SEND Local Offer
Great Steeping Primary School
Local Offer of support to children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities
We are an inclusive school and strive to support all children to enable them to make the best possible progress and achieve well. To accomplish these aims, we offer a broad and balanced curriculum with high quality teaching.
It may come to pass that your child needs additional help and you will have questions on how the process will work. Below is a guide to how the school will support your child and the family throughout.
School Environment
The school site is wheelchair accessible with a disabled toilet large enough to accommodate changing facilities.
Raising concerns:
We have an open door policy in the school and are available to discuss your child’s needs. You can talk to the class teacher, a teaching assistant, the Special Needs Coordinator, Head Teacher or Learning Mentor.
Mrs Ackrill – Head Teacher
Miss C Spencer - Head teacher & SENDCo
Mrs A Sunley – SEND Governor.
If the school identifies your child as having SEND this could be through a variety of ways such as:
*Liaison with pre-school settings or previous schools
*Concerns raised by you or class teacher
*Identification by external agencies i.e. School Nurse, Speech and Language
Support
This is a team approach with you; your child may be placed on the SEND register. Our SENCo will oversee the support and progress of any child requiring additional support across the school. The class teacher will plan and work with the children to ensure that their learning needs at catered for and good progress from their starting points is made.
There may also be a teaching assistant, learning mentor or teacher working with your child either individually or in a small group. The communication between school and home is of paramount importance and we will communicate regularly with you. This will be with the class teacher twice a year as part of parents’ evenings/consultations. The SENCo is available by appointment to discuss support in more detail.
The SENCo reports to the Governors three times a year to inform them about the progress of children with SEND. This is a confidential anonymised report so no children are identified. The Governors via a committee agree the spending with the SEND budget to ensure the children receive the best possible support.
In Class
All lessons are pitched at an appropriate level so that all children can access the curriculum according to their needs. This could mean that there are several different levels of work; however on occasions the learning could be individualised especially if they need physiotherapy of a speech programme.
The class teacher alongside the SENCo will discuss the child’s needs and what support would be appropriate within the school. Different children and different needs require different levels of support in order to ensure progress. There will be open communication with the child and parents.
Supporting Families
If your child is on the SEND register they may have an individual Support & Education Plan (ISEP) which will have targets. If your child has an ISEP, progress against targets will be discussed. The targets set are SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time Scaled. With the expectation that the child will achieve the target by the time it is reviewed. We can offer advice and suggestions on ways to support your child achieving these targets. We are happy to share ideas and resources with you.
If your child has more complex needs, they may have a statement of SEND or, from September 2014, an Education, Health and Care Plan, which means that we will have an annual review of the child’s progress and next steps. The new plan will be written with you.
How do we know?
Our school measures children’s progress in learning against National expectations and age related benchmarks. The class teacher continually assesses the children and notes areas where they are improving and where further support/input is needed. Children who are not making age expected progress are picked up during staff meeting and pupil progress meetings with the class teacher and SENCo. In the meeting a discussion takes place on the concerns surrounding the child’s progress and what further support can be given.
When a child’s ISEP is reviewed comments are made for each target explaining if the child has achieve and if not, the reason why and how we think we can rectify this such as breaking the target into smaller chunks or using different approaches. We value the child’s opinions and views in all aspects of school life. Children who have ISEPs will discuss, review and set targets with their class teacher. There is an annual questionnaire for the pupils to express their thoughts and also the school council to be their voice. If your child has a Statement of SEND or an Education, Health and Care plan, their views will be sought before the annual review meeting, this will be at an appropriate level.
Medicines
This information can also be found in the school prospectus and the Medication Policy. Over the counter medicines will not be administered in school.
You need to contact the Head or Class Teacher if the medication is recommended by Health Professionals to be taken during the day. There is a downloadable form in the medication policy to fill in. On a daily basis, the class teacher or teaching assistant is responsible for the administering of medication. As a staff we have regular updates of conditions and medications affecting individual children.
Social, Mental and Emotional Wellbeing (Behaviour Concerns)
We have a very positive approach to managing all types of behaviour with a clear reward and sanction policy which is followed by all. If a child has behavioural difficulties, time is spent with them and you to identify triggers and causes. After a behaviour incident we expect the child to reflect on their behaviour. We work closely with the teaching and learning centre who gives additional advice and support for children with complex behaviour and emotional needs.
Attendance of every child is monitored closely by the School Office. Lateness and absence are recorded and reported to the Head Teacher. Good attendance is actively encouraged. We work with the Local Authority Educational Welfare Officer who can help individual families with attendance issues.
As a school we work closely with any external agencies that we feel can be of support to yourself and your child. This includes: GP, School Nurse, Psychologist, Paediatricians, Speech and Language therapists, Social Communication Outreach, Social Services, Counselling Services, Young Carers and Occupational therapists.
Inclusion
All children are included in all parts of the curriculum and we aim for all the children to take part in school trips. A risk assessment is carried out before an offsite visit to ensure everyone is safe. There will then be a discussion about the best way your child will access the activity, this may include being first into the building, following a different route around the exhibit.
Starting School
We always encourage all new children to visit the school before joining us, if a child has SEND then we suggest more than one visit and if appropriate will visit them in their own setting.
When children are transferring to a new setting i.e. secondary school we encourage more acclimatisation visits and key staff members of both schools and parents meet to discuss strategies and roles. If your child has complex needs, an annual review meeting will be used as a transition meeting for both schools to attend.
Resources
We ensure that all children who have special educational needs are met to the best of the school’s ability. We have a learning mentor who delivers programmes designed to meet children’s needs alongside specific planning from class teachers and teaching assistants completing intervention programmes.
For more information please speak to:
Miss Spencer – Head Teacher & SENCo
Mrs Sunley – SEND Governor
Or access information through www.lincolnshire.gov.uk/SENDlocaloffer