INCLUSION POLICY

Our Mission: At BIS Dubai, we believe that every child has a right to access quality education and we embrace the differences and challenges that each child brings. In keeping the mission of the school "We strive towards creating a vibrant centre for learning which provide a congenial atmosphere for students to excel individually and develop into ethically strong and morally elevated individuals".

DEFINITION

Special Educational Needs (SEN) are needs that are different from those of the majority of students. They include those who need additional support or challenge in their learning. Special Educational Needs could mean a child has difficulties with:

• all of the work in school
• reading, writing, numeracy or understanding information
• expressing themselves or understanding what others are saying
• making friends or relating to adults
• complying with school rules
• organizing themselves
• Some kind of sensory or physical needs that may affect them in some or all school activities. A child must not be regarded as having a learning difficulty solely because the language or medium of communication at home is different from the language in which she or he is or will be taught.

At BIS Dubai we actively seek to remove the barriers to learning and participation that can hinder or exclude individual pupils or groups of pupils. This means that equality of opportunity must be a reality for all our children.

OBJECTIVES

• To continually monitor the progress of all pupils, to identify needs as early as possible and to provide support, while maintaining the balance of the mainstream class;
• To signpost support for pupils with additional learning needs (including G or T) through external agencies;
• To facilitate access to the curriculum through differentiated planning by class teachers, and SEN support staff as appropriate;
• To provide specific input, matched to individual needs, in addition to differentiated classroom provisions, either with the school or through external agencies, for those pupils recorded as having additional needs;
• To promote positive perceptions of pupils with additional needs within the school community, so that inclusive provision is positively valued and accessed by staff and parents/carers;
• To enable children to move on from us as well equipped as possible in the basic skills of literacy, numeracy and social independence to meet the demands of post- 16 school life and learning;
• To form strong partnerships between all stakeholders so that the child’s learning and emotional well-being are optimally supported;
• To give the children a voice in planning and in decisions that affect them;
• To have an open door policy with the support of staff and parents;
• To make information on additional needs available to staff and parents.

KEY ROLES AT BIS

• The management provides adequate staffing, pace and resources, adequate training is also given to staff to meet the needs of SEN students.
• The counsellor and Special Educator work with teachers to identify SEN students and create tailor made learning and behavior plans to meet their individual needs. Monitoring and evaluating student progress.
• Learning Support assistants are appointed by parents upon the discretion of the Learning Centre team and SLT, they work with the Lec team, teachers and parents to implement IEP.
• Teachers work with Special Educator and counsellor to provide additional support and accommodations for SEN.
• Parents work hand in hand with teachers, special educator and counsellor by providing all relevant information regarding the child and by supporting their child when needed.

INCLUSION

"We promote every child's belief in themselves as a learner and valued member of our school community. We aim to see that every pupil is happy confident and is making the best progress of which they are able." The Learning Centre team ( Lec) is empowered with a team of professionals which provided the required support in Counselling, Learning Support and Special Education. It aims to identify and support students with challenges in learning, social and emotional adjustment and behaviour. The team supports the diverse needs in the following way.

• Identification and screening of students upon the referral of the teacher and other school staff.
• Co-ordinating with parents, teachers and school management regarding the challenges faced by students.
• Organise and conduct workshops for teacher and parents, empower them skills and strategies needed to assist students.
• Developing Individual Educational Plans (IEP’s) and Individual Learning Plans (ILP’s) to cater to the diverse needs.
• Where required, exemptions from Arabic and third language are provided, after getting approval from MOE
• Co-ordinate with the CBSE Board for provisions and educational concessions that are granted to students with Special Needs.

ADMISSION

The parent seeking admissions for their wards register online on the schools website. The school notifies them on the availability of vacancy in the grade for which they are seeking admission. The school aims to provide an Inclusive Education in full accordance with the UAE law and KHDA expectation. In a situation where the school is unable to provide or make unavailable any specialist help required either due to lack of resources or availability, then a student’s special needs will decide whether or not to accept the student. The following outlines the admission procedure.

• Parents register online and fills in the special educational needs if any.
• The registrar receives all necessary documentations and parents are asked to fill in a SEN Admission profile and the case is presented to the Lec team for review.
• Entrance assessment is scheduled by the admissions registrar. Entrance papers are given according to the level of the child and can be moderated depending upon the need.
• The Lec assesses the student and reviews the case with the SLT for approval.
• Necessary provisions and accommodations are made to support the child.
• In case of children who are not able to clear the entrance assessment and are noted to have communication difficulties or developmental lags , an undertaking letter is taken from the parent assuring their further support and cooperation to the school inclusion protocol.

IDENTIFICATION

The school will identify any pupil with special needs (not so identified on admission to the School) through screening strategies on referral from teachers. Teachers identify students in collaboration with Sped and Counsellor ,upon identification the school will amend and enhance the program to support learning needs of these students with appropriate strategies that will enable them to achieve success. If the school feels that it can no longer provide educationally and socially for the child, or feels that the safety of other children is compromised, then the parents are requested to provide a learning support assistant. The Special Educator/Counsellor will play a key role in coordinating such assessment and screening. Parents will be involved in regular dialogue regarding the identified needs of the students and the progress they are making.

The school identifies students with learning needs by using a three level wave model

• WAVE1: Inclusive class based differentiation and Individual Learning and Behavior plans , learning support programs are provided depending on the need
• WAVE2: Additional to class based differentiation, Individual/Group/In class support are provided. Progress is monitored through whole school tracking and Individual Education Plans.
• WAVE3: Additional to WAVE 2 personalized support is provided by the LSA. Progress is monitored through whole school tracking and IEP’s

PROVISIONS

Classroom Level Intervention:

Upon identification of a learning need in class, the teachers collaborate with the Lec team and make Individualized learning plans or behavioral plans to accommodate the need.

Learning Support programs:

The special educator and the counsellor provides individual /group session or in class support for student who have been diagnosed with a need. For kids exempted from other languages, support programs are provided for 5 days a week during the exempted periods.

Learning Support Assistants:

Parents provide LSA to support the child in school

The need for an LSA will be reviewed as per the child’s needs.

• To review, the LSA will remain in the school but will be withdrawn from close work with the pupil in stages as agreed with the class teacher, the SLT and Lec team. This will be monitored to gauge the effect on the individual pupil and the class.
• The decision to discontinue the LSA provision is at the discretion of the school and will be approved by the Health Officer, SEN and CT
• Where there is a dispute between the parents and the school over the need for an LSA, the case will be referred to the Principal.

Parents Supporting Children in Mainstream Classes

• Special cases on a case by case basis to be approved by Lec & SLT.
• Structured timetable, including management of times withdrawn from class
• Time frame for duration of support
• Teacher to manage parent support in class following Lec guidelines
• General parent support will be at teacher’s discretion e.g. supporting reading

Educational Inclusion

The school’s CBSE CCE curriculum and EYFS is our starting point for planning a curriculum that meets the specific needs of individuals and groups of children. We do this through:

• Setting suitable learning challenges
• Responding to children’s diverse learning needs
• Overcoming potential barriers to learning and assessment for individuals and groups of students
• Providing other curricular opportunities outside the set curriculum to meet the needs of individuals or groups of children.

Teaching and Learning Styles

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.
• 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 Learning Needs.
• Where the attainment of a child significantly exceeds the expected level of attainment, teachers extend the breadth of work within the area or areas for which the child shows particular aptitude.

Differently Abled Children / Children with a formal diagnosed report

Some children in our school have disabilities and consequently need additional resources, this includes children who have been admitted with formal documents. The school is committed to providing an environment that allows these children full access to all areas of learning.

• Assessment reports are provided to the school by the parents.
• Individual Education Plan is made in collaboration with the teacher, parents, special educator, counsellor, LSA, external agencies, and student if he is developmentally appropriate.
• IEP’s are reviewed every 6 weeks, follow up meetings are scheduled to discuss the progress and concerns
• Curriculum expectations are modified to suit the needs of the learners.