Under the SEND Code of Practice (DfE, 2014), a child is deemed to have Special Educational Needs or Disabilities, or SEND, if he or she has ‘significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others of the same age’, or their disability ‘prevents or hinders them from making use of facilities of a kind generally provided for others of the same age in a mainstream school’. Special educational provision is needed for them, over and above that which can be met through high quality classroom teaching and differentiation.

Broad areas of need are identified as:

• Communication and interaction

• Cognition and learning

• Social, emotional and mental health difficulties

• Sensory and/or physical needs

They may be for a short period or throughout a child’s educational life. They may be identified before a child has even entered school, or they may come to be recognised at a specific point in their education.

The SEND Code of Practice sets out statutory guidance for schools.  A revised SEND Code of Practice was implemented in September 2014, with the main aim of developing better partnerships between children, parents/carers, educational settings, health professionals and social care.

The revised SEND Code of Practice can be downloaded here:

At Corsham Primary School, we have a large team of dedicated and experienced staff who support children with Special Educational Needs. This includes:

• Inclusion Managers (SENCOs)
• Family Support Officer / Family Support Assistant
• Members of the Senior Leadership team
• Class Teachers
• Teaching Assistants
• Lunchtime Playworkers

Our staff, across the school, have a wealth of experience and work collaboratively to support the needs of children with Special Educational Needs.

We recognise that quality first teaching is of paramount importance to ensuring the best possible outcomes for pupils with SEND. We also have a range of specific interventions designed to meet the differing needs of pupils. Pupil progress is tracked and evaluated regularly as part of an ‘assess, plan, do review’ cycle.

At Corsham Primary School, we recognise that children’s needs are most effectively met by working in collaboration with parents to secure the best outcomes for their child. This takes many forms. For example, individual review meetings, My Support Plan meetings, multi-agency meetings, parent support from our Family Support Officer, home-school liaison books or simply a quick telephone call or email.

If you have any questions, the first person to contact would be your child's class teacher. You are also very welcome to contact our Inclusion Managers; Jo Smalley at Pound Pill (01249 712387) or Jenny Metcalfe at Broadwood (01225 811997) or via email admin@corsham-pri.wilts.sch.uk

We are also fortunate to have excellent relationships with the local authority SEN Specialist Service (SENSS), the Educational Psychologist, Speech and Language Therapists (SALTS), Occupational Therapists (OT) and the Sensory Impairment Service, who work in partnership with us to support our pupils with SEND.  We also collaborate closely with the SEND Lead Workers at the Local Authority.