Darton Primary School is an inclusive school that celebrates diversity and believes that all pupils should be valued and treated with respect. We have a strong focus on high aspirations and improving outcomes for all our pupils, work in all subject areas is adapted to enable all pupils to succeed and make progress from their own starting points.  We firmly believe that by working in partnership with parents/carers and professionals beyond school, our pupils will get the best possible care, support, education and opportunities in order to ensure a successful transition into adult life.

Our Special Educational Needs and Disability Co-ordinator (SENDCO): Miss Bedford

SEND Aims of the School

• To ensure that all children have access to a broad and balanced learning opportunities.
• To provide appropriate adaptations to enable all pupils to achieve.
• To ensure the early identification of all children requiring SEND provision.
• To ensure that children with special educational needs take as full a part as possible in all activities.
• To develop maintain positive relationships and work alongside parents and carers of learners with SEND, ensuring they are kept fully informed and involved in their child’s learning, progress and attainment.
• To ensure that SEND children are involved, where practicable, in decisions affecting their future SEN provision and learning.
• To ensure that all children are able to achieve their full potential.
• To provide a fully inclusive learning experience across all curriculum areas.

Click here for a copy of out SEND Policy 2025 / 2026

Click here for a copy of our SEND Information Report 2025 / 2026

Definition of Special Educational Needs

A child or young person has Special Educational Needs 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

A child is classed as disabled if:

• Many children and young people who have SEND may have a disability under the Equality Act 2010 – that is ‘…a physical or mental impairment which has a long-term and substantial adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities’. This definition provides a relatively low threshold and includes more children than many realise: ‘long-term’ is defined as ‘a year or more’ and ‘substantial’ is defined as ‘more than minor or trivial’. This definition includes sensory impairments such as those affecting sight or hearing, and long-term health conditions such as asthma, diabetes, epilepsy, and cancer. Children and young people with such conditions do not necessarily have SEN, but there is a significant overlap between disabled children and young people and those with SEN. Where a disabled child or young person requires special educational provision they will also be covered by the SEN definition.

There are four broad categories used when identifying a child’s needs:

• Communication & Interaction
• Cognition & learning
• Social, emotional and mental health
• Sensory and/or physical needs

If you feel that your child falls into any of the above categories then please make your child’s class teacher aware in the first instance. A meeting with the SENDCO can then be arranged.

In addition to the resources below you can also find local services and supports through Barnsley Local Authority’s Local Offer which is an online resource for parents/carers of children with SEND. It brings together and publishes in one place all the information on the services available in your area.

The local offer will contain information about a wide range of provision including:

• Education and Specialist Support
• Health
• Social Care
• Training
• Travel to school and college
• Housing, employment and leisure opportunities

Please click here to take you to Barnsley’s local offer.

Admissions:

The School believes that the admissions criteria should not discriminate against pupils with SEND and has due regard for the practice advocated in the Code of Practice, in that

The Equality Act 2010 prohibits schools from discriminating against disabled children and young people in respect of admissions for a reason related to their disability’. (COP, 1.28)

• must consider applications from parents of children who have SEND but do not have an EHC plan on the basis of the school’s published admissions criteria as part of normal admissions procedures
• must not refuse to admit a child who has SEND but does not have an EHC plan because they do not feel able to cater for those needs
• must not refuse to admit a child on the grounds that they do not have an EHC plan.