SEN Information Report

SEND Information Report

1.Who can I contact if I have concerns that my child may have SEND?

In the first instance, parents should speak to their child’s class teacher about any concerns they have about their child. Class teachers will arrange a time to meet with parents at the earliest convenience.

If further information is required, please contact our SENCo (Special Educational Needs and Disability Coordinator), Mrs Rachel Bell.

Our SENCo is available for informal conversations on the school playground at drop-off and pick-up times at various times throughout the school week.  Mrs Bell is also responsible for family support and is available to support families as required. This can be through informal chats, phone calls, emails or face-to-face meetings.

Key contacts information:

School office: admin@stnicholas23.herts.sch.uk; 01462 623322

SENDCo (Mrs Bell): senco@stnicholas23.herts.sch.uk;01462 623322

In the event of dissatisfaction, having spoken to those named above, parents should refer to the school’s complaints policy available on the school website: www.nortonstnicholas.co.uk

2. How does the school know if children need extra help?

At Norton St Nicholas School we believe in early identification of special educational needs and disabilities, with the vast majority of pupils who require extra support being identified within their first years at the school. Judgements will be made about the needs of children based on:

• Information and concerns provided to the school by parents
• Records provided to the school by previous settings
• Continuous assessment of each child’s progress by their class teacher and other key staff
• Changes in behaviour or progress
• Diagnostic and tracking tools, such as WellComm language assessment, Individual Assessment of Early Learning Development (IAELD)
• The views of the pupil
• Completion of the SEND Support Request Form (see Appendix 1)

Termly meetings (called pupil progress meetings) between class teachers, the head teacher, subject leaders and the SENCo are used to analyse the progress of all children. During these meetings, each child’s current attainment and progress is discussed, with the aim of identifying those who have (or are at risk of) falling below expectations in either respect.

In the event of a child having very high level or complex needs, it may be appropriate to apply for an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP). The application and subsequent support will be agreed through discussion between parents and school staff.

3. How will school staff support my child?

All pupils will receive high quality teaching in the classroom, which aims to both stretch and support pupils of all abilities. In all classes there are teaching assistants available at various times during the school day to support all pupils with their learning.

For those children needing more help, a variety of small group, paired and individual learning opportunities are provided, with interventions tailored to a wide range of needs. These are run by teachers or teaching assistants. The amount of time spent on a particular intervention is entirely determined by individual need.

If children are identified as possibly having a special educational need or disability or are not making expected progress in any area of their development, the school will react in accordance with the policies and practices we have in place (please see Flowchart in Appendix 2).

Escalation of support to SEN Support will include the creation of an Assess, Plan, Do, Review document called a Personal Provision Plan. At this point, the child will be placed on the SEN register by the SENCo. Several documents are then completed with a collaborative approach between school, parents and the child including:

• A One Page ‘All About Me’ Profile of the child.
• A Personalised Provision Plan
• Assessment information for the child
• A Learning Log - to detail support
• Any other relevant documentation

4. How will I know how my child is doing?

We have an ‘open door’ policy at Norton St. Nicholas and all parents are encouraged to discuss their children’s progress with their child’s class teacher. There are two formal parents’ evenings in the school year, open classroom afternoons (when parents are invited into the classrooms for an insight into the child’s learning opportunities) and termly reports.

Parents/carers of children on the SEN register will be invited to Person-Centred Planning Meetings each term to discuss, review and agree targets. Children with an Education Health Care Plan (EHCP) will also attend a yearly formal review.

For those children whose needs are additionally supported by outside agencies, parents will be invited to meetings with these external professionals as appropriate. Home-school communication books may be helpful on some occasions. 

All parents can contact the SENCo by phone 01462 623322, in person (please make an appointment at the school office) or directly by email: senco@stnicholas23.herts.sch.uk

5. How will the learning and development provision be matched to my child’s needs?

Outcomes for any child with SEN will be agreed at the Person-Centred Planning Meetings. Provision and reasonable adjustments for each outcome will be agreed and recorded in a Personalised Provision Plan.  A copy of the Personalised Provision Plan is sent home after the meeting.

The school uses the ‘Assess, Plan, Do, Review’ cycle (known as the ‘graduated response’) to constantly review each child’s progress and make decisions as to the most appropriate form of support for the future. These are regularly reviewed by the class teacher, support staff and SENCo, using the graduated response model.  In addition, reasonable adjustments may need to be made.

A ‘reasonable adjustment’ is an individualised change in usual classroom practice to enable learning or participation. For example – homework provided in larger font, a colour filter used for reading, use of a scribe in some writing tasks, making activities outside the classroom (including school trips) accessible to all or adjustments in uniform requirements.

6. What support will there be for my child’s overall wellbeing?

At Norton St. Nicholas we are committed to encouraging the positive mental health and wellbeing of all. We encourage children to have a ‘growth mindset’, teaching them how to strive for their goals. We also run Drawing and Talking sessions, social groups as well as having a trained Emotional Literacy Support Assistant (ELSA).

The medical needs of children will be dealt with sensitively on an individual basis and always through consultation with parents.

The opinions and concerns of children with SEN are sought regularly and individual support may be put into place on the basis of these.

Our SENCo is also responsible for family support and is available to support families as required. This can be through informal chats on the playground at either drop-off or pick-up, through phone calls, emails or through face-to-face meetings, as well as signposting families to external agencies for support and training.

Families also have the option of being involved in a Families First Assessment, which Mrs Bell is trained in leading. This is created by documenting information from all involved with a child (parents/carers, the child, staff at the school, external agencies, social services etc) and then appropriate targets and outcomes agreed which are then reviewed regularly through Team Around the Family (TAF) meeting.

Parents of children with and without  SEN are able to access support from a ‘Family Support Worker’ through the Letchworth Family Support Partnership.

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

The school can access specialist support from a wide variety of external agencies, depending on the needs of individual children. All requests for support require a service request form to be completed which parents/carers must sign.

We access support from:

• NHS Speech and Language team
• The local Specific Learning Difficulties (SpLD) Base
• Our link Educational Psychologist
• The Communication and Autism Team
• The Outreach team at Woolgrove Special Needs Academy
• North Herts Education Support Centre (NHESC)
• The Hearing Impairment Team
• The Visual Impairment Team
• Physiotherapists, Occupational Therapists and Paediatricians from the Child Development Centre (CDC).

8. What training have the staff, supporting children and young people with SEND, had or are having?

All teachers are teachers of SEN and through their training differentiate through high quality whole class teaching. All staff training needs are identified on a regular basis and those relating to SEN are addressed by the SENCo, sourcing the most appropriate training method. The training is led in-house or externally, for the whole staff or for individual teachers/support staff.

All teaching staff receive regular training on Autism through the Hertfordshire Autism training team. In addition, the SENCo delivers half termly training on other specific needs. Staff who support children with SEN in group, paired, or individual work have, in addition, received training from Woolgrove Special Needs Academy, the Specialist Advisory Services or Herts for Learning about how best to support children with SEN. Further training has been received from other agencies relating to Dyslexia, Dyscalculia, Speech, Language and Communication, Visual Impairment, Hearing Impairment and Medical Needs as well as training to deliver specific interventions and to administer medication. Individual staff will attend further training as needs arise in school and as their role requires it.

The SENCo, Mrs Rachel Bell has completed the SENCo National Award, has a Masters in Education, is Reading Recovery trained and regularly attends both local and national SEN briefings.  In addition to this, we have 2 Elkan (Supporting children with Speech Language and Communication difficulties) trained members of our support staff. Two teaching assistants are trained to deliver Drawing and Talking and we have one teaching assistant who has recently completed the ELSA programme.

9. How will you help me to support my child’s learning?

Children’s individual targets will be made clear on termly reports as well as at parent consultation meetings. Parents of children on the SEN register will be invited to discuss targets termly, with an opportunity to discuss parental involvement. Parents of children with SEN may meet more regularly with the class teacher at either the teacher or parent’s request.

Class teachers will be happy to tell you how you can further support your child’s learning at home. For children with SEN, this may take the form of following up, or pre-learning, in relation to class lessons, and many children with SEN will need ‘overlearning’ of concepts. In some cases, parents may be further supported and encouraged to practise specific areas such as phonics or speech sounds.

If you are ever unsure how to support your child at home, please contact the class teacher who will be happy to help.

In addition, we offer regular Parent Information Meetings (either online or in person) on a variety of subjects from e-Safety to Early Reading.  Other agencies offering support and courses are published regularly in the school newsletter

10. How will I be involved in discussions about and planning for my child’s education?

At Norton St Nicholas School we encourage parents to work closely with school staff to achieve the best results for their children. This is particularly important in the case of children with SEN. In addition to parent consultation meetings and SEN review meetings, as mentioned above, parents can make an appointment to discuss any area of their child’s learning at school at any time.

Parents of children with SEN will be informed if their child is to start on an intervention programme, with an opportunity offered to come into school for further discussion. For the parents of children with an EHCP, parents will be involved in drawing up the initial plan and amending it at each annual review.

11. How will my child be included in activities outside the classroom including school trips?

The needs of all pupils will be considered when planning school trips and other activities outside the classroom. Staffing will be organised according to levels of need and any necessary equipment will be taken. Where appropriate, adjustments will be made to plans, parents’ views will be sought as to the best arrangements for individual children, and the parents themselves may be invited to join the trip. Staff at the site of the visit will be informed of needs and asked to make or support adaptions as necessary.

12. How accessible is the school environment?

Norton St Nicholas complies fully with the Equality Act and governors regularly review an Equalities Action Plan. Where necessary, reasonable adjustments are made for any child with SEN.

Due to the split-level nature of the school building, and several flights of steps around the site, not all parts of the school site are currently wheelchair friendly.  The school has one disabled toilet. We are able to make reasonable adjustments to the environment to support children with some physical mobility needs such as the use of handles or rails to access outdoor environments.

If there is a need to offer support to parents whose first language is not English, the school accesses support from the Hertfordshire County Council Translation and Interpreting Service.

Should there be a need to make the building more accessible for people with a disability, the school would seek advice from Hertfordshire County Council and other partners.

13. How will the school prepare and support my child to join the school, transfer to a new school or the next stage of education and life?

For a child with SEN all transition is planned for involving the child, parent/carer and school.

Nursery children and families receive a Home Visit before they start in our school nursery. The class teacher also visits pre-schools, where appropriate.  In addition, the children have the chance to attend stay-and-play sessions with their parents/carers prior to starting Nursery.

Any child entering the school from Reception to Year 6 will receive have a Home Visit from their class teacher and an opportunity to view the school and meet their class teacher prior to starting.  Should there be any SEN concerns then contact is made with their previous school before they start.

At the end of each academic year, staff from a child’s current class meet with staff in the receiving class to pass on all information regarding academic attainment and overall wellbeing. When children move from Norton St Nicholas to a new setting, their new school is contacted and the appropriate information is passed on.

At the time of transfer to secondary school, we meet with the SENCo and Head of Year 7 of the next schools to discuss the needs of children. SEN targets and provision plans are shared and all relevant records are passed on, as well as information about necessary day-to-day adjustments. Some children will need more visits to their new school than their peers and these will be arranged through discussion with parents and the new school.

14. How are the school’s resources allocated and matched to children’s special educational needs?

The school’s SEN budget is primarily used to employ support staff to work with children, although funding is also used for staff training and general SEN resources, as well as more specialist equipment.

The school can make a request for Local Higher Needs Funding where it is felt that the school’s funding cannot meet the requirements of the child.  In most cases, this is a child who needs a significant amount of additional adult support in school or a very specific type of intervention or support that school staff are not trained to deliver.  The application is taken to a cluster panel of local schools to be discussed. 

Children with an EHCP may receive additional funding and there is a 5-point scale for this. Children are allocated a funding level by the Local Authority, based on the information in their EHCP and this determines the amount of money to be paid to the school to meet the child’s support requirements.

15. How is the decision made about how much support my child will receive?

All school resources are allocated according to need, and decisions about support are made by the Headteacher in collaboration with the SENCo, class teachers, support staff and parents. Current attainment and progress information, alongside staff observations and parental concerns will be used to determine how much support individuals will receive and the form that support will take. Occasionally, external professionals will offer advice about levels of support required by individual children. Sometimes, the support a child will require will take the form of resources or equipment, rather than adult intervention.

16. Where can I find out about the local authority’s local offer of services and provision for children and young people with SEND?

The ‘Local Offer’, published by the Local Authority and detailing provision they expect to be available across education, health and social care for children and young people in the area who have SEND or are disabled, can be found at: www.hertsdirect.org/localoffer and www.hertsdirect.org/SEND

If you have any questions or queries, please feel free to contact the SENCo at any time.