St John Fisher RC Primary School
Supporting Children with Special Educational Needs & Disabilities (SEND)
Welcome to St John Fisher RC Primary School, a place where staff, parents and pupils work together to ensure all our learners make excellent progress and realise their potential.
We are a mainstream school providing education to approximately 240 pupils between the ages of 3-11. SEND stands for Special Educational Needs and/or Disability. Many children will have special educational needs of some kind during their time in education. Schools and other organisations can help most children overcome the barriers their difficulties present quickly and easily. A few children will need extra help for some or all of their time in school.
The Code of Practice 2015 states that:
‘A student has SEND where their learning difficulty or disability calls for special educational provision, that is different from or additional to that normally available to Children and Young People of the same age.’
IEPs (Individual Education Plans)
If, following observation in school and discussion with parents, a child is judged as requiring additional support, class teachers, the special needs co-ordinator, the pupil and their parents will work together to put together an Individual Education Plan (IEP). This document details the child’s strengths and any barriers observed, the targets set for the child and the measures put in place to meet these targets. IEPs are reviewed in an ongoing way to support pupil progress and respond to developing needs. They are produced through a consultation between teachers, support staff, parents and pupils as part of a 4-step process of assess, plan, do and review. These child-centred consultations take place at least termly and an IEP will remain in place for as long as special educational provision is required to help the pupil reach their full potential.
EHCPs (Education, Health and Care Plans)
An EHCP is for children and young people aged 0 to 25 who need additional special educational provision. It will identify educational, health and social needs and set out additional support to meet those needs.
An EHCP is a chance to share your views about your child’s wellbeing, and their hopes and dreams for the future. The plan will highlight your child’s strengths and educational needs, provide a set of outcomes which will describe what your child can achieve. An EHC plan is legally binding and will explain in detail to an education setting what support they and other services must provide.
In addition, some children may have individual health care requirements that could be a barrier to their full participation and prevent them making the most of every learning opportunity. Some children may have a documented Education Health Care Plan (EHCP) focused on reducing learning barriers and ensuring full participation in lessons.
SENDCo
Our SENCO is Mrs Harris and she coordinates support for children with additional needs throughout the school. Mrs Lavin is our Special Needs Support Assistant (SSA) and has a lot of knowledge of SEND having worked in a Resourced Base provision for a number of years before joining us at St John Fisher. We then also have TAs linked to each class who support children with SEND within the classroom.
All of our Teaching Assistants and staff receive regular training, providing them with the skills to support pupils with additional needs, including diagnosing barriers to progress, best-practise in delivering tailored interventions, supporting the mental health and well-being of learners and the delivery of specific and general medical care.
Progress of children on the SEND register is monitored on an individual basis by Mrs Harris (Head Teacher & SENDCo) and Mrs Lavin (SSA), working with our class teachers and teaching assistants to ensure children on the SEND register make progress.
Class teachers are happy to discuss any day-to-day needs and enquiries relating to how your child is supported. If you need any further support from Mrs Harris, her email is sendco@st-johnfisher.tameside.sch.uk
Our SEND Governor is Mrs Claire Higgins and her email is claire.higgins@st-johnfisher.tameside.sch.uk
Pupil Voice
We value and celebrate each child and encourage them to express their views on all aspects of school life. This is usually carried out through regular meetings of the School Council.
If your child has an EHCP or is on the SEND register, they will be involved in adding their views to the writing and reviewing of their Individual Education Plan (IEP) as appropriate to the age and communication abilities of the child. They will be asked about what is working for them in school, what they enjoy and what they would like to focus on and how they like to be helped. These views are recorded and shared with everyone involved in their learning.
We also use the following strategies to communicate with our pupils:
- · Pupil Voice Questionnaires
- · Annual Reviews
- · Personal Interviews
Parent Voice
Here at St John Fisher, we recognise the importance of working in close partnership with parents and honest and frequent communication is an important part of this. There are many ways that school will contact parents to discuss issues, assess progress, plan transitions and to discuss support at home. School and Parent communication is available through the following:
- · Telephone
- · Email
- · Teacher/SENCO/Head teacher meetings
- · Parents’ evenings
- · IEP Progress Review meetings
- · Parent view questionnaires
- · School website and useful links
- · Tapestry
If you have any concerns about your child’s progress or that your child has an unmet special educational need, you should at first speak to your child’s class teacher. If you feel your concerns are not dealt with after this, please contact the school office to arrange a meeting with our SENCO.
Please follow this link for information on Tameside’s local offer of services, support and guidance for parents and carers of children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND)
https://www.tameside.gov.uk/localoffer
https://www.tameside.gov.uk/sen/guidance
Policies
