SEND

SEND Policy

SRS SEND Policy Version 1 Feb 2022

St Elizabeth’s Catholic Voluntary Academy School Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) Information Report 2021-2022

Roles and responsibilities:

Miss Hickling

As SENCo I co-ordinate all of the specific provision that is put in place to support children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND).

I am responsible for writing and implementing the Special Educational Needs Policy.

I work with class teachers, providing advice and support. Together we monitor pupil’s progress and arrange further or different provision if progress is slower than expected.

I also liaise with a range of external agencies who can give us specialised advice and support.

If you have any concerns about any SEN matter, please contact me. You can ring the school office on 01773 822278 to arrange an appointment.

We have written how we can provide help and support for our children with Special Educational Needs, this is called our “School Offer” and you can click on the questions below for more information. Our local authority of Derbyshire has also made a “Local Offer”. You can click on the link below to take you to the authority’s website where the offer is published.

http://www.derbyshiresendlocaloffer.org/

The questions below give more information about the offer from St Elizabeth’s CVA and how we can support you child.

1. Who are the best people to talk to at St Elizabeth’s about my child’s difficulties with  learning/Special Educational Needs or Disability (SEND)?

Please come and talk to us. Your first port of call is your child’s class teacher. If you still have concerns you could also talk to Miss Hickling who is the SENCo, or our head teacher Mrs Clemens. You could pop in after school or call the school office on 01773 822278 to make an appointment. We want to continue with our reputation of building positive relationships with parents, please come and talk to us and we can all discuss the next steps to take.

2. How will school support my child with Special Educational Needs or Disabilities?

All class teachers plan, deliver and review the work of all children in their class, including the work of those children with special educational needs or disabilities. The class teacher uses a provision map to set out any support given in the class. This may include work in groups sometimes within the classroom, sometimes with a TA in a smaller room. Some children will be given an APDR – Assess, Plan, Do, Review – also known as a Graduated Response.  This document will have specific targets for them to achieve within a specified amount of time, it will include the methods of support we will use in school, this will be developed with you and your child. Some children will be referred to outside agencies for further support, such as Speech and Language Therapists, Autism Outreach, the Educational Psychologist etc. These outside agencies offer advice for support in school and at home. If it is felt that a child would benefit from being referred to an outside agency you will be consulted and the reasons and process discussed with you.

3. Who will explain my child’s needs and progress to me?

Your child’s needs will be talked through with you by the class teacher, this can be done in a number of ways, at parents’ consultation evenings, a quick chat after school, an appointment or even in a phone call. At these meetings the class teacher could be joined by the SENCo, Miss Hickling or our Head Teacher , Mrs Clemens.

4. How will you measure my child’s progress?

Your child’s progress will be tracked and measured (as are all children within the school). We track and measure learning by age related expectations. The class teacher will make assessments during lessons, when marking work and also in more formal style tests. If a child is not making the expected age related progress the teachers will initially place them in intervention groups for extra support. If further support is needed a discussion will take place with parents, the pupil, teachers, teaching assistants and the SENCo to decide what further support can be given to aid progress. When a child’s APDR is reviewed comments are made about the targets to show progress and refer to next steps, this may mean the target being broken down into smaller steps to make it more achievable or a different approach may be tried – all to try to ensure your child does make progress.

5. How are school’s resources allocated and matched to children’s Special Educational Needs?

Children with special educational needs are given extra support and/or resources to the best of the school’s ability with the funds available. The class teacher will support children during lessons, teaching assistants may be used to support some individuals or groups. School would also take advice from outside agencies to provide support when specialists recommend it. If further support is still needed it maybe that applying for an EHCP – an Education Health Care Plan – is necessary. The EHCP would be focused upon the specific, complex and long term needs of the child and would be done with the child, parents and outside agencies such as educational psychologist or the local community paediatrician to name some examples.

6. How will my child be able to contribute his/her views?

All children are able to express their views via the school council; this can be on any aspect of school life. Children can post their ideas/opinions in the school council box or talk to a representative in their class from year 2 to year 6. Children are aware of their own targets within the class. Children with special educational needs are also set targets, some of these may be on their APDR (Assess, plan, do, review) and they would be able to discuss these targets and know how to work towards achieving them. If your child has a statement of educational needs or an EHCP (Education Health Care Plan) their reviews will always be asked for as part of the annual review process.

7. What specialist services and expertise are available or accessed by school?

Specialist services are involved when a child has a specific need and their services can be called upon when it is felt relevant. Services depend upon the need of the child, however, the services may include: school nurse, GP, local community paediatrician, Speech and Languages Therapists, MATs team (Multi Agency Team), Family Resource Workers, Education Welfare Officers, Local Inclusion Officers, Educational Psychologists, Support Service for Special Educational Needs, Behaviour Support Service, Autism Outreach, Support Service for Visually Impaired, Support Service for Hearing Impaired,  Support Service for Physically Impaired and Social Workers.  These are just a sample of the services and expertise that could be used. If necessary school would take advice on the service most appropriate for the needs of the child. The Derbyshire Local Offer is available at http://www.derbyshiresendlocaloffer.org/

8. What training has the staff supporting children with Special Educational Needs had, or are we currently having?

Our staff has regular training sessions and INSET days, some of which are on training for Special Educational needs. Some training is done as a whole staff group; other training is when a member of staff is sent on a specific course for a particular need. Staff have had training on being a dyslexia friendly school, ASD – Autistic Spectrum Disorder, ADD Attention Deficit Disorder, ADHD Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder, promoting good mental health and well being, speech and language courses, attachment disorder, using social stories and therapeutic stories. Other courses are accessed as part or our staff’s continual professional development.

9. How will my child be included in activities outside the classroom including day and residential trips?

Our aim is for all children to be fully included; this may mean making some reasonable adaptations. We would discuss the needs of your child with you. If you are worried about an upcoming trip please call in to see your child’s teacher and express your concern. All trips have a risk assessment carried out before leaving school. Health and safety will not be compromised and all members of staff taking part in the trip will be aware of the risk assessment.

10. How will school prepare and support my child when transferring to new classes or to their new school for year 7?

When the time comes for your child to move to a new class we will ensure there is a transition process. All children will take part in a transition lessons to visit their new class for the coming academic year. Special needs children often have extra visits; these may be done when the next class is empty so that they can have a good look around with a teaching assistant talking them through the new environment. They may also wish to have photographs of themselves taken in this new classroom with their new teacher, these would be made into a passport booklet which they would be able to take home with them through the summer holidays and which they can talk to their parents about.

When children first start school and join our EYFS class the children will be invited to join the class and have pre school visits for afternoons, our EYFS staff and SENCo can also go to see the staff and SENCo of the nursery or pre school to find out more about your child’s special educational needs.

For transfer to secondary school we would work with your child and their next school which you have selected for them. They would have visits as part of their class or group and may need for extra visits to be arranged, these can be with you on parents evenings and open evenings or with a TA during school hours. We would also take this opportunity to encourage the secondary school to introduce a key person (such as a form tutor or a teaching assistant) who will be spending sometime with your child in their first few weeks.

11. Who can I contact for further information or to discuss a concern?

Your first port of call is your child’s class teacher, appointments can be very informal with a quick chat after school, a discussion at a parents consultation evening or an appointment can be made for a longer and more detailed discussion. If you still have concerns you could also talk to Miss Hickling who is the SENCo, or our head teacher Mrs Clemens. You could pop in after school or call the school office on 01773 822278 to make an appointment. We want to continue with our reputation of building positive relationships with parents, please come and talk to us and we can all discuss the next steps to take.

Coronavirus Update

During the current Covid 19 outbreak, arrangements for parents of and children with SEN remain much the same as stated in our Local Offer above but rather than telephoning the office, your child’s teacher now has an email address dedicated to the crisis.  If you have any concerns, your first point of contact should be your child’s teacher.

If you still have concerns, please email:

Miss Hickling  – School SENCo on senco@st-elizabeths.derbyshire.sch.uk

Mrs Clemens – School Headteacher on enquiries@eli.srscmat.co.uk

Whilst school remains closed, the SENCo will maintain contact with outside agencies and continue applications for specialist support where appropriate.  The SENCo will also maintain contact with class teachers with special regard to children with SEN.