Skip To Main Content

Special Educational Needs (SEN)

At Samakee, we place great importance on identifying special educational needs (SEN) early so that we can help children as quickly as possible. Once it has been decided that your child has SEN, staff working with your child take into account the Samakee SEN Policy. The policy describes how we help children with special educational needs at Samakee through a step-by-step or graduated approach.

Our graduated approach recognises that children and young people learn in different ways and can have different kinds or levels of SEN. So increasingly, step-by-step, specialist expertise is brought in to help our school with the difficulties that a child may have.

If your child does not seem to be making enough progress or needs a lot more extra help, the school may contact parents so that an assessment can be carried out for your child by a Developmental Paediatrician at Merak Clinic. This is only required for a very small number of children and is only necessary if the school cannot provide all the help that your child needs. It is usually only required for children who have the most significant and long-term special educational needs which need a very detailed assessment.

The approach may include:
an individually-designed learning programme
extra help from a learning support assistant who may be assigned to your child. This occurs if it is decided by the multidisciplinary team that your child is unable to access the curriculum independently. The decision is reached and agreed on by all people working with the child.
being taught individually or in a small group for regular short periods
drawing up a personal plan in liaison with Merak and or our Inclusion Leader, including setting targets for improvement, regular review of progress before setting new targets.
Merak HomeSchool meetings with parents, carers, Merak therapists and teachers who work with your child.

Samakee Forest School

A group of people, likely students or volunteers, are working together on a project or activity outdoors, surrounded by a wooden fence and what appears to be a natural setting.
St. Andrews Samakee : Grown Outdoors

Through hands-on experiences, our children build essential qualities like perseverance, resilience, and confidence while nurturing our ever-growing environment.

The image shows three young children in blue uniforms exploring an outdoor enclosure with a large tortoise and various other objects and structures.
St. Andrews Samakee : Learning Where Life Thrives

Samakee is home to an extraordinary resource: our thriving school farm! It is a place of joy and discovery

Three children in blue uniforms playing in a small boat on a sandy beach, with a wooden structure and trees visible in the background.
St. Andrews Samakee : Stewards of the Natural World

Samakee children grow into thoughtful, responsible citizens committed to sustainability.

Samakee is no ordinary school — because Samakee has a FARM!

Our small but thriving farm is home to ducks, goats, rabbits, and even a speedy tortoise.

It is a place of joy, discovery, and responsibility, where children learn to care for living things and to see themselves as part of the natural world.

At Samakee, we believe we should leave the world better than we found it. This means caring for our environment, planting trees, protecting habitats, and developing the skills needed to live sustainably. The more beauty children see in nature, the more they want to protect it.

What began as a small car park has, through child-led projects, transformed into a vibrant farm and Forest School space.

With every visit, children build perseverance, resilience, and confidence. They plant and nurture our ever-growing farm, care for animals with compassion, and design new spaces — from bamboo treehouses to enclosures for our ducks. Our Butterfly Garden is another treasured space, where children learn how to plant, protect, and preserve habitats for local species.

 

Two young children are standing in a rural setting, surrounded by various animals and structures. In the foreground, there appears to be a small body of water or pond, and the background includes a thatched-roof structure and other natural elements.
A group of people, likely students, are gathered around a campfire, engaged in an outdoor activity or lesson.
The image depicts a rustic, thatched-roof structure with two people sitting on a wooden platform, surrounded by lush greenery and a clear sky.
Two young girls, one in a blue shirt and the other in a purple dress, are interacting with a large tortoise in an outdoor setting surrounded by wooden structures.
The image shows a young girl with dark hair wearing a blue shirt, smiling and holding a small animal in her hands against a background of wooden structures.
A group of people, likely students, are engaged in an outdoor activity or event, standing on tires arranged in a row on a sandy surface, with a building visible in the background.
A group of children sitting in a circle, surrounded by adults, in an outdoor setting with a wooden structure and vegetation in the background.
A person is sitting in a muddy puddle surrounded by lush greenery and trees in a natural outdoor setting.
A young boy wearing a blue t-shirt is holding a wooden stick and standing in a natural outdoor setting with trees and fencing visible in the background.
Three children are digging in a garden plot, using shovels and a wheelbarrow to work the soil.
A young boy is planting something in a large pot filled with soil, surrounded by various gardening supplies and materials in the background.
A young boy is crouching next to a large tortoise in a lush, green outdoor setting.
A group of children in colorful shirts are gathered around an adult in a green shirt, who appears to be leading a discussion or activity in an outdoor garden setting with various plants and structures visible in the background.

Through these experiences, Samakee children don’t just learn about nature — they live in it, play in it, and care for it. In doing so, they grow into thoughtful, responsible citizens who see the natural world not as something separate, but as something they belong to.