SEND

St Thomas’ CE Primary SEN Information Report 2023-24

Definition of Special Educational Needs

“A pupil has SEN where their learning difficulty calls for special educational provision, that is provision that is different from or additional to that normally available to pupils of the same age.” The New Code of Practice 2014.

At St Thomas’ we value all God’s children and ensure that those with Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities (SEND) get the support they need to make excellent progress in a caring and fully inclusive environment, ensuring they experience life in all its fullness.

Our SEND provision provides opportunities for pupils with learning difficulties and/or disabilities to access a rich, balanced and progressive knowledge-based curriculum specifically tailored to their needs. We do this by providing our pupils with Quality First teaching approaches which give them the self-confidence needed in order to maximize their potential and develop skills to work independently. Our curriculum inspires our pupils to be the very best versions of themselves which enables them to set high aspirations for the future.

We provide support for pupils across the four areas of need as laid out in the SEND Code of Practice 2014:

Communication and interaction
Social, emotional and mental health difficulties
Sensory and/or physical needs
Cognition and learning

The categories are used in order to plan additional provision for children who need support; however, identification of a specific type of need is not necessary to put a support plan into place. Equally, the identification of a type of need does not automatically call for the implementation of SEND support. It will often be the case that children have needs across more than one category, and our priority is to gain a good understanding of how the pupils learn to ensure provision is appropriate, rather than focussing on the category of need.

Sefton’s Local Offer

Here is the link to the Local Offer for the authority of Sefton, which can help you to understand what services you can expect, and what is available from a range of agencies:

Local Offer - Special Educational Needs and Disabilities | The Sefton Directory