Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND)

Our SENDco at Berrywood Primary School is Miss Amy Spencer who works in this role part-time. In her absence, please contact Mrs Lisa Ainsworth, Deputy Headteacher, or speak to one of our team of SEND support staff. The school SEND governor is Mrs. Alison Millman. She can be contacted via the School Office.

• Berrywood Primary School is a mainstream setting where all children are welcome whatever their abilities and needs.
• At Berrywood, we believe that all children should have access to a broad, balanced and relevant curriculum, which is differentiated to meet their individual needs.
• The building is accessible to children with a physical disability.
• We ensure that equipment used is accessible to all children regardless of their needs.
• Extra curricular activities and after school provision is accessible for children with SEND.
• If you are concerned about individual access arrangements, please come into school to talk to us.

We pride ourselves on building positive relationships with parents. We are open and honest with parents and hope that they are able to do the same with us.

• If you have concerns about your child’s progress you should speak to your child’s class teacher initially.
• If you are not happy that the concerns are being managed and that your child is still not making progress you should speak to the Year Team Leader or contact the SENDCo.
• If you are still not happy you can speak to Head teacher or the school SEND Governor.

We may know when a pupil requires additional support if:

• Concerns are raised by parents/carers, teachers or the child
• Concerns are highlighted by an Infant/ Pre-school or school previously attended
• A child is performing below age expected levels or is identified as not making sufficient progress
• Concerns are raised by the teacher for example if behaviour or self-esteem is affecting performance
• Other diagnostic assessments, such as Dyslexia screening, completed by the school raise concerns
• A paediatrician gives a health diagnosis
• Concerns are highlighted by external agencies

If any of these are evident then some of the following actions will be taken:

• The school will:
• Set up a meeting to discuss this with you in more detail
• Listen to any concerns that parents/ careers and/or teachers may have too
• Plan any additional support your child may receive

Discuss with you any referrals to outside professionals to support your child’s learning

The Special Educational Needs and Disability Co-ordinator (SENDCo) has designated responsibility for:

• Co-ordinating all of the support for children with Special Educational Needs or Disabilities (SEND)
• Developing the school’s SEND policy to ensure that all children get a consistent, high quality response to meeting their needs in school.
• Ensuring that you (the parents) are:

• Involved in supporting your child’s learning
• Kept informed about the support your child is getting
• Involved in reviewing how they are doing
  • Liaising and providing relevant training and support to the class teachers and teaching assistants so they can help children with SEND in our school achieve the best progress possible.
  • Updating the SEND register (a system for ensuring all the SEND needs of pupils in our school are known)
  • Developing and assigning appropriate learning programmes and interventions to meet your child’s specific needs
  • Liaising with external support services that may be coming into school to help support your child’s learning, e.g. Speech and Language Therapists, Physiotherapists, Social Services, Occupational Therapists and Educational Psychologists, Primary Behaviour Service team etc.

The class teacher is responsible for:

• Monitoring the progress of each child and identifying, planning and delivering any additional help your child may need (this could be things like targeted work, additional support) and letting the SENDCo know where necessary
• Writing individual targets as part of their SEND profiles, and sharing and reviewing these with parents at least once each term and planning for the next term.
• Ensuring that all support staff working with your child are kept well informed of their targets and individual needs, so that your child can achieve the best possible progress
• Ensuring that our school’s SEND Policy is followed in their classroom and for all the pupils they teach with any SEND.

The Head teacher is responsible for:

• The day-to-day management of all aspects of the school, this includes the support for children with SEND.
• They will give responsibility to the SENDCo and class teachers but is still responsible for ensuring that your child’s needs are met.
• They must make sure that the Governing Body is kept up to date about any issues in the school relating to SEND.

SEN Governors are responsible for:

• Making sure that the necessary support is made for any child who attends the school who has SEND.
• Listening to, responding to and working in partnership with the parents and school to resolve any issues brought to their attention by a parent which have not been resolved through previous discussions with school staff

The first level of support is from the class teacher who will ensure your child is well supported through excellent targeted classroom teaching known as 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 based on building on what your child already knows, can do and can understand.
• 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 or using visual aids.
• Specific strategies (which may be suggested by the SENDCo or outside staff) 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 in their understanding/learning and needs some extra support to help them make the best possible progress.

This is often called SEN support and all children in school should be getting this as a part of excellent classroom practice.

In addition to excellent class teaching, the class teacher may organise extra group support.  This type of support is available for any child who has specific gaps in their understanding of a subject/area of learning and who needs some help ‘catching up and keeping up’ with their peers. These group work sessions are often called intervention or booster groups and may be:

• Run in the classroom or in an alternative quiet environment around the school.

• Run by a Learning Support Assistant, Additional Needs Assistant/ teacher or outside professional (like a Speech and Language Therapist) who has had training to run these groups outside ‘normal’ lesson times using the teacher’s plan or advice from the SENDCo.

For your child this would mean:

• He/ She will engage in group sessions in addition to normal Curriculum taught sessions with specific targets to help him/her to make more progress.

This is often called SEN intervention support and all children in school should be getting this as a part of excellent classroom practice.

For the minority of children a more intense, personalised type of support is required on a 1:1 or small group intervention basis to accelerate progress or enable children to achieve their potential.  This type of support is available for children with specific barriers to learning that cannot be overcome through Quality First Teaching and intervention groups. The children receiving this level of support will be on the school’s SEND register.

• At Berrywood we have a wide range of 1:1 interventions and support programmes available, including speech, occupational therapy, learning and emotional behaviour support. The SENDCo regularly researches and reviews the quality of these interventions to ensure that they have been proven to result in at least double the rate of progress.

• Any members of staff carrying out this type of intervention work will be trained on the specific techniques involved and there is always a pre and post assessment to monitor the impact of the intervention on your child’s progress.

This type of support is often called SEN individualised intervention.

Occasionally a pupil may need more expert support from an Outside Agency. Specialist input may come from:

• Local Authority central services such as the ASD (Autistic Spectrum Disorder) Outreach Team or Specialist Teacher Advisory Service (for students with a hearing or visual need)
• Outside agencies such as the Speech and Language Therapy (SALT) Service, Occupational Therapy (OT) or Primary Behaviour Support Service.

For your child this would mean:

• Your child will have been identified by the SENDCo as needing more specialist input in addition to quality first teaching and intervention groups carried out by Learning Support Assistants or Additional Needs Assistants.
• You will be asked to come to a meeting to discuss your child’s progress and help plan possible ways forward.
• 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 yourself understand your child’s particular needs better and be able to support them better in school.
• The specialist professional will work with your child to understand their needs and make recommendations, which may include:
  • Making changes to the way your child is supported in class e.g. some individual support or changing some aspects of teaching to support them better
  • Support to set better targets which will include their specific expertise
  • A group run by school staff under the guidance of the outside professional e.g. a social skills group
  • Group or individual work with an outside professional

• The school may suggest that your child needs some agreed individual support in school. They will tell you how the support will be used and what strategies will be put in place.

For a very small percentage of pupils with significant needs this is usually provided via an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP). This means your child will have been identified as needing a particularly high level of individual or small group teaching (more than 20 hours a week), which cannot be provided from the budget available to the school. Usually your child will also need specialist support in school from a professional outside the school. This may be from:

• Local Authority central services such as the ASD Outreach Team or Specialist Teacher Advisory Service (for students with a hearing or visual need)
• Outside agencies such as the Speech and Language therapy (SALT) Service.

For your child this would mean:

• The school (or you) can request that the Local Authority 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 school have sent in the request to the Local Authority (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 ‘SEN Support.’
• After the reports have all been sent in, the Local Authority will decide if your child’s needs are severe, complex and lifelong and that they need more than 20 hours of support in school to make good progress. If this is the case they will write an Education Health and Care Plan. If this is not the case, they will ask the school to continue with ‘SEN 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 Education Health and Care Plan will outline the number of hours of individual/small group support your child will receive from the Local Authority and 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.
• The additional adult may be used to support your child with whole class learning, run individual programmes or run small groups including your child.

This type of support is available for children whose learning needs are:

• Severe, complex and lifelong
• Need more than 20 hours of support in school

• The school budget, received from Hampshire LA, includes a proportion of money for supporting children with SEND.
• The Head Teacher decides on the budget 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 SENDCo 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 and decide what resources/training and support is needed.
• All resources/training and support are reviewed regularly and changes made as needed. Resources are allocated according to individual needs within the budget of the school.
• Children with an Education Health and Care Plan may have specific allocations in terms of resources and additional adult support. These will be met in full.

The agencies accessed by Berrywood include:

• Educational Psychology Service – provides strategies, training and advice to school staff and can carry out a range of assessments
• Speech and Language Therapy – meets with children to assess their needs, following referral and school based intervention and then creates a programme of targets for school to work on, provides additional specialised information for staff
• Occupational Therapy – meets with children to assess their needs, following referral and school based intervention and then creates a programme of targets for school to work on, provides additional specialised information for staff
• School Nursing Team – provides advice to both families and school staff on managing medical needs
• Early Help Hub Team – provides support at home with behaviour and attendance issues
• Primary Behaviour Service (PBS) – helps teachers and parents develop strategies to support behaviour
• Shepherd’s Down Outreach – support for teachers of children who are attaining at a below age related expectation and who specialise in supporting children with Autism
• Childhood and Adolescence Mental Health Service (CAMHS) – will carry out assessments and give advice/ feedback on how they are supporting a child and suggest ways to continue support in school
• KS2 School Counsellor – based at the local secondary school, works 1:1 with children on specific issues
• Hearing Impaired Specialist Advisory Teachers – observe children and carry out assessments and provide advice/ information to staff
• Visually Impaired Specialist Advisory Teachers – observe children and carry out assessments and provide advice/ information to staff
• Ethnic Minority and Traveller Achievement Service (EMTAS) – offer bilingual support for children and young people at point of transfer into a new school in over 20 different languages, give advice and training on meeting needs of children learning English as an additional language, offer parental support and family working which includes family learning, translation of texts, letters and transition work for individual pupils. Supports staff in the understanding of the needs of families with a traveller heritage including specialised PSHE curriculum and attendance agreements

• 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 through differentiated work.
• Specially trained support staff can adapt the teachers 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.

The SENDCo liaises regularly with the class teachers to offer advice on ways that lessons can be adapted to meet the range of needs within their class.

• Your child’s progress is continually monitored by his/her class teacher and is discussed formally each term during assessment periods and parents evenings. Before this meeting, teachers will have analysed class data and drafted a Provision Map.  A Provision Map is a document which details the names of children who will require additional support during the coming half term, the type of support they will receive and suggested SMART targets (Specific, Measureable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-related) for the children to work on.  At the end of the half term, teachers will evaluate the Provision Map and record the outcomes for the interventions to ensure that they have had an impact.  A new Provision Map will then be drafted for the following half term and the cycle will begin again.  The Provision map will be shared with parents at Parents Evenings and meetings with the Additional Needs Team.  Each pupil listed on the SEN register will also receive a Pupil Passport detailing no more than 3 specific targets identified to support the pupils next steps in learning.
• If your child is in Year 1 and above, but is not yet at National Curriculum levels, a more sensitive assessment tool is used which shows their level in more detail and will also show smaller but significant steps of progress. These assessments are called ‘I can statements’.
• At the end of each key stage (i.e. at the end of year 2 and year 6) all children are formally assessed using Standard Assessment Tests (SATs) and Teacher Assessment (TA). This is something that the government requires all schools to do and the results from these assessments are published nationally.
• Children identified as requiring ‘SEN support’ will have individual education targets which will be added to the Provision Map and Pupil Passport.  These targets are reviewed regularly and each term you will have the opportunity to meet with your child’s class teacher and/or SENDCo to review the progress made and discuss plans for the following term.
• The progress of children with an Education Health and Care Plan is formally reviewed at an Annual Review and involves all the agencies that are a part of your child’s education.
• The SENDCo will also check that your child is making good progress within any individual work and in any group that they take part in.
• At Berrywood, we also measure the progress of children through reading, comprehension, spelling and number age assessments.

• The SENDCo’s job is to support the class teachers in planning for children with SEND. Mrs. Darnley and Mrs Ainsworth have gained the qualification ‘National Award for Special Educational Needs Co-ordination’.
• As part of the performance management cycle, the school has a training plan for all staff to improve the teaching and learning of children including those with SEND. This includes whole school training on SEND issues such as Autism Spectrum Disorder and speech and language difficulties or individual training courses.
• 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 Special School Outreach service.

• 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 similar strategies can be used.
• The SENDCo 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 and with the person involved directly, or where this is not possible, in a report or via a phone call.
• Your child’s SEND targets will be reviewed with you during Parents Evenings and drop-in meetings with the Additional Needs Team.

Homework will be adjusted as needed to your child’s individual needs

At Berrywood, we are passionate about finding new and innovative ways to support our parent community.  As such, we are pleased to be able to introduce you to a new resource accessible via padlet links.  A padlet is an online notice board tool that digitizes information about a particular subject in a clear and accessible way.  Please find the SEN Padlet link below.

https://padlet.com/SEND_Berrywood/92mecmpvatdf6hnt

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

• If your child is moving to another school:
  • We will contact the school SENDCo and ensure he/she knows about any special arrangements or support that needs to be made for your child.
  • We will make sure that all records about your child are passed on as soon as possible.

• When moving between classes at Berrywood:
  • Information will be passed on to the new class teacher in advance and a planning meeting will take place with the new teacher. All SEND profiles and pupils passports will be shared with the new teacher.  A profile contains key pieces of information about a child’s barriers to learning and suggested strategies for helping to support the child.  A passport is written with the child’s input and detailed information that the child wants their new teacher to know.
  • If your child would benefit from having a social story written for them to aid transition, this will be provided.

• In Year 6:
  • The SENDCo will attend the primary transition event to discuss the specific needs of your child with the SENDCo of their secondary school.
  • Your child will take part in focused learning sessions about 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.

• Activities and school trips are available for all children
• Risk assessments are carried out and procedures are put in place to enable all children to participate
• However, if it is deemed that an intensive level of 1:1 support is required a parent or carer may be asked to accompany their child during the activity.

The local offer was first introduced in the Green Paper (March 2011) as a local offer of all services available to support disabled children and children with SEND and their families. This ‘Local Offer’ will set out what is normally available in schools to help children with lower-level SEN as well as the options available to support families who need additional help to care for their child. The Local Authority also provides a ‘Local Offer’, which details the services they expect to be available in their area for children and young people from birth – 25 whom have Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). It also provides information on services outside of the area, which they expect children and young people from their area will use.

At Berrywood, we are passionate about finding new and innovative ways to support our parent community.  As such, we have a new resource which is accessible via padlet links.  A padlet is an online notice board tool that digitizes information about a particular subject in a clear and accessible way.  One of our padlets includes information for ‘Supporting Families’ and contains information relating to a range of issues such as ‘Anxiety’, ‘Loss and Bereavement’, ‘Divorce and Separation’ etc.  

Supporting Families Padlet link:

https://padlet.com/SEND_Berrywood/5x2uk7f0pcghubx0