Special Educational Needs

Moorlands Junior School is a three-form entry school for children aged 7-11, with a Small Specialist Class.

 We are proud to be a warm, welcoming and inclusive school catering for children with learning, medical, physical, social and emotional needs.

 A child is classed as having special educational needs if he or she has a significantly greater difficulty in learning or accessing the curriculum than the majority of children of the same age. All staff at Moorlands will have due regard for the Special Needs Code of Practice when carrying out our duties towards all pupils with special educational needs, ensuring parents are notified when SEN provision is being made for their child.

Our Small Specialist Class currently caters for up to 10 children with Educational Health Care (EHC) plans for Complex Learning Difficulties and/or Social communication needs. It is staffed by two specialist teachers Mrs Wood and Mrs Norbury (who both work part time and equal one full time equivalent teacher) and two specialist teaching assistants. The children are taught as a single class where learning is based on individual education programmes and teaching is differentiated according to ability. As befits our policy of inclusion, there are regular opportunities for pupils from our SSC to integrate with their peers in mainstream school.

 Admission into our Small Specialist class is through Trafford Authority, not the school directly. It is our aim to identify a child’s additional needs as early as possible to allow effective intervention to take place. Children who enter our school with an existing Learning Support Plan will continue to follow their current plan until the next review date, enabling the class teacher to assess their targets.

 A graduated approach is used to ensure that our SEN support is effective, involving four actions: assess, plan, do, review.

 Assessment is the process by which pupils with SEN can be identified; whether or not a pupil is making adequate progress is seen as a significant factor in considering the need for SEN provision. At Moorlands Junior School, we ascertain pupil progress through:

  • Evidence obtained from teacher observation and professional judgment

  • Pupil performance judged against end of year ‘Age Related Expectations’

  • Pupil performance is assessed throughout the year

  • Records from feeder schools

  • Standardised screening or assessment tools

  • Screening /diagnostic tests

  • Reports or observations

  • Information from parents

  If you, the parent, have any concerns about your child’s needs or progress, in the first instance please make an appointment to speak to your child’s class teacher along with the Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCO).

Mrs S Wood

SENCO

Mrs V Norbury

SENCO

Mrs S Harrison

SEN Governor