Inclusion & SEND

Inclusion & SEND at The Acorns Primary and Nursery School

At The Acorns Primary and Nursery School we are committed to providing a fully accessible environment which values and includes all pupils, staff, parents and visitors regardless of their education, physical, sensory, social, spiritual, emotional and cultural needs. We are committed to challenging negative attitudes about disability and accessibility and to developing a culture of awareness, tolerance and inclusion. The Acorns Primary and Nursery School plan, over time, to maintain / increase the accessibility of provision for all pupils, staff and visitors to the school.



Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014

Link to CWAC Local Offer - click here

Link to CWAC Information, Advice and Support Service - click here

For the Department for Education Services and Information page - click here



Identifying Special Educational Needs

The list below shows a number of ways The Acorns identifies if a child has SEND:

- Our open door policies ensure that discussions with parents / carers who express concerns leads to further investigations

- Children entering the nursery are screened using the WELLCOM language assessment

 - All children are closely monitored by class teachers and other staff members through observations, analysis of data and / or emotional / social concerns. These are relayed to the school's Inclusion Manager who will make further investigations / analysis

- Referrals may be made through outside agencies such as GPs, Speech and Language Therapists etc. (permission will always be sought from parents first)

- The school use a number of diagnostic assessment tests for reading, writing, spelling, comprehension, mathematics and emotional needs

- Regular meetings are held with all class teachers and the Inclusion Manager to discuss any concerns

The Acorns Accessibility Plan

Schools’ duties around accessibility for disabled pupils

Schools and LAs need to carry out accessibility planning for disabled pupils. These are the same duties as previously existed under the Disability Discrimination Act and have been replicated in the Equality Act 2010 Part 5A of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA) requires the governing body to:

- promote equality of opportunity for disabled people: pupils, staff, parents, carers and other people who use the school or may wish to; and-

- prepare and publish a Disability Equality Scheme to show how they will meet these duties

This Accessibility Plan forms part of the Disability Equality Scheme and sets out how the governing body will improve equality of opportunity for disabled people. The SEN and Disability Act 2001 extended the DDA to cover education, so since 2002 the Governing Body has had three key duties towards disabled pupils under part 4 of the DDA.

- not to treat disabled pupils less favourably for reasons related to their disability

- to make reasonable adjustments for disabled pupils, so that they are not at a substantial disadvantage including potential adjustments which may be needed in the future

- to plan to increase access to education for disabled pupils

This plan sets out the proposals of the Governing Body of the school to increase access to education for disabled pupils in the three areas required by the planning duties in the DDA.

- increasing the extent to which disabled pupils can participate in the school curriculum

- improving the physical environment of the school to increase the extent to which disabled pupils can take advantage of education and associated services

- improving the delivery to disabled pupils of information which is provided in writing for pupils who are not disabled

It is a requirement that the school’s Accessibility Plan is resourced, implemented, reviewed and revised as necessary. In drawing up the Accessibility Plan the school has set the following priorities:

to provide safe access throughout the school for all school users, irrespective of their disability

to ensure that the teaching and learning environment and the resources used are suitable for all staff and pupils, tailoring the requirements to suit individual needs

The Accessibility Audit and Plan will contain relevant actions for the following areas: physical environment, curriculum, written information. This will be reviewed and adjusted on an annual basis. We acknowledge that there is a need for ongoing awareness raising and training for staff and governors in the matter of disability discrimination and the need to inform attitudes on this matter.                                    

Inclusion / Transition

The Acorns Primary and Nursery School is fully inclusive. That means that all our pupils who have SEND fully participate in the curriculum and the life of the school. Their inclusion is embedded through:

- a differentiated curriculum, followed alongside their peers wherever possible

- additional adult support and a range of special resources are used to support children's learning in class, and through intervention programmes carried out in small groups or 1-1

- we are highly reflective and adapt to the needs of our individual children; children's needs are assessed and addressed regularly, and both parents and children are kept informed of any changes / accommodations that need to be made

- opportunities to accompany their peers on school trips, including  residential visits

- opportunities to join after school clubs and activities alongside their peers

- tailored transition between classes / schools through extra transition visits and personalised transition books containing photographs and details of their old and new settings

- We have formed close links with local High Schools, and work hard to ensure our pupils with SEND have a smooth transition to the most suitable High School for their needs

We are committed to working in partnership with parents, carers and outside agencies.
If you need to speak to us about your child, please contact Mrs Bentley, our inclusion manager:Karene Bentley
Tel: 0151 355 1546 [email protected] SEND Governor: Chrystal Rees-White [email protected]