Special Educational Needs

 At Mount Pleasant Primary School our objective is to ensure that, through a whole school approach, we address the barriers to learning. We are committed to the process of inclusion and seek to provide full access to the National Curriculum for all. We will seek to identify differing needs and respond with appropriate teaching strategies in a differentiated curriculum. We recognise and support the value of the child's view in meeting their need.

More Able and Talented (MAT)

At Mount Pleasant Primary School we recognise that each child is unique, displaying a range of intelligences and abilities. It is our policy to enable all children, including those who are 'more able and talented' to develop their full potential academically, socially and spiritually. We use the term 'more able and talented' rather than 'gifted and talented' in accordance with the LEA's preference since this indicates that every school has its own most able children within any cohort.

 MAT Rationale 

By the time a class leaves Mount Pleasant Primary School, 70%+* of them will have been working at level 5 attainment for the majority of their time in Year 6. This figure sits significantly above all local and national averages and translates across all year groups.

A major factor behind the success of the children at Mount Pleasant is the curriculum in which they are immersed. Given that Mount Pleasant can expect most of its children to be 'more able' when compared to national averages, the general curriculum has been devised to provide for and challenge more able pupils. As such, the development areas in the school's improvement plan naturally incorporate development for MAT pupils. All enrichment activities which would ordinarily be provided for MAT children are offered to every child and the curriculum is planned and structured towards being child led and open ended.

Due to the unique nature of Mount Pleasant the monitoring and recording of MAT children is subtly different too. The more able and talented children (nationally 20%-30% of a class) actually make up a much higher proportion of the class and so are monitored through ongoing teacher assessment. They are set challenging targets and are tracked closely in accordance with these. Children identified as more able and talented in something which is not covered in the primary curriculum e.g. a talented musician or athlete are identified and tracked through pupil progress meetings. Children identified as exceptionally able (nationally 2%-3%) are tracked through individual class  MAT (Most Able and Talented) files. These children are provided with individualised programmes to ensure they achieve their full potential.

In addition to the procedures set out above, Mount Pleasant does not inform parents that their child has been identified as MAT. However, extensive tracking and monitoring of performance and achievement of all pupils is regularly shared with parents. Mount Pleasant successfully caters for pupils though its current systems and the sharing of specific MAT data would create a competitive culture which would have a counter-productive impact and as such reduce the efficacy of the already substantive work that is done in this area.