Assessing the Needs of Individuals with Send

This report will focus upon the assessment of learners with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) within the post 16 sector of education. Effective assessment is paramount for a learner with SEND as it determines where they are at present with their learning and the areas that require improvement.

When a learner submits an application to join the Foundation Studies department at Highbury College, information about them is captured in a variety of ways. At the start this is collected by the Learning Support team. The learner’s previous school normally submits to the Learning Support team the learner’s S139, a statement of their special educational needs, any annual review information and a transition plan. This helps to ensure that a clearer picture of the prospective learner is established. Once this information is received by the Learning Support team, the learner is then required to attend an initial interview which forms their Identification of Support Needs (ISN). Information drawn from these interviews highlights what support needs there are and if a Care Plan is required. This information is gathered by the learner undertaking 2 different tests in a quiet environment overseen by a Learning Support Assistant (LSA). The tests include the MacMillan Reading and the Vernon Warden. The MacMillan Reading test is designed to assess if the prospective learner has the ability to write coherent sentences or not which is why it includes a free writing element within it. The Vernon Warden test is considered to give a measure of the prospective learner’s level of reading accuracy, fluency and comprehension. To achieve this, the test has 42 items in which the learner is asked to choose which of the 5 words completes a sentence (www.micp). The items used are drawn from English Literature which are widely used in everyday life.

Once the prospective learner has undertaken both tests, the ISN results are then logged on to the College’s intranet system....