SEND

Special educational needs and disability (SEND)

Our SENDCo is Ian Hickman and our Assistant SENDCo is Janice Marshall. Members of our SEND Team can be contacted on the one email - Senco-BHA@briarhillprimary.co.uk.

We value all children equally whatever their background, and aim to provide a welcoming, inclusive atmosphere that does not discriminate on the grounds of gender, ethnicity, culture, religion or ability. The school was awarded Flagship School for Inclusion status.

We are used as a beacon of good practice, exemplifying engagement with the Inclusion Quality Mark, excellent provision mapping and support for all vulnerable pupils.

The school does all that it can to ensure equal access to the whole curriculum for all children with Special Educational Needs, which includes children with disabilities. Procedures are regularly updated following our adoption of the Disability Equality Scheme which is a legal requirement in all schools, along with meeting the requirements of the Disability Discrimination Act.

The school does all that it can to ensure that all parts of the building are accessible to all children including those with Special Educational Needs, which includes children with Disabilities.

Our aim is to ensure a match between the teaching styles and the learning needs at any one time of an individual child in order that he/she can make the best possible progress and fulfil his/her potential.
Once the specific needs of the child have been identified appropriate provision is decided and implemented by the class teacher, support staff and any specialist staff that may be required. This includes differentiated work, additional help as required and a wide range of learning opportunities.

Northamptonshire Local Offer

DRET SEND Policy

Briar Hill Primary School SEND information report

Code of Practice 6.79

‘The governing bodies of maintained schools and maintained nursery schools and the proprietors of academy schools have a legal duty to publish information on their websites about the implementation of the governing body’s or the proprietor’s policy for pupils with SEND. The information published must be updated annually and any changes to the information occurring during the year must be updated as soon as possible. The information required is set out in the draft Special Educational Needs (Information) Regulations and reflects the information required for the local offer’.

Schools should ensure that the information is easily accessible by parents and is set out in clear, straightforward language. This should include information on the school’s SEND policy, named contacts within the school where parents have concerns and details of the school’s contribution to the local offer.

In setting out details of the broad and balanced curriculum provided in each year, schools should include details of how the curriculum is adapted or made accessible for pupils with SEND.

Updated July 2024

What is SEND?

A child or young person has SEND if they have a learning difficulty or disability which calls for special education provision to be made for him or her.

A child of compulsory school age or a young person has a learning difficulty or disability if he or she:

a) has a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others the same age, or
b) has a disability which prevents or hinders him or her from making use of facilities of a kind generally provided for others of the same age in mainstream schools.

How does our school know if children need extra help?

We know when pupils need additional support if:

Concerns are raised by Parents/Carers
Concerns are raised by teachers and school staff
Concerns are raised by outside agencies
There is a lack of progress over two terms (e.g. from September to Easter)
There is a change in the pupil’s behaviour
A pupil asks for help

Where pupils’ progress is significantly slower than that of their peers, or fails to match their previous rate of progress, despite high quality teaching targeted at specific areas of difficulty, it may be that the child has SEN. Information will be gathered, including seeking the views of parents and the pupil, as well as from teachers and more formal assessments.

There can be many reasons for learners ‘falling behind.’ These may include absences, attending lots of different schools, difficulties with speaking English, or worries that distract them from learning. The school understands that children who experience these barriers to learning are vulnerable. 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.

What SEND needs do you cater for?

We are a very inclusive school and cater for a wide range of needs. These will fall under the four broad categories from the code of practice 2014 - Communication and Interaction, Cognition and Learning, Sensory and/ or Physical needs and Social, Emotional and Mental Health. We will always endeavour to meet your child’s needs.

What arrangements do you have for consulting with parents of children with SEND and involving them in their child’s education?

Pupils on the SEND register have a one page profile and where appropriate will have an IEP . These are updated termly with the views of the pupil, teacher and parents. Termly review meetings take place for all pupils with parents.

We have two parents’ evenings during the year where you will be able to find out about what your child is doing and how they are progressing in correlation to their targets. We also send home reports during the terms where parents evenings are not held. The school also operates a policy whereby parents can contact the school to make an appointment to meet the class teacher or SENDCO.

What arrangements do you have in place in your school to consult with young people with SEND and how do you involve them in their education?

A twice a yearly survey takes place to ascertain the children’s views of school life. SEND pupils are represented across the school in various situations for example; school parliament, after school clubs and in competitions or sporting fixtures.

All children are assessed on a regular basis during each academic year. Each SEND pupil has a one page profile, where the views of the pupil are taken into account and shared with the relevant staff. All pupils with an EHCP are involved in their visual annual review.

Before your child joins our school at the beginning of the year, in Nursery or Reception, our staff will arrange to make a ‘home visit’ to talk to you and introduce themselves to your child. This is a wonderful opportunity for relationships to begin and for us to discuss all relevant information. Following a child joining us in the Early Years, they will be assessed, as part of their baselines, and this information will support us with our Early Identification processes.

There is a transition day for all Year 6’s during Summer Term 2 and details are shared with the relevant Secondary schools for the pupil voice. Additional visits may be set up where the Secondary or us feel it is appropriate.

What is you School’s approach to teaching children and young people with SEND?

High quality first teaching, by the class teacher, is delivered to all pupils. Support for learning within the classroom is the most important factor in helping pupils with SEND to make good progress alongside their peers. Learning would be scaffolded or differentiated in line with the pupils needs. Where possible children are always based in the classroom with their teacher.

Teaching assistants are deployed on a needs basis, and this can be based on a lesson need, in order to respond flexibly and swiftly. This may be in the form of in class support or an intervention.

For a small number of children, more support may be required. Should this arise, the SENDCo would work alongside the teacher and in partnership with the parent. Schools, parents and other agencies may decide that it is necessary to request higher needs funding (to be renamed targeted SEND funding in 2023) or a statutory assessment through the local authority. Where we feel that something additional or different is needed to support your child because they have SEND we will discuss this carefully with you. This information may well be recorded in a document for you and your child. This will include: details of any strategies being used to support your child in class; details of any extra support or interventions for your child; your child’s learning targets; the next date when your child’s progress will be reviewed.

We use a range of interventions to support pupils with SEND to make better progress. Interventions are structured learning programmes. We can explain to you:- what interventions your child is receiving and what are the intended learning outcomes; when during the week any interventions will be delivered and for how many weeks; who will be delivering the interventions (usually a well-trained teaching assistant) and where (e.g. in class or outside the classroom) how the interventions will relate to and support learning in the classroom; how they will be monitored closely to make sure they are helping your child to make accelerated progress.

What sort of adaptations are made to the curriculum and the learning environment of children and young people with SEND?

Quality first teaching is delivered across all classrooms. Each teacher will make appropriate adaptations to the curriculum so all children have full access. We have a clear ambition for all strategy at school. The teachers may scaffold or differentiate in order to make it accessible. These could include; visual aids, writing aids, coloured overlays, wobble cushions, writing frames, speaking frames, adult support. In addition to this, some pupils may require a personalised space. The school has a whole school provision map which details strategies and adaptations to the curriculum for a variety of needs. We have a large disabled toilet and shower. In line with the equality act, we ensure we meet the needs of all pupils if the need arises. Please see our Accessibility Plan for further details.

What sort of expertise for supporting children and young people with SEND do you currently have in school? How do you ensure that the expertise and training of staff to support children and young people with SEND is current? How do you access and secure further specialist expertise?

All staff are trained on a range of needs. We have a dedicated SENDCo, an Assistant SENDCo who is an Autism Specialist, a trained ACSW within our team, an ELSA trained member of staff and staff in the inclusion, and support staff, team who are able to support a range of needs.

An audit is done to see where the training needs are. This is a mixture of in school training and external training. There is weekly CPD for staff covering a range of areas linked to SEND, particularly linked to the recent SEND Ranges, as published by West Northamptonshire Council.

As a school we may need specialist support for your child. If we feel that the involvement of another agency would be beneficial to help with your child’s needs, you will be informed and asked to give your consent.

How do you evaluate the effectiveness of the provision made for children and young people with SEND?

We have an inclusion for all philosophy at Briar Hill and provision for SEND is focussed on delivering high quality first teaching. We assess the quality of this through the quality assurance of the leadership team.

We use an Early Identification approach to identify the needs of the children at our school and then we use the Graduated Approach to support our children; Assess, Plan, Do, Review.

If your child is not making the expected progress an intervention may be required to help support them; this will be completed using a graduated approach. Your child will be assessed to ascertain where their strengths and areas to develop are. Provision would be carefully planned, the intervention will be delivered for a set period of time on a regular basis and then they will be reviewed at the end of this period.

Some assessments which may be used are the British Picture Vocabulary Scale, Visual Stress Assessments, Boxhall Profile, Set Spelling Lists, Number Bond Assessments, Read Write Inc. Set Words and Times Tables. We also use Nessy Dyslexia Screening and Speech and Language Screening to identify greater support we can offer. Where appropriate, we may also use a Small Steps Assessment framework to identify targets for the children, as well as an Assessment for All framework if we feel that it is appropriate.

How are children and young people with SEND enabled to engage in activities available with children and young people in the school who do not have SEND?

As a fully inclusive school, all children will have access to all activities both in school and out.

For a school trip/visit, a a risk assessment will occur and any adaptations required will be put in place. School works closely with parents to ensure the needs of all pupils are met.

How do you support children and young people with SEND to improve their emotional and social development?

Wellbeing and the emotional and social development of pupils is vital and it is at the heart of everything we do at Briar Hill.

We have a dedicated Pastoral and Inclusion team who support children with any need throughout the school. We use the Inclusion Quality Mark (IQM) to evaluate how successfully we include all learners, including those with SEND.

Training is given to staff on all areas of social, emotional and mental health in order to offer excellent support for pupils. We have mental health first aiders for the children. The school has a dedicated Paradise room, which is a safe haven for the children to access at any point during the day. It is ran by specialist members or the pastoral team. Daily checks are in place for all pupils wellbeing, this is completed using the colour monster. We are a school that is ran through protective behaviour and restorative approaches and all behaviour is monitored and support is personalised based on needs.

We have a variety of sensory rooms which we will provide access to support children who need further help to self-regulate. There are a number of additional interventions; such as drawing and talking, sand play, attachment support and ELSA that children may access. The team work with a range of learners but give priority to those who need the most help, especially those experiencing multiple disadvantages.

How does the School involve other bodies, including health and social care bodies, local authority support services and voluntary sector organisations, in meeting children and young people’s SEND and supporting their families?

We work in close collaboration with a range of bodies to support children with SEND. School maintains excellent relationships with all relevant bodies and regularly accesses what is needed for pupils at Briar Hill.

Briar Hill works closely with; educational psychologist, physiotherapy, speech therapy, school nurse, teacher of the deaf, portage, specialist support service, community paediatrician.

In addition, we make referrals to the EIPT, visually impaired, occupational therapy, target autism, social care, CAMH’s, SEND advisors. Support for families through the local offer and a wide range of family support is available.

SEND IASS will offer information and support to families of students with SEND up to the age of 25 years whether or not they have a statement or EHC Plan. They may also be able to put you in touch with other organisations or parent support groups.

Support will be accessed from the virtual school for support of children who are looked after by the local authority.

What are the arrangements for handling complaints from parents of children with SEND about the provision made at the school?

If you have a complaint, please speak to the class teacher in the first instance and if this is not resolved speak to the SENDCo or the Headteacher. If it still cannot be resolved, please follow the school’s complaints procedure.

SEND Documents

Briar Hill Primary School