St Bernard's Primary School

Additional Support Needs

St. Bernard’s Primary School complies with the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004 as amended by the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2009.

North Lanarkshire Council’s policy is contained within “Support for Learning Policy into Practice 2”, a copy of which is available in the school. The School has a Support for Learning Policy, available from the school on request, which is consistent with North Lanarkshire Council guidelines.

Support for Learning is available for children who have special needs because they are particularly gifted, have individual difficulties or who may require some additional support for an area of learning. An Additional Support Plan is created specifically to meet the needs of a number of pupils in the school. The formation of this plan is the responsibility of the class teacher, who with the advice of the Support for Learning teacher, identifies short term and long term targets for these children. It is our Policy that all children work at a level appropriate to the needs of the individual.

Most children fall naturally into a group and are able to benefit academically and socially by working the group level. In line with current educational thinking many whole class lessons are also used throughout the school particularly in Religious and Moral education, PE and Art and Craft.

However, where a child is experiencing difficulty, or is capable of work beyond his/ her chronological age, every effort is made to find work which is appropriate. Pupils with particular difficulties receive individual attention from the class teacher.

Parents are informed and encouraged to participate in their child’s programme. It is our policy to identify and remedy problems as soon as possible. When a pupil’s attainment is consistently below the level of the class, he/she may be referred to Psychological Services in order that difficulties can be diagnosed and a structured programme drawn up to meet individual needs. Parents are invited to discuss this with the Head Teacher at the start of the process.

An Educational Psychologist visits the school on a regular basis. She consults with the Head Teacher and class teachers about pupils with special educational needs, such as specific learning difficulties, dyslexia, emotional or behavioural problems etc. She undertakes assessments and offers support and guidance to pupils, parents and staff.

In accordance with the Department of Learning and Leisure’s staged intervention process, there are four strands of support available:-
Level 1 – Internal support, where education staff identify that a child or young person needs support or planning which can be met within the existing classroom or playroom.

Level 2 – Internal support, where education staff identify that a child or young person needs support or planning from within the school or early years establishment.

Level 3 – External support, from within Learning and Leisure services, where it is identified tha the child or young person requires support or planning from beyond the school or early years setting but within educational services.

Level 4 – External support, provided on a multiagency basis, where the child or young person’s needs are identified as requiring support or planning from multiagency services and these support needs are likely to last more than a year.
Additional Support for Learning is provided for those pupils for whom English is a second language. This is supplemented by support from the Bilingual and Support for Learning section who provide a teacher for approx. 4 hours per week.

Looked After Children i.e. children who are cared for directly or whose care is supervised by the local authority are deemed to have Additional Support Needs unless assessment determines otherwise.

The Head Teacher is responsible for all arrangements regarding Looked After children.

Parents and pupils are an essential part of the assessment, planning and review processes and your views are actively sought. Parents and young people can request of the authority to establish whether a child has additional support needs. They can also request an assessment at any time.

PLANNING

Additional Support Plans (ASPs) enable staff to plan effectively for children and young people with Additional Support Needs.

Some children and young people may require significant support from education and at least one other agency, such as health, social work and/or voluntary agency to help them meet their learning targets. Where this support requires a high level of co-ordination, the opening of a Co-ordinated Support Plan (CSP) may be considered.

A CSP may be initiated by the school or another agency.

Parents and young people can, if they wish, request that a CSP be considered and would be involved in the process. Parents will receive letters from the Education Authority throughout the CSP process. Parents and young people will be invited to take part in multi-agency meetings and their views will be recorded in the plan.
Dispute Resolution

North Lanarkshire Council is committed to resolving any differences of views through discussion, dialogue and building on common ground.

If the matter cannot be resolved with the Education Authority you have the right to request mediation. An independent mediation service is available to parents and young people through Resolve (see contact details at the back of this handbook). Mediation is free and independent of the Education Authority.

In the event that a disagreement cannot be resolved through mediation, then an application for Independent Adjudication (see contact details at the back of this handbook) can be made by parents free of charge. The Independent Adjudicator will make recommendations to the Education Authority about how the dispute should be resolved.

The Additional Support Needs Tribunal has been set up to hear appeals made by parents or young people on the decisions made by the Education Authority relating to Co-ordinated Support Plans, placing requests and post school transition. If you disagree with any decision relating to your child’s Co-ordinated Support Plan, either the creation of a CSP, or the content of it, you may be entitled to refer to the Tribunal.

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