At different times in their school life, a child or young person may have a special educational need. The Code of Practice 2014 defines SEN as follows: A child or young person has SEN if they have a learning difficulty or a disability which calls for special education provision to be made for him or her.

A child of compulsory school age or a young person has a learning difficulty if he or she:

a) has a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others the same age, or

b) 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.

Where a pupil’s progress is significantly below age related expectations, despite high quality teaching targeted at specific areas of difficulty, provision of SEN Support may need to be made.

At Westwood, we are fully committed to the early identification of barriers to learning. We routinely:

• Carry out assessments of children, including observations, class based and diagnostic assessments;
• Communicate and consult with all stakeholders, including: parents and carers and external agencies;
• Monitor the progress that children are making through interventions and class-based learning;
• Hold termly pupil progress meetings, during which the progress of all children is reviewed;
• Use the skills of our SEN and Inclusion Team, so that potential barriers to learning may be quickly identified.

If you have any concerns regarding your child’s progress or well-being, please speak to either your child’s class teacher or a member of the SEN and Inclusion Team to explore your query further.