SEND Information

At Harcourt Primary School we work tirelessly to enable all children to achieve well at school. In order to do this many steps are taken to support them through their learning journey. Quality first teaching is vital; however for some children there are occasions when further additional support may be needed to help them achieve their targets.

At Harcourt Primary School all staff take responsibility for inclusion under the leadership of Mrs O’Connor toconnor@harcourt.kent.sch.uk We also have a dedicated and experienced SEN team who provide specialist support including Mrs Hughes – Learning Mentor and ASD Champion and our team of experienced SEN Teaching Assistants. Our Inclusion Governor is Mrs Wendy Settle.

Children and Families Bill 2013

The Children and Families Bill takes forward the Government’s commitments to improve services for vulnerable children and support families. It underpins wider reforms to ensure that all children and young people can succeed, no matter what their background. The Bill has reformed the systems for adoption, looked after children, family justice and special educational needs.

The Government has transforming the system for children and young people with special educational needs (SEN), including those who are disabled, so that services consistently support the best outcomes for them. The Bill extends the SEN system from birth to 25, giving children, young people and their parents/carers greater control and choice in decisions, and ensuring needs are properly met.

It takes forward the reform programme set out in Support and Aspiration: A new approach to Special Educational Needs and Disability: Progress and next steps by:

Replacing statements and learning difficulty assessments with a new birth- to-25 Education, Health and Care Plan, extending rights and protections to young people in further education and training and offering families personal budgets so that they have more control over the support they need.
Improving cooperation between all the services that support children and their families and particularly requiring Local Authorities and Health Authorities to work together.
Requiring Local Authorities to involve children, young people and parents in reviewing and developing provision for those with special educational needs and to publish a ‘local offer’ of support.

What is the Local Offer?

The Local Offer was first introduced in the Green Paper (March 2011) as a local offer of all services available to support disabled children and children with SEN and their families. This easy to understand information sets out what is normally available in schools to help children with lower-level SEN as well as the options available to support families who need additional help to care for their child.

Parents can find this information by clicking here.

What does it do?

The Kent framework allows the Local Offer to provide parents/carers with information about how to access services in their area, and what they can expect from those services. With regard to Education, it will let parents/carers and young people know how school and colleges will support them, and what they can expect across the local settings. During the last year, the Local Offer Steering Group has developed questions for schools, and trialled them with a small number of settings.

There are 13 questions, devised in consultation with parents/carers and other agencies, which reflect their concerns and interests. These will be answered by agencies, schools and colleges to provide information to parents and carers to enable them to make decisions about how to best support their child’s needs.

How does Harcourt know if children need extra help?

The Special Educational Needs and Disability Code of Practice: 0-25 years 2014 makes it clear that “all teachers are teachers of pupils with special educational needs”.
We know when pupils need extra help if:

Concerns are raised by parents/carers, teachers, teaching assistants or the pupil’s previous school
There is a lack of required progress
Attainment is below national expectations
There is a change in the pupil’s behaviour
A pupil asks for help

All evidence is discussed termly in pupil progress meetings, where concerns are raised by the class teacher, teaching assistant, learning mentor with the SENCO Mrs O’Connor.

What should I do if I think my child may have special education needs?

All parents receive annual reports and have an opportunity to meet formally in a parent consultation three times yearly to discuss their child’s progress. The school operates an open door policy and welcomes contributions from parents at any time. If parents have concerns, they can contact either the class teacher or the school’s SENCO Mrs O’Connor.
If a child is identified as not making expected progress, or significantly below age expected attainment, the school will set up a meeting to discuss this with parents in more detail, and to:

Listen to any concerns parents may have
Listen to any concerns the child may have
Plan any additional support the child may need
Discuss with parents any referrals to outside professionals to support the child’s learning