SEND INFORMATION REPORT

Our Core Purpose

We aim to provide a safe and nurturing environment, based on Christian values, where all feel confident to learn, face challenges and take risks. We ensure that all are motivated, engaged and supported in becoming the best possible version of themselves.

SEND INformation Report

This policy is written in line with the requirements of:

Part 3 of the Children and Families Act 2014
SEN Code of Practice 2014
The Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014
The Special Educational Needs (Personal Budgets and Direct Payments) Regulations, Section 49
The Order setting out transitional arrangements, Section 137
The Equality Act 2010

This policy should also be read in conjunction with the following policies

Inclusion and SEND Policy, Discipline and Pupil Behaviour Policy, Assessment Policy, Equalities Policy, Safeguarding Policy, Complaints Policy, and Accessibility Plan

This policy was developed with representatives from the governing body and parents of children with special educational needs and will be reviewed annually.

Definition of SEND

The Special Educational Needs Code of Practice 2014 states that a child or young person has SEND 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 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.

High quality teaching that is differentiated and personalised will meet the individual needs of the majority of children and young people. Some children and young people need educational provision that is additional to or different from this. This is special educational provision under Section 21 of the Children and Families Act 2014. We use our best endeavours to ensure that such provision is made for those who need it.

Special educational provision is underpinned by high quality teaching and is compromised by anything less.

1. What are the kinds of special educational need for which provision is made at St Paul’s C of E Primary School?

St Paul’s Primary is a mainstream school.

‘All children and young people are entitled to an education that enables them to make progress so that they:

achieve their best
become confident individuals living fulfilling lives, and
make a successful transition into adulthood, whether into employment, further or higher education or training

At St Paul’s Primary we can make provision for every kind of frequently occurring special educational need without a statement of special educational needs / Education, Health and Care Plan, for instance dyslexia, dyspraxia, speech and language needs, autism, Asperger’s syndrome, learning difficulties and behaviour difficulties. There are other kinds of special educational need which do not occur as frequently and with which the school is less familiar, but we can access training and advice so that these kinds of needs can be met.

The school also currently meets the needs of pupils with a statement of special educational need / Education, Health and Care plan with the following kinds of special educational need: with dyslexia, specific medical needs, speech and language needs, cognitive learning difficulties, ASD. Decisions on the admission of pupils with a statement of special educational need / Education, Health and Care Plan are made by the Local Authority.

The admission arrangements for pupils without a statement of special educational needs/ Education, Health and Care Plan do not discriminate against or disadvantage disabled children or those with special educational needs and will follow the usual school admissions procedures.

2. What is the policy for identification and assessment of pupils with SEN at ST Paul's C of E Primary School?

At St Paul’s Primary subject teachers monitor the progress of all pupils regularly to review their progress. We also use a range of assessments with all the pupils at various points e.g. Y1 phonics screening, termly assessments, end of year and key stage assessments.

The principle of early identification and intervention underpins our approach to identifying those pupils who need extra help. This is often put in place, even if special educational need has not been identified. This extra support will enable the pupil to catch up.

Despite high quality targeted teaching some pupils may continue to make insufficient progress. For these pupils, and in consultation with parents, strengths and weaknesses are identified and used to identify an appropriate individualised intervention programme. In many cases these underlying needs often explain inadequate progress or challenging behaviour. At times it may be necessary to consult with outside agencies to receive more specialised expertise.

The purpose of this more detailed assessment and review is to understand what additional resources and different approaches are required to enable the pupil to make better progress. These will be shared with parents, put into a support plan and reviewed regularly, and refined / revised if necessary. At this point because the pupil requires additional and extra provision we will have identified that the pupil has a special educational need.

If the pupil makes good progress using this additional and different intervention (but would not be able to maintain this good progress without it) we will continue to identify the pupil as having a special educational need. If the pupil is able to maintain good progress without the additional and different resources he or she will not be identified with special educational needs.

We will ensure that all teachers and support staff who work with the pupil are aware of the support to be provided and the teaching approaches to be used. Each half term we measure the impact of additional support alongside that of quality first teaching delivered by the class teacher. We then plan for future interventions according to need and whether children are on track to meet their full potential. The school will also identify whether children are on the SEN code of practice and whether specific support is needed for a persistent learning difficulty. We have a model of Assessing, planning, implementing and reviewing all additional support offered.

The school works closely with parents and external agencies. We use a variety of services including, Educational Psychologists, Speech Therapists, Occupational Therapists, Social Workers, CAMHS (Children Adolescent Mental Health Service), Family Support workers, Behaviour Support team, Bereavement service (Saying Goodbye project), the School Nurse team, Hearing and Visually Impaired Service, Educational Welfare team and Parent Partnership (SENDIASS).

3a. How do we evaluate the effectiveness of the provision made for pupils with special education needs with or without a statement of special educational needs/Education, Health and Care Plan?

Regular monitoring and review will focus on the extent to which planned outcomes have been achieved. The views of the pupil, parents and class teachers will be taken into account. The assessment information from teachers will show whether adequate progress is being made.

The SEN Code of Practice (2014) describes adequate progress as:

Progress is similar to that of children of the same age who had the same starting point;
Matches or improves on the pupil’s previous rate of progress;
Which allows the attainment gap to close between the pupil and children of the same age.

For pupils with or without a statement of special educational needs / Education, Health and Care Plan there will be an annual review of the provision made for the child, which will enable an evaluation of the effectiveness of the special provision being made. The collation of all annual review evaluations of effectiveness will be reported to the governing body.

The school ensures that it also evaluates the impact of the provision beyond just academic progress by seeking pupil voice through surveys as well as regular conferencing. Pupils with their teaching support have an opportunity to regularly review their ‘pupil on a page’ document where the focus is on outcomes both academically and in terms of the whole child’s emotional, social and wellbeing needs.

3b. What are the school’s arrangements for assessing and reviewing the progress of pupils with special educational needs?

Every pupil in the school has their progress tracked termly. In addition to this, pupils with special educational needs will have more frequent and detailed assessments to inform targets and to measure small steps of progress. Parents of pupils identified on the SEND register have termly review meeting with the schools SENDco and class teacher.

If these assessments do not show adequate progress is being made the support plan and planned outcomes will be reviewed and adjusted.

3c. What is the school’s approach to teaching pupils with special educational needs?

‘Special educational provision is underpinned by high quality teaching and is compromised by anything less’ (SEN CoP, 2014)

High quality teaching, differentiated for individual pupils, is the first step in responding to pupils who have or may have SEND. Additional intervention and support cannot compensate for a lack of good quality teaching. Schools should regularly and carefully review the quality of teaching for all pupils, including those at risk of underachievement. This includes reviewing, and where necessary improving, teachers’ understanding of strategies to identify and support vulnerable pupils and their knowledge of the SEN most frequently encountered. (CoP 6.34)

We work to ensure that our approach to teaching and learning is of high quality and personalised to meet the individual needs of the majority of children/young people. Some children/young people need educational provision that is additional to or different from this. This is special educational provision.

In meeting the requirements of The National Curriculum Framework/Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage, the school employs some additional teaching approaches, as advised by internal and external assessments e.g. one to one tutoring / precision teaching / mentoring, small group teaching, use of ICT software learning packages. These are often delivered by additional staff under the close direction of teachers employed through the funding provided to the school. This is known as ‘notional SEND funding’. The class teacher will remain responsible for working with the pupil on a daily basis.

We have a duty to make arrangements to support pupils with medical conditions. Individual healthcare plans will normally specify the type and level of support required to meet the medical needs of such pupils. Where children and young people also have special educational needs, their provision will be planned and delivered in a co-ordinated way with the healthcare plan. We will have regard to the statutory guidance supporting pupils at school with medical conditions.

At St Paul’s we are fortunate to have 3 full time and 4 part time teaching assistants, one of which is a qualified HLTA. As a school we also have 3 part time Learning Support Assistant delivering on Educational Health Care Plans. These support staff have expertise that includes; Precision teaching, OT provision, Speech and Language provision, Narrative group interventions, Emotional Literacy training, Attached Aware training, training in Autism and Dyslexia. These teaching assistants deliver high quality interventions throughout the school day carefully timetabled to ensure that pupils do not miss any of their quality first teaching planned for and delivered by their class teachers.

The school follow the guidance in the Supporting Pupils at School with Medical Conditions document (2014) and work with parents to ensure that appropriate provision and support is given to these children. We will also seek advice from external professionals where appropriate. We have designated staff to ensure that the school’s medical policies are followed carefully.

3d. How does the school adapt the curriculum and learning environment for pupils with special educational needs?

At St Paul’s Primary we follow the advice in The National Curriculum Framework on how to adapt the curriculum and the learning environment for pupils with special educational needs. We also incorporate the advice provided as a result of assessments, both internal and external, and the strategies described in statements of special educational needs / Education, Health and Care Plans.

‘All pupils should have access to a broad and balanced curriculum. The National Curriculum Inclusion Statement states that teachers should set high expectations for every pupil, whatever their prior attainment. Teachers should use appropriate assessment to set targets which are deliberately ambitious. Potential areas of difficulty should be identified and addressed at the outset. Lessons should be planned to address potential areas of difficulty and to remove barriers to pupil achievement. In many cases, such planning will mean that pupils with SEN and disabilities will be able to study the full national curriculum.’ (Code of Practice 6.11)

As part of our requirement to keep the appropriateness of our curriculum and learning environment under review the Governors have recently made the following improvements:

Autism training for all staff
Level 1 precision teaching training for all staff
Level 2 precision teaching training for identified staff
Solution Focus therapy training
Lego therapy training
Development of the creative curriculum
Emotional literacy training
Speech and Language training on understanding spoken language
Hearing impaired training on meeting the needs on identified pupils.
Attached aware training
PDA training on supporting pupils with their demands
Identified staff have received Occupational Therapy training.
ASD training for all staff

We have identified that the following aspects of the school need to be improved:

Dyslexia training for all staff
Sensory processing training

The school also ensure that the environment is best suited for the needs of all our learners and in particular pays close attention to the planning for the needs of those with generalised and more specific learning needs. These include careful planning for furniture arrangements, visual timetables in each room, clear consistent messaging around school, careful choice of font, useful and meaningfully presented displays, OT resources including cushions and Thera putty as well as supporting pupils by ensuring that our classrooms are ASD, Dyslexic and hearing impaired friendly. We revisit this annually.

3e. What additional support for learning is available to pupils with special educational needs?

Schools receive funding for SEND pupils. This funding is used to support and enhance high quality of teaching in the school. It helps to ensure there are sufficient resources to for pupils requiring special educational provision. The support offered is matched to needs of individual pupils with SEND and evidence based. The amount of support required for each pupil to make good progress will be different in each case. In very few cases a very high level of resource is required. In this case the school will request ‘top up’ from the Local Authority in Kingston.

The Headteacher has the final say in the use of the personal budget within the school.

3f. What activities are available for pupils with special educational needs in addition to those available in accordance with the curriculum?

All clubs, trips and activities offered to pupils at St Paul’s Primary are available to pupils with special educational needs. For some pupils ‘reasonable adjustments’ may need to be made. This is always done in partnership with families and carers.

All pupils at St Paul’s Primary are invited to attend extra-curricular clubs. Wherever possible, these clubs include access for children with SEND. We will do our best to ensure that clubs cater to the needs of SEND pupils, and may support them in doing so by providing additional adult support.

We invite parents and carers to discuss access for SEND pupils on our school trips, both residential and day trips. We will make reasonable adjustments to ensure that all pupils can take part in trips and will plan them accordingly. If a parent has concerns or is anxious about their child going on any of our trips, we invite them to come and discuss these concerns further. We ensure that there are detailed risk assessments and plans in place for those whose needs require more attention and provision.

At St Paul’s, we aim to meet the needs of each individual child with SEND. For some children, this may mean that they need support at the beginning and the end of a school day, and may include an altered timetable to reflect this. As always, this will be discussed in conjunction with parents to ensure an appropriate plan is put in place.

3g. What support is available for improving the emotional and social development of pupils with special educational needs?

At St Paul’s Primary we understand that an important feature of the school is to enable all pupils to develop emotional resilience and social skills, both through direct teaching for instance PSHE, Emotional Literacy Support, use of our school values and positive learning behaviour examples, pupil voice time and indirectly with every conversation adults have with pupils throughout the day.

For some pupils with the most need for help in this area we also can provide the following…

Weekly lunchtime sessions with our school’s SENDCo
Designated time in our Community Room to regulate
Support with referrals to the CAMHS team
Support for consultations with the Family support team
Referrals to bereavement service
Referrals to Early Emotional Intervention Service (EEIS)

Pupils with emotional and social needs because of their special educational needs will be supported to enable them to develop and mature appropriately.

We are interested in hearing parents/carers and pupils’ views.

Pupils are encouraged to share their views on whole school issues through our School Council who meet once a month. All children with SEND have a One Page Profile which includes a section for them to share what is important to them in terms of their provision.

St Paul’s Primary does not tolerate bullying and all pupils are encouraged to share any concerns they have with their class teacher or support assistant. Children and young people with SEN are more likely to be the victims of bullying, so it is important to ensure that they report any behaviour that concerns them. Peer support systems are in place in addressing bullying behaviour, as well as raising awareness of SEN for everyone in the school community. Any cases of bullying are reported to the Senior Leadership Team who ensures that the matter is dealt with effectively.

4. Who are the best people to talk to in this school about my child’s difficulties with learning/ Special Educational Needs or disability(SEND)?

The SENDCo at St Paul’s Primary is Sharon Griffin, who is a qualified teacher and has been a SENDCo continuously since before 1 Sept 2009 and is not required to undertake the National Award for SEN Co-ordination.

Sharon Griffin works full time and is available on 0208-397-3553 or senco@sph.rbksch.org throughout the week.

5. What expertise and training is used with staff in relation to children and young people with special educational needs?

All teachers and teaching assistants have access to regular training, delivered either by the SENDCo or by external specialists. The training providers we approach for external training include:

Local Special Schools including St Philip’s School and Dysart
Educational Psychologists
Speech and Language Therapists
Occupational Therapists
Dyslexia specialists
Pupil Support Service
Saying Goodbye Bereavement service
Teaching and Learning consultants
Local Authority SEND caseworkers and Advisory team.
Child Protection Liaison
Restraint trainers
Early Emotional Health Service
Visually Impaired service
Hearing impaired service.

6. How do equipment and facilities support children and young people with special educational needs?

Specialist equipment will be considered on an individual basis and as needs require.

Currently we loan Hearing Impaired audio equipment.

7. What are the arrangements for consulting parents of children with special educational needs about, and involving them in, their education?

All parents of pupils at St Paul’s Primary are invited to discuss the progress of their children three times a year at parent consultations and receive a written report at the end of the year. In addition, we are happy to arrange meetings outside these times. As part of our normal teaching arrangements, all pupils will access some additional teaching to help them catch-up if the progress monitoring indicates that this is necessary; this will not imply that the pupil has a special educational need.

If following this normal provision improvements in progress are not seen, we will contact parents to discuss this and what we will be doing to help us to address these needs better. From this point onwards, the pupil will be identified as having special educational needs because special educational provision is being made and the parent will be invited to all planning and reviews of this provision. Parents will be actively supported to contribute to assessment, planning and review.

In addition to this, parents of pupils with a statement of SEND / Education, Health and Care Plan will be invited to contribute to and attend an annual review, which, wherever possible will also include other agencies involved with the pupil. Information will be made accessible for parents.

Our parents are consulted with throughout the year via workshops, termly reviews and additional parents’ meetings as well as workshops. We consult with our parents through parent rep meetings and through surveys. We ask parents to be part of policy writing and reviews and ask for their feedback on policy including access arrangements.

If parents have a concern with the SEND provision at St Paul’s Primary, we ask that they take these up with the class teacher, then SENDCo and then Headteacher in that order. If there continues to be a concern, then parents can contact the school's SEND link governor Monica Lombardelli.

8. What are the arrangements for consulting young people with special educational needs about, and involving them in, their education?

When a pupil has been identified as having special educational needs because special educational provision is being made for him or her, the pupil will be consulted about and involved in the arrangements made for them as part of person-centred planning.

We encourage all pupils to be at the centre of their learning. We appreciate that much younger pupils in the early years and Key Stage 1 need more support in articulating and taking responsibility for their contributions and expect parents to play a more significant role in this process during this stage. We are keen that pupils in KS2 take on a greater responsibility for their learning and feel more confident to share their thoughts and ideas during review meetings. Where this is not possible, as result of learning ability and needs, we will provide additional support.

At the review meetings we hold three times a year for all children on the SEND register we ensure that there are clear smart targets set with specific outcomes that can be measured and reviewed. These are what we report more formally on at Annual Review for our pupils with EHCPs.

9. What are the arrangements made by the governing body relating to the treatment of complaints from parents of pupils with special educational needs concerning the provision made at the school?

The same arrangements for the treatment of complaints at St Paul’s Primary are used for complaints about provision made for special educational needs and disabilities. We encourage parents to discuss their concerns with:

Class teacher (in the first instance)
SENDCo
Headteacher

to resolve the issue before making the complaint formal to the Chair of the Governing Body. (See the Complaints Procedure).

10. How do the governing body involve other agencies, including health and social services, local authority support services and voluntary organisations, in meeting the needs of pupils with special educational needs and in supporting the families of such pupils?

The governing body have engaged with the following:-

A Service Level Agreement with Educational Psychology service for 33 hours a year
Premium level membership to SPARK (the School Performance Alliance Richmond and Kingston)
Link to the Disabled Children’s Service for support to families for some pupils with high needs
Access to local authority SLA with Speech and Language Therapy Services / Occupational Therapy Services / Physiotherapy Services for pupil with requirement for direct therapy or advice
Ability to make ad hoc requests for advice from the Education Inclusion Service
Membership of professional networks for SENDCo e.g. NASEN, SENDCo forum, etc
School Nurse
Local authority Website hub for SENDCos: https://kr.afcinfo.org.uk/senco_zone

11. What are the contact details of support services for the parents of pupils with special educational needs, including those for arrangements made in accordance with clause 32 (Parent Partnership Services)?

Kids, a local voluntary sector organisation delivers the Parent Partnership Service and provides free, impartial, confidential, advice, support and options around educational issues for parent/carers who have children with special educational needs or disabilities (0-19/25).

The Parent Partnership Service aims to ensure that parents and carers are empowered and can play an informed role in planning provision to meet their child’s special educational needs. The Parent Partnership Service aims to build partnerships between parents and carers, the Local authority and schools. The service also encourages parents and carers to be involved in the development of local SEND policy and practice.

Address: Kingston Office: Moor Lane Centre Moor Lane, Chessington, KT9 2AA
Richmond Office: 20 Windham Road Richmond, London, TW9 2HP

Phone: 020 3793 9596

Email: RichmondKingston@kids.org.uk

Website: https://www.kids.org.uk/sendiass

12. What are the school’s arrangements for supporting pupils with special educational needs in transferring between phases of education or in preparing for adulthood and independent living?

At St Paul’s Primary we work closely with the educational settings used by the pupils before they transfer to us in order to seek the information that will make the transfer is a seamless as possible. The SENDCo meets with parents to discuss the successful transfer and will also arrange to visit the child and relevant staff in their current setting. The school provide additional visits to secondary placement as necessary for individual pupil as well as to early years settings for their transition into school.

We also contribute information to a pupils’ onward destination by providing information to the next setting. The SENDCo from the primary school will meet with the SENDCo of the secondary school to discuss the provision for the child. Parents are invited to attend this transition meeting and are supported through the process by the SENDCo’s from both schools. We also provide each of our identified pupils with a transition portfolio to take on key transition days and events and then to take to permanent school placement.

13. Where can I find Information on the published local authority’s local offer?

The local authority’s local offer is published on their website and parents without internet access should make an appointment with the SENDCo for support to gain the information they require.

Website for AFC Local Offer: https://kr.afcinfo.org.uk/local_offer

We will publish information on our website about the implementation of the governing body for pupils with SEN. The information published will be updated annually and any changes to the information occurring during the year will be updated as soon as possible. The information will meet the requirements in the Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014

Approved by the Governing Body: March 2022

Next review: March 2023

Date reviewed:

The SEND Information report will be reviewed annually in consultation with parents, governors and other stakeholders. It was last reviewed in March 2022.