Special Education Needs and Disability Information

SENCO: Mrs Sophie Varnham        E-mail: SENCO@aylesford.viat.org.uk

Our Ethos and Values

At Valley Invicta Primary School at Aylesford, we are proud to be an inclusive environment, welcoming children with a range of learning and physical disabilities to our school. We work hard to get to know every child in our care and do what we can to support children’s individual learning needs. We work well as a team and include children, parents and other professionals as part of this. All staff have high expectations of children and set challenging learning targets. We have clear plans to support children in achieving these goals and provide parents with details of these. We run a range of specific, targeted and effective interventions but believe that children are best supported by outstanding classroom practice and quality first teaching. We believe in early identification so that the right support can be put in place. We want every child to reach their potential and want to support children and their families in removing any barriers to achieving this.

The SENCO

At Valley Invicta Primary School at Aylesford, the person than co-ordinates provision for children with special educational needs or disabilities is Sophie Varnham. She can be contacted at school on 01622 718192. Mrs Varnham would be happy to meet with you, by appointment, to discuss your child.

SEN and Disability Policies and the New Code of Practice

From 1 September 2014, the government introduced a new SEN Code of Practice.
The SEN and Disability policy is was developed with parents and other stakeholders and this is available on our website.

Kent County Council produces a document called Mainstream Core Standards, which we abide by at Valley Invicta Primary School at Aylesford. This document sets out the school’s responsibility to meeting the needs of children with SEN&D. 

How we support children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities

We believe that the early identification of pupils with additional educational needs is vital as this enables the child’s needs to be assessed and provided for accordingly. Our teachers are highly trained in many areas of special educational needs and specific learning difficulties like dyslexia, Autistic Spectrum Disorders and Speech and Language difficulties. Wherever possible, teachers will adapt their teaching style in class and give different work tasks to children so that every child can achieve and make progress; we call this differentiation. For most children, their needs can be met through this approach.

In some cases, even if a special educational need has not been identified, we put in place extra support to enable the pupil to catch up or keep up with their peers academically, socially or physically. These may be in the form of additional in-class support, which we call ‘quality first teaching’ or a special outside of class provision called an ‘intervention’. 

We currently offer the following types of intervention: booster classes, Read, Write Inc small group and 1:1 interventions, 1:1 reading, reading groups, maths groups, Speechlink programmes, Language Link programmes, BEAM, BEAM Plus, Clever Fingers, specific programmes, designed by speech therapists, OT and physiotherapists, social skills groups, as well as other interventions we have designed ourselves.

The range and type of interventions are constantly changing or being added to. Please speak to your child’s class teacher or Mr Harrington, Headteacher, if you would like any further information about the provision we have in school.

Access to outside services

As a school, we can currently make referrals to outside professionals including:

• the NHS for speech and language therapists, occupational therapists and paediatricians;
• agencies that support at family-level such as support workers or family advisors;
• the specialist teaching service covering all areas or SEN and Disability;
• councillors;

We can also use our funding to pay for an educational psychologist or alternative, private therapists e.g. Play Therapists, if it is appropriate to do so.

We would discuss the need for outside agency involvement with parents first.

Further Information and Support

As a school we are committed to working to support the whole family and Mr Harrington, Headteacher, is available to offer further advice and guidance to parents.  We have also found Kent Parent Partnership to be an invaluable resource to parents. Information about how they may be able to help can be found on their website, alongside some really helpful downloads about SEN and Disability across Kent.

Any complaints from parents of children with SEND should be directed to Dr A Ekins, SEN Director for the Trust.

Email: a.ekins@viat.org.uk

To read our SEN and Disability Policy and Accessibility Policy, please visit our Policies page.

• Special Education Needs and Disability Information

  • SEND Information Report 2025-2026