SEND and Inclusion

Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Pupil Premium

Pupils who have special educational needs (SEN) and/or disabilities are supported well. They make strong progress from their starting points… Staff use their strong professional relationships with pupils to identify any barriers to learning and speedily address them. The special educational needs coordinator (SENCo) is systematic when analysing pupils’ potential needs and the impact of any support work. She makes sure that advice from external experts is followed and that teachers are supported well to implement any suggestions. 

^{Ofsted September 2018}

Special Educational Needs and Disabilities

St James is an inclusive school. Our aim for pupils who have been identified as having SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) is to ensure that they are supported whilst also making sure they are fully included in the life of the school. We offer additional help, support and guidance to pupils with a wide range of barriers to learning, including physical, emotional and medical factors, so that they can learn and make good progress in school.

Early identification of SEND is vital to ensuring positive outcomes for pupils. We follow guidance from the Oxfordshire County Council publication, Identifying and Supporting Special Educational Needs in Oxfordshire Schools and Settings and the 2015, Special Educational Needs and Disability Code of Practice: 0- 25 Years, when identifying and supporting pupils with SEND.

Through quality first teaching and effective differentiation, we do our utmost to ensure pupil’s needs are met in the mainstream classroom wherever possible. Staff are given strategies to support each individual student, including access to specific resources and extra training when needed.

We also have excellent links with outside agencies to support our work with our pupil’s progress. These include the: Educational Psychology Service, Speech and Language Therapy Service, Autism Support Service, Parent Partnership, Primary Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (PCAMHS), Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service, SENSS Hearing Impairment Team, SENSS Visual Impairment Team, MBox, and the Advisory Team for Inclusion.

Our Special Needs Co-ordinator who leads inclusion at St James is Ruth Ash. Our school governor with responsibility for Special Needs is Alan McPherson.

• School SEN Information Report June 2023
• St James CE Primary School Accessibility Plan 2023 
• St James CE Primary Positive Approach to Behaviour 2023

Details of how we comply with the public sector equality duty are provided in the report above.

Our policy complies with the Children and Families Act 2014, the Equality Act 2010 and the Special Educational Needs and Disability code of Practice: 0 to 25 years.