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Inclusion

Wilmington Primary School is committed to providing an inclusive education for all children, regardless of ability, gender, language, ethnic or cultural origin. We work effectively with a wide variety of agencies and individuals to focus on improving outcomes for all children with Special Educational Needs.

What are special needs?

Special educational needs could mean that a child has:

  • learning difficulties – in acquiring basic skills in school
  • emotional and behavioural difficulties – making friends or relating to adults or behaving properly in school
  • specific learning difficulty – with reading, writing, number work or understanding information
  • sensory or physical needs - such as hearing or visual impairment, which might affect them in school
  • communication problems – in expressing themselves or understanding others

The school has a policy for Special Educational Needs (SEN) and follows the Code of Practice. When appropriate, referrals are made to specialist learning services and medical services. Any referral to an outside agency is undertaken with parental consent. Further details can be found in our SEN policy, which can be viewed here.

The staff work in partnership with parents/carers and pupils and liaise with external agencies to build upon pupil’s strengths and develop the individual.

We promote equality of opportunity for people with disabilities: pupils, staff, parents, carers and other people who use the school.

We are committed to ensuring that pupils with disabilities can participate in the school curriculum, school trips and take an active role in all extra-curricular activities.  The school environment includes designated parking and step free access to the school building.  There are designated disabled toilets within the school and a dedicated medical room.

More able children, children who have English as an additional language and those on our pupil premium register are also recognised as having additional needs.  There may also be stressful times such illness, bereavement and family breakdowns when families and children require support. We will support their learning and ensure they are fully included in all school activities.

We recognise that there are some pupils who may require additional resources or extra support at some time in their primary school life and we aim to cater for the needs of all pupils. Early identification of a child’s needs is made by close consultation with parents and pre-school settings from school entry. Individual pupils are monitored through teacher assessment, pupil progress meetings and provision mapping.

Equality and Diversity

At Wilmington Primary School we aim to create an inclusive culture for all staff, pupils, families and visitors to the school.  We recognise respect and value people’s differences and ensure that individuals or groups of individuals are treated fairly and equally and no less favourably, specific to their needs, including areas of race, gender, disability, religion or belief, sexual orientation and age.  We promote equality and diversity, treating all staff and students fairly, ensuring equal access to opportunities to enable children and staff to fully participate in the learning process and achieve and equip children and staff with the skills to challenge inequality and discrimination.

Objectives

  • To promote a positive self-image in all children and to respect their individuality, providing for all pupils according to their needs
  • To ensure equality of opportunity permeates the whole curriculum and ethos of the school
  • In delivering the curriculum, ensure it contains non-stereotypical images in order to overcome preconceived ideas of gender, ethnic origin, culture or religion
  • To include in resources: books, materials and equipment that are multicultural and non-sexist, providing positive images of all groups
  • Ensure that the organisation of the school is sensitive to the needs of all
  • To acknowledge the richness and diversity of British society and to help prepare children for their part in that society
  • To develop a positive attitude to equal opportunity by all staff, parents, helpers, governors, children and all who participate in the school.

English as an Additional Language ( EAL)

We celebrate the fact that some of our children speak more than one language. We carefully monitor and track the progress of pupils with EAL to ensure they are not disadvantaged and recognise that they may require additional support to acquire the same competence in English as in their home language(s).  This support is provided in class through carefully differentiated work and, where appropriate, through the additional support and specific teaching with a teaching assistant.

Children who are learning English as an additional language have skills and knowledge about language similar to monolingual English-speaking children. Their ability to participate in the full curriculum may be in advance of their communicative skills in English.

At Wilmington Primary School teachers take action to help children who are learning English as an additional language by various means such as

  • ensuring that vocabulary work covers the technical as well as the everyday meaning of key words, metaphors and idioms;
  • displaying key vocabulary and using visual prompts
  • using ‘Mantra Lingua’ resources such as Talking Whiteboards 
  • ensuring that there are effective opportunities for talking, and that talking is used to support writing;
  • encouraging children to transfer their knowledge, skills and understanding of one language to another;                                                                                                                      

Children in Need ( ChiC)/Looked After Children

We provide a safe learning environment for our Looked after Pupils ensuring that their individual needs are met by maintaining good communication with those caring for the child, social services and support services.  We commit to attending review meetings and ensuring the targets set on Personal Education Plans are integrated into school life.

Wilmington Primary School’s Provision for Meeting the Needs of all Children

We want the children who attend Wilmington Primary School to leave us in Year 6 with the skills and positive thinking needed to achieve their ambitions and to lead happy, successful lives. We believe all children’s potential is needs to be met and encourage children to exceed and challenge their own expectations. We hold this as true for every child who attends our school, regardless of background or ability. Their specific talents and skills need to be nurtured; by providing them with either the opportunities to work at high cognitive levels in academic areas or a chance to aspire for creative or physical excellence, whilst still ensuring the holistic needs of the child are met, in order to provide a well-rounded education. We are committed to providing an environment which encourages all pupils to pursue a high level of performance in academic and non-academic areas.

We aim to encourage pupils to be independent learners, provide challenging work at an appropriate level and provide opportunities for pupils to work with like-minded peers both within school and the wider community.

Provision for pupils is through quality first teaching, differentiation and high challenge in the classroom, teacher expectation of pupil performance and additional learning in interventions.

Miss Louise Ullah is the SENCo, so please contact her for further information.