Education - Local Offer
Contents
Schools and SEND support
The Local Offer website lists every school in West Northamptonshire.
Each school listing has a description, contact details, a link to their website, a link to the school's Information Report (or SEND Policy) and the name of their SENCo.
The Local Offer directory lists regional and national specialist schools which may be used for children with very complex needs.
There is a map showing the school's location and the date the listing was last updated. If a school has specialist facilities known to the council, they will be included in the listing too.
The Local Offer website lists full details of all special schools and specialist provisions. Some mainstream schools have specialist provision or resourced units on their premises. Details of these can be found via the schools' individual listings.
There is also a link to the national schools directory and the independent special schools approved under Section 41 of the Education Act.
SEND support in schools
All schools and academies are required to identify and address the special educational needs of the pupils that they support.
Always speak to your child’s teacher first if you are worried about your child's learning. This will be the class teacher in a primary school or the form tutor at a secondary school. Schools have a designated part of their funding budget to support children with special educational needs and disabilities.
Schools must:
- use their best endeavours to make sure that a child with SEND gets the support they need - this means doing everything they can to meet the child or young person's special educational needs
- ensure that children and young people with special educational needs or disabilities engage in the activities of the school alongside pupils who do not have special educational needs or disabilities
- prepare and publish an SEND information report on their website
All education staff expect to support children and young people with a variety of needs, defined in 4 broad areas as laid out in the SEND code of practice:
For example, where children and young people have speech, language and communication difficulties which make it difficult for them to make sense of language to understand how to communicate effectively and appropriately with others.
For example, children and young people learn at a slower pace than others of their age, have difficulty understanding parts of the curriculum, have difficulties with organisation and memory skills or have a specific difficulty affecting one aspect of their learning such as in literacy or numeracy.
For example, where children or young people have difficulty managing their relationships with other people, are withdrawn or if they behave in ways that may hinder their and other children’s learning, or that have an impact on their health and wellbeing.
For example, children and young people with a sensory impairment that affects their hearing or their sight, or both will require specialist support to access their learning.
Some children with a physical disability require ongoing support and equipment to access all the opportunities available to their peers.
Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCO)
If you think your child may have special educational needs, you can contact the SEN Co-ordinator (SENDCO or SENCO) at the school. Every school must designate a qualified teacher to be responsible for co-ordinating SEND provision. If your child doesn’t progress despite well-targeted teaching, you or the teacher should speak to the SENCO.
The SENCO will work with your child's teacher to assess whether your child has special educational needs or a disability that will affect their learning (SEND). They will do this by talking to you and your child and looking at your child’s work, progress and behaviour.
If they think your child has a special educational need or a disability:
- the school must tell you if they think your child has special needs and about what action they plan on taking
- they will put in place support and closely monitor progress
The Graduated Approach
Support for pupils with special educational needs follows a graduated approach. There are usually 3 stages of intervention.
- Universal SEN Support - additional support provided by the educational setting
- Targeted SEN Support - additional support provided by the educational setting, along with the advice or involvement of external agencies.
- Specialist SEN Support - an assessment of educational, health and care needs can be carried out through a range of agencies for children and young people with complex needs - this will establish what provision should be and if an Education, Health and Care plan is needed or if the pupil’s needs can be met at the SEN Support level.
Schools in Northamptonshire use the SEND Ranges. For information and copies of the document, email [email protected].
What support is provided in school?
Educational settings must make ‘reasonable adjustments’ to meet the special educational needs of every child or young person and to promote equality.
Every child with a special educational needs or disability should have SEN support. This means help that is additional to or different from the support generally given to other children of the same age.
The purpose of of SEN support is to help children and young people achieve outcomes or learning objectives set for them by the school or setting. Parents should be involved in this process.
SEN support in school has 4 stages:
Identify a child as needing SEND support after carrying out clear analysis of the pupil's needs.
Parents must be notified when their child is to receive SEND support, although parents should have already been involved in the assessment stage.
The school, in consultation with parents and the pupil, should agree the adjustments, interventions and support to be put in place as well as the expected impact on progress, development or behaviour along with a clear date for review.
The class or subject teacher remains responsible for the pupil on a day to day basis with the support of the SENCO if required.
Any intervention delivered by other school staff should be closely monitored by the responsible teacher.
The effectiveness of the support and interventions and their impact on the pupil's progress should be reviewed in line with the agreed date. This evaluation will include the views of the pupil and their parents and feed back into the analysis of the pupil's needs and the next steps.
Assessing a child’s special educational needs
Usually, the school or setting will ask the Local Authority to assess a child’s educational needs after they have worked with the student using the ‘assess, plan, do review’ using good quality differentiated teaching and in consultation with parents.
The following people can also request that the Local Authority conducts a Special Educational Needs and Disability assessment for a child or young person:
- the child's parent or carer
- a young person aged 16 to 25, acting on their behalf
- a professional acting on behalf of a setting, school or post-16 institution
- professionals such as foster carers and health and social care
- professionals who think an assessment may be required can bring the child or young person to the attention of the Local Authority who will consider if an assessment is required
The Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) assessment process has 5 stages and takes a maximum of 20 weeks. If you need support with your child's application you can contact SEND IASS, the SENCO or Early Years SEN lead.
Find out more about assessing a child’s special educational needs.
Children with medical conditions
If your child has a medical problem that affects their learning or access to education, discuss these issues with the school before your child starts at the school.
The school will work with you and any relevant health professionals to implement an effective health plan. Many medical conditions, such as diabetes are not considered to be a special educational need.
Read more about how schools support children with medical conditions.
What happens if you are unhappy with the support your child is receiving
If you do not believe that the educational establishment is working effectively to support your child's progress, you should:
In the first instance speak with the class teacher or SENCO to discuss your concerns
You can contact the Information, Advice and Support Service (IASS) for impartial advice and support.
If this does not resolve your concerns, you can follow the school's complaints policy and contact the head teacher, the SEND governor, or chair of governors depending on the school's policy.
Search the Local Offer directory.
Last updated 20 February 2024