SEN and disability

Our philosophy, commitment and aspirations

Kenmore Park Infant & Nursery School is a fully inclusive school which ensures that all pupils achieve their potential personally, socially, emotionally and academically in all areas of the curriculum (regardless of their gender, ethnicity, social background, religion, sexual identity, physical ability or educational needs).

Children are identified as having special educational needs (SEN) when their progress has slowed or stopped and the interventions and resources put in place do not enable improvement, because of the nature of their additional needs. Once this occurs, we have specific needs based plans and pupil profiles which help support their development and accelerate progress.

We aim to ensure that children with SEN at Kenmore Park Infant & Nursery School make good progress and achieve in line with other schools nationally. We ensure effective communication with parents and carers, in order to work collaboratively and secure the best possible outcomes for all our children. Children’s views are also critical in ensuring the right provision to meet children’s needs. We work hard to ensure that reasonable adjustments are made to overcome barriers to learning. We have good relationships with outside agencies (including Educational Psychology Service), who assess children and advise parents and schools.

At Kenmore Park Infant & Nursery School we:

identify children with SEN and ensure provision is made in accordance with the SEN and Disability Codes of Practice (2014);
have an Inclusion Manager (SENCo) who is fully trained and accredited;
invest in whole-school and targeted training for staff;
Have a group of dedicated, full-time Support Staff providing a range of interventions to children;
ensure inclusive, high-quality teaching and support practice is embedded throughout the school and that all teachers understand that they are ‘Teachers of SEN’;
provide information on school arrangements for SEN to parents and governors;
consider pre-emptive(appropriate in advance)arrangements for pupils present and future with a disability;
publish the school SEN policy and a description of the arrangements and specialist provisions made for children with SEN – including the accessibility plan.

A copy of our SEN policy, together with further information of our provision for children with special educational needs or disability is available on the Policies page.

Special Educational Needs & Disabilities (SENd) Offer 2023-2024

Welcome to Kenmore Park Infant & Nursery School’s SEND offer. All governing bodies of maintained schools have a legal duty to publish information on their website about the implementation of the governing body’s policy for pupils with SEND. The information report will be updated annually.

If you have any concerns regarding your child’s progress or their learning needs the best people to speak with in school (in this order) are:

Your child’s Class Teacher
The Inclusion Manager/SENDCo, Mr Snowden, who can be reached via the school’s phone number: 020 8204 8759 or via email: office@kpins.harrow.sch.uk
The Headteacher - Mrs. Mahil-Pooni

In line with the SEND Revised Code of Practice (2014), we provide support for children based on the 4 broad areas of need identified in the SEN COP, 2014:

Communication and Interaction
Cognition and Learning
Social Emotional and Mental Health Difficulties
Sensory and/or physical needs

Identifying the Special Educational Needs & Disabilities of pupils

The Code of Practice 2014 defines SEND as follows:

‘A child or young person has SEND if they have a learning difficulty or disability calls for special educational provision, namely provision different from or additional to that normally available to pupils of the same age.’

KPINS will assess the progress of pupils by comparing the children’s rates of progress against their starting points and will review all available information – from previous settings, other professionals and parents of the child.

Class teachers, with the support of the SLT (Senior Leadership Team) and the Inclusion Manager/SENDCo, will conduct regular assessments of progress for all pupils. Through monitoring and evaluation of these assessments, children requiring further support will be identified through, for example, progress which:

is significantly slower than that of their peers starting from the same baseline
fails to match or better the child’s previous rates of progress
fails to close the attainment gap between the child and their peers
widens the attainment gap (SEN COP, 2014, p95)
progress in areas wider than merely academic attainment will also be considered e.g. development of social skills
each child’s age and individual circumstances will also be taken into consideration

More detailed information can be found in the SEND (Special Educational Needs & Disabilities) policy available on the Key policies page. Alternatively, a hard copy can be requested at the school office.

Involving and consulting parents of children with SEN

The school is committed to working with parents to provide the best possible care and education for the child. To this end, the school will:

Consult with parents when initial concerns are raised, identifying possible barriers to learning and review dates when next steps are identified
Consult with children with SEN, wherever possible, regarding the support they receive. Children will be supported to be involved in their education through differentiation and through the school following the advice of professionals.
Ensure that parents know which interventions the children are receiving and advise ways in which they can be supported at home
Focus on the expected outcomes of interventions. Prior to receiving interventions, a baseline score will be taken and this will be used to assess the children’s progress. This information will be shared with parents during termly meetings, or sooner if there are concerns regarding the rates of progress when compared to similar-attaining peers

We will also explain the interventions to children and listen to their views.

Supporting children moving between phases of education

The school will support children with class-to-class and change-of-key-stage transition by providing opportunities for children to meet their new teachers and to experience the new environment. We will consider children likely to require extra support and provide them with help through, for example, the use of transition passports.

Arrangements for the admission of disabled pupils

The school will comply with the Equality Act 2010 when admitting children with disabilities. We will seek, whenever possible, to provide support and make adaptations to the environment to enable children to attend.

Further information can be found in the Accessibility Plan available on the Key policies page. Alternatively, a hard copy can be requested at the school office.

The approach to teaching children in KPINS with SEND

The school follows the SEN Code of Practice, 2014, in using an assess, plan, do, review process. In short, the system works as follows:

Assess: children’s learning will be assessed to provide a baseline score and to identify barriers to learning.

Plan: action points will be constructed focusing on outcomes

Do: the actions will be completed

Review: the process will be reviewed against outcomes and future actions will be decided

Actions taken to ensure pupils with SEN are treated fairly

All staff within the school are committed to providing the best teaching for all children, including children with SEN. In order to achieve this, differentiation for individual pupils with SEND is expected when required. The learning environment may also be adapted to scaffold learning e.g. through the provision of coloured overlays to aid some children’s reading.

Training, expertise and working with external support

The school has a number of Support Staff with substantial experience of working with children with SEND. Staff attend external training when required and the Inclusion Manager attends SENDCo forums within the authority and distributes relevant information to staff.

The school has an ELKLAN-trained Teaching Assistant who works closely with the School’s attached Speech and Language Therapist (SALT) to provide input for children on the SALT register.

When support within school has not been successful, or the school feels we do not have the relevant expertise to support a child, we may seek to involve further specialist support such as the Educational Psychology Service, Speech and Language Therapy, Occupational Therapy, etc. This will always be done with the permission of parents.

Evaluating effectiveness

The attainment of all children is tracked in the school to ensure that progress is maintained. Interventions are also evaluated to ensure they are effective and meeting the needs of the children. If a child is not making progress, they may be provided with extra support, have an intervention adapted or they may be identified for another intervention.

Engaging in activities

The school will ensure that whenever possible, children with SEN or disabilities are enabled to engage in activities available for children who do not have SEN. This will be in line with the Equality Act 2010: advice for schools DfE Feb 2013.

Support for improving emotional and social development

The school supports the emotional & social development of learners through a variety of strategies including: access to play-based therapy; adaptations to the environment; social skills groups, etc. The school monitors the behaviour of children and logs any issues on a computerised database. Any incidents of bullying will be followed up by a member of staff to ensure that children in the school feel safe and supported.

More detailed intervention can be found in Our Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) Offer.

KPINS SEND offer 2022-2023 (pdf) below

A hard copy can also be requested from the school office.

Involving further support for families

At times, families may require further support for a variety of reasons. The school is committed to working with families in order to help meet their needs through the involvement of supportive agencies such as health bodies, charities and social care. The school will discuss with families as and when required to see if such support could help them via – for example – securing support from Children’s Service’s Early Intervention Team – who can provide support and advice to families.

The school is always welcoming of parents requesting support and Mr Snowden, Inclusion Manager or Mrs Mahil-Pooni, Headteacher, would be the first people to contact. Please arrange a meeting time via the school office.

All appropriate guidance will be followed for children in Local Authority Care and the school will ensure that children in such circumstances are given the opportunity to succeed. All support will be considered on a case-to-case basis to ensure individual needs are met.

Harrow Council – Local Offer (SEND)

The Harrow Local Offer sets out the services and support available in our borough for children and young adults under the age of 25 with special educational needs and those who are disabled. It also provides information about a young person’s transition into adulthood.

The purpose of the local offer is to enable parents and young people to see more clearly what services are available in their area and how to access them. Knowing what is available and how it is accessed gives more choice and control to families and young people.

Click here to know more.

For further queries contact :

Inclusion Manager – responsible for managing the school’s response to provision made for children with SEND:

Mr J Snowden

Tel: 020 8204 8759

Email: office@kpins.harrow.sch.uk