Inclusion and Special Educational Needs & Disabilities (SEND)

Inclusion

At Ashford St Mary’s we believe that Inclusion is the main driving force in our school. We are committed to ensuring that every child, parent, visitor and member of staff feels valued and welcome regardless of culture, ethnicity, sexuality, gender, religion or anything else that makes us who we are. The Inclusion and Special Educational Needs & Disabilities team, led by Mrs Norman, works to ensure that all adults working at and working with (parents & carers) Ashford St Mary’s Primary know how to help every child thrive in every possible way. We believe that the children and adults in our school will thrive and reach their potential if they feel safe and happy. We therefore want the whole school community to commit to the collective responsibility of Inclusion.

SEND

The Inclusion and Special Educational Needs & Disabilities team, led by Mrs Norman, works to ensure that all adults working at and working with (parents & carers) Ashford St Mary’s Primary know how to help every child thrive in every possible way. Mrs Smith, oversees SEND across the school and works to ensure that the SEND Mainstream Core Standards are being met in the delivery of all teaching and learning. All decisions relating to Inclusion and Special Educational Needs are made in line with the SEND Code of Practice.

We work in partnership with parents/carers to make sure that children are given the best that we can give so that they can achieve the best that they can. Our relationships with the parents and carers of all children is an incredibly important ingredient in delivering the best education to our children.

All local authorities produce a Local Offer outlining what the authority offers to support children with SEND. You can find this by clicking on the following link: http://www.kent.gov.uk/education-and-children/special-educational-needs

As a school we outline our own Local Offer setting out what our school will do to support children with SEND. This is set out in our SEND Policy and SEND Information Report.

SEND Code of Practice definition (2014):

"A child or young person has SEND 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."

We aim to identify any children with a Special Educational Need (SEN) early so that we can tailor the teaching, and the overall provision if required, to meet each child's needs. This always starts in the classroom with strategies taken from the Mainstream Core Standards to support learning, but may also involve interventions outside of the classroom if deemed appropriate. As a school, we use external professional advisors to make sure that we are delivering the best strategies and support we can with the resources that we have available to us.

Key contacts:

Mrs Katie Norman - Inclusion Leader (Senior Leadership Team)

Miss Tracy Himmer - Family Liaison Officer

SENDCO Contact Information:
Mrs Kerry Smith
Tel: 01233 625531
Email: senco@st-marys-ashford.kent.sch.uk