Welcome to our SEN information which is part of the Dudley Local Offer for learners with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND.) All governing bodies of maintained schools have a legal duty to publish information on their website about the implementation of their policy for pupils with SEND. The information published must be updated annually. The required information is set out in the SEN Code of Practice 0 - 25 years, September 2014.

At The Ridge Primary School we are committed to working together with all members of our school community. This information has been produced with pupils, parents/carers, governors, and members of staff. We would welcome your feedback and future involvement in the review of our offer, so please do contact us.

The best people to contact this year are:

Headteacher - Mrs Deb Hudson

SENCO (Co-ordinator) - Ms Louisa McGivney

SEND Governor - Mrs L Mason

If you have specific questions about the Dudley Local Offer please look at the Frequently Asked Questions by clicking here:

All learners should have the same opportunity to access extra-curricular activities and we are committed to making reasonable adjustments to ensure participation for all. Staff are aware of the Equality Act 2010. The legislation places specific duties on schools, setting and providers including the duty not to discriminate, harass, or victimise a child or adult linked to a protected characteristic defined in the Equality Act and to make 'reasonable adjustments'.

The Equality Act 2010 definition of disability is:

"A person has a disability for the purposes of this Act if (s)he has a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on his ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities." Section 1 (1) Disability Discrimination Act 1995.

At different times in their school career, a child or young person may have a Special Educational Need (SEN). The Code of Practice September 2014, 0 - 25 defines SEN as:

"A child or young person has SEN if they have a learning difficulty or disability which calls for special educational provision to be made for them. A child of compulsory school age or a young person has a learning difficulty or disability if they:

(a) have a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others of the same age: or

(b) have a disability which prevents or hinders them from making use of educational facilities of a kind generally provided for others of the same age in mainstream schools or mainstream post-16 institutions."

If a learner is identified as having Special Educational Needs or Disablity, provision will be made that is 'additional to or different from' the normal differentiated curriculum, intended to overcome the barrier to their learning. 'Differentiated' means the range of different activities planned by the teacher for every lesson, designed to ensure that every child maximises their potential for learning, whatever their level of ability.

Learners can fall behind in school for lots of reasons. They may have been absent from school, they may have attended lots of different schools and not had a consistent opportunity to learn. They may not speak English very well or they may be worried about different things that distract them from learning. At The Ridge we are committed to ensuring that all learners have access to learning opportunities and for those who are at risk of not learning, we will intervene. However, this does not mean that all vulnerable learners have SEN. Only those with a learning difficulty that requires special educational provision will be identified as having SEND.

If you think your child may have special educational needs or a disability, please speak to your child's Class Teacher or Ms L McGivney, the school SENCo.

At The Ridge we believe in participation and achievement for all. We want all adults and children to participate in learning and we celebrate all members of our community. We want to create an inclusive culture in our school and we aim to be responsive to the diversity of children's backgrounds, interests, experience, knowledge and skills. This also includes children looked after by a Local Authority.

We value high quality teaching for all learners and actively monitor teaching and learning in the school. We aim to create a learning environment, curriculum and enhancement opportunities which are flexible enough to meet the needs of all members of our school community. We monitor progress of all learners and staff continually assess, ensuring that learning is taking place. Our whole school system for monitoring progress includes regular pupil progress meetings and staff engage in continuous professional development.

Class Teachers, support staff, parents/carers and the learner themselves may be the first to notice a difficulty with learning. At The Ridge we ensure that assessment of educational needs directly involves the learner, their parents/carer and of course their teacher. The Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCO) will also support with the identification of barriers to learning.

For some learners we may want to seek advice from specialist teams. In our school we have access to various specialist services. We have access to services universally provided by Dudley Council, which are described on the Local Offer website available here.