A child has special educational needs (SEN) if they have learning difficulties or disabilities that make it harder for them to learn than most other children of about the same age.

Many children will have special educational needs of some kind during their education. Schools and other organisations can help most children overcome the barriers their difficulties present quickly and easily. A few children will need extra help for some or all of their time in school.

So special educational needs could mean that a child has:

• learning difficulties – in acquiring basic skills in school


• emotional and behavioural difficulties – making friends or relating to adults or behaving properly in school


• specific learning difficulty – with reading, writing, number work or understanding information


• sensory or physical needs - such as hearing or visual impairment, which might affect them in school


• communication problems – in expressing themselves or understanding what others are saying


• medical or health conditions – which may slow down a child’s progress and/or involves treatment that affects his or her education. 

Children make progress at different rates and have different ways in which they learn best. Teachers take account of this in the way they organise their lessons and teach. Children making slower progress or having particular difficulties in one area may be given extra help or different lessons to help them succeed.

You should not assume, just because your child is making slower progress than you expected or the teachers are providing different support, help or activities in class, that your child has special educational needs (www3.hants.gov.uk).

If your child has more difficulties than most children their age, with aspects of their learning, communication or behaviour, then they are likely to benefit from additional support in school which will enable them to access the curriculum at their level.  Within school, this means that they will be identified on the school’s ‘meeting individual needs’ register so that provision to meet their needs can be planned for.

Sometimes parents/carers are concerned about their child being added to this register; please do not be.  It is simply a record of which children require additional support and allows the Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENDCo) to ensure that resources are allocated appropriately and to enable support to be sought for your child from additional outside agencies, such as a Speech & Language Therapist or Educational Psychologist.  As children progress, they may be taken off of the register at a point when their needs no longer require additional support.

Children are not seen as having a learning difficulty because they speak a different language at home to that used at school.

What is a disability?

A person has a disability if he or she has a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long term adverse effect on his or her ability to carry out normal, day to day activities.

Children 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 school.

So special educational needs could mean that a child has:

• learning difficulties – in acquiring basic skills in school


• emotional and behavioural difficulties – making friends or relating to adults or behaving properly in school


• specific learning difficulty – with reading, writing, number work or understanding information


• sensory or physical needs - such as hearing or visual impairment, which might affect them in school


• communication problems – in expressing themselves or understanding what others are saying


• medical or health conditions – which may slow down a child’s progress and/or involves treatment that affects his or her education. 

Children make progress at different rates and have different ways in which they learn best. Teachers take account of this in the way they organise their lessons and teach. Children making slower progress or having particular difficulties in one area may be given extra help or different lessons to help them succeed.

Montrose School is a mainstream school with experience of supporting pupils with a range of differing needs including:

• Communication and Interaction (such as autism and speech and langauge needs)


• Cognition and Learning (such as dyslexia, developmental coordination disorder, moderate learning difficulties and global development delay)


• Social, emotional and mental health (such as ADHD, attachment disorders, emotional difficulties, mental health difficulties)


• Physical and sensory (such as hearing and/or vision impaired, physical difficulty)

All of the teachers in our school are teachers of children with special educational needs and we adopt a 'whole school approach' involving all staff adhering to a model of high quality teaching. 

The staff of the school are committed to identifying and providing for the needs of all children in an inclusive environment.  Inclusion is regarded as crucial to the policy, in line with that of the Local Authority. This means that most children with SEND are taught together with their peers majority of the time, being withdrawn for short periods only when specialist provision cannot be incorporated in any other way due to practical considerations for the child and the class as a whole. 

Please note we do not have a special unit for SEND.

Children with SEND are identified by one of three assessment routes all of which are part of the graduated response to assessing, identifying and providing for pupils’ special educational needs:

1. The progress of every child is monitored at regular pupil progress meetings against nationally set criteria. Where children are identified as not making progress, in spite of quality first teaching, they are discussed with the SENDCo and a plan of action is agreed with the teacher.  


2. Class teachers are continually aware of children’s learning.  If they observe that a child is making less than expected progress, given their age and individual circumstances, they will seek to identify a cause.  This can be characterised by progress which: 

• Is significantly slower than that of their peers starting from the same baseline


• Fails to match or better the child’s previous rate of progress


• Fails to close the attainment gap between the child and their peers 

3. Families sometimes ask us to look more closely at their child’s learning.  We take all parental requests seriously and strive to investigate them all.  Frequently, the concern can be addressed by quality first teaching or some parental support.  Otherwise, a graduated response is implemented by school.

If a child fails to make expected progress, the next stage would be to move to the use of school intervention and/or outside agency involvement for the identification, assessment and recording of children’s learning difficulties.  This will result in the child being placed on the school’s Meeting Individual Needs register at SEN Support (SENS).

The SENDCo and/or outside agency may need to undertake a range of standardised tests with the child.  These assessments will help the school in deciding what support to put in place for the child.  Targets will then be discussed and set for the child and communicated with parents. 

 Although the school can identify special educational needs, and make provision to meet those needs, we do not offer diagnoses.  Families are advised to contact their GP if they think their child may have an underlying medical condition or disability.

If you have concerns about your child you should contact the class teacher or the Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENDCo) - Mrs Cross.

A child’s special educational needs and/or disabilities will be met at one of the following stages:

Initial Concern/Monitoring

An informal stage where class teachers identify a concern about a pupil’s progress, gather available information about the pupil, discuss strategies for providing appropriate learning tasks for the pupil with the SENDCo and seek to discuss concerns with the pupil’s family.

SEN Support / Early Years Support

This is the first formal stage.  The triggers for intervention through SEN Support / Early Years Support could be the teacher’s or others’ concern, underpinned by evidence, about a child who, despite receiving differentiated learning opportunities

• makes little or no progress even when teaching approaches are targeted particularly in a child’s identified area of weakness.


• shows signs of difficulty in developing literacy or numeracy skills which result in poor attainment in some curriculum areas.


• presents persistent emotional or behavioural difficulties which are not ameliorated by the behaviour management techniques usually employed by the school.


• has sensory or physical problems, and continues to make little or no progress despite the provision of specialist equipment.


• has communication and/or interaction difficulties and continues to make little or no progress despite the provision of a differentiated curriculum.

Provision is mainly classroom based, managed by the Class Teacher, where:

• Provision is planned for the pupil, in consultation with the pupil’s class teacher and/or SENDCo.


• The class teacher and SENDCo review progress and decide on future provision.


• The majority of support is provided in class by the Class Teacher and Teaching Assistants, but there may be some low-level involvement from the school’s SEN team.

Education, Health and Care Plan

If, despite significant support and intervention at SEN Support, the school has evidence that a pupil is making insufficient progress, or if the SENCo believes the nature of the pupil’s difficulties requires it, we may seek further advice and support from external professionals and request a statutory assessment of the pupil’s difficulties.  

The criteria for applying for statutory assessment are set by the Local Authority.  The triggers for Statutory Assessment could be that, despite having received an individualised programme and/or concentrated support under SEN Support, the child:

• continues to make little or no progress in specific areas over a long period


• continues working at National Curriculum levels substantially below that expected of children of a similar age


• continues to have difficulty developing literacy and numeracy skills


• has emotional and behavioural difficulties which substantially and regularly interfere with the child’s own learning or that of the class group, despite having an individualised behaviour management programme


• has sensory or physical needs, and requires additional specialist equipment or regular advice or visits by a specialist service


• has ongoing communication or interaction difficulties that impede the development of social relationships and cause substantial barriers to learning

Provision is still mainly classroom based, with additional advice/input from the SENDCo and support from members of the school’s SEN Team, where the school will:

• seek the involvement of external agencies to support the planning of intervention and targets for the pupil, or to provide a course of support which is carried out in school in a small group situation or a 1:1 basis.


• continue to work closely with parents.


• continue to keep the pupil’s progress under regular review.

Reviews are carried out as before and decisions made with the parents as to whether to continue the child at SEN Support if some progress is being made which shows the child is improving significantly, or to be put forward a request for the consideration of the initiation of statutory assessment if everything that has been tried so far does not seem to be making sufficient difference to the child’s situation and development.

Request for the consideration of the initiation of statutory assessment

The school will use reports from all of the professionals involved with the child to complete the request for statutory assessment form.  All of these reports are then submitted to the Local Authority’s SEN Panel where it will be decided whether a statutory assessment will be granted.

Parents’/carers’ views and feelings are sought throughout this process.

If a statutory assessment is granted, then the Local Authority’s SEN Panel will request detailed reports from all of the professionals involved about the child’s development, progress and the difficulties being experienced, with details of what has been provided to support the child up to this stage.

If the SEN Panel are in agreement, an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) will be drawn up, which will detail the child’s specific special educational needs and required provision.  The EHCP will also detail any additional funding which is being provided to the school and how this must be used as well as detailing the school placement for the child.

The SEN Panel may make a recommendation as part of the process as to the best placement of the child in light of their special educational needs.

It must be pointed out to parents that not all requests for EHCP are successful and that this will be up to the Local Authority SEN Panel.

Where the EHCP is not issued, the school will continue to provide support for that child at SEN Support and decisions will be made about gathering evidence for a further request to be made if this is deemed appropriate/necessary.

Whilst the LA makes its decision about whether a statutory assessment is necessary, and whilst any subsequent assessment is being made, the child continues to be supported at the SEN Support level.

Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP)

The production of an EHCP is organised by Leicester City council’s Special Needs Teaching Service, in close liaison with the school, external agencies involved with the pupil and the pupil’s family.

The provision set out in an EHCP will be closely monitored by the SENCo and reviewed annually.  Families will be invited to contribute to the review and attend the review meeting.

Class teachers have responsibility for enabling all pupils to learn. To achieve this they:

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  Plan appropriate work / activities for pupils

  
  


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  Ensure support is available for all children (inclusive ‘quality first’ teaching)

  
  


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  Differentiate the curriculum to take account of different learning styles, interests, abilities

  
  


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  Ensure that all children can be included in tasks / activities

  
  


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  Monitor individual progress

  
  


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  Celebrate achievement

  
  


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  Identify those children who need additional support or different support in order to make progress

  
  


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  Set targets and discuss these with parents and pupils

  
  

Teachers are familiar with the relevant equal opportunities legislation covering the protected characteristics: race, gender, disability, sexual orientation, religion or belief and age (see Equality Policy).

We believe that all children learn best with the rest of their class. Our aim is for all children to be working independently in class with their peers.  Children with SEND are entitled to be taught by their teacher, not always by a Teaching Assistant (TA).  Teachers aim to spend time each day working with all children with SEN, individually or as part of a group.

Teaching assistants have responsibility to support teachers in enabling all children to learn:

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  Through ‘quality first’ teaching, support the teachers in enabling all children to have full participation

  
  

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  Enabling children with SEND to have access to an appropriate curriculum

  
  


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  Encouraging and promoting independence

  
  


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  Liaising with the class teacher

  
  


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  Help to prepare resources and adapt materials

  
  


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  Lead interventions to close the gap for children experiencing difficulty

  
  


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  Promote the inclusion of all children in all aspects of school life

  
  

When allocating additional TA support to children, our focus is on outcomes, not hours: we aim to put in sufficient support to enable the child to reach their targets, but without developing a learned dependence on an adult.

Montrose has a range of interventions available which are listed on a provision map. Intervention is additional to or different from the usual differentiated curriculum.  It can take the form of:

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  Using different learning materials in the classroom

  
  


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  Making reasonable adjustments to the physical environment

  
  


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  Support staff in the classroom

  
  


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  A focused level of support in a small group

  
  


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  Focussed work to be completed at home

  
  

Targets for children at SEN Support are deliberately challenging in the attempt to close the attainment gap between the children and their peers. Interventions are often crucial in closing these gaps, so are monitored closely by both the class teacher – who monitors progress towards the targets during the intervention – and by the SENDCo who monitors overall progress after the intervention.

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  Interventions are planned in blocks

  
  


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  At the end of each block, children’s progress towards their targets is assessed and recorded

  
  


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  A decision is then made as to whether to continue the intervention, to swap to a new intervention, or to allow a period of consolidation in class.

  
  

The SENDCo monitors interventions to identify ‘what works’.

Montrose School aims to be a wheelchair friendly school.  The school is split over two levels with lift access to the second floor.  The corridors are wide and there are two accessible toilets.  Where possible, changes are made to the environment / building that are necessary for children with additional needs.     

At Montrose we follow the National Curriculum 2014 in line with the school’s policy of inclusion.  Where pupils have special educational needs and/or disabilities, a graduated response is adopted.  The school will (other than in exceptional cases) make full use of classroom and school resources before drawing on external support.

 Our classrooms are inclusion-friendly and teachers are encouraged to teach in a way that supports children with a range of needs.  We take advice from professionals in how to adapt our curriculum and learning environment for children with SEND.   Being taught in the classroom enables them to access the full curriculum at their level through differentiation, supporting their learning alongside the class teacher and with the rest of the class, and by using a range of visual, tactile and concrete resources.  Sometimes children benefit from individual and / or small group work to address specific skills to enable them to access the curriculum more fully.  This happens outside of the classroom in one of our specialist teaching rooms where it is quieter and less distracting.

All children are encouraged to talk about how they feel about their learning and their progress and are encouraged to ‘have a go’ and to take charge of their own learning.  The rest of the class are encouraged to be supportive to all by encouraging and helping each other to tackle tasks.  

There is flexible grouping of pupils so that learning needs may be met in individual, small group or whole class contexts.  The curriculum will be differentiated to meet the needs of individual pupils.  Teaching styles and flexible groups will reflect this approach.

Schemes of work for pupils, within classes and year groups, will reflect whole school approaches to teaching and learning and will take account of special educational needs. Curriculum tasks and activities may be broken down into a series of small and achievable steps for pupils who have marked learning difficulties.

Who will be involved in supporting my child and how is professional expertise secured?

Montrose School is a mainstream school and we do not have a Designated Special Provision (DSP).  All of our teachers are teachers of children with special educational needs.  Subsequently, we adopt a whole school approach involving all staff adhering to a model of quality first teaching.  The staff of the school are committed to identifying and providing for the needs of all children in an inclusive environment.  Inclusion is regarded as crucial to the policy in line with that of the Local Authority.  This means that all children with SEND are taught together with their peers for the majority of the time, being withdrawn for short periods only when specialist provision cannot be incorporated in any other way due to practical considerations for the child and the class as a whole.

The school’s team of educational support staff support children’s learning both in class as well as through specific intervention groups.

Teaching Assistants (TAs)

Our team of TAs work mainly within class supporting identified children. This enables us to offer small group support to those children with higher levels of need at School Support. Their work is carried out under the direction of the class teacher, SENDCo and/or external agencies.  Some TA’s will work with children on a 1:1 basis.

Intervention groups include a wide range of intervention programmes including the Funtime, social skills and language groups, school programmes for supporting reading, writing and maths development, handwriting programmes and fine and gross motor skills groups.

1:1 Teaching Assistants (1:1 TAs)

1:1 TAs work predominately with children with EHC plans to support them in the classroom and through 1:1 work. They plan with the class teacher and SENCo to support the child’s targets and record their work. They also liaise with external agencies, where appropriate, and parents.  Support is tailored to suit the individual needs of the child as identified within their plan.

Family Support Worker (FSW) - contact Donna McAteer at Montrose School

Donna runs drop-in sessions and makes appointmnets for families to discuss individual issues, as well as running group projects across the school.  

External Support Agencies and Teachers

External support services play an important part in helping the school identify, assess and make provision for pupils with special education needs. 

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  The school receives regular visits from the nominated Local Authority Education Welfare Officer and concerns about attendance or punctuality are followed up very quickly.

  
  


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  The Educational Psychologist has a set amount of time which they can give to the school and they work with the SENCo to prioritise the children to be seen for observations and assessments each term to the best way forward in supporting these children.

  
  


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  The school may seek advice from the council’s specialist advisory teaching services for children with learning difficulties (Complex Learning Communication and Interaction Team), language and communication difficulties (Speech and Language Therapy Team), behavioural, emotional and social difficulties (Social, Emotional and Mental Health Team), autistic spectrum disorder (Autism Support Team), hearing impairment (Hearing Impaired Team), visual impairment (Visual Support Team), and early years difficulties (Early Years Support Team).

  
  

All of these agencies liaise with parents to explain their involvement with the children.

Links with Health Services, Educational Welfare Services and Voluntary Organisations

The Heathy Together team make visits to school to carry out health assessments and are always at the end of the phone to offer advice and find out information whenever needed.  Their number is 07520 615381.  

Referrals made to the Speech and Language Therapy Team may result in children being put on a waiting list for assessment. Following the assessment, the report is fed back to school with relevant information to help plan the way forward.

Social Services become involved if a referral is made to them with concerns about a child or they sometimes notify the school of concerns raised by another external agency.

The Special Educational Needs and Disability Information, Advice and Support Service (SENDIASS) formally know as Parent Partnership is available to all parents of pupils with special educational needs.  Parents of any pupil identified with SEND may contact them for independent support and advice.  Click here to visit their website.

We recognise the value of parents/carers knowledge of their children and will seek to use that information in planning support for pupils.  You are encouraged to be fully involved with your child’s educational provision, so that a collaborative problem solving approach can be implemented.

Class Teachers and/or SENCo will meet with you to discuss your child’s progress and targets at parents' evenings and you will receive detailed school reports.  Your child's progress is continually monitored by his/her class teacher and progress reviewed formally every half-term where a National Curriculum level will be given in reading, writing, numeracy and science.  If your child is in Year 2 and above, but is not yet at National Curriculum levels, a more sensitive assessment tool is used which shows their level in more detail and will also show smaller but significant steps of progress.  The levels are called 'P' levels.  At the end of each Key Stage (i.e. at the end of Y2 and Y6) all children are required to be formally assessed using Standard Assessment Tests (SATS).  This is something the government requires all schools to do and are the results that are published nationally.  Children who are unable to access the tests due to their special educational needs will not need to sit them.

Children with an Education, Health and Care Plan will have targets set, provision planned and an annual review or 6 monthly review for children under 5 years of age.

Throughout all stages of support, as parents/carers, you are kept informed.  The SENCo will contact you to discuss referrals to outside agencies, such as the Speech & Language Therapy, Educational Psychology etc. and your permission is always sought before any referral is made.

Please discuss any concerns that you may have about your child’s progress initially with the Class Teacher, although you can also make an appointment to meet with the SENCo directly.

The Parent Partnership Service (website) is a useful place to visit for further information.  Parents of any pupil identified with SEN may contact the Parent Partnership Service for independent support and advice.

Parents are always welcomed into the school and are a highly valued group of people.

Specialist services play an important part in helping the school identify, assess and make provision for pupils with special education needs.  The school receives regular visits from the nominated Local Authority Education Welfare Officer and concerns about attendance or punctuality are followed up very quickly.

The Educational Psychologist has a set amount of time which they can give to the school and they work with the SENCo to prioritise the children to be seen for observations and assessments each term to the best way forward in supporting these children.  The school has links with specialist NHS services e.g. Community Paediatrician, Speech and Language Therapy service, Child & Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS).

In addition the school may seek advice from the council’s specialist advisory services including the:

•  Learning, Communication and Interaction Team


•  Social, Emotional and Mental Health Team


•  Hearing Impairment Team


•  Visual Impairment Team


•  Early Years Support Team
  

Our Family Support Officer is available to support where needed.  The Healthy Together Team also make regular visits to school.

All of these agencies offer meeting times with parents to explain their involvement with the children.

The school complies with the Disability Discrimination Act by ensuring equal access to both the school's buildings and curriculum.  At present there is wheelchair access to all buildings and three accessible toilets.  Corridors are kept clear to allow for free movement.  The curricular provision also takes account of children's individual needs.

• The school is accessible to children with physical disability.


• We ensure that equipment used is accessible to all children regardless of their needs.


• The school has accessible toilets and a shower.


• Enrichment activities are extended to all pupils irrelevant of their needs.

The welfare of all our pupils is taken very seriously.  The support for this is as follows:

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  The SENDCo will oversee involvement of support and outside agencies where required to ensure a child’s well-being.

  
  


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  The school council ensures that pupil’s voices /opinions are heard.  Pupil voices form part of school’s monitoring process.

  
  


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  Teaching assistants and the Deputy Head Teacher are available on the playground first thing in the morning for pupils and parents to voice any concerns.  These concerns are then followed up immediately or passed on to a member of the school’s management team.

  
  


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  There is a ‘worry box’ is in every class and children are encouraged to post any worries. These are then followed up by staff.

  
  


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  Staff are aware of the importance of pupil’s well-being and concerns are recorded and followed up by the senior leadership team who work in conjunction with the school’s family support worker.

  
  


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  The school works closely with families and can provide support with issues such as behaviour management, debt, housing issues, domestic violence.

  
  


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  The school offers a programme of  extra-curricular activities both after school and during lunch time.

  
  


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  The school delivers a programme of weekly PSHE lessons.  Children are taught about emotional well-being, relationships and making positive healthy choices.

  
  


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  Access to daily breakfast club on site, ensuring a healthy start to the day.

  
  


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  Access to after school club on site, ensuring safe child care for when parents are working.

  
  

In the Nursery, Reception and Year 1 classes parent meetings are held to ensure smooth transitions.  Transition afternoons are held for the children and themed days where children free-flow into the next year group.  This allows children to become familiar with new settings, environments and staff.  Records are sought and passed on so that teachers are fully aware of your child's individual needs.  Children that have a particular need e.g. ASD, have special transfer books made to help with their transition. 

In Year 6 the transfer to secondary school is made easier by taster mornings, transition days and meetings with their teacher and SENCo at Montrose and their new teacher and SENCo.  

Children transferring mid-term will have pre-visits with parents and if relevant their 1:1 TA.  The new staff will be encouraged to visit Montrose to see the child within a familiar setting and with familiar adults and vice versa.  Time is often given for class teachers to discuss specific needs with others.

Please discuss any problems or concerns with your child’s teacher.  Most problems can be resolved in this way.  You may also raise concerns with the SENCo, followed by the head teacher.  If necessary parents may contact the governors and, if still dissatisfied, may take their concerns to the Local Authority.

Guide to the 0 -25 SEND Code of Practice 

Special Educational Needs and Disability Code of Practice: 0-25 years 

Our SEND policies and information report are available under the policies section of this website.  

For more information on what the local offer is visit:

Family Information | What is the Local Offer? (leicester.gov.uk)

Family Information | SEND Local Offer (leicester.gov.uk)

The 'Special Educational Needs and Disability Information, Advice and Support Service' (SENDIASS) formally know as 'Parent Partnership' is available to all parents of pupils with special educational needs.  Parents of any pupil identified with SEND may contact them for information, independent support and advice.   Their phone number is: 0116 4820870.

You many find Voluntary Action Leicestershire also has some useful information.

Relationships with Families

We recognise the value of your knowledge of your child and will seek to use that information in planning support for them.  You are encouraged to be involved with your child’s educational provision, so that a collaborative approach can be implemented.

Class Teachers and/or SENDCo will meet with you termly to discuss your child’s progress and targets.

Throughout all stages of support you will be kept informed.  The SENDCo will contact you to discuss referrals to outside agencies, such as the Speech & Language Therapy, Educational Psychology etc. and your consent will always sought before any referral is made.

Please discuss any concerns that you may have about your child’s needs initially with the Class Teacher, although you can also make an appointment to meet with the SENDCo directly.