Special Educational Needs

Our Special Educational Needs Co-Ordinator (SENDCO) is Ms Coelina Carter.
She can be contacted via Email: Sendco@stroudgreenprimary.com

Please click on the links below to view our policies

Identification of Special Educational Needs

How we know if a child has special educational needs:

At Stroud Green we follow the cycle of Assess, Plan, Do, Review to identify and support children's needs.

Some areas of SEN (in alphabetical order):

Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD)
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
Autistic Spectrum Condition (ASC)
Behaviour, Emotional and Social Difficulties (BESD)
Hearing Impairment (HI)
Gross/Fine Motor Skills difficulties/impairment (MOT)
Moderate Learning Difficulties (MLD)
Multiple Sensory Impairment (MSI)
Medical Conditions (OTH)
Physical Difficulties (PD)
Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulties (PMLD)
Speech, Language and Communication Needs (SLCN)
Severe Learning Difficulties (SLD)
Specific Learning Difficulties (dyslexia) (SpLD)
Visual Impairment (VI)

Some of these areas of need are only addressed within specialist schools or provisions. An open dialogue between parents or carers and the school is encouraged.

Class teachers ensure that children’s individual needs are catered for appropriately within their classroom, whilst the SENDCO provides information on which strategies and/or intervention programmes may be appropriate, and specialist advice.

The SENDCO makes referrals to external agencies if this is agreed to be appropriate because of the complexity of a child’s difficulties. Referrals are only made with parental support. Children with an identified need are placed on the SEN register, a document recording the type of need, support offered, agencies involved and targets to measure progress.

Levels of SEN

SEN Support (previously known as School Action and School Action Plus): where the needs of children are met through the use of school-based resources and external agencies when necessary.
Education and Health Care Plan (EHCP, previously called a Statement of Special Educational Needs): where the needs are significant enough for a plan and additional funding to be necessary for multiple agencies to work with a child to overcome their barriers to learning.

Supporting children with SEN

Each child is different and individual, but some interventions we use to enable a child to achieve their potential are:

In-class differentiation by the class teacher, either by level of work or by breaking down tasks to make learning easier and aid understanding.
In-class support by our trained and dedicated team of Learning Support Assistants (LSA), who might work full-time with one student, part-time with one student, or with small groups inside and outside the class room.
Specialist resources to aid learning.
Support in and out of class by a Learning Mentor.
Specialist intervention, e.g. from Speech and Language Therapist, from literacy teachers, numeracy teachers, physiotherapists, community language team, specialist nurses from Great Ormond Street Hospital and The Whittington Hospital.
Referrals to other agencies for assessment, advice and intervention, including the Child Development Centre (CDC), school nurse, Educational Psychology Service (EPS), Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS), Speech and Language Therapy (SALT), Speech, Language and Communication Service (SLCS), Visual Impairment Service, Hearing Impairment Service. Some of these agencies work in the school, to access other services children have to go with their parents or carers to see the specialists.

A core principle is to provide support in class, while accepting that some interventions have to happen out of class. We aim to keep withdrawals from lessons to a minimum.

Children with an EHCP and some children with SEN Support require a personalised education programme due to the complexity of their additional needs. This is planned by the SENCO, the class teacher, learning support assistant, and external experts as appropriate.

Parents or carers of children who are on the school’s SEN register meet with the class teacher and SENCO to review progress, provision and to identify next steps. Outside specialists may support the needs of some children if this is deemed appropriate.

If you would like to raise a complaint about our SEND provision please refer to the SEND policy here.