As required by the 1993 Education Act, St Mary’s Infant School has produced a formal written statement of its policy relating to special educational needs.
It is estimated that 20% of children may have some form of special educational needs at some time. The concept of ‘special educational needs’ is a broad one encompassing many different kinds of learning difficulty. A learning difficulty exists where a child learns at a significantly different rate from most children of the same age, or where a disability limits or prevents access to the usual educational facilities. Many learning difficulties are temporary and can be overcome with short-term extra teaching input, others are longer term and need specialist input throughout a child’s school career.
The Staff and Governors of St Mary’s believe that all children attending the school, whatever their educational needs and abilities, deserve and should receive a broad and well balanced education. This belief underlies teaching throughout the school. Children with special educational needs have access to all activities within the school, all the children work and play together.
If you feel that your child is not progressing at the same rate as others in their year group you should approach their class teacher in the first instance to discuss your concerns. If necessary a programme of action will be agreed with the school’s Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator who will monitor and review progress. You will be kept informed and involved throughout – a requirement of the Government’s Code of Practice, and which the school whole-heartedly endorses and supports.
If you wish to find out more about the school’s special educational needs policy please approach Ms Terrett, our SENCo, at senco@stmarysinfants.herts.sch.uk.
Below you will find links to the school’s SEND policy, SEND information report and the Local Authority’s Local Offer.
- Special Educational Needs and Disability Policy
- SEN Information Offer
- Send Quality Offer
- Accessibility Plan and equality objectives
- Equality Policy
- Hertfordshire’s Local Offer
Additional information and advice can be found from:
- Families First
- Herts SENDIASS
- Carers in Hertfordshire
- Healthy Young Minds in Herts
- Family Lives – Parenting & Family Support
Sensory Room
At St Mary’s we are lucky to have our own sensory room.
A sensory room is a specially designed room which combines a range of stimuli to help individuals develop and engage their senses. These can include lights, colours, sounds, sensory soft play resources, all used within a safe environment that allows the person using it to explore and interact safely.
Lots of children struggle to focus and have sensory or emotional difficulties which prevent them from fully engaging with daily life. Our brains are designed to produce and regulate our body’s responses to sensory experiences — things we touch, see, smell, taste and hear as well as the pull of gravity and movement around us — a process called sensory integration.
For many, this is second nature, but for those with a developmental disorder like autism, the process can be a cause of stress, anxiety and discomfort. For some, the brain can overreact to sensory stimuli and in others, it may not react enough.
This is why we have developed our own sensory provision. Access to this provision is under the discretion of the teacher and it will be used as part of children’s additional provision or at times of heightened emotion.
