Early Identification

At St Michael’s CE Primary School, we believe that identifying additional needs early is essential so that every child receives the right support at the right time.

Teachers continually monitor pupils’ learning, development, wellbeing and participation in school. A concern may be identified by a parent or carer, a member of staff, the child themselves, an outside professional, or through assessment and progress information.

Our approach

When a concern is identified, we work in partnership with parents and carers to understand the child’s strengths and needs.

Our first response is always to review the high-quality teaching, adaptations and support already available within the classroom. Teachers consider whether further adaptations, scaffolds or differentiated approaches may help the child to make progress.

Where a child requires support that is additional to or different from the provision ordinarily available to all pupils, they may be placed on SEND Monitoring or the SEND Register, depending on their level of need.

Support is regularly reviewed and adjusted according to the progress the child is making.

Assess, Plan, Do, Review

Children receiving additional SEND support are supported through the Assess, Plan, Do, Review (APDR) cycle.

This enables us to:

• Assess the child’s strengths, needs and barriers to learning.
• Plan appropriate outcomes, adaptations and additional support.
• Do – put the agreed support and provision in place.
• Review the impact of the support and decide what should happen next.

Parents and carers are involved throughout this process, and children are involved wherever appropriate.

Our Early Identification of SEND Flowchart

This flowchart shows how concerns are identified, how support is put in place and how provision is reviewed over time.

Working with other professionals

Where appropriate, we may seek advice or support from external professionals such as Educational Psychology, Speech and Language Therapy or Occupational Therapy.

For a small number of children with more complex and long-term needs, and following cycles of Assess, Plan, Do, Review, the school may consider whether it is appropriate to request an Education, Health and Care (EHC) Needs Assessment.

Where a child has an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP), the school works with families and relevant professionals to ensure the provision identified within the plan is delivered and reviewed.

Working in partnership with families

Parents and carers know their children best, and their views are an important part of identifying needs and reviewing support. We encourage families to speak to their child’s class teacher if they have any concerns about their child’s learning, development or wellbeing.

Further information about our SEND provision can be found in our SEND Information Report and SEND Policy.