Special Educational Needs (SEND)

School offer

North Yorkshire LA expectation of good practice

• All children are welcomed into our school.

Policies for identifying children and young people with SEN and assessing their needs, including the name and contact details of the SENCO (mainstream schools)

• SENCo – Mrs Sarah Bradnam (01609 781178)
• For children requiring short term SEN support we will provide a written SEN Support Plan.   This will include SMART targets dependent on individual need, the planned methods used to achieve them and will reflect both pupil and parent voice.  For those requiring long term support, we will provide a written SEN Chronology Record. This will include details of areas of need, targets, interventions and strategies to be used, review dates, input from pupils and parents/carers, and will have clear intended outcomes.
• Children needing high levels of support will be referred for an education, health, care plan (EHCP)

The name and contact number of the SENCo should be readily available for parents. Where the school feels that something additional or different is needed to support your child because they have SEND they will discuss this carefully with you. This information may well be recorded in a document for you and your child, known as an individual provision map or an individual education plan. This should include:-

• details of any strategies being used to support your child in class;

• details of any extra support or interventions for your child

• your child’s learning targets and their long term desired outcomes

• the next date when your child’s progress will be reviewed.

Most pupils will benefit from SEN support, but some pupils who need high levels of support, or who have complex needs will need to be referred for an education, health and care plan.

Arrangements for consulting parents of children with SEN and involving them in their child’s education

• We welcome all parents into school and encourage them to share any concerns/worries and endeavour to create trusting, supportive and positive relationships with all parents and carers.
• We will liaise closely with parents and carers of children with SEND and offer suggestions and guidance on how to help them at home, giving regular feedback through face to face contact, email or communication books.
• We hold termly meetings with parents to review targets and SEND provision in October, February and May/June. (These meetings are in addition to routine parents’ meetings.)

Schools communicate regularly with parents, usually once a term, to discuss how well their child is doing. They listen to what parents have to say. For pupils with SEND it is often desirable that there is more frequent communication as it is vital that parents and school work together closely. Your knowledge and understanding of your child’s needs is essential to support the school in making the best provision for them. This should also take account of your and your child’s hopes, personal goals and interests.

This will allow the school to regularly explain to you where your child is in their learning, and to work with you to ensure the most appropriate targets are set to ensure progress.

On-going communication with school may include:

• regular contact through a home-school book or by e-mail to keep you informed of things that are going well or particular successes

• more regular meetings to update you on your child’s progress and whether the support is working

• clear information about the impact of any interventions

• guidance for you to support your child’s learning at home.

Arrangements for assessing and reviewing children and young people’s progress towards outcomes. This should include the opportunities available to work with parents and young people as part of this assessment and review

• We monitor all children with SEND carefully to ensure they are progressing.
• We use SEN Support Plans and SEN Chronology Records for some children where appropriate (See above.).
• We will share children’s successes with their parents and carers through our Marvellous Me app.
• We encourage parents and carers to share the children’s’ achievements out of school to enable us to build up the most comprehensive picture of their child.
• Parents are encouraged to celebrate their child’s success by awarding certificates which are displayed in school.
• Parents, families and children will be involved at all stages of planning provision.

All pupils with SEND should make at least expected progress, in line with their peers. Your school will be able to explain how it will be monitoring your child’s progress to ensure that it is at least in line with expectations. This will usually include progress made with personal targets, and overall progress on the National Curriculum.

Many schools use inclusion passports. This is a document that summarises the support that has been given to a pupil over a period of time, and the difference that this support has made. You may like to ask your child’s school whether an inclusion passport would be useful for you and your child. Your child may well have their own version which they can share with staff and which can help to explain their interests and things that help them learn and to enjoy school.

Arrangements for supporting children and young people in moving between phases of education and in preparing for adulthood. As young people prepare for adulthood outcomes should reflect their ambitions, which could include higher education, employment, independent living and participation in society

• We liaise very closely with the various secondary schools to which our children move at the end of Year 6. This may include extra visits to the school and meetings arranged with the staff from the new school. We ensure records are transferred in a timely manner.
• Children with SEND transferring to our school have meetings in preparation for them starting at our school to gather information on how best to support them in school.
• Where children work 1:1 with members of staff, we endeavour to maintain continuity for them as they move through school.

The approach to teaching children and young people with SEN

• High quality teaching in class is the most effective way of supporting children in their learning.
• All children are encouraged to be independent learners and to understand how they learn by engaging with regular metacognition lessons and by being encouraged to reflect on their learning.
• Staff use a variety of teaching styles and resources in lessons to support children’s learning.
• Additional needs are quickly identified and addressed.
• All classes have routine Teaching Assistant support for the core subject lessons of Maths and English to maximise learning opportunities for all pupils.
• Teaching Assistants are used regularly to support individuals and small groups, providing a variety of interventions where needed.
• All children are encouraged with their social and emotional development and supported in understanding appropriate social behaviour.

High quality support for learning within mainstream lessons is the most important factor in helping pupils with SEND to make good progress alongside their peers. There may be occasions when the school feels that some additional support within lessons may help your child to make better progress. This is by no means always the case. However, if some additional small group or one to one support within lessons is planned, the school will explain how this will work, what the aims of this support will be and how and when the impact of this support will be reviewed. Most importantly, this support should be aiming to make your child more independent in lessons

Schools use a range of evidence based interventions to support pupils with SEND to make better progress. Interventions are structured learning programmes. Your school will be able to explain to you:

• what interventions your child is receiving and what are the intended learning outcomes;

• when during the week any interventions will be delivered and for how many weeks;

• who will be delivering the interventions (usually a well-trained teaching assistant) and where (e.g. in class or outside the classroom)

• how the interventions will relate to and support learning in the classroom;

• how they will be monitored closely to make sure they are helping your child to make accelerated progress.

How adaptations are made to the curriculum and the learning environment of children and young people with SEN

• All staff are involved drawing up our ‘Whole School Provision’ which details agreed good practice.
• All work is differentiated to meet the needs and capabilities  of all learners.
• All classrooms and areas of school are accessible for all.
• The classrooms are bright and stimulating, with displays of work ensuring a range of skills are celebrated.
• Children are encouraged to be independent learners accessing support materials freely  such as learning walls, word banks, maths equipment etc.
• If needed, work is presented in different formats, e.g. coloured backgrounds.

Your school will be able to describe some of the approaches that classroom teachers and other staff will be using throughout the day to help address your child’s needs within lessons. They may also be able to share with you the school’s overall plan of support (provision map), which outlines many of these strategies.

Some children with a high level of need will also need a care plan or a health care plan which may include a risk assessment.

The expertise and training of staff to support children and young people with SEN, including how specialist expertise will be secured

• The SENCo attends regular network meetings to keep abreast of current legislation and the latest ideas and initiatives
• Staff supporting children with very specific needs have access to extra training where possible.
• Support from external agencies is only sought with parental consent.
• Staff work closely with different external agencies accessing support when needed..

All staff should receive regular training to enable them to meet a range of SEN. Teachers and teaching assistants should have regular generic training and specific training to meet individual needs as necessary.

Schools must make good use of their SEN funding to meet a range of need. However, if a pupil has particular needs and the school has exhausted its repertoire, specialist support should be sought promptly.

Evaluating the effectiveness of the provision made for children and young people with SEN how children and young people with SEN are enabled to engage in activities available with children and young people in the school who do not have SEN

• We aim to have children with SEND represented equally in all that we do in our school e.g. educational visits, school performances, collective worship etc.

Support for improving emotional and social development. This should include extra pastoral support arrangements for listening to the views of children and young people with SEN and measures to prevent bullying

• We have a clear behaviour policy and anti-bullying policy in our school.
• Romanby Primary School is a UNICEF Rights Respecting School with active School Ambassadors who provide a suggestion box so children can anonymously offer suggestions or highlight any problems.
• Our PSHCE curriculum ensures a wide coverage of topics including the use of circle time.
• Our school’s ‘Secrets of Success’ ethos underpins all that we do in school.

How the school involves other bodies, including health and social care bodies, local authority support services and voluntary sector organisations, in meeting children and young people’s SEN and supporting their families

• Our school has established excellent working relationships with professionals including the following agencies:

Healthy Child Team

Early Help Service

Sensory, Physical and Medical Teaching Team

Physiotherapist

Occupational Therapists

Speech and Language Therapists

SEND Hub for Hambleton and Richmondshire

• Parental  permission is always sought before any external agency is involved.

Arrangements for handling complaints from parents of children with SEN about the provision made at the school.

• The designated SEND Governor is: Mrs. J. Dickinson (contactable through school).
• We encourage parents/carers to speak to the class teacher before speaking to the SENCo to enable us to resolve any problems quickly and to the satisfaction of both parties, failing that, we have a clear complaints policy which can be found on the school website.