SEND Local Offer/Information Report What is the SEND Local Offer? The government has listened to what parents say their experience of services is like and have put in place a number of things to bring about improvements. One of these is the ‘Local Offer’. In 2012 the former Children’s Minister Sarah Teather explained that: “The current system is outdated and not fit for purpose. Thousands of families have had to battle for months, even years, with different agencies to get the specialist care their children need. It is unacceptable they are forced to go from pillar to post, facing agonising delays and bureaucracy to get support, therapy and equipment”. “It is a huge step forward to require health, education and care services work together. The reforms will give parents better information and a comprehensive package of support that meets their needs”. Local authorities and other services will set out a local offer of all services available to support children who are disabled or who have SEN and their families. The local offer will enable families to understand what services they can access and what support they can expect from a range of local agencies, including from the local authority, health services, schools, leisure services and the voluntary sector. The offer will include provision from birth to 25, across education, health and social care. The potential outcomes of the Local Offer are: • • • • •
To provide clarity and confidence for parents. To support earlier intervention. To reduce the need for assessment. To identify need and gaps in provision. To provide an evidence base for improving progress and securing better outcomes, at school and local level.
Adwick Primary School SEND Local Offer All Doncaster maintained schools have a similar approach to meeting the needs of pupils with Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities and are supported by the Local Authority to ensure that all pupils, regardless of their specific needs, make the best possible progress in school. All school are supported to be as inclusive as possible, with the needs of pupils with Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities being met in a mainstream setting wherever possible, where families want this to happen. Who are the best people to talk to in this school about my child’s difficulties with learning/Special Educational Needs and/or Disability (SEND)? What are the different types of support available for children with SEND in Adwick? How can I let the school know I am concerned about my child’s progress in school? How will the school let me know if they have concerns about my child’s learning in school?
Who are the best people to talk to in this school about my child’s difficulties with learning/Special Educational Needs and/or Disability (SEND)? Roles and Responsibilities: Class teacher: Responsible for: •
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Checking on the progress of your child and identifying any additional help your child may need; planning any additional support (this could be things like targeted work); and updating the SENDCo/ Inclusion Manager as necessary. Writing an Individual Support Plan and sharing and reviewing these with parents at least once each term and planning for the next term. Ensuring that all staff working with your child in school are able to deliver the planned work/programme for your child, so they can achieve the best possible progress. This may involve the use of additional adults, outside specialist help and specially planned work and resources. Ensuring that the school’s SEND Policy is followed in their classroom and for all the pupils they teach with any SEND.
The SENDCo/ Inclusion Manager (Mrs Sanderson/Mrs Hill): Responsible for: •
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Coordinating all the support for children with Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities (SEND) and developing the school’s SEND Policy to make sure all children get a consistent, high quality response to meeting their needs in school. Updating the school’s SEND register (a system for ensuring all the SEND needs of pupils in this school are known) and making sure that there are excellent records of your child’s progress and needs. Providing specialist support for teachers and support staff in the school so they can help children with SEND in the school achieve the best progress possible.
Ensuring that you are: • • •
Involved in supporting your child’s learning. Kept informed about the support your child is getting. Involved in reviewing how they are doing.
Head Teacher (Mrs Hutchinson): Responsible for: • •
The day to day management of all aspects of the school, this includes the support for children with SEND. The Head Teacher will give responsibility to the SENDCo/ Inclusion Manager and the class teachers but is still responsible for ensuring that your child’s needs are met.
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The Head Teacher must make sure that the Governing Body is kept up to date about any issues in school relating to SEND.
SEND Governor: Responsible for: •
Making sure that the necessary support is made for any child who attends the school who has SEND.
What are the different types of support available for children with SEND in Adwick? Class teacher input via excellent targeted classroom teaching also known as Quality First Teaching For your child this would mean: • • • • • •
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That the teacher had 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. At times the teacher may direct the class based Teaching Assistant to work with your child as part of normal working practice. 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 gaps 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 part of excellent classroom, practice when needed. Specific group work within a smaller group of children.
This group, often called intervention groups by schools, may be: • •
Run in the classroom or outside. Run by a teacher or a Teaching Assistant who has had training to run these groups.
Children with a School based SEN Support Plan: This means they have been identified by the class teacher as needing some extra support in school. For your child this would mean: •
He/she will engage in group sessions with specific targets to help him/her to make progress.
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A learning Support Assistant/teacher or outside professional (e.g. a Speech and Language Therapist or Occupational Therapist) will run these small group sessions using the teacher’s plan. This type of support is available for any child who has specific gaps in their understanding of a subject/area of learning.
Sometimes a child may have been identified by the SENDCo/ Inclusion Manager as needing further extra specialist support in school from a professional outside the school. This may be from: • •
Local Authority central services such as ASD Outreach or Sensory Service (for pupils with a hearing or visual need). Outside agencies such as the Speech and Language Therapy Service.
For your child this would mean: •
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Your child will have been identified by the class teacher or SENDCo/ Inclusion Manager (or you will have raised your own concerns) 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.
Sometimes, a 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 more appropriate 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. Group or individual work with an outside professional.
The school may suggest that your child needs some individual support in school. They will tell you how the support will be used and what strategies will be put in place. This type of support is available for children with specific barriers to learning that cannot be overcome through Quality First Teaching and intervention groups. Specified Individual Support This is usually provided via a Statement of Special Educational Needs or an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP). This means your child will have been identified by the class teacher or SENDCo/ Inclusion Manager as needing a particularly high level of support or small group teaching (the amount of hours will be specified by a Statement of Special Educational Needs), which cannot be provided from the budget available to the school. Usually your child will also need support from professionals outside the school. This may be from:
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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 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 has 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 the 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 with the support at School based SEN Support Plan level. After the reports have all been sent to the Local Authority (LA). The LA will then decide if your child’s needs are severe, complex and lifelong and that they need more specified extra support in school to make good progress. If this is the case they will write a Statement of Special Educational Needs or Education health Care Plan (EHCP). If this is not the case they will ask the school to continue with the support identified in the Individual Support Plan 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 Statement or ECHP 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 a specified number of hours support in school
How can I let the school know I am concerned about my child’s progress in school? • • •
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 Sanderson). If you are still not happy you can speak to the Inclusion Manager (Mrs Hill), the Head Teacher (Mrs Hutchinson) and ultimately the school SEND Governor, following the school’s complaints procedure.
How will the school let me know if they have concerns about my child’s learning in school?
If your child is then identified as not making progress the school will set up a meeting to discuss this with you in more detail and to: • •
Listen to any concerns you may have. Plan any additional support your child may receive.
SEND Information Report for Adwick Primary School 2014-15 Introduction This SEND information report is part of the Doncaster Local Offer for learners with Special Educational Needs (SEN.) All governing bodies of maintained schools and maintained nursery schools and the proprietors of academy schools have a legal duty to publish information on their website about the implementation of the governing body’s or the proprietor’s policy for pupils with SEN. The information published must be updated annually. At Adwick Primary School we are committed to working together with all members of our school community. This local offer has been produced with pupils, parents/carers, governors, and members of staff. We would welcome your feedback and future involvement in the review of our offer, so please do contact us. The best people to contact this year are: Name of SEN Governor: Name of Head: Mrs Hutchinson Name of Inclusion Manager: Mrs Hill Name of SENCO: Mrs Sanderson Name of Parent Support Advisor: Mrs Kelly Name of Learning Mentor: Mrs Goodwin If you have specific questions or if you think your child may have SEN please speak to their Class Teacher or contact Mrs Sanderson our SENCO on 01302722762. Our Approach to Teaching Learners with SEN At Adwick Primary school we believe in participation for all. We want all adults and children to participate in learning and we celebrate all members of our community. We want to create an inclusive culture in our school and we aim to be more responsive to the diversity of children’s backgrounds, interests, experience, knowledge and skills. We value high quality teaching for all learners and actively monitor teaching and learning in the school. Please see our teaching and learning policy. Our school improvement plan is about developing learning for all and details are planned continued professional development (CPD) opportunities for all staff. We aim to create a learning environment which is flexible enough to meet the needs of all members of our school community. We monitor progress of all learners, and staff continually assess ensuring that learning is taking place. Our whole school system for
monitoring progress includes regular pupil progress meetings, and staff engage in coaching and supervision Learning for all. Policies for identifying children and young people with SEN and assessing their needs. At different times in their school career, a child or young person may have a special educational need. The Code of Practice defines SEN as: “A child or young person has SEN if they have a learning difficulty or disability which calls for special educational provision to be made for them. A child of compulsory school age or a young person has a learning difficulty or disability if they: (a) Have a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others of the same age: or (b) Have a disability which prevents or hinders them from making use of educational facilities of a kind generally provided for others of the same age in mainstream schools or mainstream post-16 institutions.” If a learner is identified as having SEN, we will provide provision that is ‘additional to or different from’ the normal differentiated curriculum, intended to overcome the barrier to their learning. Learners can fall behind in school for lots of reasons. They may have been absent from school, they may have attended lots of different schools and not had a consistent opportunity to learn. They may not speak English very well or at all, they may be worried about different things that distracts them from learning. At Adwick Primary School we are committed to ensuring that all learners have access to learning opportunities, and for those who are at risk of not learning, we will intervene. This does not mean that all vulnerable learners have SEN. Only those with a learning difficulty that requires special educational provision will be identified as having SEN. Our SEN profile for 2014-15 shows that we have 25.59% of children identified as having SEN, and 1.49% of those have a Statement of Educational Need. 18.9% of the children are identified as School Action 5.2% of the children are on School Action Plus Arrangements for consulting young parents of children with SEN and involving them with their child’s education/arrangements for consulting young people with SEN and involving them with their education: Class teachers work closely with parents and report where they have noticed a child has difficulty with their learning. It is important that the views of parents and the child are taken into account when forming a support plan and meetings with them will form part of the ‘Plan-do-review’ cycle; the views of parents and the child will inform the initial planning meeting, followed by a cycle of interventions or additional support, which will then be reviewed to check if there has been a satisfactory amount of progress. Assessing SEN at Adwick Primary School
Class Teachers, support staff, parents/carers and the learner themselves will be the first to notice a difficulty with learning. At Adwick Primary School we ensure that assessment of educational needs, directly involves the learner, their parents/carer and of course their Teacher. The Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCO) will also support with the identification of barriers to learning. For some learners we may want to seek advice from specialist teams. In our school and cluster we have access to various specialist services. We have access to services universally provided by Doncaster Council, which are described on the Local Offer website. Adwick is supported through: The local authority Educational Psychologist Speech Therapist ASD Services We also employ 4 Higher Learning teaching Assistants who monitor and deliver the interventions in the provision map as co-ordinated by our SENCO. How do we find out if the support provided is effective? Monitoring progress is an integral part of teaching and leadership within Adwick Primary school. Parents/carers, pupils and staff are involved in reviewing the impact of interventions for learners with SEN. We follow the ‘assess, plan, do, review’ model and ensure that parents/carers and children are involved in each step. Before any additional provision is selected to help a child, the SENCO, Teacher, parent/carer and learner, agree what they expect to be different following this intervention. A baseline will also be recorded, which can be used to compare the impact of the provision. Children, Parents/carers and their Teaching and Support Staff will be directly involved in reviewing progress. This review can be built in to the intervention itself, or it can be a formal meeting held at least once a term, where we all discuss progress and next steps. If a learner has a statement of special education Needs (Education Health and Care Plan (EHC plan,)) the same termly review conversations take place, but the EHC plan will also be formally reviewed annually. The SENCO collates the impact data of interventions, to ensure that we are only using interventions that work. Progress data of all learners is collated by the whole school and monitored by Teachers, Senior Leaders and Governors. Support for improving emotional and social development, including extra pastoral arrangements Children are supported in school by all staff and through the curriculum (e.g. ‘Circle Times’). Where a family, parent or child require additional support, Mrs Kelly, our Family Support Worker and Mrs Goodwin our learning mentor, is able to provide targeted support.
Other Opportunities for Learning All learners should have the same opportunity to access extra curricular activities. At Adwick Primary School in 2014-15 we are offering a range of additional clubs and activities. We are committed to making reasonable adjustments to ensure participation for all, so please contact our extended school co-ordinator to discuss specific requirements. Please email admin@adwickprimaryschool.Doncaster.sch.uk All staff at Adwick Primary School have regular training on the Equality Act 2010. This legislation places specific duties on schools, settings and providers including the duty not to discriminate, harass or victimise a child or adult linked to a protected characteristic defined in the Equality Act and to make ‘reasonable adjustments.’ The Equality Act 210 definition of disability is: “A person has a disability for the purposes of this Act if (s) he has a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on his ability to carry out normal day-to day activities.” Section 1(1) Disability Discrimination Act 1995 This definition of disability in the Equality Act includes children with long term health conditions such as asthma, diabetes, epilepsy, and cancer. Children and young people with such conditions do not necessarily have SEN, but there is a significant overlap between disabled children and young people and those with SEN. Children and young people may therefore be covered by both SEN and disability legislation. Preparing for the next step Transition is a part of life for all learners. This can be transition to a new class in school, having a new teacher, or moving on to another school, training provider or moving in to employment. Adwick Primary School is committed to working in partnership with children, families and other providers to ensure positive transitions occur. Planning for transition is a part of our provision for all learners with SEN. Moving classes will be discussed with you and your child at their summer term review meeting. Transition to secondary schools will be discussed in the summer term of their Year 5, to ensure time for planning and preparation. Have your say This SEN report declares our annual offer to learners with SEN, but to be effective it needs the views of all parents/carers, learners, governors and staff. So please engage with our annual process to ‘assess plan, do and review’ provision for SEN. Complaints Procedure: Parents wishing to complain about the provision offered for SEN children at Adwick Primary, should please follow the Complaints Procedure policy (as on the school’s website: www.adwickprimary.doncaster.sch.uk)