Maple Class - SLD Enhanced Provision
Chipping Ongar Primary School is the home to an Enhanced Provision (EnPro) for children with Severe Learning Difficulties (SLD), known as Maple Class.
Maple Class will grow to have around 8 pupils, with a dedicated SEND teacher and support staff. Children in Maple Class will work on individual learning programmes with curriculum subjects significantly adapted to meet their needs.
Maple class will operate slightly different hours to the mainstream classes, this is to allow time for transport needs to be met and to allow for a higher level of staff training and preparation, in line with good practise for the education of SLD children.
All children are different, and this is, of course, also true for children with SLD. We expect that children in Maple class will be at the early stages of developing independent communication skills and will require support to access learning activities. Children in Maple class will not be working close to chronological age-expected levels but will instead be working on individual targets linked to their EHCPs. However, Chipping Ongar prides itself on being an inclusive school, so where opportunities for inclusion with mainstream peers exist, and are meaningful to an individual pupil, these will be supported. This may include joining a chronological age class on a school trip, joining for a preferred lesson, joining our celebration assembly or any number of other events or activities.
Admission to Maple Class is exclusively through the EHCP process. If your child is in the process of getting an EHCP, you will have the option to request specialist provision (which includes special schools and enhanced provisions). This request is considered by a local authority panel who make the prioritisation and placement decisions.
If your child already has an EHCP then a change of provision can be requested through the annual review process. Again, this request is then considered by a local authority panel.
Only children who have an EHCP and have SLD can be allocated places in the EnPro.
Children who are in our mainstream classes cannot transfer into Maple Class. The process of admission remains the same as the Local Authority process outlined above. Being a pupil at Chipping Ongar does not confer any advantage or priority in terms of admission to the EnPro.
In all cases, children can only access the EnPro if the Local Authority name this on a child’s EHCP.
We welcome visits for parents who want to find out more. Please contact our school office to arrange this.
The Essex Local Offer website is a useful place for further information:
Help with learning | Essex Local Offer
Transport
Transport to provisions named on a child’s EHCP is, in some circumstances, provided by Essex Local Authority. Transport provision is dependent on the distance to the provision from your home address.
Further details and the application link can be found here:
School transport: Overview | Essex County Council
Advice and Support
We understand that finding the right support and provision for a child with SEND can be challenging. Therefore, we recommend parents make use of SENDIASS, who offer free, independent, and confidential advice.
