According to East Sussex County Council, Special Educational Needs are defined as follows:

Children have special educational needs if they have a learning difficulty which calls for special educational provision to be made for them.

Children have a learning difficulty if they:

a) have a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of children of the same age; or

b) have a disability which prevents or hinders them from making use of educational facilities of a kind generally provided for children of the same age in schools within the area of the local education authority

c) are under compulsory school age and fall within the definition at (a) or (b) above or would so do if special educational provision was not made for them. Children must not be regarded as having a learning difficulty solely because the language or form of language of their home is different from the language in which they will be taught.

Special educational provision means:

a) for children of two or over, educational provision which is additional to, or otherwise different from, the educational provision made generally for children of their age in schools maintained by the LEA, other than special schools, in the area

b) for children under two, educational provision of any kind.

Our policy is to identify children with any type of special need as early as possible. Class teachers keep a constant check on children’s progress and any problems are discussed with parents and carers. We have in place a systematic record keeping system which enables our

The Special Needs Co-ordinator (Miss Palmer) will monitor children and help develop individual programs of work, if necessary. She will also arrange meetings with parents and carers to discuss progress. Sometimes it may be necessary to seek outside, professional advice from the Educational Psychologist, Speech Therapist and Learning Support Service. Our Special Needs Policy document has been fully revised to match the requirements of the changes to SEN from September, 2014. This document, along with our Local Offer, can be found on our school website, or obtained in hard-copy from the School Office.

Miss Palmer the SENCo can be contacted via the school office or at cpalmer@quercusfederation.co.uk

Northiam Special Educational Needs Information Report 2020 (1)