Rydal Penrhos School's Additional Learning Needs Policy.
INTRODUCTION
Rydal Penrhos School is committed to the equal treatment of all pupils, including those with additional learning needs (hereinafter “ALN”) and disabilities. This policy seeks to eliminate disadvantages for pupils with ALN and disabilities by:
• making sure that the School takes every possible step to provide all pupils (including those with medical conditions) with the support they require in order that they may have unimpeded access to all of the School's educational opportunities; • treating pupils with ALN and / or disabilities no less favourably than their peers; • making reasonable adjustments so that pupils with ALN and / or disabilities are not put at any disadvantage in matters of admission and education; • ensuring that pupils with ALN and / or disabilities engage as fully as is practicable in the activities of the School alongside those pupils who do not have ALN and / or disabilities; • ensuring that parents / carers are informed when special educational provision is made for their child, and that they are kept up-to-date as to that child's progress and development.
The School will readily listen to any concerns expressed by parents / carers about their child’s development, and indeed to any concerns raised by the children themselves. Should their child's progress or behaviour give cause for concern, parents / carers are advised to make contact with the appropriate Head of School.
In drawing up this policy, Rydal Penrhos has had due regard to the following guidance and advice (in so far as it applies to the School):
• the Equality Act (2010); • the Children and Families Act (2014); • the Special Educational Needs and Disability Code of Practice: 0 to 25 years (January 2015); • the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage (April 2017); • the Additional Learning Needs & Education Tribunal (Wales) Act (2018); • Draft Additional Learning Needs Code of Practice for Wales (December 2018).
This policy should be read in conjunction with the following School policies:
• Admissions Policy; • Equal Opportunities Policy; • Accessibility Plan.
GLOSSARY OF TERMS & ACRONYMS
ALN Additional Learning Needs IHP Individual Healthcare Plan IBP Individual Behaviour Plan PDP Personal Development Plan IDP Individual Development Plan SEN Special Educational Needs
DEFINITIONS
Special Educational Needs:
A pupil has ALN if he or she has a learning difficulty and / or a disability which requires special educational provision. In terms of the Children and Families Act (2014), a child of compulsory school age or a young person has a learning difficulty or disability if he or she:
• has a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of children of his or her age; • has a disability which either prevents or hinders his or her making use of educational facilities of a kind generally provided for others of the same age in mainstream schools or in Early Years / Pre-School provision; • is under five years old and would be likely to have such difficulties if special educational provision were not available to him or her.
Children will not be regarded as having a learning difficulty solely on the grounds that the language or form of language of their home is different from that in which they are taught. The School's support for those children whose first language is not English is set out in the School's Language Policy, and such pupils fall within the remit of the English as a Foreign Language Department in the Senior School.
Disability:
Not all pupils who have ALN are disabled, and not all disabled pupils have ALN.
A child or young person is disabled if he or she has a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect upon his or her ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities (as defined by the Equality Act [2010]).
The School recognises that some pupils with an ALN may also have a disability; it will do all that is reasonably possible in order to meet the needs of pupils with disabilities for which it can adequately cater, on the basis of reasonable adjustments.
RESPONSIBILITIES
Governors:
The Governing Body is responsible for determining School policy, and for the provision made for pupils with ALN and / or disabilities.
Principal:
The Principal, with the support of the Head of Pastoral Care, is responsible for overseeing all aspects of the School's ALN and disability provision, and for keeping the Governing Body fully informed as to the implementation of the School's policy.
Heads of ALN & Learning Support:
The School appoints separate Heads of ALN / Learning Support in each of the Preparatory and Senior Schools whose responsibilities include the following:
• assisting in determining the strategic development of the ALN and disability provision in the School within the guidelines laid down by the Principal and Governing Body; • taking overall day-to-day responsibility for the execution of the Additional Learning Needs Policy; coordinating specific provision for children with ALN and / or disabilities, including those who have Individual Development Plans (IDPs); • ensuring that all staff understand their responsibilities to children with ALN and / or disabilities, and that they appreciate the School's approach to identifying and meeting ALN and / or the requirements of those with disabilities; • ensuring that teachers are supplied with any necessary information relating to a child's learning support needs and / or disabilities (if known), such that the educational practice deployed is appropriate; • ensuring that parental / carer insights are considered by the School so as to enable it to support their child's ALN and / or disability; • liaising as appropriate with the School's medical staff, external professionals and agencies; • ensuring that the School keeps up-to-date records of all pupils with ALN and / or disabilities.
Teaching staff:
It is the responsibility of all teachers to help to meet a pupil's needs, irrespective of any specialist qualifications or expertise that they may have; all colleagues are expected to understand this policy so that the School can identify, assess and make provision to meet any such needs.
ADMISSIONS
Rydal Penrhos School is academically non-selective (although prospective pupils are expected to meet a baseline which will enable them to access the School’s curriculum). The School welcomes all children whom it is believed can make the most of the opportunities on offer and who can flourish in its caring environment. Insofar as possible, the School's Admissions Policy aims to eliminate any substantial disadvantages which may be encountered by applicants with ALN and / or disabilities as they pass though the admissions process.
The School will treat every application from a potential entrant with ALN and / or disabilities in a fair and open-minded way; however, it will assess all pupils for admission on the basis of its standard selection criteria, as appropriate to their age (or stage of development).
The School endeavours to ensure that it is able fully to support the needs of all prospective pupils; thus the parents / carers of children with disabilities, ALN and / or learning difficulties are advised to discuss their child's requirements with the School before it considers his or her application for a place, and certainly before the pupil sits the School's entrance exam, so that suitable provision can be made for him or her on the day. Parents / carers are asked to provide a copy of a medical report or an educational psychologist's report to support a request, for example, for large-print material, extra time, the use of a laptop or other special arrangements.
Before an offer of a place is made, the School will assess whether it is able adequately to cater for and meet any ALN and disabilities (if known) with reference to discussions and meetings with parents / carers, to any professional reports and references from previous schools, and to any assessment of the pupil undertaken at a Taster Day, as appropriate.
An offer of a place may not be made if the School determines, following consultation with parents / carers, that it is unable to meet and to provide for a child's needs. However, the School will always consider its obligations under the Equality Act (2010).
The Admissions Policy can be found on the School's website; it applies equally to all prospective pupils and provides details as to how the School supports those applicants with ALN and / or disabilities.
IDENTIFYING & SUPPORTING PUPILS WITH ALN AND / OR DISABILITIES
Special educational provision at Rydal Penrhos operates on the principle of a graduated approach which embodies the concepts of assess, plan, do and review.
Assess:
The School’s curriculum planning and schemes of work are designed to take proper account of the needs of all pupils, including those with ALN and / or disabilities.
The School regularly reviews pupil progress so as to monitor whether children are moving forwards as anticipated; however, slow progress and low attainment do not necessarily mean that a child has ALN and should not automatically lead to his or her being recorded as having ALN.
Nevertheless, should the School reasonably consider that a pupil may have a learning difficulty (for example where there are early indications that he or she is not making the expected progress), the School would do all that is reasonable to report and consult with parents / carers and the pupil (as appropriate) with the objective of determining the action required, with due regard to any advice available from specialists.
An analysis of the pupil’s needs will be made so that support can be matched to need. The information to be considered may include the following:
• the findings of observations of the pupil’s activities in the classroom; • the results of one-to-one assessments, internal assessments, public examinations, Cognitive Ability Tests and value-added testing. In the Preparatory School, the following instruments are deployed: The Diagnostic Test of Word Reading Processes, the Diagnostic Spelling Test, the Basic Number Screening Test, the British Picture Vocabulary Scale, the Coloured Progressive Matrices and the Digit Memory Test. In the Senior School, the following tests are used: The British Picture Vocabulary Scale, Digit Span, Symbol Digit, the Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing, the Gray Oral Reading Tests, the Wide Range Achievement Test 4, Lucid Exact, DASH Free Writing and the Writing Speed Quotient 4; • the content of School reports; • the recommendations contained in Educational Psychologists’ reports. The School may request that parents / carers fund a formal assessment of their child which is arranged by the Head of ALN / LS and is carried out by a third-party specialist such as an Educational Psychologist with whom the School has a working relationship. Should parents / carers wish to proceed with a formal assessment on an independent basis, it would be in the best interests of their child if the School were to be given copies of all advice and reports that they might receive. However, they should be aware that external formal assessments cannot be used as evidence for public examination Access Arrangements in instances in which there is no “working relationship” between the School and the Assessor.
Plan:
Parents / carers are always consulted and kept informed as to any action taken to help their child, as well as the outcome of any such action, and the pupil’s wishes are invariably borne in mind within the context of their age and maturity.
The parents / carers are invited to attend a meeting with the Head of ALN / LS in order to draw up a Pupil Development Plan (PDP) with input from all parties concerned; this document highlights a pupil’s learning needs, targets and recommendations and, once it has received parental / carer approval, it is circulated to all staff (in the teaching, tutorial and boarding contexts) who are in regular contact with the pupil.
Any action may include additional support within or outside the regular classroom, adjustments, interventions and special teaching strategies or approaches.
For the purposes of clarity of communication, all strategies are included on the ALN Registers for each part of the school, these documents being subject to regular amendment as circumstances evolve.
The information included will incorporate such detail as the provision of different colour paper to pupils with Irlen Syndrome, as well as any Access Arrangements permitted for examinations.
Do:
Learning support provision is determined on the basis of individual need which is agreed with parents / carers on the basis of the processes outlined in this policy and in the ALN Handbook.
The School’s ALN provision currently includes the following measures:
• in-class differentiation; • learning support, both within and outside the classroom, on an individual, paired or small-group basis. • additional specialist teaching. A pupil deemed to have a special educational need or disability and who requires additional support may be provided with an individual or small group personalised support programme; this falls within the School’s core learning support provision. Charges will only be incurred for any provision that is requested by parents / carers for their child and which extends beyond this facility. The core specialised support provision may extend to approximately one lesson / hour per week for each child at no extra cost. As Year 12 & 13 pupils will have demonstrated a level of performance which enables them to access higher level qualifications, any additional learning or study support at this stage is chargeable; • support from the Head of ALN / LS.
Teachers will liaise closely with the Head of ALN / LS in the execution of the PDP, and in monitoring and assessing the impact and effectiveness of the support and interventions that have been put in place for the child.
Review:
In each section of the school, biannual reviews are undertaken, both to consider the effectiveness of any support provided as well as to assess its impact upon the pupil, with the objective of subsequently updating the IEP / IDP.
As necessary, the Head of ALN / LS makes additional comments on School reports with regard to the pupil’s progress.
RECORDING THE PROGRESS OF PUPILS WITH ALN AND/OR DISABILITIES VIA THE PDP
The PDP is used to record the progress of, as well as the support provided for, any pupil with significant learning difficulties and / or disabilities, or indeed any pupil with an Individual Development Plan.
This document contains key information such as the following:
• pupil and parental / carer perspectives, culled from questionnaires, interviews and pen portraits; • progress and attainment level data, alongside test scores; • targets and outcomes sought; • outcomes at specific reference points such as the ends of the various Key Stages, measured on a comparative basis against peer achievement; • teaching strategies; • the additional or alternative provision in place; • reports or recommendations from any external specialists, professionals or agencies; • any information the pupil would like to share about himself or herself, such as strengths, weaknesses, diagnosed learning difficulties, disabilities or medical conditions, alongside what these mean to the pupil and how these affect him or her; • the date upon which the PDP was drawn up, and the date for the subsequent biannual review which will involve all parties concerned (including the pupil, subject to his or her age and understanding). It can nevertheless be amended as and when circumstances change and at the request of the pupil, a parent / carer, the Head of ALN / LS or a teacher.
The child is encouraged to take ownership of his or her PDP, and indeed to set his or her own targets.
Once it has received parental / carer approval, this document is circulated to all staff who are in regular contact with the pupil, to include the teaching, tutorial and boarding contexts.
PUPILS WITH AN EDUCATIONAL HEALTH CARE PLAN
The needs of the majority of pupils with ALN and / or disabilities will be met effectively through the School's dedicated support in this area.
However, where the pupil has not made the progress anticipated although ALN support has been provided, his or her parents / carers and the School have the right to ask the Local Authority to make an assessment with a view to drawing up an Individual Development Plan for the child.
While parents / carers are asked to consult with the School before exercising this right, the School will always check with parents / carers before undertaking this procedure.
Should the Local Authority refuse to make an assessment, the pupil’s parents / carers have a right of appeal to the First-Tier Tribunal (Health, Education and Social Care Chamber); the School does not enjoy this right of appeal.
Where a prospective pupil has an Individual Development Plan already in place, the School will consult with the parents / carers and the Local Authority (where appropriate) to ensure that the provision specified in the Individual Development Plan can be delivered by the School.
Any additional services that are needed in order to meet the requirements of the Individual Development Plan may need to be charged, either directly to the parent / carer or to the Local Authority (if the latter is responsible for the fees and the School is named in the Individual Development Plan).
In all other circumstances, charges may be made directly to parents / carers, subject to the School's obligations under the Equality Act (2010). The School co-operates with the Local Authority so as to ensure that relevant annual reviews of Individual Development Plans are carried out as required.
ACCESSIBILITY PLAN
Rydal Penrhos School maintains a three-year Accessibility Plan, a copy of which is available upon written request to the Principal. This sets out the School's plan to achieve the following objectives:
• to increase the extent to which disabled pupils can participate in the School's curriculum; • to improve the physical environment of the School for the purpose of increasing the extent to which disabled pupils are able to take advantage of the education, benefits, facilities and services provided or offered by the School; • to enhance the delivery to disabled pupils of information which is readily accessible to pupils who are not disabled.
BULLYING & BEHAVIOURAL ISSUES
All pupils are taught that any form of discrimination, bullying and harassment is prohibited and will not be tolerated.
Via the curriculum, PSHE and other areas of School life such as Chapel services, pupils are taught the importance of respecting each other and of behaving towards each other with kindness, courtesy and consideration.
The School's behaviour and anti-bullying policies make clear the seriousness of bullying, victimisation and harassment, and underline the fact that appropriate sanctions will be applied to any pupil who displays inappropriate behaviour.
The School recognises that disabled pupils or those with ALN and / or disabilities may be particularly vulnerable to being bullied. The School also recognises that bullying (or other emotional events such as bereavement) can lead to learning difficulties or wider mental health difficulties.
Persistent disruptive or withdrawn behaviours do not necessarily mean that a pupil has ALN but, where there are concerns, an assessment may be undertaken to determine whether there are any causal factors such as undiagnosed learning difficulties, difficulties with communication or mental health issues.
The School recognises that children with ALN and / or disabilities can face additional safeguarding challenges, and supplementary barriers can therefore exist when recognising abuse and neglect in this group of children. These can include:
• assumptions that indicators of possible abuse such as behaviour, mood and injury relate to the child's disability without further exploration; • the potential for children with ALN and / or disabilities to be disproportionally affected by behaviours such as bullying, without outwardly showing any signs; • communication barriers, and difficulties in overcoming the latter.
The guidance contained in the School's Safeguarding Policy will be followed, should any safeguarding concerns arise.
ACCESS ARRANGEMENTS IN THE CONTEXT OF PUBLIC & INTERNAL EXAMINATIONS
The following five policies provide details as to the processes in place in the event that ALN and / or disability impact upon examinations:
• Access Arrangements; • Appointment & Monitoring of Specialist Assessors; • Disability in the Context of Public Examinations; • Provision of Separate Invigilation; • Word Processor Use.
Public examinations:
When sitting public examinations, pupils who have been diagnosed as having a learning difficulty may be entitled to Access Arrangements; these could include one or more of an additional time allocation, the provision of a separate examination room, the use of a computer, and support from a scribe and / or reader.
Once the candidature of a pupil whose name appears on the ALN Register is anticipated, the Head of ALN / LS submits an application via “Access Arrangements Online”, a Joint Council for Qualifications tool which is recognised by all of the Awarding Bodies (with the exception of Cambridge International Examinations). Such applications must meet the following criteria:
• they must be made on the basis of a “history of need”, and evidence to support this will be gathered from all of the candidate’s teachers; • they must be supported by relevant and time-constrained testing data which has been provided by a qualified assessor; • the Access Arrangement requested must reflect the candidate’s “normal way of working”.
Upon receipt of approval of the Access Arrangement(s) sought, the Head of ALN / LS draws up a schedule to show the staffing and facilities required, and passes this on to the Deputy Head who allocates the commensurate material and human resources.
Internal examinations:
With regard to internal examinations, pupils in the Senior School receive Access Arrangements which, where practicable, anticipate those that they should be accorded in their eventual public examinations, such that the internal papers function as a dress rehearsal for the real event.
At the Preparatory School, the allocation of extra time is not necessary, in that the pupils are already subject to no time constraints when sitting examinations; if appropriate, pupils with ALN and/or disabilities may have questions read out to them, a concession which does not however apply when they are taking a reading test. This policy is subject to review on a biennial basis; however, it may require earlier revision in the light of any regulatory change which may come into force in the interim.
Last reviewed by ARH, LL & SLS: September 2019
Approved by Governing Body: December 2019 Next review: December 2020