SEND – LOCAL OFFER
The arrangements Estcots Primary School have to support children and young people with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND)
How does the school know if children need extra help and what should I do if I think my child may have special educational needs?
Estcots SENCo is Mrs Lucy Howard. Contact details – lhoward@estcots.co.uk
SEN Register review:
Each term the school review all children on the register and update it accordingly, considering their category of SEND. This depends on the level of support that they receive.
Inclusion Referrals:
During the year the school use a referral process for teachers to flag up any child that is having difficulties and where additional support has not impacted. After assessment and discussion with all stakeholders it may be that the school and home agree to the child being placed on the register.
Progress Meeting:
Throughout the year the teachers review assessment data to identify additional provision that each child (SEN and non-SEN) needs to progress. This may also lead to a referral being made for further assessment from the appropriate outside agencies.
Home-School Partnership:
All actions within the school should be done after the teacher has liaised with parents to ensure effective communication between home and school takes place. Parents are also encouraged to talk to teachers about concerns they may have that may result in a referral to the Inclusion team/SENCo being made. ILPs/PMs are also send home termly for children on the register outlining the children’s next steps and the intervention in place to enable them to be achieved.
Parent Communication:
The class teacher, the Inclusion Leader/SENCo and SLT are happy to talk through on the phone or in a meeting if required any concerns you may have with SEND.
Please read below which outlines our support for children with Special Needs.
What is the Local Offer?
As part of the new Children’s and Family Bill (2014) provision for SEN has changed.
As part of this, schools and local authorities are required to publish a ‘local offer’. This is aimed at explaining how schools and authorities will work to provide the best outcomes for all concerned with SEND as well as providing the best information regarding the services available and how to access them.
At Estcots Primary School we continue to remain committed to achieving the best outcomes educationally, socially and emotionally for all pupils, including those with SEND by offering an inclusive environment. We are driven to working well with parents as we realise that it is parents who know their child best and are most able to help us to achieve this.
We have high expectations for all of our pupils and strive to enable them to reach their full potential. To facilitate this we offer a range of support and intervention both in house and through good links with outside agencies. More able children are also offered opportunities to extent their learning through additional activities. All children at Estcots have equal access to the curriculum.
The following information represents Estcots ‘Local Offer’ and should be read in conjunction with West Sussex County Council’s Local Offer (click below)
How are children identified for SEND additional support?
As part of usual classroom practice, children are being continually monitored both formally and informally by their class teacher for progress across all areas of the curriculum, including such aspects of development as communication, interaction, cognition and learning, social, emotional and mental health and sensory/or physical.
As part of our usual monitoring programme, class teachers enter and track assessment data for reading, writing and maths for each pupil, every term enabling them to consider the academic progress of the pupils in their class. Termly Pupil Progress Meetings are held with the Phase Leaders to discuss the progress of all children and identify next learning steps. Progress is discussed with parents either at the usual Parents Evening Consultation or as requested by a parent or the school.
Children who have been identified as not making as much progress as expected, either academically or in other areas of development (despite initial extra support), will be raised for discussion with the Inclusion Manager/Team, Head teacher and class teacher. A parent should have had at this point a discussion with the class teacher and or previous class teacher to identify that their child is receiving additional support and has been identified as having an Additional Educational Need requiring more support than other children in the class.
Where the Head teacher and Inclusion team feel that difficulties have been continuous and that the child has not responded as expected to initial interventions and support, a pupil may be identified (in consultation with the parents) as having SEND (Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities). Throughout this process, it is the aim of the school to keep parents both informed and seek their opinions on their child. We will also seek the opinions of the child regarding any difficulties that they may be having.
In a meeting with the parents ( and where appropriate the child) the next steps of support will be planned and a Provision Map (or ILP depending on the level of support needed) listing targets and how they will be achieved will be drawn up.
Occasionally, children have already been identified as having SEND by their pre-school setting. In this case we liaise carefully with the parents and the setting to ensure a smooth transition into Estcots.
What should I do if I think my child has SEND?
If you have any concerns about your child you should usually arrange to meet with your child’s class teacher to discuss your feelings further. You could also arrange to meet with the Inclusion Manager to discuss your concerns further or see West Sussex County Council’s Local Offer to find out what services are available to support you further (see link at top).
How will Estcots support my child?
At Estcots we are committed to matching the right support to your child dependent on need and that is why we have a dedicated inclusion department. We offer a number of nationally recognised programmes to assist with both English and Maths support as well having excellent pastoral care offering therapies such as Play and Lego.
Children who are having difficulties with English may be supported using nationally recognised programmes such as Read Write Inc Intervention support (which complements our usual Read Write Inc reading and writing programme) or begin Toe by Toe (a phonics based reading programme that was developed to promote reading with pupils with dyslexia).
It may also be appropriate for your child to receive Teaching Assistant support within the class either working on a one to on basis or within a group of children with similar needs.
All of our Teaching Assistants are trained in Sensory Circuits which is a programme divised by occupational therapy for children with gross motor, behavioural or sensory needs.
PLAY THERAPY
For children who have social, emotional or mental health concerns we have a dedicated Play Therapist.
Play Therapy allows children to explore their inner thoughts and feelings through play and art. Mrs Bailey is our resident Play Therapist.
Sessions are usually on a one to one basis, however they can be in small groups and have helped many children with SEND explore their feelings and behaviour patterns and help them to be more ready to access learning in the classroom.
At Estcots we believe that helping children to be socially and emotionally well-adjusted is as important as progressing academically.
We have a dedicated ‘Play Room’ where Mrs Bailey works with children for whom it has been agreed with the Inclusion Team and parents that Play Therapy would be appropriate.
The assumption is that given the opportunity to express themselves freely, children will reach solutions and resolve their own difficulties themselves, using play experiences and their therapists to do so.
Mrs Michelle Bailey
Mrs Bailey also works as Inclusion Support, providing support to Mrs Howard (Inclusion Manager) and to the rest of the staff in working with SEND pupils to achieve success within the classroom setting.
Mrs Bailey also carries out visual stress tests on identifying children who may have difficulty in literacy.
as well as the support and Visual stress Mrs Bailey supports our provision of Speech and Language both in house and external.
She also works with the Early Years Team to plan transition for SEND pupils moving from the Early Years Setting to Estcots.
Mrs Corrine Harrison-Gray
Mrs Harrison-Gray is our Learning Mentor and Lego Therapist. She works with children on a variety of issues for example anxieties relating to school, behaviour issues, bereavement and many more. She is also key to helping children transition well between year groups, planning and implementing transition plans to ensure that all our vulnerable children are happy and confident with changing classes and particularly year 6 moving onto secondary school. Mrs Harrison-Gray has her own dedicated room and works with SEND children on a one to one and group basis.
Lego Therapy is aimed at improving the social and communication skills of children with SEND. It takes advantage of the inherently rewarding nature of LEGO activities for many children.
The approach uses a number of important elements;
- Children participating first learn a set of clear ‘LEGO Club’ rules and develop LEGO brick building skills, including collaborative building, in individual therapy.
- They are then introduced to a group of peers, including some group members who do not have difficulty with social skills.
- The group meets on a regular basis and during that time engages in collaborative LEGO brick building activities and other projects, tailored to the skill level of the participants.
- The tasks are analyzed and different responsibilities are assigned to group members (typically these roles include director, engineer, supplier and builder).
- The team works together to assemble the project with and an emphasis on verbal and non-verbal communication, joint attention and task focus, collaborative problem-solving, sharing and turn-taking (switching roles during the task).
- During the LEGO system therapy sessions, social conventions can be directly instructed or prompted, based on the needs of the peers. For example, if two peers are physically fighting over LEGO elements, the supervisors can redirect the children to use language, negotiation, and compromise to settle their dispute.
SCHOOL SUPPORT
At Estcots, we offer a progressive approach to supporting children with SEND.
We aim to identify any difficulties that your child may be having swiftly and accurately and provide them with the timely support that they need, calling on outside agencies where and when appropriate.
The East Grinstead Group of schools (EGGS) in consultation with our local SEND hub has created a continuum of support that all of the local schools have agreed to use in order to ensure a consistent approach throughout the town’s schools and aid us (as a group of school’s) in supporting each other, alongside parent’s to provide the best support possible for SEND.
EGGS GRADUATED RESPONSE SHARED BY ALL EAST GRINSTEAD SCHOOLS
Depending on the level of support identified for your child (the descriptions to the left are meant for guidance and support only) either a Provision Map or Individual Learning Plan will be written identifying targets to be achieved and stating strategies that the school might use in order to achieve them.
These documents are reviewed three times a year in liaison with parents and their child. Copies will always be provided for parents. The ILPs base their targets on reports from outside agencies and follow the assess, plan, do review cycle.