Our SENDCo is Mrs Terry Smith and can be contacted through the school.

Mrs Terry Smith

Wellstead Primary School

Wellstead Way

Hedge End

Hampshire

SO30 2LE

 

senco@wellsteadapps.co.uk

Tel - 01489 799351

 

The school SEND governor is Laura Pearce and she can be contacted via the School Office.

The Special Educational Needs or Disability Co-ordinator (SENDCo) Mrs Terry Smith, has designated responsibility for:

• Co-ordinating all of the support for children with Special Educational Needs or Disabilities (SEND).
• Developing the school’s SEND policy to ensure that all children get a consistent, high quality response to meeting their needs in school.
• Ensuring that you (the parents) are:

-   Involved in supporting your child’s learning.

-   Kept informed about the support your child is getting.

-   Involved in reviewing how they are doing.

•  Liaising and provides relevant training and support to the class teachers and teaching assistants so they can help children with SEND in our school achieve the best progress possible.
• Updating the SEND register (a system for ensuring all the SEND needs of pupils in our school are known).
• Developing and assigning appropriate learning programmes and interventions to meet your child’s specific needs.
• Liaising with external support services that may be coming into school to help support your child’s learning, e.g. speech and language therapists, physiotherapists, social services, occupational therapists and Educational Psychologists etc.

The class teacher is responsible for:

• Monitoring the progress of each child and identifying, planning and delivering any additional help your child may need (this could be things like targeted work, additional support) and letting the SENDCo know where necessary.
• Writing individual targets as part of their SEND profiles, and sharing and reviewing these with parents at least once each term and planning for the next term.
• Ensuring that all support staff working with your child are kept well informed of their targets and individual needs, so that your child can achieve the best possible progress.
• Ensuring that our school’s SEND Policy is followed in their classroom and for all the pupils they teach with any SEND.

The Headteacher, Mr Matthew Robinson is responsible for:

• The day-to-day management of all aspects of the school, this includes the support for children with SEND.
• They will give responsibility to the SENDCo and class teachers but is still responsible for ensuring that your child’s needs are met.
• They must make sure that the Governing Body is kept up to date about any issues in the school relating to SEND.

SEN Governor, Laura Pearce is responsible for:

• Making sure that the necessary support is made for any child who attends the school who has SEND.
• Listening to, responding to and working in partnership with the parents and school to resolve any issues brought to their attention by a parent which have not been resolved through previous discussions with school staff.

• The class teacher is regularly available to discuss your child’s progress or any concerns you may have and to share information about what is working well at home and school so similar strategies can be used.
• The SENDCo, Mrs Terry Smith is available to meet with you to discuss your child’s progress or any concerns/worries you may have.
• All information from outside professionals will be discussed with you and with the person involved directly, or where this is not possible, in a report.
• Your child’s SEND profile will be reviewed with you each term.
• Homework will be adjusted as needed to your child’s individual needs.
• A home/school contact book may be used to support communication with you, when this has been agreed to be useful for you and your child.
• The SENDCo offers termly open forum meetings for parents of children with SEND to discuss common concerns.
• The family liaison officer can be used as a first point of call for any concerns you may have as a parent.

• If you have concerns about your child’s progress you should speak to your child’s class teacher initially.
• If you are not happy that the concerns are being managed and that your child is still not making progress you should speak to the SENDCo, Mrs Terry Smith or Headteacher, Mr Matthew Robinson.
• If you are still not happy you can speak to the school SEND Governor, Laura Pearce.

We know when pupils need help if:

• Concerns are raised by parents/carers, teachers or the child.
• A child is then identified as not making progress.
• There is a change in a child’s behaviour or progress.

If any of these are evident then some of the following actions will be taken:

• The school will set up a meeting to discuss this with you in more detail.
• Listen to any concerns that parents/ careers and/or teachers may have too.
• Plan any additional support your child may receive.
• Discuss with you any referrals to outside professionals to support your child’s learning.

• Wellstead Primary School is a mainstream setting where all children are welcome whatever their abilities and needs.
• At Wellstead, we believe that all children should have access to a broad, balanced and relevant curriculum, which is differentiated to meet their individual needs.
• The building is accessible to children with a physical disability.
• We ensure that equipment used is accessible to all children regardless of their needs.
• Extra curricular activities and after school provision is accessible for children with SEND.
• We are always happy to meet parents to discuss individual access requirements.

At times, it may be necessary to consult with outside agencies to access their specialised expertise.

Additional support may be accessed from:

• Speech, Language, Communication Needs Assistant- provides an additional level of service to the school.
• ELSA – Emotional Literacy Support Assistant.
• FEIPS – Framework for Enhanced Pastoral Support.
• Counselling – Outreach service provided by our feeder secondary school.
• Outreach Service from Special Schools.
• CAMHS.

Additional resources that the school can access through the Local Authority:

• Educational Psychology Service.
• Speech and Language Therapy.
• School Nurse.
• Occupational Therapy.
• Physiotherapy.
• Primary Behaviour Support.
• Visual Impairment.
• Hearing Impairment.
• Specialist Teachers Advisory Team.

Class teacher input via excellent targeted classroom teaching also known as Quality First Teaching.
For your child this would mean:

• That the teacher has the highest possible expectations for your child and all pupils in their class.
• That all teaching is based on building on what your child already knows, can do and can understand.
• Different ways of teaching are in place so that your child is fully involved in learning in class. This may involve things like using more practical learning.
• Specific strategies (which may be suggested by the SENDCo or outside staff) are in place to support your child to learn.
• Your child’s teacher will have carefully checked on your child’s progress and will have decided that your child has gap in their understanding/learning and needs some extra support to help them make the best possible progress.

All children in school should be getting this as a part of excellent classroom practice when needed.

Specific group work within a smaller group of children.
This type of support is available for any child who has specific gaps in their understanding of a subject/area of learning.

These group work sessions are often called intervention groups and may be:

• Run in the classroom or in an alternative quite environment around the school.
• Run by a teacher or most often a Teaching assistant who has had training to run these groups.

For your child this would mean:

• He/She will engage in-group sessions with specific targets to help him/her to make more progress.
• A Learning Support Assistant/teacher or outside professional (like a Speech and Language Therapist) will run these small group sessions using the teacher’s plan or advice from the SENDCo.

Specialist groups run by outside agencies e.g. Speech and Language therapy OR Occupational therapy groups
This type of support is available for children with specific barriers to learning that cannot be overcome through Quality First Teaching and intervention groups. The children receiving this level of support will be on the school’s SEND register.

Specialist input may come from:

• Local Authority central services such as the ASD Outreach Team or Sensory Service (for students with a hearing or visual need).
• Outside agencies such as the Speech and Language therapy (SALT) Service and Occupational Therapy (OT).

For your child this would mean:

• Your child will have been identified by the SENDCo (or you will have raised your worries) as needing more specialist input in addition to quality first teaching and intervention groups.
• You will be asked to come to a meeting to discuss your child’s progress and help plan possible ways forward.
• You may be asked to give your permission for the school to refer your child to a specialist professional e.g. a Speech and Language Therapist or Educational Psychologist. This will help the school and yourself understand your child’s particular needs better and be able to support them better in school.
• The specialist professional will work with your child to understand their needs and make recommendations, which may include:
  • Making changes to the way your child is supported in class e.g. some individual support or changing some aspects of teaching to support them better.
  • Support to set better targets which will include their specific expertise.
  • A group run by school staff under the guidance of the outside professional e.g. a social skills group.
  • A group or individual work with outside professional.

• The school may suggest that your child needs some agree individual support in school. They will tell you how the support will be used and what strategies will be put in place.

Specified Individual support
For your child of more than 20 hours in school.

This is usually provided via an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP). This means your child will have been identified by the class teacher as needing a particularly high level of individual or small group teaching (more than 12.5 hours a week), which cannot be provided from the budget available to the school.

Usually your child will also need specialist support in school from a professional outside the school. This may be from:

• Local Authority central services such as the ASC Outreach Team or Sensory Service (for students with a hearing or visual need).
• Outside agencies such as the Speech and Language therapy (SALT) Service.

For your child this would mean:

• The school (or you) can request that the Local Authority carry out a statutory assessment of your child’s needs. This is a legal process, which sets out the amount of support that will be provided for your child.
• After the school have sent in the request to the Local Authority (with a lot of information about your child, including some from you), they will decide whether they think your child’s needs (as described in the paperwork provided), seem complex enough to need a statutory assessment. If this is the case they will ask you and all professionals involved with your child to write a report outlining your child’s needs. If they do not think your child needs this, they will ask the school to continue to identify your child as needing SEN support.
• After the reports have all been sent in the Local Authority will decide if your child’s needs are severe, complex and lifelong and that they need more than 12.5 hours of support in school to make good progress. If this is the case they will write an EHC Plan. If this is not the case, they will ask the school to continue with the support at School Action Plus and also set up a meeting in school to ensure a plan is in place to ensure your child makes as much progress as possible.
• The EHC Plan will outline the number of hours of individual/small group support your child will receive from the LA and how the support should be used and what strategies must be put in place. It will also have long and short-term goals for your child.
• The additional adult may be used to support your child with whole class learning, run individual programmes or run small groups including your child.

This type of support is available for children whose learning needs are:

• Severe, complex and lifelong.
• Need more than 12.5 hours of support in school.

• The school budget, received from Hampshire LA, includes money for supporting children with SEND.
• The Head Teacher decides on the budget for Special Educational Needs and Disabilities in consultation with the school governors, on the basis of needs in the school.
• The Head Teacher and the SENDCo discuss all the information they have about SEND in the school, including:
  • The children getting extra support already.
  • The children needing extra support.
  • The children who have been identified as not making as much progress as would be expected.

            And decide what resources/training and support is needed.

• All resources/training and support are reviewed regularly and changes made as needed. Resources are allocated according to individual needs within the budget of the school.
• Children with an EHC Plan may have specific allocations in terms of resources and additional adult support. These will be met in full.

• Class Teachers plan lessons according to the specific needs of all groups of children in their class, and will ensure that your child’s needs are met through differentiated work.
• Specially trained support staff can adapt the teachers planning to support the needs of your child where necessary.
• Your child may be given an SEND Plan. This will form part of their individual portfolio and will detail specific targets that will be matched to your child’s needs.
• Specific resources and strategies will be used to support your child individually and in groups.
• Planning and teaching will be adapted on a daily basis if needed to meet your child’s learning needs.
• The SENDCo liaises regularly with the class teachers to offer advice on ways that lessons can be adapted to meet the range of needs within their class.

• Your child’s progress is continually monitored by his/her class teacher and is discussed formally each half term with the Assistant Head as part of the schools pupil progress meetings. During these meetings each child is given a banding relating to age related expectations (ARE)  for Reading, Writing and Maths.
• At the end of each key stage (i.e. at the end of year 2 and year 6) all children are formally assessed using Standard Assessment Tests (SATs) and Teacher Assessment (TA). This is something that the government requires all schools to do and the results from these assessments are published nationally.
• Children identified as requiring ‘SEN’ and are on the register, will have individual education targets as part of their SEND profile. These targets are reviewed regularly and each term you will have the opportunity to meet with your child’s class teacher and/or SENDCo to review the progress made and discuss plans for the following term.
• The progress of children with an EHC Plan is formally reviewed at an Annual Review and involves all the agencies that are a part of your child’s education.
• The SENDCo will also check that your child is making good progress within any individual work and in any group that they take part in.
• At Wellstead Primary School, we also measure the progress of children through regular Reading, Spelling and Number Age assessments.

• The SENDCo’s job is to support the class teachers in planning for children with SEND. 
•  As part of the performance management cycle, the school has a training plan for all staff to improve the teaching and learning of children including those with SEND. This includes whole school training on SEND issues such as ASD and Speech and language difficulties or individual training courses.
• Individual teachers and support staff attend training courses run by outside agencies that are relevant to the needs of specific children in their class e.g. from Special School Outreach service.

• Activities and school trips are available for all children.
• Risk assessments are carried out and procedures are put in place to enable all children to participate.
• However, if it is deemed that an intensive level of 1:1 support is required a parent or carer may be asked to accompany their child during the activity.

We recognise that transitions can be difficult for a child with SEND and take steps to ensure that any transition is a smooth as possible.

• If your child is moving child to another school:
  • We will contact the school SENDCo and ensure he/she knows about any special arrangements or support that needs to be made for your child.
  • We will make sure that all records about your child are passed on as soon as possible.

• When moving between classes at Wellstead:
  • Information will be passed on to the new class teacher IN ADVANCE and a planning meeting will take place with the new teacher. All SEND profiles will be shared with the new teacher.
  • If your child would be helped by a social story to support them understand moving on then it will be made for them.

• In Year 6:
  • The SENDCo will attend the primary transition event to discuss the specific needs of your child with the SENDCo of their secondary school.
  • Your child will do focused learning about aspects of transition to support their understanding of the changes ahead.
  • Where possible your child will visit their new school on several occasions and in some cases staff from the new school will visit your child in this school.

The Local Authority provides a Local Offer, which details the services they expect to be available in their area for children and young people from birth – 25 whom have Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). It also provides information on services outside of the area, which they expect children and young people from their area will use.