Special Educational Needs and Disabilities
Holy Trinity CE Primary School is a wonderfully diverse, cultural community which seamlessly embraces and reflects the British Values of mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs. We pride ourselves on celebrating the excellence in every individual and adopting a holistic approach that caters for the whole child.
Our core Christian values of Love, Honesty and Respect are carefully interwoven within all aspects of our curriculum, and this harmony is lived out daily through our commitment to building positive relationships between all members of the Holy Trinity Family. Our curriculum offer is broad, inclusive and engaging, and prepares pupils for productivity in a fast-paced, changing world.
Section 20 of the Children and Families Act 2014 states that ‘a child or young person has special educational needs if he or she has a learning difficulty or disability which calls for special educational provision to be made for him or her’.
As stated by the Act, a child of full-time compulsory school age (5 to 16) or a young person aged 16 to 25 has a learning difficulty or disability if he or she:
- 'has a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others of the same age, or
- 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.'
Section 21 of the Act defines special educational provision for a child aged 2 or more, or a young person, as ‘educational or training provision that is additional to, or different from, that made generally for others of the same age’ in mainstream educational institutions. In the case of children under 2, special educational provision means educational provision of any kind.
At Holy Trinity, we adhere rigorously to the Special Educational Needs and Disability Code of Practice: 0 to 25 years which outlines the following four 'broad areas of need':
- Communication and Interaction
- Cognition and Learning
- Social, Emotional and Mental Health Difficulties
- Sensory and/or Physical Needs
All our Staff and Governors recognise that children often have needs that span across all four areas of SEND and that these needs may change over time. Our Staff are fully committed to identifying and providing for these needs, and we are proud to offer a whole-school approach in which inclusion is regarded as universal. This means that every member of Staff is a teacher or a leader of SEND, and will use quality-first teaching strategies that are effective for all pupils of any level of need as outlined on our whole school provision map.
Our universal approach states that every teacher must use:
- Visuals (dual-coding)
- Modelling and demonstration
- Practical activity and regular wiggle breaks
- Manipulatives
- Keywords
- Scaffolding
- Effective questioning
- Discussion (the minimisation of teacher talk)
- Off-white paper to reduce contrast and visual glare
- Pastel coloured backgrounds and blue font on all presentation slides
- Minimal information on each slide to reduce cognitive overload
Our aim is that all pupils are given a fair and equal opportunity to participate in the mainstream curriculum as fully as they possibly can. We strive to identify the needs of every individual child, working closely with both our pupils and their parents to tailor provision accordingly so that every child is able to reach their God-given potential.
- SENDCo please contact via: sendco@holytrinity-gravesend.kent.sch.uk
- admin@holytrinity-gravesend.kent.sch.uk