Special Educational Needs

Special Educational Needs and Disabilities at Five Spires Academy

Welcome to the Special Educational Needs page of our website.

At Five Spires Academy the Inclusion Manager is Mrs Motorny. She works with pupils, parents and carers, school staff and outside agencies to ensure that all our pupils' special educational needs are met.

Should you have any concerns about special educational needs you can contact Mrs Motorny
through the school office on 01543 223680 or email [email protected].

What are special educational needs?

A child or young person has special educational needs if he or she has a learning difficulty or disability which calls for special educational provision to be made for him or her. A learning difficulty or disability is a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others of the same age.

Special educational provision means educational or training provision that is additional to, or different from, that made generally for others of the same age in a mainstream setting in England…. Health care provision or social care provision which educates or trains a child or young person is to be treated as special educational provision. (Code of Practice 2014)

Provision for children with special educational needs is a matter for the school as a whole. In addition to the Governing Body, the Headteacher, the SENCO and all other members of staff both teaching and support staff have very important day-to-day responsibilities. ‘All teachers are teachers of children with special educational needs. Teaching such children is therefore a whole school responsibility.’

High quality teaching which is differentiated and personalised should be available for all pupils. At the heart of the work of every school class is a continuous cycle of planning, teaching and assessing which takes account of the wide range of abilities, aptitudes and interests of children. The majority of children will learn and progress within these arrangements. Those children whose overall attainments or attainment in specific subjects fall significantly outside the expected range may have special educational needs.

Special Educational Needs Information Report and Policy Documents

At Five Spires Academy we believe that all pupils have the right to the highest quality of education according to their needs and our values and school ethos reflect our commitment to supporting pupils with special educational needs. Please read our SEND policy below, which outlines the purpose, nature and management of special educational needs within our school.

SEND Policy 2023-2024
SEND Information Report 2023-2024

Staffordshire Local Offer

Staffordshire’s Local Offer provides information and services for children and young people aged 0-25 with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and their families. The Local Offer website aims to help families by gathering the information that they need to know in order to make informed choices about the support they receive. Please visit http://helpyourself.staffordshirecares.info for more information about what Staffordshire County Council can offer.

Information for Parents

SEN & Disabilities guide for parents and carers Common SEND Acronyms Speech and Language Presentation Suggested Apps to support Communication Needs Speech and Language activities to try at home Overview of Speech and Language Difficulties Useful websites to support Speech and Language Difficulties Speech and Language Milestone Poster Games to support Speech and Language at home