Any child may experience a Special Education Need and/or Disability (SEND) which may affect their learning or well-being. It is our intention that every child has access to a holistic curriculum which supports their developmental needs in the most appropriate way. St Paul's is an inclusive school where every child matters and we aim to celebrate effort and progress as much as academic achievement. Parents are encouraged to inform the school quickly if they have any concerns about their child.

Mr Alex Beck, the Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENDCo) reviews the progress of all pupils every term with the class teacher. If there is a problem, then a plan will be set up - this known as your child's APDR (Assess, Plan, Do, Review) to support the achievement of the pupil concerned. The plans are reviewed regularly and shared with support staff, teachers and parents. Parent partnership is very important and becomes even more crucial if a child is experiencing some difficulties.

The ‘SEND Code of Conduct’ (2015) states that a child or young person is considered to have an SEND if they have “a learning difficulty or disability which calls for special educational provision to be made for him or her”

A child of compulsory school age or a young person has a learning difficulty or disability if they:

• have a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others of the same age, or 
• have a disability which prevents or hinders them from making use of facilities of a kind generally provided for others of the same age in mainstream schools.

All members of staff are trained to identify children who might be experiencing barriers and/or obstacles that are preventing them from making progress. It is the policy of the school to put in place suitable support for these children, following a three tiered approach (universal support, targeted support, and specialist support).

The categories of SEND are as followed:

• SEN support which mainstream state schools must provide through the graduated approach.
• Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans, sometimes called an EHCP, for when SEN support is not enough for your child to get the support they need in school.

At St Paul’s School, we have a 3 tiered approach to supporting a child’s learning.

Universal (Wave 1) – this is the quality first teaching your child will receive from their class teacher and may include some very minor adaptations to match learning needs (use of additional resources or support in class).

Targeted (Wave 2) – it may be appropriate to consider making additional short-term special educational provision to ensure that your child accesses the best learning and makes the best progress they can. The aim of this intervention is to remove or reduce any barriers which prevent your child from being successful. This takes the form of a graduated four part approach of a) assessing your child’s needs, b) planning the most effective and appropriate intervention, c) providing this intervention and d) reviewing the impact on your child’s progress towards individual learning outcomes. Specific targeted interventions may be run outside the classroom. These will be planned for a set number of weeks and reviewed to evaluate progress against targets. You will be kept informed of your child’s progress towards learning outcomes. The majority of these will be in pairs or small groups.

Specialist (Wave 3) – it may be necessary to seek specialist advice and regular long-term support from a specialist professional outside the school in order to plan for the best possible learning outcomes for your child. This may include intervention or advice from the following services: educational psychology, speech and language therapy, occupational therapy, sensory advisory teachers, and the child development service. The school may need to prioritise referrals to these services. For a very small number of pupils, access to these specialists may be through an EHCP. We will follow the ‘graduated approach’ to meeting your child’s SEN needs. The graduated approach is a 4-part cycle of assess, plan, do, review (APDR). Please see further information below

The school has varying resources and support to offer. These are used to respond to the specific nature of the needs and difficulties that your child experiences when learning. We want to work with you to ensure that our education provision matches the needs of the four broad areas of need, as defined in the SEN Code of Practice. 

Areas of learning include:

• C&L - Cognition and Learning
• SLCN - Speech Language, Communication Needs
• Sensory and Physical
• SEMH - Social, Emotional, Mental Health

The Zones of Emotional Regulation

At St Paul's it is our intention to teach our children to identify emotions in themselves and provide them with bank of strategies to help regulate their feelings. All staff are trained in using the 'Zones of Regulation' and model this to all children from Nursery to Year 6.

The Zones of Regulation is an approach used to support the development of self-regulation in children. It encompasses four colours (green, blue, yellow, and red), which helps children to identify how they are feeling and categorise it based on colour. Children who are well regulated are able to be in the appropriate zone at the appropriate time and discuss how they are feeling and why. There is progression across the curriculum with children in Early Years learning to identify different emotions to children in Upper Key Stage 2 discussing how our behaviour can impact the feelings of those around us.

The Four Zones:

• The Red Zone is used to describe extremely heightened states of alertness and intense emotions.  A person may be experiencing anger, rage, devastation, or terror when in the Red Zone. 

• The Yellow Zone is also used to describe a heightened state of alertness and elevated emotions, however one has more control when they are in the Yellow Zone.  A person may be experiencing anxiety, excitement, silliness, the wiggles, or nervousness when in the Yellow Zone.  

• The Green Zone is used to describe a calm state of alertness. A person may be described as happy, focused, content, or ready to learn when in the Green Zone.  This is the zone where optimal learning occurs.  

• The Blue Zone is used to describe low states of alertness and down feelings such as when one feels sad, tired, sick, or bored.  

Each coloured zone has associated tools and strategies which support children in learning to manage their emotions. It it important to emphasise that throughout an average day, it is normal to feel a mixture of all emotions. We often move between the Zones numerous times over the course of a day and experience a wide range of feelings.

The following terms might be used when discussing children with SEND:

• EHCP - Education Health Care Plan
• SS - SEN Support
• EP - Educational Psychologists
• OT - Occupational Therapist
• SALT - Speech and Language Therapist
• LSA - Learning Support Assistant