SEND
Batchley First School is proud to be an inclusive community. Batchley admits children with varying levels of additional needs. While all children have different needs, pupils have Special Educational Needs if they have a learning difficulty which calls for special educational provision to be made for them.
The school follows Worcestershire's Ordinarily Available document:
http://www.worcestershire.gov.uk/sendlocaloffer
as shown in our Special Educational Needs Information Report (See below)
Which types of needs do we manage at Batchley First School
Our school currently provides additional and/or different provision for the 4 areas of the code of practice 2014, including:
- Communication and interaction, for example, autistic spectrum disorder, Asperger’s Syndrome, speech and language difficulties
- Cognition and learning, for example, a Moderate Learning Difficulty which affects all areas of a child's development or a specific learning difficulty such as dyslexia which affects learning.
- Social, emotional and mental health difficulties, for example, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD),
- Sensory and/or physical needs, for example, visual impairments, hearing impairments, processing difficulties, epilepsy
Identifying pupils with SEN and assessing their needs
We will assess each pupil’s current skills and levels of attainment on entry, which will build on previous settings and Key Stages, where appropriate. Class teachers will make regular assessments of progress for all pupils and identify those whose progress:
- Is significantly slower than that of their peers starting from the same baseline
- Fails to match or better the child’s previous rate of progress
- Fails to close the attainment gap between the child and their peers
- Widens the attainment gap
This may include progress in areas other than attainment, for example, social needs.
Slow progress and low attainment will not automatically mean a pupil is recorded as having SEN.
When deciding whether special educational provision is required, we will start with the desired outcomes, including the expected progress and attainment, and the views and the wishes of the pupil and their parents. We will use this to determine the support that is needed and whether we can provide it by adapting our ordinarily available offer, or whether something different or additional is needed.
Every child in the school is discussed regularly during pupil progress meetings. The class teacher, with support from the SENCO if needed, will decide which resources and provision are best suited to each child. Different children will require different levels of support in order to close the gap to achieve age expected levels
Consulting and involving pupils and parents
- Teachers will usually have an early discussion with the pupil and their parents when identifying whether they need special educational provision. By creating a plan together, the teacher can make sure that:
- Everyone develops a good understanding of the pupil’s areas of strength and difficulty
- We take into account the parents’ concerns
- Everyone understands the agreed outcomes sought for the child
- Everyone is clear on what the next steps are.
All staff working with the child and wider staff will have access to this plan.
As well as keeping parents informed of how their child is progressing, the class teacher may suggest ways of supporting a child at home. External agencies may suggest programmes of studies or strategies which can be used at home. Teachers will communicate with parents in a number of ways. Staff may write comments in reading diaries, home school diaries or send notes/texts home. Key Stage newsletters and classroom window displays are also a very useful source of information and communication.
Other ways we support parents generally include
- Stay and Play sessions throughout the year as well as specific parent workshops and coffee mornings.
- Family learning sessions.
- Feedback relating to the SEN Information Report.
Notes of these early discussions will be added to the pupil’s record and given to their parents.
We will formally notify parents when it is decided that a pupil will receive SEN support.
How do we support a child with Special Educational Needs?
When a child has special educational needs, the school uses an Assess, Plan, Do, Review procedure:
The class teacher will work with the SENCO to carry out a clear analysis of the pupil’s needs. This will draw on:
- The teacher’s assessment and experience of the pupil
- Their previous progress and attainment and behaviour
- Other teachers’ assessments, where relevant
- The individual’s development in comparison to their peers and national data
- The views and experience of parents
- The pupil’s own views
- Advice from external support services, if relevant
The assessment will be reviewed regularly:
Identification is through ‘Waves of intervention’. This ensures that children have a graduated response to support their needs as outlined in Worcestershire’s Local Offer.
All teachers and support staff who work with the pupil will be made aware of their needs, the outcomes sought, the support provided, and any teaching strategies or approaches that are required. We will regularly review the effectiveness of the support and interventions and their impact on the pupil’s progress.
Supporting pupils moving between phases
We will share information with the school or Nursery the pupil is moving from or to. We will agree with parents and pupils which information will be shared as part of this. We also support by:
* Home visits for pre-school children, SENCo/Family Support Worker may be involved.
- Transition days, extra days for pre school children with SEN as necessary.
- Year 4 transfer: Pupil Mentor and Family Support Worker hold workshops.
- Middle school Transition days and Treasure hunt.
- Extra day where necessary.
- Our SENCO meets with Middle School SENCOs as necessary.
Our approach to supporting children with Special Educational Needs
Teachers are responsible and accountable for the progress and development of all the pupils in their class.
High quality teaching is our first step in responding to pupils who have SEN. This will be differentiated for individual pupils.
Wave 1: Quality inclusive teaching – available to all children
- High quality classroom teaching.
- Small group work by the class teacher or TA to fill any small gaps in learning
- Specific strategies that may provide immediate help for a child within the classroom e.g. a pencil grip, word bank sheet, different spellings, a visual timetable of the day etc. ü Discussion of concerns with Senco.
Wave 1 is monitored through regular Pupil Progress meetings. During this time all children are discussed and their progress monitored. From this, each parent is offered a long parent’s consultation where their child’s progress is discussed.
Wave 2: Specific, additional and time limited support- Most children will access this at some point in school
- Focussed group work, Interventions e.g. extra phonics, writing, maths.
- Small group work programmes e.g. Rapid Reading, Gross Motor Skills.
- Extra monitoring by the class teacher and Senco to check progress.
Wave 2 follows for those children where the teacher is concerned there is a gap in learning. The school inclusion team meets after pupil progress meetings to identify any gaps for individuals in provision.
Wave 3: Targeted or specialist provision- a few children
- External agency involvement e.g. Speech and Language, Educational Psychologist, etc.
- Individual support,
- Extra adult support
Wave 3 is for children whose progress and ability to learn in the classroom required significant support. The Specialist Support team meets termly. This comprises the SENCO, our Educational Psychologist, Family Support Worker and Speech and Language Therapist.
We will also provide the following interventions:
Wave 2:
- Early Years Speech and Language support.
- Listening and Attention groups.
- Speech Groups.
- Rapid Reading
- Phonics Intervention
- Action Word Groups
- Colourful Semantics Groups
- Writing Intervention
- Handwriting and Fine Motor groups
- Maths and Numeracy Intervention
- Social group
Wave 3:
- Nurture Group
- Small group provision
- 1-1 support
Adaptations to the curriculum and learning environment
We make the following adaptations to ensure all pupils’ needs are met:
- Adapting our resources and staffing
- Constant monitoring review of progress during interventions, through differentiated class-based activities.
- Class work is differentiated in small groups and individually when required, based on agreed Quality First Teaching planning.
- Classrooms have visual timetables to enable all children to access information about what is to happen.
- Scripts and fonts are designed to be dyslexia friendly, coloured paper, rulers and overlays are available.
- Class-based TAs work alongside the class teacher to support children with SEN individually/in small groups and to facilitate the class teacher working with children with SEN.
- Links are forged between classroom and intervention to ensure continuity, through verbal communication and Helping Hands/Postcards.
- Provision, targets and outcomes are discussed termly and recorded on a Provision Map, which is subsequently reviewed at the end of term.
Where there are specific learning difficulties or developmental delay:
- Strategies which promote over-learning of skills are employed during interventions at Wave 2 and 3.
- On occasion, 1-1 support is necessary to enable a child to overcome barriers for learning at Wave 3.
- Small groups and breakout rooms which support children’s development.
- A kinaesthetic foundation stage type approach is used for some children.
- Using recommended aids, such as laptops, coloured overlays, visual timetables, larger font…
Additional support for learning
We have teaching assistants who are trained to deliver interventions such as Rapid Reading, Listening Groups, Nurture Group.
Teaching assistants will support pupils on a 1:1 basis when the child id finding it difficult to manage in class for cognitive or social emotional mental health difficulties.
Teaching assistants will support pupils in small groups when they can appropriately scaffold learning to the level to be accessible for children with learning difficulties.
We work with the following agencies to provide support for pupils with SEN:
- Family Support Worker
- Educational Psychologist
- School Nurse
- Speech and Language Therapist
- Positive behaviour team
- Pupil Referral Unit
Expertise and training of staff
Our SENCO has 7 years experience in this role and has worked as a Lead Practitioner of children with Autism, a Senior Leader of Special Education and a Local Leader of Education.
The SENCO does not have a full time class responsibility.
We have a team of teaching assistants, including higher level teaching assistants (HLTAs) who are trained to deliver SEN provision. We have a specialist nursery class and manage 3 speech and language classes throughout Worcestershire.
In the last academic year, staff have been trained in Speech and Language Therapy, Rapid Reading, Action Words, Colourful Semantics.
Specialist equipment and facilities
Batchley is lucky to have specialist provision for on site. We have our own sensory room and expertise on hand in the school from our early years classes..
Evaluating the effectiveness of SEN provision
We evaluate the effectiveness of provision for pupils with SEN by:
- Reviewing pupils’ individual progress towards their targets each term
- Reviewing the impact of interventions after 10 weeks
- Using pupil questionnaires
- Monitoring by the SENCO
- Using provision maps to measure progress
- Holding annual reviews for pupils with statements of SEN or EHC plans
Support for improving emotional and social development
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We provide support for pupils to improve their emotional and social development in the following ways:
- The ethos of the school’s Nurture Group is pervasive across the school.
- Children deemed to require support in their social development are carefully assessed and monitored using the Boxall screening and SDQ to discover the root of their issues.
- Pupils social development is also assessed using sociometric surveys. The information from this informs teacher groupings to support relationships within the classroom.
- Pupils with SEN are encouraged to be part of the school council
- We have a zero tolerance approach to bullying.
Enabling pupils with SEN to engage in activities available to those in the school who do not have SEN
All of our extra-curricular activities and school visits are available to all our pupils, including our before-and after-school clubs.
All pupils are encouraged to go on our residential trip to Pioneer in Year 4.
All pupils are encouraged to take part in sports day
All older pupils are encouraged to take part in large music concerts and events
The school’s inclusion festivals ensure that all children have positive experiences of different types of sport.
No pupil is ever excluded from taking part in these activities because of their SEN or disability.
The school’s disability plan which outlines our support for pupils with disabilities can be found on the School Website ‘Policies’.
Working with other agencies
The school works closely with the following agencies:
- Speech and Language Therapy: Our National Award winning Language Classes enable us to benefit from expertise on a daily basis.
- Educational Psychology: Our Nursery Plus provision means we benefit from expertise from Educational Psychology.
- Family Support: We have a Family Support Worker on site.
- Mental Health: We use Camhs Cast to support mental health.
- Community Paediatrician: The SENCO regularly liaises with Community Paediatricians to support the learning of the children.
- School Nurse: School Nurse supports referrals to Health Agencies.
- Occupational and Physiotherapy: As necessary, we will liaise with these agencies to support the children’s learning.
Complaints about SEN provision
Complaints about SEN provision in our school should be made initially to the class teacher in the first instance. They will then be referred to the school’s complaints policy.
The parents of pupils with disabilities have the right to make disability discrimination claims to the first-tier SEND tribunal if they believe that our school has discriminated against their children. They can make a claim about alleged discrimination regarding:
- Exclusions
- Provision of education and associated services
- Making reasonable adjustments, including the provision of auxiliary aids and services
The SENCO is happy to signpost to support. However, more general support can be found here:
- SENDIASS: 01905 768153
SEN support groups:
- www.autismlinks.co.uk (Autism Support)
- www.aspie.org.uk (for parents of children with Aspergers)
- www.worcestershire.gov.uk/downloads/file/593/worcestershire_dyslexic_support_group (Dyslexia Support)
Contact details for raising concerns
Mrs Sarah Wykes: Assistant Headteacher Inclusion swykes@batchley.worcs.sch.uk
Mr Matt Whiteley: Headteacher: mwhiteley@batchley.worcs.sch.uk
Mrs Laney Walsh SEN Governor: lwalsh@batchleyonmicrosoft.com