsafe behaviours such as physically harming themselves or others, running away, and damaging property.

There could also be changes to a child’s needs on occasion of a change in circumstances – ie: children experiencing grief or with other social, emotional and mental health needs. In these cases, staff would adapt their approach appropriately.

It is therefore key to our commitment to helping all of our children to achieve their true potential that we make learning accessible to all and achievement and progress attainable for everyone.

You can contact the school SENDco - Mr Pugh - by telephoning the school office