Teaching, Learning & the Curriculum

How We Support SEND

Burnside Primary School prides itself in being very inclusive and will endeavour to support every child regardless of their level of need. All pupils follow the National Curriculum at a level and a pace that is appropriate to their abilities. At times and when it is felt appropriate, modifications to the curriculum may be implemented.

To successfully match pupil ability to the curriculum there are some actions we may take to achieve this:

Ensure that all pupils have access to the school curriculum and all school activities.
Help all pupils achieve to the best of their abilities, despite any difficulty or disability they may have.
Ensure that teaching staff are aware of and sensitive to the needs of all pupils, teaching pupils in a way that is more appropriate to their needs.
Pupils to gain in confidence and improve their self-esteem.
To work in partnership with parents/ carers, pupils and relevant external agencies in order to provide for children’s special educational needs and disabilities.
To identify at the earliest opportunity, all children that need special consideration to support their needs (whether these are educational, social, physical or emotional)
To make suitable provision for children with SEND to fully develop their abilities, interests and aptitudes and gain maximum access to the curriculum.
Ensure that all children with SEND are fully included in all activities of the school in order to promote the highest levels of achievement.
To promote self worth and enthusiasm by encouraging independence at all age and ability levels.
To give every child the entitlement to a sense of achievement.
To regularly review the policy and practice in order to achieve best practice.

Children have Special Educational Needs if they have a learning and or physical difficulty. This means that the child will need educational support, which is additional to, or different from, the provision made generally for children of the same age in a mainstream school. We ensure that we adapt our curriculum to meet the needs of every child and use different teaching styles to cater for the different ways in which children learn.

Children may have needs that fall within one area or have needs that fall across two or more areas and these will be recorded on the school’s SEN register. The nature and level of the needs will impact upon the child’s ability to function, learn and succeed.

The identified areas of need are:

communication and interaction
cognition and learning
social, emotional and mental health difficulties, and
sensory and/or physical

Types of SEND

At Burnside Primary School, we have experience of supporting children and young people with a wide range of need including:

The school provides data on the levels and types of need to the Local Authority. This is collected through the school census.

Teaching, Learning and the Curriculum

At Burnside Primary School, we believe that inclusive education means providing all pupils with appropriate education and support alongside their peers. The Curriculum is all the planned activities that the school organises in order to promote learning, personal growth and development.

It includes not only the formal requirements of the National Curriculum, but also the range of additional opportunities that the school organises in order to enrich the experiences of our children. Our curriculum also includes the social aspects that are essential for life-long learning.

For further information you can view the Teaching & Learning Policy in the School Policies section of our website.

How we identify and assess children with special educational needs

Most children and young people will have their special educational needs met in mainstream schools through good classroom practice. This is called Quality First Teaching.

At Burnside Primary School, we follow a graduated support approach which is called “Assess, Plan, Do, Review”.

This means that we will:

Assess a child’s special educational needs
Plan the provision to meet your child’s aspirations and agreed outcomes
Do put the provision in place to meet those outcomes
Review the support and progress

As part of this approach, we will produce a SEN Support Plan that describes the provision that we will make to meet a child’s special educational needs and agreed outcomes. Parents and carers will be fully involved in this process.

A small percentage of children and young people with significant learning difficulties might need an assessment that could lead to an Education, Health and Care Plan.

Full details can be found on the Local Offer website.

You can find details of how we adapt the curriculum and make it more accessible for pupils with SEN below:

Pupil assessment is an on-going process and forms an essential part of teaching and is designed to promote the raising of achievement. Pupil assessments provide important information for pupil review and support meetings and may also be used as a basis for an initial discussion with the SENCO.

At Burnside Primary School we monitor the achievement and learning of all pupils on a daily basis. The tracking system is updated on a termly basis and after discussion in pupil progress meetings we identify pupils who are underachieving and may require some extra support.

The data from tests as well as assessment of learning opportunities carried out by teachers regularly allows us to ensure that curriculum planning is differentiated to meet the needs of all pupils. Support may be provided by our intervention teachers or learning support assistants who will work with the children in small groups or on an individual basis depending upon needs.

Staffing and any Specialist Qualifications/Expertise

Mrs R Thompson – National Award for SENCo Co-Ordination

Mrs P Renwick – 16 Years experience of SENCo within school

If you would like to discuss your SEND requirements in detail please contact the school to arrange an appointment.