Special Educational Needs and Disability
At St Margaret's we strive to support all children to enable them to achieve at school. In order to do this many steps are taken to support them through their learning journey.
We commit ourselves to the principle that all teachers are teachers of pupils with SEND.
Quality teaching is vital; however for some children there are occasions when further additional support may be needed to help them achieve their targets.
SMCEPS Universal Offer
The SMCEPS Universal Offer is a minimum level of support, assessment and advice which is applied to all pupils. Further to this the SMCEPS Extended offer is applied to pupils who require additional support, assessment and advice, which may lead to an application for additional funding from the Local Authority. This coincides with and compliments the Warrington Local Offer in that it – “sets out what is normally available in schools to help children with lower-level SEN as well as the options available to support families who need additional help to care for their child."
Our Universal and Extended offers can be viewed here: SMCEPS Universal & Extended Offers
This is where the Inclusion Team support.
The Inclusion Team consists of:
- Miss Emma Fleming - Assistant Headteacher (Inclusion): Special Educational Needs and Disability Co-ordinator
- Mrs Laura Albon- SEN Case Worker
- 5 Dedicated SEN Support Assistants and 12 additional learning support staff
We also have a Pastoral Care and Safeguarding Team
Miss Emma Fleming - Assistant Headteacher (Safeguarding Manager & Safeguarding Strategic Policy Lead)
Mrs Joanna Brown - Pastoral, Safeguarding and Families Manager
Mrs Susan Kirby - Early Help Co-ordinator
There are many SEN terms that are abbreviated which can lead to confusion (even for us!).
Below is a glossary of the most used SEN terms.
| ADD | Attention Deficit Disorder |
| ADHD | Attention Deficit & Hyperactivity Disorder |
| ASD | Autistic Spectrum Disorder |
| BESD | Behavioural Emotional & Social Difficulties |
| CAF | Common Assessment Framework |
| CAMHS | Child & Adolescent Mental Health Service |
| COP | Code of Practice |
| CP | Child Protection |
| CSW | Children's Support Worker |
| DCD | Developmental Co-ordination Disorder |
| EAL | English as an Additional Language |
| EP | Educational Psychologist |
| FSM | Free School Meals |
| HI | Hearing Impairment |
| IEP | Individual Education Plan |
| ISR | In School Review |
| KS | Key Stage |
| LAC | Looked After Child |
| LA | Local Authority |
| MLD | Moderate Learning Difficulty |
| NC | National Curriculum |
| OT | Occupational Therapist |
| PSP | Pastoral Support Programme |
| SaLT | Speech & Language Therapy |
| SEN | Special Educational Needs |
| SEND | Special Educational Needs & Disability |
| SENCo | Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator |
| SpLD | Specific Learning Difficulty |
| VI | Visual Impairment |
Children and Families Act 2014
The Children and Families Act takes forward the Government's commitments to improve services for vulnerable children and support strong families. It underpins wider reforms to ensure that all children and young people can succeed, no matter what their background. The Act reforms the systems for adoption, looked after children, family justice and special educational needs.
The Government is transforming the system for children and young people with special educational needs (SEN), including those who are disabled, so that services consistently support the best outcomes for them. The Act extends the SEN system from birth to 25, giving children, young people and their parents/carers greater control and choice in decisions and ensuring needs are properly met.
It takes forward the reform programme set out in Support and aspiration: A new approach to special educational needs and disability: Progress and next steps by:
- replacing statements and learning difficulty assessments with a new birth- to-25 Education, Health and Care Plan,
- extending rights and protections to young people in further education and training and offering families personal budgets so that they have more control over the support they need;
- improving cooperation between all the services that support children and their families and particularly requiring local authorities and health authorities to work together;
- requiring local authorities to involve children, young people and parents in reviewing and developing provision for those with special educational needs and to publish a 'local offer' of support.
What is the Local Offer?
The Local Offer was first introduced in the Green Paper (March 2011) as a local offer of all services available to support disabled children and children with SEN and their families. This easy to understand information sets out what is normally available in schools to help children with lower-level SEN as well as the options available to support families who need additional help to care for their child."
The local offer for Warrington can be found here: WARRINGTON LOCAL OFFER
The school's SEND Information Report can be found here: SIR SEPT 2020
The school has an Equality Policy that includes the school's Accessibility Plan: See Documents Page
