Special Educational Needs Service
The Special Educational Needs Service is concerned with all aspects of educational difficulties experienced by children and young people who live in the County Borough.
Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council values all of its children and young people, regardless of their age, race, religion, gender or ability.
The Authority’s goal is to ensure that all pupils enjoy a broad and balanced curriculum and achieve standards commensurate with their needs and abilities. In keeping with this goal, the Authority employs a multi-disciplinary service whose members have specialised training and experience in helping schools identify, assess, teach, support and monitor progress of children and young people with special educational needs. Thus, the service works together in partnership with parents towards ensuring educational achievement, equality of opportunity and full participation in society and in the community for all our children.
Learning Support
The Special Educational Needs Team is responsible for supporting and advising schools on issues relating to pupils with special educational needs.
The service includes advisory and peripatetic teacher support for visual impairment, hearing impairment, speech and language difficulties, physical/motor impairment, learning difficulties, specific learning difficulties, and emotional/behavioural difficulties.
The team works in partnership with children, their families, schools and professionals from other agencies.
If you require advice, guidance or support the SEN team can be contacted on 01685 72464642, or e-mail sen@merthyr.gov.uk
Alternatively further information can be obtained from the following leaflets;
Pre_school_Communicating_with_your_deaf_child
Physical_Difficulties
Monaural_Hearing_Loss
High_Frequency_hearing_loss
Children with Specific Learning Difficulties (SpLD) Dyslexia
Hearing_Impaired_pupils_in_Mainstream_schools
Supporting Parents with a Visual Impairment
Supporting_the_Child_with_Autistic_Spectrum_Disorder
Speech_and_Language_Difficulties
Why do we provide learning support?
Schools are required to develop a Special Educational Needs policy which facilitates early identification and intervention at the earliest possible opportunity, by means of a partnership approach. The support provided is regularly reviewed to assess its appropriateness and effectiveness.
Integrated Children’s Services maintains a wide variety of provision for pupils with Special Educational Needs extending from a special school to specialist resource bases in mainstream schools.
Portage
Pre-school children with Special Educational Needs have access to home-based professional educational support provided by the Portage advisor.
Language Support
This service provides for pupils in mainstream schools who have general or specific literacy difficulties (dyslexia).
If you require advice, guidance or support the SEN team can be contacted on 01685 72464642, or e-mail sen@merthyr.gov.uk
Frequently Asked Questions
What is an IEP?
An IEP or ‘Individual Education Plan’ contains 3 or 4 short-term targets for a child that are different from or additional to the normally differentiated curriculum plan.
The IEP identifies:
- the child’s strengths and difficulties
- what additional help is being given
- who provides this help and how often it will be given
- what the targets for the child are
- how and when the child’s progress will be reviewed
- what parents can do to help their child at home.
What does ‘Early Years Action’ mean?
- Early Years Action is required when education practitioners or the SENCO, identify that a child has, or may have Special Educational Needs.
- ·Practitioners provide interventions that are additional to, or different from, those provided as part of the setting’s usual curriculum and strategies
- An IEP will be devised
What does ‘School Action’ mean?
- School Action is required when a class teacher identifies that a pupil has, or may have, Special Educational Needs – the class teacher devises interventions additional to, or different from, those provided as part of the school’s usual differentiated curriculum.
- The class teacher remains responsible for working with the child on a daily basis and for planning and delivering an individualised programme
- The SENCO takes the lead in: –
planning future intervention for the child in discussion with colleagues, together with monitoring and reviewing the action
What does ‘Early Years Action Plus’ mean?
- The early education practitioner who works day-to-day with the child and the SENCO are provided with advice or support from outside specialists
- Additional interventions or strategies to those at Early Years Action may need to be put in place
- A new IEP will be devised·
What does ‘School Action Plus’ mean?
- The SENCO and class teacher, in consultation with parents, ask for help from external services
- The class teacher and SENCO are provided with advice or support from outside specialists
- Additional intervention or strategies to those at School Action may need to be put in place
- A new IEP will be devised
- The SENCO takes the lead in:
any further assessment of the child, planning future intervention for the child in discussions with colleagues and in monitoring and reviewing the action taken.
Useful Websites
Contact Details
Governance, Inclusion and Support Service
Integrated Children’s Services
Ty Keir Hardie
Riverside Court
Avenue De Clichy
Merthyr Tydfil
CF47 8XD
Telephone – 01685 724642
Fax – 01685 721965
E-mail – officeservices@merthyr.gov.uk