St Anselm'sI Think My Child Has Special Educational Needs. What Can I Do?
“A child or young person has SEN if they have a learning difficulty or disability that calls for special educational provision to be made for him or her”
- Who should I speak to in school?
Our Special Educational Needs Co-Ordinator (SENCo) Mrs Lawrence-Hearn is the best person to contact. The SENCo has responsibility for what happens on a day-to-day basis at St Anselm’s for pupils with a Special Educational Need - she provides professional advice to other teachers in school to help ensure all pupils make progress.
Mrs Lawrence-Hearn is supported by the Deputy SENCo and Assistant SENCo. Together they oversee liaison with outside agencies, ensure the correct provision in school and manage a team of teaching assistants.
Staff in the SEN department can be contacted using SEN@st-anselms.org.uk
- How are children’s needs assessed at St Anselm’s?
We monitor the progress of all pupils three times a year to review their academic development, and use a range of assessments at various points – including Cognitive Ability Tests on arrival.
More detailed assessments will only be employed when a pupil persistently makes inadequate progress, despite high quality teaching and extra support. These will be employed following consultation with parents, and are completed by a registered British Psychological Test user.
This more detailed assessment will help us to understand what additional resources and different approaches are needed to help a pupil make better progress. More information is available in our SEN Policy document.
- What action do St Anselm’s take if a need is identified?
The learning needs of most pupils can usually be met by Quality First Teaching in class, however some may require extra help. This may be managed by the class teacher and could be achieved by working in small groups or on a one-to-one basis with the teacher or a teaching assistant.
If progress is not sufficient, extra support will be put in place to enable the pupil to achieve. This may include: subject-based intervention to target areas of weakness, small group tutoring for Numeracy, One-to-One Thinking Reading or pastoral intervention from the House team.
If a pupil has identified special educational needs, the additional support they require to achieve will be put into an SEN support plan and reviewed regularly in communication with parents. More information is available in our SEN Policy document.
KCC SEN strategy
