SEND SUPPORT including children with EHC Plans

What happens if my child does have some difficulties?

The best thing that can happen if your child has SEND is for them to have excellent classroom teaching, known as Quality First Teaching. For your child this would mean that:

• The teacher has the highest possible expectations for your child and all children in their class
• 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
• The teacher will have carefully checked on your child’s progress and will have decided that your child has a gap in their understanding/learning and needs some extra support to help them make the best possible progress.

All children in school should be getting this as a part of excellent classroom practice when needed.

Your child may also benefit from specific group work with a smaller group of children. These kinds of groups, often called interventions, may:

• Be run in the classroom or outside
• Be run by a teacher or teaching assistant who has had training and is supervised to run these groups
• Include clear assessment before and after to measure progress
• Have specific targets or goals set for the children involved so they know what they need to do next and when they have achieved this. 

This type of support is available for any child who has specific gaps in their understanding of a subject or area of learning. We also sometimes provide specialist groups or individual support as advised by external professionals if children would benefit from this approach. For your child this would mean:

• Your child will have been identified by the class teacher (or you will have raised your worries) as needing more specialist input in addition to Quality First Teaching or in place of 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 ask for the involvement of a specialist e.g. a Speech and Language Therapist or Educational Psychologist. This will help the school and you understand your child’s particular needs better and be able to support them in school.

The specialist 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 individualised support or changing some aspects of teaching to support them better
• Support to set better targets which include the area of 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

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