Our starting point is to have a “listening” conversation with parents/carers once they are given a place in the school.
We endeavour to do this either in the summer term before children start school and/or September, prior to their entry. These conversations form part of our home visits in Nursery and Reception: we know that parents are the first educators of their child – we need their knowledge to plan effectively. If we are aware of potential or known SEND prior to the home visit, a member of the inclusion team will accompany the class teacher on this visit to gather as much information as possible to make the transition as smooth as possible.
We ask whether parents/carers have any concerns about their children – for example, if they have a disability, special need or medical need. This helps us to plan how we will support their child once he/she starts school.
If a child has attended a Nursery school or Children’s Centre, we also use the information they provide to plan the best programme of support.
In addition, we assess all children in the first half term in our school through careful and sensitive classroom observation and an early review of progress.
We also listen to children to find out how they are settling in to school.
We continue to assess and monitor all through the child’s time in school so that we can look out for any special educational needs that might arise later on.
We take great care to establish whether lack of progress is because a pupil has English as an additional language (EAL), for example by talking to the child (and parents) in their home language.
We also work with specialist services – for example Educational Psychologists and Speech Therapists – who provide expertise in finding out the type and range of the student’s needs, for example, in terms of language and communication needs or reduced progress in acquiring reading and number skills.
This link explains how the Educational Psychologist team support our school
http://www.localoffer.camden.gov.uk/template/32/educational-psychology-service
We follow Camden’s guidance for the identification of SEND – click here for more information.
We are committed to personalised planning and regular assessment and review to make sure that your child makes progress.
You can see more details on how we identify children with SEND in our SEND policy – click here for policy page
