Stanford-le-Hope Primary School
Special Educational Needs Offer 2018-2019
Children learn in different ways and progress at different rates. Many children need some kind of extra support during their time in education.
Click on the links below which answer the following questions.
Stanford-le-Hope Primary School Special Educational Needs Offer 2017-2018
Children learn in different ways and progress at different rates. Many children need some kind of extra support during their time in education.
Who are the best people to talk to in this school about my child’s Special Educational Needs?
You can speak to your child’s class teacher or to the Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCO), by making an appointment.
SENCO – Miss E.Coakley
Should you wish to discuss any concerns that you feel are emerging, or are worried about the progress of your child please telephone the school office on 01375 672066 to make an appointment with either Miss Coakley or the class teacher.
What are the different types of support available for children with SEN in this school?
In terms of what we offer children with Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities, this is different for every child and it is important to emphasise that, as much as possible, this provision is designed by the relevant staff members working alongside the child, the child’s family and, where necessary, outside agencies (e.g. a Speech and Language Therapist or an Educational Psychologist).
Additional provision
In addition Stanford-le-Hope Primary has two unique features around SEND:-
1. Nursery Provision
The school has an Assessment Base in the nursery with places for 6 children, on a part time basis, this provision is funded by the Thurrock Local Authority and can be for children, either in, or outside of the school’s catchment area.
During their time in the nursery, if awarded a place by the Thurrock SEN panel, the children’s assessments lead to a decision around where they would be best suited to learn in the future. This could mean continuing to attend Stanford-le-Hope Primary School, moving to a more local mainstream primary school, or into a more specialist environment.
The school SENCo and staff are involved in all meetings with outside agencies to support parents/carers and involved in preparing paperwork. The SENCo and school staff, work closely with outside agencies to identify individual needs and plan support. This helps to make transitions into any new environments much smoother, for the children and other professionals.
The school Nursery provides a very positive, supportive learning environment and a measure of our success is the fact that many of the parents/carers of the designated children want them to continue on into our school.
2.VI Resource Base
The school also has a resource base for pupils with a visual impairment, which has been housed at the school for the past 15 years. The base supports 5 pupils across the primary age range ( N-Yr6) and is funded by Thurrock Local Authority. The base is the local authority’s provision for primary pupils with visual impairments.
This resource has been further enhanced by our recent partnership with St Clere’s Multi Academy Trust. Stanford-le-Hope Primary School became part of the trust in June 2013 and this has strengthened links with the secondary provision for VI, housed in St Clere’s Secondary School. The Academy Trust now provides the entire VI resource for the authority.
The resource is accommodated within the main school building and is purposely adapted to facilitate the inclusion of visually impaired children in the mainstream school.
Support is provided by a qualified teacher for visual impairment and qualified specialist support staff. Children may be supported in their lessons and they will receive specialist 1:1 or small group teaching to learn to use assistive technology. These skills will allow the children to be fully integrated, contribute to and take part in the whole school experience and foster their independence.
How will the school let me know if they have any concerns about my child’s learning in school?
At SLH Primary School, the learning and progress of all children is monitored daily through observation and teacher assessment. This is information is collated half termly and discussed with the Senior Leadership team and class teachers. It is at this meeting that a need maybe identified. Further evidence, observations or assessments may then be carried out and targets appropriate set and interventions agreed. These targets and concerns will be shared with you at the Termly Learning Conferences by your child’s class teacher.
If a need arises outside of the usual reviewing cycle, the class teacher will ask for you to come in for an initial meeting to share their concerns, the SENCo or Assistant SENCo may be present at these meetings. Targets and next steps will be discussed and agreed with you and your child.
How is the decision made about extra support and how is it allocated?
After the concerns have been raised and targets drawn up by the class teacher, this is discussed with the SENCO about how best to support your child to achieve the targets. It may be in a variety of forms, ranging from in-class support, one-to-one additional support, small group support.
If your child has a Statement of Special Educational Needs or has been awarded an Education Health Care Plan, the teacher and SENCo will meet to discuss how best to support the needs of the child, and determine what the support will look like. This be reviewed with you annually, or at your request.
Who are the other people providing services to children with a SEN in this school?
We have access to the following services:
Outreach from the Hearing Impaired Team at St. Clere's
Outreach from Treetops
Educational Psychologist through the Local Authority
Occupational Health Team via NHS
Speech and Language Therapist via NHS
Community Paediatric service via NHS
School Nurse
The Pastoral team, including the SENCO, works closely with both social care in the local authority and the paediatric service. As a school we use the MASH team for advice and guidance.
We offer a service to parents whereby one of the Pastoral team will attend appointments with the family on paediatric appointments, Speech and Language assessments or any other medical appointment that the school’s input may be useful to create a more rounded picture of the child and their needs, should they wish the school to support them.
This is subject to availability.
How are the teachers in school supported to work with children who have SEN and what training to they have?
The school SENCO is available to advise and support teachers on a daily basis. We also have staff who are trained in delivering a variety of interventions to support a range of needs.
Read, Write Inc
Numicon
Precision Teaching
Language Link
Braille trained
Portage
Elklan (speech and Language)
Black Sheep Press
Shape coding
Talking and Drawing
Signalong
15 minutes a day reading intervention
Diabetic Care trained
Epipen trained
Paediatric first aiders
First aiders
Safe handling trained
Bi-Lingual teacher
Training for all staff is ongoing, training sessions are held both internally at staff meetings and externally, where a member of staff attends a specific course and then disseminates the training to the remainder of staff where necessary.
How will the teaching be adapted for my child with learning needs?
When your child is identified as having SEN, we use a graduated approach based on four steps. These are assess, plan, do, review.
Your child’s class teacher is responsible for the work that is done with your child, they work closely with Learning Support Assistants and any specialist adults involved with your child.
The school offers many different forms of additional provision. This can include: additional in-class support; additional out-of-class support; one-to-one support; flexible groupings (including small group work); access to specific resources; mentoring; counselling; and access to a wide range of outside agencies. The most important point is that additional provision depends on the needs of the child.
For many children, targets will be connected to learning and will often be specifically to do with literacy and numeracy. For other children, they may be to do with social interaction, communicating with children and adults, emotional difficulties, overcoming physical issues (for example problems to do with fine motor control) … the list is endless!
Teachers are advised by the SENCo and QTVI (qualified teacher of the Visually Impaired) about how to adapt the learning to ensure that all pupils have access to the curriculum. We use the advice sent in by professionals to support this. Work is differentiated according to needs and requirements.
How will you measure the progress of my child in school?
Staff keep careful records of the children’s progress through observations and assessment. The SENCO specifically monitors the outcomes of interventions and will advise accordingly.
It may be necessary to monitor children with SEN using a different tracking tool to the rest of the school, such a tool will have steps of progress that are broken down into smaller chunks, currently for this we use a system called ‘Be Squared’.
Your child’s class teacher will meet with you to discuss their progress at the Termly Learning Conferences. The nature of the targets and support is discussed and negotiated, as appropriate, with you and your child. You can also arrange to see the SENCO via the school office.
How does the school support emotional, social and behavioural development?
All staff are aware of the emotional and social difficulties that children may experience, and needs are addressed by the class teacher and supporting LSAs. Where the need may intensify we have a small team of staff to work with children including a Learning Mentor and a pastoral LSA.
The staff use a range of programmes such as; Talking and Drawing, Social Use of Language Programme, Exploring Feelings, Go Girls, Why Try? to help children develop strategies for understanding and managing feelings and behaviour.
Further to this we also buy in the services of Ayo Oshunremi to work with identified children.
The school has a Behavioural Improvement Base (B.I.B) which is a secure space for children to reflect on their inappropriate behaviour should they need to be removed from the classroom. It is also used as a space for alternative provision where children have been unable to cope in the classroom during a specific lesson or as a consequence of more serious negative behaviour.
How have you made the school accessible to children with SEN?
The school is made up of two buildings, both of which are on one level and are accessible by ramps on more than one entrance and exit.
The school is a visually impaired friendly environment.
How do you ensure the inclusion of children with SEN in activities outside of the classroom?
All children are invited to attend all trips or events, a risk assessment would indicate if it would be necessary for a family entrusted adult to accompany the child on a one-to-one basis, with support from the teacher or LSA when needed.
Decisions around residential trips would be discussed on an individual basis, well in advance of the trip.
How will you support my child when they are leaving the school or moving into a new class?
When children are moving into a new class, the teachers would meet to discuss the children and their needs. The children will take part in the schools usual transition process and where necessary a bespoke programme will be arranged for them.
We would share necessary information with the relevant staff from other schools and where needed we will plan additional, individualised transition work for the children, beyond the one week transition they experience in year 6.
Arrangements for handling complaints from parents of children with SEN about the provision made at the school
Parents would have to follow the school policy for complaints, the SEN Link Governor is Mrs D. Mummery (Chair of Governors).