At Ranskill we value all members of our school community and strive to support all children to enable them to achieve in school. At Ranskill, special educational provision means educational provision which is additional to, or otherwise different from, the educational provision made generally for children of the child's age in maintained schools, other than special schools, in the area.

In the interim period, while we await the start of the permanent Head of School, day-to-day SEND leadership will be overseen by Mr Alex Steadman. The named SENDCo for Ranskill will be Mrs Gemma Barlow, who is also Head of School and SENDCo at Langold Dyscarr Community School. We will work together on any statutory timescales and evidence gathering as well as Mrs Barlow acting in an advisory role to the provision of SEND at Ranskill. This is a temporary arrangement, and we will keep you updated on any changes once a permanent appointment has been made.

As outlined in our school’s Communication Plan, in the first instance, any SEND issues or queries should be raised with your child’s class teacher. They will then ensure your concerns are followed up appropriately.

We have already held some productive meetings with parents around SEND provision, and we look forward to continuing this work together. As with all aspects of school life, but particularly in the provision for pupils with SEND, it is this strong partnership between home and school that creates the supportive environment our children need to thrive. We are committed to fostering and strengthening this relationship further in the months ahead.

Thank you for your continued patience, understanding, and support during this period of transition.

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All of our pupils have a right to equal opportunities in education, irrespective of their social background, ethnic origin, gender, ability or any other characteristic. We recognise that children are individuals with their own learning needs. Experiences to meet those needs, appropriately differentiated, are offered. When providing support that is ‘additional to’ or ‘different from’ we engage a graduated response in a four-stage process: Assess, Plan, Do and Review.

Our Graduated Response:
We aim to identify any needs early to minimise a gap.

Raising a concern

• Meeting the needs of all the children in the school is up to individual teachers and their skills. When a teacher finds that a child is not responding as expected, has stagnant progression or is having increasing difficulties with emotions and well-being, the teacher will seek the advice of the SENDCo and try alternative strategies in the classroom to resolve the problem. If it is decided that something over and above that which is normally available is needed, it is at this point that the parents will be involved.

Take Care Support

• If the teachers and parents agree that interventions that are ‘additional to’ or ‘different from’ the school’s differentiated curriculum and strategies are needed, this triggers SEND Support, and placement on our school’s SENDCo register. This is where the SENDCo shares responsibility in assessing the child's difficulties and for planning the child's SEND provision. This may involve an individual learning plan or other appropriate programme will be drawn up by the class teacher, with support from the SENDCo and will include contributions from the parents and child where possible. Parents will be informed and advised on how they might help at home. Individual Learning Plan or other appropriate programmes are reviewed regularly with the involvement of parents, the child and all staff concerned.

Extra Take Care Support

• If the child continues to make little or no progress in learning and emotional well-being, the school will need to seek help from outside agencies; at Ranskill we have decided to categorise this as Extra Take Care Support. This is where the degree of need is such that the school judges more intensive action with external specialist support is necessary. An Individual Learning Plan, supported by advice from appropriate outside agencies and discussions with the child (as appropriate) and parents, will be drawn up. It is the responsibility of the class teacher to ensure the interventions set out in the Individual Learning Plan or personalised/ appropriate learning programme are delivered either by themselves or a member of support staff.

Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP)

• If, despite all the support and provision from home and school, with the help of external specialists, taking relevant and purposeful action to meet the child’s learning difficulties, those difficulties remain or have not been remedied sufficiently a request for an EHCP may be made.
• If the statutory assessment results in a child having an EHCP the governors of the school are legally responsible for ensuring that the specified needs of that child are met.

Special educational provision at Ranskill may include (but not be limited to) any of the following:

• differentiated support by class teacher
• use of particular materials or special equipment
• support in class by additional teacher or other helper, including teaching assistant
• tuition in small group
• individual tuition
• advice and support from outside agencies, such as Speech and Language Therapy, Educational Psychologist etc
• specific home/school collaboration
• enhanced pastoral support
• A individually tailored learning plan; at Ranskill these are called ‘SEN Support Plans' and all children then have "My Learning Profile"
• any other specific provision or adjustment which may be deemed necessary and appropriate.

All children on the SEND register will have review meetings at least three times per year.