SEN Information Report

OUR SCHOOL SEN INFORMATION REPORT (November 2023)

Welcome to our SEN information report which is part of the Norfolk Local Offer for learners with special needs. This report is reviewed annually and is next due to be reviewed November 2024.

There are four broad areas of need which give an overview of the needs that are planned for in school. These are Communication and Interaction, Cognition and Learning, Social, Emotional and Mental Health and Sensory and Physical needs.

Our Inclusion in a nutshell shows the current needs in our school.

At Fairstead Community Primary and Nursery School we work hard to ensure that every member of our school community – children, parents, staff and visitors – feel safe and included. We are an inclusive school and every child, whatever their individual abilities or needs, is equally valued and welcome here. We expect all parents and visitors to understand and support our inclusive ethos.

Inclusive learning and teaching recognises all children’s entitlement to a learning experience that respects diversity, enables participation, removes barriers and anticipates and considers a variety of learning needs and preferences. Inclusion in our school describes the right of children to access mainstream education alongside their peers. If you have any concerns regarding your child’s progress or well-being, then please speak to your child’s class teacher or Mrs Redden our Senco

Our SENCO

Mrs Kate Redden is the Fairstead School Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCO)

She can be contacted on 01553 774666 or by Email: senco@fairstead.norfolk.sch.uk

 

 

 

 

 

Identifying pupils with SEN and assessing their needs

When children start at our school, whether they come from home or another school, the handover systems ensure that we receive any information on their development so far, and any information on a special need or disability already identified by parents or health workers. If this is the case, we meet with everyone involved before the child starts school to make sure their transition to school is as smooth as possible. All children are unique and develop at different rates. Any special need may not be evident until they have been in school for some time.

All children’s attainment and achievements are monitored by their teacher who is required to provide high quality teaching and learning opportunities that are scaffolded appropriately for individual children. Monitoring attainment helps to identify any gaps, could be indicative of missed learning due to contextual issues, and reviewing progress helps to identify what the child’s ability or potential to learn is.

Where a pupil is making inadequate progress or falls behind their peers, additional support will be provided under the guidance of the class teacher.

Adequate progress could:

  • Be similar to that of peers;
  • Match or better the child’s previous rate of progress;
  • Close the attainment gap between the child and their peers;
  • Prevent the attainment gap growing wider.

Where a child continues to make inadequate progress despite support and high quality teaching, the class teacher will work with the school’s Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENDCo) to assess if a child has persistent learning difficulties or needs requiring additional or different support.

Slow progress and low attainment will not automatically mean a child is recorded as having SEND.

When deciding whether special educational provision is required, we will start with the desired outcomes, including the expected progress and attainment, and the views and the wishes of the pupil and their parents. We will use this to determine the support that is needed and whether we can provide it by adapting our core offer, or whether something different or additional is needed.

In some cases, it may be necessary to seek assessment by or advice from an external professional such as a specialist teacher or Educational Psychologist. This will be discussed with the child/young person and also their parents/carers.

Consulting and involving pupils and parents

In accordance with the SEND Code of Practice, Fairstead Community Primary and Nursery School believes that all parents should be treated as equal partners. Parents are invited to positively contribute to their child’s SEN support plan and their views are sought for reviews. We encourage active parent participation by providing guidance on how they can support their child’s learning at home.

The school provides user-friendly information and strives to ensure that parents understand the procedures and are aware of how to access advice and support.

If a child’s class teacher has a concern regarding the progress they are making the teacher with support from the SENCO will have an early discussion with the pupil and their parents. These conversations will make sure that:

  • Everyone develops a good understanding of the pupil’s areas of strength and difficulty
  • We take into account the parents’ concerns
  • Everyone understands the agreed outcomes sought for the child
  • Everyone is clear on what the next steps are
  • Everyone understands the provision the pupil will be receiving additional to and different from QFT.

If a SEN support plan and Individual provision map are needed these will be added to the child’s SEN file and a copy will be given to their parents.

We will formally notify parents when it is decided that a pupil will receive SEN support.

Assessing and reviewing pupils’ progress towards outcomes

The class teacher will work with the SENCO to carry out a clear analysis of the child’s needs. This will draw on:

  • The teacher’s assessment and experience of the child
  • Their previous progress and attainment and behaviour
  • Other teachers’ assessments, where relevant
  • The individual’s development in comparison to their peers and national data
  • The views and experience of parents
  • The child’s own views
  • Advice from external support services, if relevant

If a learner is identified as requiring SEN support, we will provide support that is additional to or different from the differentiated approaches and learning arrangements normally provided as part of high quality, individualised teaching intended to overcome the barrier to their learning.

This support is set out in the individual school’s whole school provision map, which documents the support that is currently in place. Various strategies are used to adapt access to the curriculum including visual timetables, ICT support, positive behaviour reward systems, ELSA, precision teaching and dyslexia friendly classrooms.

 

When providing support that is “additional to” or “different from” we engage in a four-stage process:

  •  Assess – this involves taking into consideration all the information from discussions with parents/carers, the child, the class teacher and assessments.
  • Plan – this stage identifies the barriers for learning, intended outcomes, and details what additional support will be provided to help overcome the barriers. Decisions will be recorded on an SEN Support plan and will form the basis for review meetings.
  • Do- providing the support – extra assistance for learning – as set out on the child’s individual provision map.
  • Review – measuring the impact of support provided, and considered whether changes to that support need to be made. All of those involved – learner, parents or carers, teachers, SENCO and outside agencies contribute to this review.  This stage then informs the next cycle

All teachers and support staff who work with the pupil will be made aware of their needs, the outcomes sought, the support provided, and any teaching strategies or approaches that are required. We review the effectiveness of the support and interventions and their impact on the pupil’s progress every term.

Reasonable adjustments are made to cater for the needs of individual children and we have a variety of programmes to boost and support pupils if necessary. These support and intervention programmes include:

  • Talk Boost
  • Letters and Sounds
  • Elklan Speech Therapy
  • Nurture interventions
  • Brain Gym
  • Precision Teaching for Maths
  • Precision Teaching for Reading
  • Precision Teaching for Writing
  • Toe by Toe
  • ELSA
  • Word Wasp
  • Power of One
  • Plus Two
  • Wellcomm
  • Dyslexia Gold
  • Beat dyslexia
  • PAT
  • Sound Linkage
  • Memory magic
  • First words

An application for an assessment for an Education Health and Care Plan will be initiated where, despite the school having taken relevant and purposeful action to assess, plan and review relevant interventions to meet the SEND needs of the pupil, the pupil has not made progress. The SENCO in conjunction with the Headteacher will make the decision on which children in the school require an EHCP assessment. The SENCO cannot be directed to make an application for an EHCP for a child on roll at our school by other professionals.

Supporting pupils during transition points

A change of school, class and staff can be an exciting, yet anxious time for all pupils. We endeavour to make sure these periods of change are managed in a sensitive way to provide continuity of quality provision and reassurance to our pupils and families. Our processes for transition are explained further in SEND Policy Appendix A

 

Our approach to teaching pupils with SEN

Teachers are responsible and accountable for the progress and development of all the pupils in their class.

High quality teaching is our first step in responding to pupils who have SEN. This will be differentiated for individual pupils. We have non- negotiables in place to ensure consistency across our school.

We use Widgit symbols across our school to communicate and the use of visuals is highly promoted.

Our monitoring process is an integral part of teaching and leadership at our school. Parents/ carers, pupils and staff are involved in reviewing the impact of interventions for learners with SEN. Before any additional provision is selected to help a child, the SENCO, teacher, parent/carer and learner, agree what they expect to be different following this intervention. A baseline will also be recorded, which can be used to compare the impact of the provision.

 

Adaptations to the curriculum and learning environment

Where children are underachieving and/or identified as having special educational needs the school will make the following adaptations to ensure all pupils’ needs are met:

  • Differentiating our curriculum to ensure all pupils are able to access it, for example, by grouping, 1:1 work, teaching style, content of the lesson, etc.
  • Adapting our resources and staffing
  • Using recommended aids, such as laptops, coloured overlays, visual timetables, larger font, etc.
  • Differentiating our teaching, for example, giving longer processing times, pre-teaching of key vocabulary, reading instructions aloud, etc.

 Additional support for learning

We have a number teaching assistants who are trained to deliver interventions such as Beat dyslexia, PAT, Lego therapy, ELKLAN, Talk Boost and Dyslexia gold.

We work with the following agencies to provide support for pupils with SEN:

  • Speech and Language Therapist
  • Educational Psychologist
  • Autism Support Teacher
  • School Health including the School Nurse, the Asthma Nurse and the Epilepsy Nurse.
  • Occupational therapy
  • Vision or Hearing Impaired Services
  • SEMH team
  • School 2 school.
  • Access through Technology
  • Dyslexia outreach
  • The Inclusion team
  • Open Arms Sensory Support

 

Expertise and training of staff

Our SENCO has 9 years experience in this role and is supported by a team of specially trained HLTA’s in SEN, Dyslexia and Speech, Language and Communication difficulties, Autism and ELSA.

We make sure our staff are up to date with training to help and support all our pupils.

This includes:

  • Autism Awareness- AET Oct 22
  • PECS training- June 2022
  • Norfolk Steps Training
  • ELKLAN (speech therapy) training- Dec 2021
  • Dyslexia Awareness Level 2 and 3- Dyslexia outreach 2019
  • Whole staff training CBT therapy- EPSS May 2022
  • Whole staff neurodiversity training- EPSS Jan 2022
  • ELSA- July 2021
  • Drawing and Talking September 2022
  • Attention Autism February 2023
  • Working memory- Dyslexia outreach March 2022
  • Precision Teaching- November 2023
  • Step on- Norfolk STEPS January 2022

 Securing equipment and facilities

Pupils will be offered additional SEND support when it is clear that their needs require intervention which is “additional to” or “different from” the well-differentiated curriculum offer for all pupils in the school i.e. they have a special educational need as defined by the SEND Code of Practice 2015.

Where a pupil has a significant, severe and sustained need and at least two cycles of Assess, Plan, Do, Review have been successfully completed it may be that after discussions with the child and their parents the SENCO will need to refer the child for an Education Health and Care Plan assessment.

When a child’s needs are viewed as exceptional and their need cannot be fully met within our own school budget, an application can be made to the Local Authority for Element 3 Funding. These applications are made by the SENCO and Headteacher of our school.   If the Local authority agrees to this additional funding then the money is released to our school to use in our proposed way- see costed Provision Map This may be in the form of equipment, resources, training for staff, specialist advice and support, or some direct adult support for an individual child.

Parents will be informed if applications for funding are to be made and of the outcome of the application.

To see our notional SEN budget please click here.

 

Evaluating the effectiveness of SEN provision

The school has a robust system for assessing the progress of individuals with SEND, using information gathered from a range of sources including observations, data analysis, provision mapping reviews and pupil progress meetings. This information is looked at in the context of a broad picture of the child’s areas for development and responses to different learning experiences.

The Senior Leadership Team will monitor:

  • Evidence of differentiation in teacher’s plans and children’s work;
  • Progress of all children with SEND;
  • Effectiveness of interventions;

We evaluate the effectiveness of provision for pupils with SEN by:

  • Reviewing pupils’ individual progress towards their goals each term
  • Reviewing the impact of interventions after a set time
  • Using pupil questionnaires
  • Monitoring by the SENCO
  • Using provision maps to measure progress
  • Holding annual reviews for pupils with EHC plans

 Enabling pupils with SEN to engage in activities available to those in the school who do not have SEN

At Fairstead Primary School we believe all learners are entitled to the same access to extra-curricular activities, and are committed to make reasonable adjustments to ensure participation for all. Any additional support or necessary adjustments are recorded on the risk assessment for the activity. Please contact us if your child has any specific requirements for extra-curricular activities.

No pupil is ever excluded from taking part in these activities because of their SEN or disability.

We recognise that there are similarities and differences between individuals and groups but we will strive to ensure that our differences do not become barriers to participation, access and learning and to create inclusive processes and practices, where the varying needs of individuals and groups are identified and met. We therefore cannot achieve equality for all by treating everyone the same.

We will build on our similarities and seek enrichment from our differences and so promote understanding and learning between and towards others to create cohesive communities.

All staff at Fairstead Community Primary and Nursery school are aware of the Equality Act 2010. This legislation places explicit duties on schools, settings and providers including the duty not to discriminate, harass or victimise a child or adult linked to a protected characteristic defined in the Equality Act and to make ‘reasonable adjustments.’

The Equality Act 2010 definition of disability is: “A person has a disability for the purposes of this Act if (s)he has a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long term adverse effect on his ability to carry out normal day to day activities.” Section 1(1) Disability Discrimination Act 1995

This includes children with long term health conditions such as Asthma, Diabetes, Epilepsy and Cancer. Children and young people who suffer from these conditions would not necessarily have SEND, but there is a definite overlap between disabled children and young people and those with SEND. Therefore, children and young people may be covered by both SEN and disability legislation.

The school has an Accessibility Policy to ensure that any pupil who is physically disabled has equal access to the curriculum.

Support for improving emotional and social development

We recognise that some children have extra emotional and social needs that need to be developed and nurtured. All classes follow a structured RSE curriculum to support this development. However, for those children who find aspects of this difficult we offer:

  • ELSA
  • ASD nurture groups and Sensory support
  • PSA
  • Lunch time and play time support / play partners
  • Social awareness games and activities
  • Talking through drawing
  • DESTY
  • Access external agencies and professionals and follow their advice

The school benefits from a Relationships and Behaviour Policy with clear rewards and sanctions and in each class the exact same rules are applied. In respect of Anti Bullying, there is a policy in place that has been drawn up with staff and pupils and is accessible to Parents.

There are various opportunities for pupils to have a voice on decision making in the school. The school has a proactive school council that meet regularly and we actively promote British Values.

 Working with other agencies

Sometimes we will need to ask for outside agencies to work with your child and provide us with further assessments and support. This will be one of the specialist services mentioned earlier. You will always be asked before we involve anyone and the SENCO will explain clearly how the external agency will help and support your child.

In accordance with the SEND Code of practice 2015 we invite all relevant agencies to EHC plan annual review meetings, transition meetings and specific provision planning meetings involving pupils with special educational needs in our school.

For pupils with Education, Health and Care Plans, we comply fully with requests from independent facilitators to provide information and cooperate fully with other agencies.

Mrs Redden will be the point of contact within the school who will coordinate the support from outside agencies for each pupil

however, in some circumstances an additional key person may be appointed for example our Speech and Language HLTA.

 

Identifying children with a Special Educational Need or Disability

As a parent, you may have concerns about your child, or staff in school may have noticed some concerns.

If either of these is the case, the sooner we talk the better.

 

School may carry out observations and/or assessments to get a clearer picture of your child.

We will talk to you again after this and decide together if we need to take any further action.

 

If, in exceptional circumstances, your child still does not make enough progress, we may have to ask the Local Authority for additional support for your child.

We always try to help parents at every stage but you can also get advice and information from SENDIASS Tel: 01603 704070 or you can contact via e-mail:norfolksendiass@norfolk.gov.uk

 

After about one term, we will meet with you for a review to see if the plan is working. If it is – no more worries! If not, we may put your child on the Special Educational Needs (SEN) Register. Your child will then have an Individual Education Plan (IEP) and we will set specific, achievable targets to make sure your child makes progress and can take part in all areas of school life.

 

Sometimes we need to ask for outside agencies to work with your child. This will be one of the specialist services mentioned earlier. You will always be asked before we involve anyone.

 

If we do need to take further action, we will write a plan for your child where they will be given specific targets to work on and possibly special resources and support. This plan will normally be in place for one term.

 

If you are concerned come and see us – we can always find a convenient time to see you. If we are concerned, the class teacher will talk to you. It’s amazing how many problems can be sorted out at this stage!

  

Our SEND policy can be found here

SEND key documents can be found here.

Contact details of support services for parents of pupils with SEN

We always try to help parents at every stage but you can also get advice and information from  SENDIASS Tel: 01603 704070  or you can contact via e-mail: norfolksendiass@norfolk.gov.uk

Contact details for raising concerns

If there are any concerns relating to the provision for children with SEND these will be dealt with in the first instance by the class teacher and SENDCO, then, if unresolved, by the Head Teacher

Complaints procedure

In the event of you needing to make a formal complaint, our complaints policy is available here.

 

The local authority local offer

Information on Norfolk’s Local Offer can be found on the Norfolk website:-

https://www.norfolk.gov.uk/children-and-families/send-local-offer

 

Norfolk County Council

County Hall

Martineau Lane

Norwich

Norfolk NR1 2DH

Tel: 0344 800 8020

 

 

Contact Us

Headteacher: Daniel Farthing
Address: William Booth Road
Kings Lynn
PE30 4RR

Tel: 01553 774666
Email: office@fairstead.norfolk.sch.uk

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