At West Earlham Junior School we promote an inclusive culture, where all members of the school community fully participate in learning. We value all our pupils and make reasonable adjustments to ensure access for those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). We recognise the importance of high quality first teaching for all pupils and actively monitor teaching and learning in the school. We aim to create a flexible learning environment that meets the needs of all members of our school community. However, some pupils may experience difficulties and concerns may be raised by the class teacher, a member of support staff or by you as a parent.

Concerns about a pupil can be raised if there is a lack of progress despite carefully tailored teaching and support as above or attainment levels are significantly below expected levels and those of peers.

We define lack of progress as that which:

• Is significantly slower than that of their peers starting from the same baseline;
• Fails to match or better the pupil’s previous rate of progress;
• Fails to close the attainment gap between the pupil and their peers; widens the attainment gap.

Slow progress and low attainment do not necessarily mean that a pupil has a special educational need (SEN) and does not automatically lead to a pupil being recorded as having SEN. However, it may be an indicator of a range of learning difficulties or disabilities. Some learning difficulties and disabilities occur across the range of cognitive ability and left unaddressed, may lead to frustration, which may manifest itself as disaffection, or in emotional or behavioural difficulties.

Equally, it is not assumed that attainment in line with chronological age means that there is no learning difficulty or disability. For example, some children and young people may be high achieving academically but present with one or more of the following:

• immature speech and language skills
• poor short-term memory
• inability to listen attentively or stay on task
• inability to work in a class setting e.g., shouting out, moving around
• emotional or social difficulties

At West Earlham Junior School, children have been identified as having SEND through a variety of ways including:

• Assessment and monitoring by a teacher that identifies children are performing well below age related expected levels and have not made significant progress after initial intervention and additional provision or support.
• Formal standardised assessments through the school’s termly testing schedule.
• Concerns raised by a parent – either on admission to school or at any stage during the child’s
• Concerns raised by children that they are struggling with learning, or aspects of school or home life.
• Concerns raised by teachers, pastoral or support staff regarding behaviour or self-esteem that is impacting on learning.
• Information received from previous school or nursery setting.
• Information or diagnoses received from external professionals such as speech and language, paediatricians, health visitor, etc.

If you have any concerns regarding your child’s progress or well-being, then please speak initially to either your child’s class teacher, or the school SENDCo to discuss your concerns. Appointments can be made with the SENDCo through the school office.

Areas of Need

The SEN Code of Practice recognises four broad areas of need:

• Communication and Interaction
• Cognition and Learning
• Social, Emotional and Mental Health Difficulties
• Sensory and/or Physical Needs

In 2025-26, our SEND register shows that we have 33.8% of children on our roll identified as having SEND. The primary SEND needs for these pupils are:

• 23.6% are identified as having SEND linked to Cognition and Learning (including maths, reading, writing, spelling, etc).
• 20.3% are linked to Communication and Interaction (including speech and language difficulties and challenges with social interaction).
• 11.8% are linked to Physical and Sensory (including disabilities such as those affecting mobility, sight and hearing).
• 23.6% are linked to Social, Emotional and Mental Health difficulties (including ADHD, depression, and attachment issues).

When a concern is raised, it is the responsibility of the SENDCo to gather appropriate information and assess the pupil’s needs. This may be done in a number of ways including discussion with staff, pupils and parents and carers, looking at written work and assessments or carrying out additional assessments with the pupil.

The purpose of identifying a need is to work out what we need to do next, and not to fit a pupil into a specific category. However, we would broadly consider SEN using four main descriptors:

• communication and interaction;
• cognition and learning;
• social, emotional and mental health difficulties;
• sensory and/or physical needs.

For some children we may want to seek advice from outside specialists. This may include health, social care, local authority support services or voluntary sector organisations. A full list of specialist services available in Norfolk can be found on the Local Offer website. We regularly engage educational psychologists, specialist teachers and speech and language therapists to assess an individual pupil’s needs and provide advice and training to staff. If advice from outside specialists is sought, a referral will be made in consultation with parents/carers and the pupil where appropriate.

After assessments and discussions, we would agree that the pupil is identified as having ‘SEN support’ and begin a process of graduated support.

At West Earlham Junior School we work hard to ensure that all children make good progress at school and to meet their individual needs. We believe that early identification of SEND and early intervention is essential in order for children with special educational needs to make good progress from their relative starting points.

As well as outstanding Quality First Teaching all our teachers are expected to adapt the curriculum to ensure access to learning for all the pupils in their class, as set out in the Teachers Standards 2011. When a learner is seen to have SEND, we will provide support ‘additional to’ or ‘different from’ the differentiated approaches and learning arrangements normally provided as part of high quality, personalised teaching. We will use a range of strategies to enable access to the curriculum and learning and to overcome individual pupil’s barriers to learning. This can include:

• Visual timetables and other visual interventions
• Individual workstations
• Writing frames and scaffolds
• Ipads, laptops or other devices to record work in alternative manners
• Resources – fiddle toys, timers, talking tins, pencil grips, sensory equipment, writing slopes, ear defenders, word banks
• Whole class timetables to ensure that the day is predictable for pupils
• Movement breaks
• Reasonable adjustments and access arrangements where required

This additional support (often called ‘intervention’) will be tailored to meet the child’s needs, and will target the area of difficulty. It may happen in class or in another area of the school, occasionally on a 1:1 basis but more often as part of a small group of learners with similar needs. These ‘interventions’ may be run by a teacher or a trained teaching assistant. The support provided, and its impact, will be monitored closely and shared regularly with the child and with their parents or carers. This support could involve:

• A teaching Assistant supporting small groups within/and or outside the classroom
• A teacher supporting small groups within/and or outside the classroom
• Individual support (usually from a Teaching Assistant)

When planning an intervention, the first thing we will do is to share concerns with you as parents and carers. Then, the SENDCo will draw up a support plan in collaboration with you, your child and the class teacher. This plan details the additional support and intervention your child receives in school. The type of support is dependent on the individual learning needs and is intended to overcome barriers to learning and enable access to the curriculum. When supporting pupils with SEND, we follow the ‘assess, plan, do, review’ model. This means that we:

• assess the needs of the pupil;
• plan the intervention to be used, or support to be put in place, including timescales;
• Carry out (do) the intervention / put the support in place:
• review the impact of the intervention/support by assessing the progress made by the pupil.

The interventions and support we are currently providing for our pupils is detailed on our provision map.

For the minority of pupils that cannot access, or be assessed against a mainstream curriculum, West Earlham Junior School is part of the Norfolk Assessment Pathway (NAPS) and works together with other specialist schools and mainstream schools across Norfolk to assess, plan and track small steps of progress appropriate to our high needs SEND pupils.

While the majority of learners with SEND will have their needs met in this way, some may require an Education, Health & Care (EHC) needs assessment to determine whether it is necessary for the Local Authority to make provision in accordance with an EHC plan (replacing the old ‘Statement of SEN’). More information about this and the criteria for applying for an EHCP can be found on the Norfolk County Council Local Offer website:

West Earlham Junior School has a duty through the Equality Act (2010) “to take such steps as it is reasonable to take” to avoid “substantial disadvantage” to a disabled child. We endeavour to make adjustments to ensure that disabled pupils can fully participate in school life, these include:

• Providing auxiliary aids (such as ear defenders, coloured overlays, work stations, adapted equipment, writing slopes, sensory equipment, ipads, chromebooks)
• Adapting resources such as enlarging texts, tinting whiteboards, coloured paper etc
• Flexible arrangements for pupil entering and leaving classes and school
• Ramps and wheelchair friendly classroom layouts
• Use of hearing loops and equipment
• Additional support to overcome disadvantage during school

West Earlham Junior School also recognises it is important to ensure that the needs of EAL pupils with SEND are met and consequently will provide telephone interpretation services and face to face interpreters for meetings with parents who require translation, to ensure that there is clear communication between home and school. INTRAN is used to provide this service. Whenever possible we will endeavour to get correspondence, reports etc translated into the home language if required.

At West Earlham Junior School, we are committed to ensuring participation for all. This means that we will always make reasonable adjustments to ensure our extra-curricular clubs and activities are accessible to all, including pupils with disabilities and/or identified with SEN. In addition to the activities available in school, many other clubs are available in the local community. Details of local activities for children with disabilities and identified with SEN can be found on the Norfolk Local Offer website. 

SEN support takes the form of a four-part cycle (assess, plan, do, review) through which earlier decisions and actions are revisited, refined and revised with a growing understanding of the pupil’s needs and of what supports the pupil in making good progress and securing good outcomes. Pupils identified as having SEN have individual support plans, detailing short term targets and the support and interventions that are in place. These are reviewed termly by the class teacher in consultation with the SENDCo, pupil and their parent/carer to decide whether:

• Progress is back on track and the pupil no longer needs a support plan
• New targets will be set and the support plan updated
• Advice or support from specialist services is needed in order to better support your child and us as we have further concerns.

The SENDCo oversees and monitors the support plans to ensure targets are appropriate and the pupils are receiving the support they need to make progress. In addition, the SENDCo, senior leadership team and governors scrutinise and discuss outcomes and data for pupils identified with SEN to make sure we are meeting their needs.

Where a pupil has more complex needs, a request may be made to the local authority to carry out a ‘statutory assessment’ of the child’s needs. This may lead to the child having an education, health and care plan (EHCP).

For pupils with EHCPs, formal reviews will be held at least once a year, taking into account the views of the child, their parent or carer, and all other professionals involved with the child.

More information about annual reviews can be found on the Norfolk local offer website.

In addition to the expertise and training that we have in school, more specialist advice is regularly sought for those children in need of additional support.

This is often secured through the Local Offer through:

• Sensory Support Service for children with visual or hearing needs
• Speech and Language Therapy (provided through Norfolk and Waveney Children’s Speech and Language Therapy Service, but funded through the Local Authority and NHS)
• Specialist Support Teachers from Dyslexia Outreach or the Specialist Resource Bases (SRBs)
• Point 1 support for emerging Mental Health Issues
• CAMHS (The Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service)
• The Norfolk Healthy Child Programme
• S2S – school to school support from the complex needs and specialist schools
• Signposting families to local and national organisations and charities that provide support or advice within the home

We may also make referrals to external professionals that the school has procured contracts with as part of our Local Offer. We commission services from Educational Psychologists, Specialist Teachers, Emotional Literacy Support Assistants (ELSA) and Speech and Language Therapists through CEPP (The and Child Educational Psychology Practice).

The school may request the GP to make a referral to:

• Paediatrician
• Neurodevelopmental Services
• Occupational therapy
• Other NHS services

West Earlham Junior School receives funding directly from the local authority to support the needs of pupils identified with SEN. In addition, the school can apply for additional funding to meet the needs of children with higher levels of need at SEN support and for children with EHCPs. This funding is used to purchase staff support time, specialist resources and equipment, specialist referrals and support, and essential staff training. The Inclusion and SEND team at Norfolk County Council have produced two tools that West Earlham Junior School use to support their provision for children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). The tools are:

1. Identification of needs descriptors in educational settings (INDES)
2. An Inclusion and Provision Self-Evaluation Framework (IPSEF)

These tools help us as a setting to give children and young people the support they need by enabling the school to:

• clearly, confidently, and quickly assess needs at an early stage
• identify strengths and areas for development
• access appropriate support and funding

The INDES and IPSEF will help Norfolk County Council to plan the services they provide to support our school to meet the needs of our pupils.

At West Earlham Junior School, all staff are trained to be aware of the increased safeguarding risks for children with SEND. Staff are vigilant to risk and diligent in reporting concerns as set out in our Safeguarding Policy. We take the responsibility to oversee the social and emotional development of all our learners seriously; this includes taking steps to prevent bullying (further information can be found in our Anti-Bullying policy). From time to time, some pupils, including those with SEND, require extra pastoral support and we make arrangements for them to share their views and worries.

Transition is an important part of life for all children. This can be transition into a new class in school, having a new teacher or transition to a new school. At West Earlham Junior School we are committed to ensuring positive transitions for our pupils and work in partnership with parents and carers and local schools to achieve this. Planning for transition is part of our provision for pupils with disabilities and/or identified with SEN. Pupils may be supported through additional visits to their new school and parents may be invited to meet with relevant staff at the new school prior to transition. If your child has an EHCP, transition to high school will be discussed at their Year 5 review to ensure time for planning and preparation. During Year 6, information – previously agreed with parents – will be shared with the SENCo at the secondary school. This information will outline needs and support that has proven effective. Where possible, children will visit their new school on several occasions and, in some cases, staff from the new school will visit him or her at West Earlham Junior School.

West Earlham Junior School is a community school. This report sets out our local offer to pupils with disabilities and/or identified with SEN, but to be effective it needs the views of all parents and carers, children, staff and governors. Please engage with our annual process of reviewing our SEND provision by giving us your views. You will be invited to meet with your child’s teacher termly to review their targets and set new targets on their learning plans.

We aim to work collaboratively with parents and carers and hope that any problems can be overcome through discussion. Any issues with SEND provision made for a child should first be discussed with the child’s class teacher, or with the SENDCo, or Headteacher. If the complaint is not resolved at this point, the complaint should be raised with our SEND link governor.

Norfolk Local Offer

www.norfolk.gov.uk/children-and-families/send-local-offer

INDES

A framework of standardised terms, co-produced and facilitated by Norfolk County Council’s Inclusion and SEND team, breaking down the broad areas of SEND into seven specific sections which describe need.

https://www.schools.norfolk.gov.uk/pupil-needs/special-educational-needs-and-disabilities/identification-of-need-and-inclusive-provision/identification-of-needs-descriptors-educational-settings

Department for Education

Government website where information about national SEN policy can be found.

www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-education

The following are independent organisations run by volunteers and can offer support and advice for families of children and young people with SEN:

Norfolk SENDIASS     

www.norfolksendiass.org.uk

Family voice

www.familyvoice.org.uk

Just One Norfolk

www.justonenorfolk.nhs.uk

EHC Plan Helpline

EHCP contact number: 01603 679183

The phone line is open:

• 9am-5pm Monday - Thursday
• 9am-4pm on Fridays

This does not include bank holidays.