Special Educational Needs and Disabilities at Westgate Primary School
In September 2014, the government published a new Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Code of Practice which sets out statutory guidance for schools. This can be accessed using the link below.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/send-code-of-practice-0-to-25
The Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Code of Practice states that,
‘A child or young person has SEN if they have a learning difficulty or disability which calls for special educational provision to be made for him or her.
A child of compulsory school age or a young person has a learning difficulty or disability if he or she:
• has a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others of the same age, or
• has a disability which prevents or hinders him or her from making use of facilities of a kind generally provided for others of the same age in mainstream schools or mainstream post-16 institutions’
At Westgate Primary School we are committed to ensuring that every child has the opportunity to reach their full potential. We work with families and a wide range of agencies to provide effective support for pupils and strive to ensure that all children have access to the provision which is necessary to support their special educational need or disability.
We support children with a wide range of different Special Educational Needs and Disabilities which fall within the four broad areas of need:
- Communication and Interaction
- Cognition and Learning
- Social, Emotional and Mental Health Difficulties
- Sensory and/or Physical Needs
These needs may be for a short period or throughout a child’s educational life. They may be identified before a child has even entered school or they may come to be recognised at a specific point in their education.
Our Graduated Response
Further information about the support available for pupils with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities can be found in the following documents:
What is the Local Offer?
Local authorities must publish a Local Offer, setting out in one place information about provision they expect to be available across education, health and social care for children and young people in their area who have SEN or are disabled, including those who do not have Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans. In setting out what they ‘expect to be available’, local authorities should include provision which they believe will actually be available.
The Local Offer has two key purposes:
- To provide clear, comprehensive, accessible and up-to-date information about the available provision and how to access it, and
- To make provision more responsive to local needs and aspirations by directly involving disabled children and those with SEN and their parents, and disabled young people and those with SEN and service providers in its development and review
The Lancashire County Council Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Local Offer can be accessed using the link below:
Accessibility Plan
Under the Equality Act 2010 schools are required to have an Accessibility Plan. The Equality Act 2010 ensures that schools cannot unlawfully discriminate against pupils because of sex, race, disability, religion or belief and sexual orientation. According to the Equality Act 2010 a person has a disability if:
(a) He or she has a physical or mental impairment, and
(b) The impairment has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on his or her ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.
The Accessibility Plan is also listed as a statutory document on the Department for Education’s guidance on statutory policies for schools.
The aims of our Accessibility Plan are to:
- Improve and maintain access to the physical environment
- Increase access to the curriculum for pupils with a disability
- Improve the delivery of information to pupils and parents
For a full copy of Our Accessibility Plan, please click on the link below:
