What support is available for our children?

For your child this would mean:

• That the teacher has the highest possible expectations for your child and all pupils in their class.
• That all teaching is based on building on what your child already knows, can do and can understand.
• Different ways of teaching are in place so that your child is fully involved in learning in class. This may involve things like using more practical learning.
• Specific strategies (which may be suggested by the SENCO or outside staff)  are in place to support your child to learn.
• Your child’s teacher will have carefully checked on your child’s progress and will have decided that your child has gap in their understanding/learning and needs some extra support to help them make the best possible progress.

Specific group work with in a smaller group of children.

(This type of support is available for any child who has been identified as having specific gaps in their understanding of a subject/area of learning.)

This group, called Intervention groups in school, may be

• Run in the classroom or outside.
• Run by a teacher or most often a Teaching assistant who has had training to run these groups.

Once your child has been identified by the class teacher as needing some extra support in school:

• He/ She will engage in either small group or 1:1 sessions with specific targets to help him/her to make more progress.
• A Teaching Assistant/Teacher or outside professional (like a Speech and Language Therapist) will run these small group sessions using the teacher’s plan.

Specialist groups run by outside agencies e.g Speech and Language therapy OR Occupational therapy groups

If your child does not make expected progress with interventions in place they will then be referred to recieve extra specialist support in school from a professional outside the school. This may be from:

•  Local Authority central services such as BESST
• Outside agencies such as the Speech and Language therapy (SALT) Service.

For your child this would mean:

• Your child will have been identified by the class teacher/SENCO (or you will have raised your worries) as needing more specialist input instead of or in addition to quality first teaching and intervention groups.
• You will be asked to come to a meeting to discuss your child’s progress and help plan possible ways forward.
• You may be asked to give your permission for the school to refer your child to a specialist professional e.g a Speech and Language Therapist or Educational Psychologist. This will help the school and yourself understand your child’s particular needs better and be able to support them better in school.
• The specialist professional will work with your  child to understand their needs and make recommendations, which may include:
  • Making changes to the way your child is supported in class e.g some individual support or changing some aspects of teaching to support them better
  • Support to set better targets which will include their specific expertise
  • A group run by school staff under the guidance of the outside professional e.g a social skills group
  • A group or individual work with outside professional

• The school may suggest that your child needs some agreed individual support in school. They will tell you how the support will be used and what strategies will be put in place.

This type of support is available for children with specific barriers to learning that cannot be overcome through Quality First Teaching and intervention groups.

Specified Individual support
for your child of more than 20 hours in school.

This is usually provided via a Statement of Special Educational Needs or an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP).This means your child will have been identified by the class teacher/ SENCO as needing a particularly high level of individual or small group teaching, which cannot be provided from the budget available to the school.

Usually your child will also need specialist support in school from a professional outside the school. This may be from:

• Local Authority central services.
• Outside agencies such as the Speech and Language therapy (SALT) Service.

For your child this would mean:

• The school (or you) can request that the Local Authority carry out a statutory assessment of your child’s needs. This is a legal process which sets out the amount of support that will be provided for your child.
• After the school have sent in the request to the Local Authority (with a lot of information about your child, including some from you), they will decide whether they think your child’s needs (as described in the paperwork provided), seem complex enough to need a statutory assessment. If this is the case they will ask you and all professionals involved with your child to write a report outlining your child’s needs. If they do not think your child needs this, they will ask the school to continue with the current support.
• After the reports have all been sent in the Local Authority will decide if your child’s needs are severe, complex and lifelong and they will then write a Statement of Special Educational Needs or an EHC Plan. If this is not the case, they will ask the school to continue with the support at School Support and also set up a meeting in school to ensure a plan is in place to ensure your child makes as much progress as possible.
• The Statement or EHC Plan will outline the number of hours of individual/small group support your child will receive from the LA and how the support should be used and what strategies must be put in place. It will also have long and short term goals for your child.
• The additional funding will then be used to support your child with whole class learning, run individual programmes or run small groups including your child.