The class teacher

Responsible for

• Checking on the progress of your child and identifying, planning and delivering any additional help your child may need (this could be targeted work or additional support) and letting the Special Education Needs/Disabilities Co-ordinator (SENCO) know as necessary. 

• Setting appropriate targets at least once each term, as well as sharing and reviewing them with parents.  

• Provide personalised teaching and learning for your child as identified on the class provision map. 

• Ensuring that the school’s SEN Policy is followed in their classroom and for all the pupils they teach with any SEND. 

The SENCo: Mrs C. Pearson

Responsible for

• Developing and reviewing the school’s SEN policy. 

• Co-ordinating all the support for children with special educational needs or disabilities (SEND) 

• Ensuring that you are 

• i) involved in supporting your child’s learning 

  ii) kept informed about the support your child is getting 

  iii) involved in reviewing how they are doing. 

• Liaising with all the other people who may be coming in to school to help support your child’s learning, e.g. Speech and Language Therapy, Educational Psychology. 

• Updating the school’s SEN register (a system for ensuring that all the SEND needs of pupils in this school are known) and making sure that records of your child’s progress and needs are kept. 

• Providing specialist support for teachers and support staff in the school, so that they can help children with SEND in the school to achieve the best progress possible. 

The Head teacher: Mr N. Reilly

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 SENCo and class teachers, but is still responsible for ensuring that your child’s needs are met.
• The Head teacher must make sure that the Governing Body is kept up to date about issues relating to SEND.

The SEN Governor: Mrs Sadie Wiles 

Responsible for

• Making sure that the necessary support is given for any child with SEND who attends the school.

School contact telephone number:  01733 897517

Class teacher input

Excellent targeted classroom teaching (Quality First Teaching).

For your child this would mean

• That the teacher has the highest possible expectations for your child and all pupils in their class.
• That all teaching is built on what your child already knows, can do and can understand.
• That 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.
• That specific strategies (which may be suggested by the SENCo) 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 a gap or gaps in their understanding/learning and needs some extra support to help them make the best possible progress.

Specific group work

Intervention which may be

• Run in the classroom or a group room.
• Run by a teacher or a teaching assistant (TA).

Specialist groups run by outside agencies, e.g. Speech and Language Therapy

This means a pupil has been identified by the SENCo/Inclusion Manager/class teacher as needing some extra specialist support in school from a professional outside the school. This may be from

• Local Authority central services, such as the ASD Outreach Team, Behaviour Support Team or Sensory Service (for students with a hearing or visual need).

Outside agencies such as the Education Psychology Service (EPS).

What could happen:

• 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 you to understand your child’s particular needs better and be able to support them more effectively in school.
• The specialist professional will work with your child to understand their needs and make recommendations as to the ways your child is given support.

Specified Individual support

This type of support is available for children whose learning needs are severe, complex and lifelong. 

This is usually provided via an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP). This means your child will have been identified by professionals as needing a particularly high level of individual or small-group teaching. 

This type of support is available for children with specific barriers to learning that cannot be overcome through Quality First Teaching and intervention groups. 

Your child will also need to be accessing specialist support in school from a professional outside the school (see those listed above).  

For your child this would mean: 

• The school (or you) can request that Local Authority Services 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 request has been made to the ‘Panel of Professionals’ (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 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 current support. 

• After the reports have all been sent in, the Panel of Professionals will decide if your child’s needs are severe, complex and lifelong. If this is the case, they will arrange a meeting to develop an Education Health Care Plan (EHCP) for your child. At this meeting, all relevant professionals who are involved in your child’s episode of care will be invited to attend as well as the parents. If this is not the case, they will ask the school to continue with the current level of support 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 EHC Plan will outline the amount of money that the school will receive to support your child a) from the school and b) top-up funding from the LA along with recommendations for 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. 

What types of support are available for my child at Nene Valley Primary School?

At Nene Valley Primary School we have a variety of ways that we can offer support for your children. 

 

If you have concerns about your child’s progress, you should speak to your child’s class teacher initially.

• If you continue to be concerned that your child is not making progress, you may speak to the Special Education Needs/Disabilities Co-ordinator (SENCo).
• The school SEN Governor can also be contacted for support.

If your child is 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 need.
• Discuss with you any referrals to outside professionals to support your child.

• The school budget, includes money for supporting children with SEN.
• The Head Teacher decides on the deployment of resources for Special Educational Needs and Disabilities, in consultation with the school governors on the basis of needs in the school.
• The Head Teacher and the  SENCo  discuss all the information they have about SEND in the school, including
  • the children getting extra support already,
  • the children needing extra support,
  • the children who have been identified as not making as much progress as would be expected.

From this information, they decide what resources/training and support is needed.

• The school identifies the needs of SEN pupils using the SEND register and class provision maps, or where a child’s needs are more complex and severe, through an Assess, Plan, Do, Review plan. This identifies all support given within school and is reviewed regularly and changes made as needed, so that the needs of children are met, and resources are deployed as effectively as possible. It also helps us to monitor which interventions have been effective and had the most impact on learning.  

School provision

• Teachers responsible for teaching SEN groups/individuals on a part-time basis.
• Teaching Assistants and HLTAs mainly working with either individual children or small groups.
• Teaching Assistants or HLTAs offering support for children with emotional and social development through our Nurture Group

Local Authority Provision delivered in school

Additional support and advice can be gained from the following services. This may be on a short- or long-term basis, depending on the needs of the child: 

• Autism & ADHD Advisory Teaching Service 

• SEND Specialist Hubs (commissioned by the LA and based at educational settings across the city, providing specialist placements, training, resources, peer to peer support in their focus area) 

• Early Support Pathway and access to Early Years Specialist Inclusion Team (Reception year only) 

• Sensory and Physical Support Service (for children with visual, hearing and physical needs)  

• Parent Partnership Service 

Health Provision delivered in school

Additional support and advice can be gained from the following services. This may be on a short- or long-term basis, depending on the needs of the child: 

• Speech and Language Therapy input to provide a higher level of service to the school 

• Emotional Health and Wellbeing Service (EHWS) 

• School Nursing Team 

• Occupational Therapy 

• Physiotherapy 

• Peterborough Integrated Children’s Health Service (Community Paediatrics) – providing assessment and management for children with physical disabilities, developmental disorders and complex needs 

• Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHs) 

The SENCo’s job is to support the class teacher in planning for children with SEN.

• The school provides training and support to enable all staff to improve the teaching and learning of children, including those with SEN. This includes whole school training on SEN issues, such as Dyslexia and speech and language difficulties.
• Individual teachers and support staff attend training courses run by outside agencies that are relevant to the needs of specific children in their class, e.g. from the sensory service or Autism Outreach Team.
• The SENCO attends regular network meetings with the other OWN Trust SENCOs where updates and training are disseminated.  

Class teachers plan lessons according to the specific needs of all groups of children in their class and will ensure that your child’s needs are met.

• Support staff, under the direction of the class teacher, can adapt planning to support the needs of your child where necessary.
• Specific resources and strategies will be used to support your child individually and in groups.
• Planning and teaching will be adapted, on a daily basis if needed, to meet your child’s learning needs.

• Your child’s progress will be monitored by his/her class teacher on an ongoing basis to support their learning.  

• His/her progress will be reviewed formally by the child’s class teacher at least every term in reading, writing and mathematics.  

• Progress of your child will be tracked by the SENCO after the formal review.  

• At the end of each key stage (Reception year, Year 2 and Year 6) all children are required to be formally assessed using statutory assessments issued by the government. Results are published nationally. In Year 1, children complete the Phonics Screening Check and in Year 4, there is a formalised test of children’s multiplication knowledge.  

• Children receiving SEN Support in school will have their provision mapped out on a class provision map, completed by the class teacher. The provision map outlines the target of any intervention and describes any adaptations that are being made to support your child in their learning.  

• Where necessary, children will have an Assess, Plan, Do Review Plan (APDR) based on targets set by the class teacher and outside agencies specific to their needs. You will be invited in to meet with the class teacher (and SENCO if needed); targets will be set with you and your child and designed to accelerate learning and close the gap. Progress against these targets will be reviewed regularly, evidence for judgements assessed and the APDR Plan adapted as part of an ongoing cycle.  

• The progress of children with a EHC Plan will be formally reviewed at an Annual Review with all adults involved with the child’s education. 

• The SENCO will also check that your child is making good progress within any individual work/intervention and in any group that they take part in by reviewing the class provision maps.  

• Book scrutinies and intervention records will be monitored as well as learning walks/drop ins carried out, by members of the Senior Leadership Team, to ensure that the needs of all children are met and that the quality of teaching and learning is high. 

• The class teacher is regularly available to discuss your child’s progress or any concerns you may have and to share information about what is working well at home and school, so that similar strategies can be used. 

• The SENCO/Inclusion Leader is available to meet with you to discuss your child’s progress or any concerns/worries you may have. 

• All information from outside professionals will be discussed with you with the person involved directly, or where this is not possible, in a report.  

• Targets set on class provision maps will be shared with you every term.  

• Assess, Plan, Do, Review Plans will be written and reviewed with yours and your child’s involvement at least every term. 

• Homework will be adjusted as needed to your child’s individual requirements. 

• The school is fully compliant with Disability Discrimination Act requirements.
• The school is on a single-level with easy access and ramps.
• There are two disabled toilets and a shower area.
• We ensure where-ever possible that equipment used is accessible to all children regardless of their needs.
• After-school provision is accessible to all children, including those with SEN.
• Extra-curricular activities are accessible for children with SEN.

We recognise that transitions can be difficult for a child with SEN, and we take steps to ensure that any transition is a smooth as possible.

If your child is joining us from another school:

• The SENCo will visit pre-schools with the Foundation Stage Leader when appropriate.
• If your child would be helped by a book/passport to support them in understand moving on, then one will be made for them.
• Your child will be able to visit our school and stay for a taster session, if this is appropriate.

If your child is moving to another school:

• We will contact the school SENCo and ensure he/she knows about any special arrangements or support that need to be made for your child. Where possible, a planning meeting will take place with the SENCo from the new school.
• We will make sure that all records about your child are passed on as soon as possible.
• If your child would be helped by a book/passport to support them in understand moving on, then one will be made for them.

When moving classes in school:

• Information, stored in class SEN folders, will be passed on to the new class teacher in advance and, before the end of the year, a transition meeting will take place with the new teacher where your child’s needs and next steps will be shared with the new teacher to ensure continuity in their provision. 

• If your child would be helped by a book/passport to support them in understand moving on, then one will be made for them.  

In Year 6:

• The SENCo will discuss the specific needs of your child with the SENCo of the child’s secondary school. In most cases, a transition review meeting to which you will be invited will take place with the SENCo from the new school.
• Your child will participate in focused learning relating to aspects of transition, to support their understanding of the changes ahead.
• Where possible, your child will visit their new school on several occasions, and in some cases staff from the new school will visit your child in this school.
• If your child would be helped by a book/passport to support them in understand moving on, then one will be made for them.

We recognise that some children have extra emotional and social needs that need to be developed and nurtured. These needs can manifest themselves in a number of ways, including behavioural difficulties, anxiousness, and being uncommunicative.

All classes follow a structured PSHE (Personal, Social and Health Education) curriculum to support this development. However, for those children who find aspects of this difficult we offer:

• Where appropriate, a support group to improve self-confidence, support with loss or develop social skills.
• Teaching Assistants specifically trained to support your child’s emotional needs.
• Where needed lunchtime and playtime support through planned activities and groups – normally overseen by Midday Supervisors.

If your child still needs extra support, and through discussion with you, the SENCO will access further support through the Early Help process. For more information about this process, please see the LA Local Offer - https://fis.peterborough.gov.uk/kb5/peterborough/directory/family.page?familychannel=9