Inclusion and Special Educational Needs
Introduction
Children learn and progress at different rates. Some children need more help than others in order to move forward.
Rutland County Council’s policy is that children’s needs should be assessed individually and that wherever possible they should be taught in a mainstream school setting. Teaching should be organised in a way that takes account of any learning difficulties.
It is important that identification of learning difficulties is made as early as possible. Sometimes the possibility that a child has learning difficulties may be identified before the child starts school.
You, as a parent, or your child’s health visitor or your family doctor may be aware of a delay in, or have a concern about your child’s development. Referral can then be made to the local education authority to assess your child’s learning difficulties.
In these circumstances the local authority will seek advice from a wide range of people whose expertise can inform the decisions which will need to be taken. You will always be consulted and asked to contribute your views of your child’s needs because you know your child better than anyone else.
Rutland has a special school for children aged 2-6 years, The Parks School in Oakham. When it would be difficult to carry out the assessment of a pre-school child’s needs or make the necessary arrangements to meet those needs in an ordinary setting, children can attend The Parks on a part-time or fulltime basis so that the assessment may be carried out in a specialist setting. Children sometimes attend The Parks on a joint placement basis with their local pre-school setting.
When the assessment of a child’s special educational needs points to the need for special provision to be made, then a Statement of Special Educational Needs is drawn up by the local authority. The Statement describes what the special educational needs are and what provision should be made to meet them. It will set out objectives for the child to achieve and describe what the school should do to help meet those objectives. It will state too any additional resources which the local authority will make available to the school to help it meet the learning objectives for the child. The Statement and the objectives are reviewed annually to make sure that they are still appropriate and to set new targets for the child to achieve in the following year. You will always be offered the opportunity to be involved in the review.
Wherever possible Rutland County Council will seek to ensure that children’s special educational needs can be met in the ordinary local school. However, if your child’s needs are such that they can only be met in a specialist setting, then, in consultation with you, a special school will be named in the Statement of Special Educational Needs.
