| SENCO | Mrs Rachel O'Sullivan |
| Email Address | rosullivan@olsp.uk |
| Phone Number | 01626 773905 |
| SEND Governor | Mrs Joyce Gillespie |
SEND: Children with special educational needs and disabilities
At Our Lady and St Patrick's, we are dedicated to providing high quality opportunities for all. We aim to enable all children to be fully included in all aspects of their education and to achieve their potential.
We believe in an inclusive environment where the child is at the heart of everything we do. We value the importance of our partnership with parents, and working collaboratively with them to deliver a range of support that meets the needs of all learners.
We recognise that the education of children, with or without special educational needs, is underpinned by high quality teaching and compromised by anything less.
What are Special Educational Needs?
A child is deemed to have Special Educational Needs or Disabilities, or SEND, if he or she has ‘significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others of the same age’, or his or her disability ‘prevents or hinders him or her from making use of facilities of a kind generally provided for others of the same age in a mainstream school’ (DfE 2014, revised 2015). Special educational provision is needed for him or her, over and above that which can be met through high quality classroom teaching and differentiation.
The National Code of Practice identifies four broad areas of need:
- communication and interaction;
- cognition and learning;
- social, emotional and mental health difficulties;
- sensory and/or physical needs.
Some children may have needs in more than one area. We reflect on each child as an individual, clarifying their needs in partnership with parents and outside professionals. Then we adapt our provision to meet those needs, keeping it under regular review to ensure that we support pupil progress optimally.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/send-code-of-practice-0-to-25
Click on the link above for the National Code of Practice.
What should I do if I think my child has SEND?
Speak to your child’s class teacher in the first instance. The class teacher knows your child best and can discuss their progress, their strengths and their areas of difficulty or next steps with you. This forms part of our Graduated Response. If appropriate, this information will be passed onto our Special Education Needs and Disabilities Co-ordinator (SENDCo), Miss Jane Day.
How can I find out more about SEND provision at OLSP?
We update our SEND policy and our SEND Information Report annually.
Please explore the documents below to find out more.
Local Authorities have a duty to publish a 'local offer'. The local offer is what goes on every day in Devon to support children and young people with SEN and how they ensure quality around this.
Link to Devon local offer: