Assessment for all children is a continual process and takes many forms, as laid out in the school’s Policy on Teaching and Learning. For many children with SEND, the teacher’s assessment of need is sufficient to decide what is provision is needed in the classroom, as part of a group and on a 1:1 basis through a POP.

It is the responsibility of the Head Teacher, through the class teachers, to monitor the support and provision for pupils with SEND in their care. Throughout the school, children’s progress in maths and English is formally assessed by teachers every term. All of this information is monitored and evaluated to ensure that provision for all children is matched to their needs. This is alongside the monitoring undertaken by the SENCO on matching provision to what is happening in the classroom for each child on the SEND register.

Specific additional assessments for children with potential or identified SEND can also be carried out by the specialist teacher in school, usually starting with targeted classroom observations. Examples of specialist assessments available are: Wide Ranging Achievement Test (WRAT5), Wide Ranging Intelligence Test (WRIT), British Picture Vocabulary Scale (BPVS) etc. These can be repeated at a later date to measure progress.

All POPs have SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Timed) targets which are monitored weekly (on a ‘can they do it’ basis) by the teaching assistant, backed up by the class teacher. The child is also encouraged to self-evaluate against their targets on a weekly basis with the teaching assistant and/or teacher. New targets are set as soon as each target is met. POPs are formally reviewed and evaluated 3 times per year by the class teacher and/or SENCo, pupil and parents; this may involve the repetition of a specialist assessment, as above. A copy of a child’s POP is sent home, along with a copy of the previous, evaluated POP and parents are invited to discuss this with the class teacher, contributing to the evaluation / target setting if they wish. This is so that they can support their child in achieving their targets through activities in the home.

For children with an Education, Health and Care Plan, an annual review (6 monthly for under 5s) will be carried out by the school in conjunction with the LEA. Parents and external agencies are strongly encouraged to attend. Reviews in year 5 are used to begin to establish the parent’s choice of high school in order to assess the arrangements prior to the transfer. Depending on when the annual cycle of reviews falls, an additional review may be necessary in late summer term of year 5 or early autumn term of year 6 will confirm parents’ choice of high school and a further transition review, when a high school place has been allocated, will be convened and the high school SENCo invited.