How does Fordbridge Community Primary School identify pupils with SEND and how are they assessed?

Identification

We follow a graduated approach to every child’s learning, following the Assess – Plan – Do – Review model to ensure that we are meeting the needs of every child. 

On-going monitoring and assessment of each individual child’s progress is extremely important. Regular observations, assessment and recording the progress of all children is used to identify children who are not progressing satisfactorily and who may have additional needs.

Each term as part of Pupil progress meeting, class teachers meet with SLT to discuss the progress and attainment of all the children in their class, and any concerns they may have.  Targeted support and/or interventions may be put in place to address these concerns, and the child is monitored for an agreed period of time.

Teachers at any time can put in an Inclusion referral, if they have a concern about a child following intervention support being put in place by themselves at a targeted level. The Inclusion team meet on a weekly basis, and will review Inclusion referrals and agree observations, assessments or interventions to be put in place.  If there are still concerns following school’s observations, assessment data and interventions being in place for an agreed period, then a discussion between the class teacher, SENCO and parent, can take place. The child may be recorded as needing a differentiated curriculum within the class or additional support. Children will also be assessed using the SEND Toolkits and progress will be monitored.

With the agreement of parents, a child may be placed on the SEND Register, and may require SEND Support Targets which has very specific short-term targets which are identified to support the child’s progress.  In these cases, parents will be invited in to school to discuss the targets with the SENCo and class teacher and then be invited to termly review meetings to review the progress made against the targets and set new targets as appropriate.

For further information, please see the school’s SEND Policy.

Assessment

At Fordbridge we understand that all pupils make progress at their own pace, and that progress can be measured in many different ways. This is particularly true for pupils with SEND.

At Fordbridge, for assessment for pupils off track, we have been using the Birmingham SEND Toolkits which are updated termly to show how each individual is making progress within the areas of ‘Speaking and Listening’, ‘Reading’, ‘Writing’, and ‘Mathematics’, based on each child’s specific needs. If a pupil is working below the expected level for their age, these assessments can clearly show the progress they are making and help to identify the gaps in learning.

In addition, pupils with a diagnosis of Autism may have ongoing assessment based on the Progression Framework published by ‘Autism Education Trust’, which focuses on specific areas of difficulty for pupils with Autism.

All pupils on the SEND register have termly ‘SEND Support Plans’ with targets, which are assessed in collaboration with the class teacher, parents, other staff members and the pupils themselves. Targets are intended to be achievable over the term, and new targets are agreed upon by pupils, parents and teachers. These targets may be based on curriculum subjects, physical needs or social and emotional areas of difficulty.

Pupils with an EHC Plan have outcomes to work towards annually, which are assessed collaboratively as part of the annual review process. Children who are below 6 years old have their EHC Plan assessed twice a year.