EDUCATION FOR CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS and/or DISABILITIES

THE DEVON LOCAL OFFER

AND SEND PROCEDURES AND SUPPORT AT WEST HILL PRIMARY SCHOOL

West Hill Primary School is an inclusive school. We aim to provide the very best education for all our pupils within all our available resources. We are committed to offering an inclusive curriculum to ensure the best possible attainment and progress for all of our pupils whatever their needs or abilities. We want all pupils to have full access not only to the taught curriculum, but also to our out of school enrichment activities and all pupils are encouraged to participate in the range of clubs and sports we provide. Furthermore, all pupils are involved in reviewing their learning experiences, evaluating their progress and actively planning their learning.

We do not discriminate in any way against any pupil seeking admission and are committed to making reasonable adjustments which are in the best interests of the child and our school community in order to meet the needs of all our pupils. Once pupils are at the school, our aim is to provide the best possible learning experiences for all. This includes giving additional support to individuals or groups of pupils who require something extra to meet their needs.

The person responsible for managing West Hill Primary School’s provision for children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities is our Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCo), Mrs. Clare Bennett.

Not all pupils with disabilities have special educational needs and not all pupils with SEN meet the definition of disability but our policies cover all of these pupils. Pupils have Special Educational Needs if they have a learning difficulty which calls for special educational provision to be made for them. Pupils with a disability have special educational needs if they have any difficulty in accessing education and if they need any special educational provision to be made for them, that is anything that is additional to or different from what is normally available in schools in the area.

We aim to involve all members of the school community in decision–making and policy development.  We regard staff, parents and pupils as undertaking a joint enterprise to make learning exciting and positive for all of us. We are all members of a team working co-operatively to this end and we value very highly the expertise of our parents and carers in the education process.

The Governing Board’s Special Educational Needs Policy sets out information about the school’s procedures for making provision for pupils with special educational needs. This Policy can be found on the school website together with a link to Devon’s local offer.

The specific objectives of our SEND and Inclusion policies are as follows:

• to ensure that all learners make the best possible progress, achieve their potential and are enabled to do their best in all areas of their learning
• to provide a broad and rich curriculum to meet the needs and abilities of all our pupils
• to identify pupils with SEND and ensure that their needs are met
• to ensure that children with SEND  join in with all the activities of the school, as appropriate to their needs
• to ensure parents/carers are informed of their child’s special needs and provision and that there is effective communication between parents/carers and school
• to ensure that learners express their views and are fully involved in decisions which affect their education and learning
• to promote effective partnership and involve outside agencies when appropriate.Please see West Hill Primary School’s SEND Offer for full details on our provision for children with Special Educational Needs. This can be accessed from this web page as a .pdf document.
  Further information and support services parents/carers can access in Devon: THE LOCAL OFFERIn order to ensure that our parents and carers are fully informed about what is available for children with SEND, we have provided links to some websites, including the DEVON LOCAL OFFER website which we strongly recommend that you access and which we hope you will find helpful:Devon Local Offer Website:   www.devon.gov.uk/education-and-families/send-local-offer  Devon Information and Advice (DIAS) website (formerly Parent Partnership): www.devonias.org.uk   Additional documents which we strongly recommend that you access:

If you have any questions regarding our SEND provision, please do not hesitate to contact Mrs. Clare Bennett at the school.