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Sonning Common Primary School |
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POLICY STATEMENT ON INCLUSION POLICY No. 60 Version 1 |
Inclusion is defined as the process of increasing the participation of pupils in the community, curriculum and culture of their schools, through increasing effective teaching and learning for all. The process is aspirational and incremental. It is concerned with identifying and overcoming barriers to learning for all children and young people. It is about improving attendance and punctuality, increasing effective participation in schools and lesson activities and raising achievement. It is a process that reduces the risk for all pupils of exclusion from, or marginalisation within, the education system.
Introduction
We are committed to giving all our children every opportunity to achieve the highest of standards. This policy helps to ensure that this happens for all the children in our school - regardless of their age, gender, ethnicity, attainment or background.
Aims and objectives
Our school aims to be an inclusive school. This means that equality of opportunity must be a reality for our children. We make this a reality through the attention we pay to the different groups of children within our school:
Ø girls and boys;
Ø minority ethnic and faith groups:
Ø children with special educational needs;
Ø gifted and talented children;
Ø children who need support to learn English as an additional language;
Ø any children who are at risk of disaffection or exclusion.
The National Curriculum is our starting point for planning a curriculum that meets the specific needs of individuals and groups of children. We do this through:
Ø setting suitable learning challenges;
Ø responding to children's diverse learning needs:
Ø overcoming potential barriers to learning and assessment for individuals and groups of pupils;
Ø providing other curricular opportunities outside the National Curriculum to meet the needs of individuals or groups of children. (These include speech and language therapy and physiotherapy for statemented children only.)
We achieve educational inclusion by continually reviewing what we do, through asking ourselves these key questions:
Ø do all our children achieve as much as they can?
Ø are there differences in the achievement of different groups of children?
Ø what are we doing for those children who we know are not achieving their best?
Ø are our actions effective?
Teaching and learning style
We aim to give all our children the opportunity to succeed and reach the highest level of personal achievement. When planning their work, teachers take into account the abilities of all of their children. For some children, we use the programmes of study from earlier key stages. This enables some of our children to make progress in their own lessons, perhaps after significant amounts of time spent away from school.
When the attainment of a child falls significantly below the expected level, teachers enable the child to succeed by planning work that is in line with that child's individual needs.
Where the attainment of a child significantly exceeds the expected level of attainment, teachers use materials from a later key stage, or extend the breadth of work within the area or areas for which the child shows particular aptitude.
Teachers are familiar with the relevant equal opportunities legislation covering race, gender and disability.
Teachers ensure that children:
Ø feel secure and know that their contributions are valued;
Ø appreciate and value the differences they see in others:
Ø take responsibility for their own actions;
Ø are taught in groupings that allow them all to experience success;
Ø use materials that reflect a range of social and cultural backgrounds, without stereotyping;
Ø have a common curriculum experience that allows for a range of different learning styles;
Ø have challenging targets that are achievable with effort;
Ø are encouraged to participate fully, regardless of disabilities or medical needs.
Disapplication and modification
The school can, where necessary, modify or disapply the National Curriculum and its assessment arrangements. Our school policy is to do this only in exceptional circumstances. The school makes every effort to meet the learning needs of all its children without recourse to disapplication or modification. We achieve this through greater differentiation of the child's work, or through the provision of additional learning resources. When necessary, we also support learning through appropriate external specialists. In such cases, teachers work closely with these agencies to support the child.
In exceptional circumstances we may decide that modification or disapplication is the correct procedure to follow. We would only do this after detailed consultation with parents and the Local Education Authority. The school's governor with responsibility for special educational needs would also be closely involved in this process. We would ensure that every effort had been made to provide the necessary support from within the school's resources before considering such action.
Pupils with Challenging Behaviour
Although there is a danger of labeling, children with challenging behaviour are at great risk of being socially excluded and can present schools with a moral dilemma particularly in cases where the behaviour of one child can put other children at risk. There is widespread national concern about the inclusion in mainstream schools of children with challenging behaviour. The particular problems that they present, and the significant objections of the majority of parents of the other children, are acknowledged, as are the dedicated efforts of teachers to keep them in mainstream schools. DfES Circular 'Social Inclusion: Pupil Support' provides guidance on effective intervention for young children showing early signs of behaviour problems and on strengthening provision for older children. Its guidance brings together advice on attendance, behaviour and discipline, exclusion, education outside school and re-integration, relating these issues to special educational needs.
The LEA has stated it is committed to helping schools work more effectively with children with behaviour difficulties. As funding increasingly is delegated from the LEA to schools, it is considered by them to be essential that schools use these new sources of funding to develop their capacity to work confidently with the behaviour of the vast majority of pupils. The LEA has decreed that all but those pupils displaying the most extreme behaviour will be included in mainstream schools. To this end, the LEA works with schools to co-ordinate behaviour management training and support for teachers to enable schools to develop approaches to managing pupils' behaviour.
Links with special schools
Our school is fortunate in sharing our site with the primary department of Bishopswood special school. All pupils have the opportunity of interacting with their children on a daily basis and junior department pupils often assist at break and lunch times.
Other policies
This policy should be read in conjunction with the other relevant school policies including those for “The talented and gifted child”, “Equal opportunities”, “Behaviour management” and “Special educational needs”
Summary
In our school the teaching and learning, achievements, attitudes and well being of every child are important. We follow the necessary regulations to ensure that we take the experiences and needs of all our children into account when planning for learning.
AMENDMENT SHEET FOR ALL POLICY STATEMENTS
POLICY ON INCLUSION
POLICY NUMBER 60
DATE POLICY RATIFIED: SPRING 2003
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Summer 2002 |
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Spring 2003 |
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