SEN and Inclusion

The Children and Families Act 2014  says that a child or young person has special educational needs (SEN) if he or she has a learning difficulty or disability which calls for special educational provision to be made for him or her.

A child or young person with SEN may find it harder to learn than other children of the same age. Special educational needs may include:

• Behavioural or social, for example difficulty making friends or self regulating difficulties learning or retaining information

• Concentrating, for example attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)

• A medical condition which affects learning

• A sensory or physical need which affects them in school, for example being blind or deaf

If you think your child has SEND that requires extra support, then contact the class teacher in the first instance. Here at St Martin's we are committed to ensuring every child fulfils their true potential and staff will look at things that can be done to support you or your child.

Children will be assessed against the curriculum they are currently working towards. For example, if a year 5 pupil is currently working towards year 2 age related expectations, they will be assessed as either a 2WTS (working towards) or a 2EXS (expected).

Some children are not yet ready to access the National Curriculum and are working on Sandwell Skills Ladders. These are documents created by a team of professionals within Sandwell that allow us to track smaller steps of progress and ensure that children's work and support is tailored in school to help them close gaps in learning and prepare them for the national curriculum.

Click here to see the Sandwell Skills Ladders Parent Guide

The Skills Ladders are broken down into:

Click here to see Sandwell Reading Ladders 

• Early Reading-Building Concepts

• Early Reading 1

• Early Reading 2

• Early Reading 3

Click here to see Sandwell Writing Ladders 

• Early Writing-Building Concepts

• Early Writing-1

• Early Writing-2

• Early Writing-3

Click here to see Sandwell Maths Ladders 

• Early Maths- Building Concepts

• Early Maths-1

• Early Maths-2

• Early Maths-3

These documents have a wide range of statements that build and develop upon children's prior learning and allow us to track whether children are emerging, developing or expected at this skill.

Using these skills ladders allows us to accurately assess children and ensure that progress is continuously built upon.

Some children may not be able to access the reading, writing and maths elements of school and therefore may be working on The Engagement Model. This allows staff to build upon communication skills and levels of focus, interaction and engagement.

Here at St Martin's we follow the graduated approach of assess, plan, do, review to ensure that all children make progress.

Whole School Provision Map 2024-25