Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND)

Four Elms Primary School is proud of its inclusive ethos and is fully committed to ensuring all pupils, regardless of their background, additional educational needs, race or gender are able to fulfil their potential.

We work hard to get to know every child in our care and identify SEND through a range of effective assessment tools and approaches. We believe in early identification of need and do not need to wait for formal diagnosis to enable children to access the support they need. We seek the views and input of children, parents and other professionals as part of this.  All staff have high expectations of children and set challenging targets and outcomes.   We run a range of specific, targeted and effective interventions but believe that children are best supported by outstanding classroom practice and quality first teaching.  

If you have any concerns or questions, please speak to your child's class teacher or Adele Solomides (Inclusion Manager) - asolomides@inspiream.org.uk

Definition of SEND

A child or young person has SEND if they have a learning difficulty or disability, which calls for special educational provision to be made for him or her.

A child of compulsory school age or a young person has a learning difficulty if he or she:

1. Has a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others of the same age; or
2. Has a disability, which prevents or hinders him or her from making use of facilities of a kind generally provided for others of the same age in mainstream schools or mainstream post-16 institutions. SEN Code of Practice (2014, p 4)

Many children and young people who have SEND may also have a disability under the Equality Act 2010 – that is '…a physical or mental impairment which has a long-term and substantial adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities’.  This definition provides a relatively low threshold and includes more children than many realise: ‘long-term’ is defined as ‘a year or more’ and ‘substantial’ is defined as ‘more than minor or trivial’ SEN Code of Practice (2014, p5)

In order to ensure all pupils with SEND are included in all aspects of school life, we apply the Mainstream Core Standards (MCS) across the school.  Please follow the links below to find out more.

Mainstream core standards

Mainstream core standards - a parents guide

The local authorities local offer can be found here

SEN Information Report