The kinds of SEN that are provided for at Foxborough Primary School

Foxborough Primary School is an inclusive school which aims to ensure that the needs of every child are met.  Our SEND policy is available on the school’s website which details further our philosophy in relation to SEND.  Our Local Offer is also available on the Local Authority’s website. 

Currently, the school provides for a range of additional needs.  These include:

·         Communication and interaction (speech &language difficulties, Autism Spectrum Disorder)

·         Cognition and Learning (MLD, PMLD, SpLD)

·         Social, Emotional and Mental Health Difficulties (Attachment, ADHD)

·         Sensory and / or Physical (visual impairment, hearing impairment, physical disability)

The approach to teaching children and young people with SEN

The aim of Foxborough Primary School’s SEND policy is to ensure that all children have access to the best educational opportunities in order for them to achieve their personal and academic best.  We have high aspirations and expectations of all pupils and act to remove barriers that would prevent children from reaching their full potential. 

In line with the SEN Code of Practice 2015, we adopt a graduated approach to support in order to meet pupils’ needs.  The graduated approach is a four-part cycle through which earlier decisions and actions are revisited, refined and revised with a growing knowledge and understanding of the pupil’s needs.

How children with SEN are enabled to engage in activities with children in school who do not have SEN

At Foxborough Primary School, we believe wholeheartedly in inclusion and integrate all SEN pupils into the full life of the school.  Quality-first teaching takes place in all classrooms and the provision is adapted to meet the needs of pupils with a special educational need.  Children with SEND receive support that is additional to or different from the provision made for other pupils.  All teachers take account of a child’s additional needs when planning or assessing, including:

·         Providing appropriate support for pupils with communication, language or literacy needs;

·         Planning to develop children’s understanding through the use of all available senses and experience;

·         Planning to enable children to take full part in learning, including physical and practical activities;

·         Managing children’s behavior in order to take part in learning effectively and safely;

·         Helping children to manage their emotions in order to take part in the learning effectively.

Children with disabilities

We acknowledge that not all children with disabilities necessarily have special educational needs.  All our teachers take action, however, to ensure that children with disabilities are able to participate as fully as possible in the curriculum and statutory assessments.  Potential areas of difficulty are identified and assessed from the outset so as to avoid the need to disapply any pupil from a statutory assessment.

Teachers plan enough time for the completion of tasks, opportunities required for development of skills in practical aspects of the curriculum and identify aspects of programmes of study and attainment targets that may present difficulties for children with disabilities. 

Support for improving social and emotional development

Staff are mindful of children’s circumstances and put in place individual support as needed.  This may include the use of access to an adult or a quiet space.  We use a range of programmes and services to support pupils in their social and emotional development, for example ELSA, access to Learning Mentors, Lego™ therapy, therapeutic play. Where we feel additional support is needed, we may refer to the Educational Psychologist, SEBDOS, CAMHS, Early Bird or Youth Offending Service.

In line with the school’s behaviour policy, the school ensures that measures are taken to prevent bullying for all pupils including those with SEN.  The school takes particular care to provide extra pastoral support, for example worry boxes in each classroom, to ensure that the views of children with SEN are listened to. 

Adaptations to the curriculum and the learning environment for children with SEN

The curriculum is scaffolded and differentiated to meet the needs of all our pupils.  Differentiation may take the form of grouping, content of the lesson, teaching style, lesson format, pace of the lesson, provision for alternative recording methods, materials used, support level provided or provision for the alternative location for completion of work.  The aim of differentiation is to enable as many pupils as possible to achieve age-related expectations. 

Foxborough Primary School always acts upon advice received from external agencies and we endeavour to ensure that all classrooms are dyslexia-, ASC- and SaLT-friendly.  For example, by providing:

·         labelled resources, word walls, prompt mats, highlighting pens and reading rulers;

·         visual timetables, quiet workstations, areas of retreat etc.;

·         visual feedback, ‘chunking’ of instructions, use of the 10 second rule, pre-teaching.

All extra-curricular activities are available to all of our children, including breakfast club.  Trips and external visits are planned to allow access to all and require the SENCo to sign off to ensure all wherever possible SEN needs are met.  Activities at lunchtime are provided to engage all pupils. 

SaLT

The school uses a Speech and Language Therapist who visits the school six times a year to assess and review pupils on the SaLT register.  An additional therapist from the Slough Speech and Language Team is used to complete assessments for the annual reviews of pupils with an EHCP.

In addition, the school also has an HLTA who is qualified at ELKAN Level 2 and 3 who delivers therapy in speech and language to pupils on a daily. 

Learning Mentor and ELSA

Specialist support is provided for to improve pupils’ emotional and social development.  This includes a variety of activities planned by the school’s Learning Mentor as well as ELSA.  The Learning Mentor uses assessment tools and a range of intervention programmes, such as:

·         Lego™ therapy

·         In class support

·         Alex Kelly ‘Talk About’ programmes

·         The Friendship Formula

·         Social Skills of Primary Pupils

·         Social Stories

Arrangements for supporting children in moving between phases of education and in preparing for adulthood.

Transition between year groups

Children with special needs are prepared for transition to a new year group through visits to the new class during the summer term, including the transition day.  In addition, where relevant, pupils with an additional need may be given a transition booklet made specifically with the child in mind, for example a social story that can be read over the summer break. 

Information is provided to the new teacher by the previous teacher and the SENDCo who will ensure that teachers and other adults have the knowledge necessary to support that child from their first day in their new class.  This includes information on pupils with an EHCP and IEPs for other pupils on the SEND register. 

Transition to secondary school

Along with parents / carers, secondary school staff are invited to the final annual review of a child with an EHCP during which current support strategies and the needs of the child are discussed in detail.  The SENDCo may arrange additional visits to the secondary school for children prior to transfer. 

For other children receiving SEN support, but who are not in receipt of an EHCP, the SENDCo liaises with the appropriate secondary school staff during their visit to Foxborough Primary School during the summer term.

SEND documentation and information is forwarded to the child’s new school. 

How we evaluate the effectiveness of the provision for SEND

At Foxborough Primary School, we evaluate the effectiveness of our provision through a variety of means.  We use a provision map of interventions to record support and measure progress via the school SIMs system as well as tracking the progress pupils make against their IEP.  We use assessment information on pupils before and after an intervention to measure the impact, as well as tracking attainment and progress for pupils’ progress three times a year in line with the school’s assessment procedures.  The school uses pupil and parent interviews and questionnaires to inform our evaluation, as well as ongoing monitoring by the school’s SENDCo.

Identifying pupils with SEND

The school’s SENDCo is Adam Spinks:

·         Foxborough Primary School: 01753 546376

·         adamspinks@foxboroughprimary.co.uk

At Foxborough Primary School we identify the needs of pupils by considering the holistic needs of a child.  We measure the progress that children make against the National Curriculum and age-related expectations, having completed a baseline assessment at the beginning of each academic year.  Ongoing teacher assessment is completed and regular Pupil Progress Meetings are used to discuss and analyse pupils’ attainment and progress.  In addition, different or specific assessment tools are used when it is identified that a child is making less than expected progress. 

In identifying whether a pupil has a special educational need, the school uses a variety of methods, including but not exclusively:

·         Information gained through meetings with the child’s previous setting;

·         Concerns raised by a parent / carer;

·         Significantly lower than expected levels of achievement and / or rate of progress;

·         Concerns raised by a member of staff, such as unusual behaviour;

·         Information gained through meeting with other professionals that might be in contact with the child such as a physiotherapist, speech therapist of pediatrician. 

Additional assessments may be conducted to ascertain whether a pupil has additional needs.  At Foxborough Primary School, these may include:

·         Reading age tests

·         Dyslexia screening tests

·         Maths screening tests

·         Observation by SENCo

·         Observation by external professionals such as EP, OT and SaLT

Specialised assessments may also be used in school to identify barriers to learning.  These may include:

·         Boxall Profile

·         Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire

·         Observation schedules, for example, behaviour, attention

·         Social, emotional and mental health checklists

The school also evaluates children’s progress in areas other than academic attainment, for example, where additional support may be required in order for a pupil to progress with social needs to ensure that they are fully included in school life.  The school adopts the stance that, if behaviour is causing concern, all measures must be taken to consider whether there are any underlying difficulties.  If there are none, then the school reverts to the Behaviour Policy.

Arrangements for consulting parents of children with SEN and involving parents in their child’s education

Throughout the school year, there are opportunities for parent consultations.  These include: Learning Review Day, two parents’ consultation evenings, an annual report to parents and an optional third parent consultation at the end of the academic year. 

Parents are always informed if school staff consider that their child has an additional need and parents and children (as appropriate depending upon capability and age) are involved in the assessment of the child and in planning to meet the identified need following an assessment.  Any pupil identified assessed and on the SEN register has an IEP and parents are invited to review their child’s IEP as per graduated approach cycle (outlined below).  The school has an ‘open door’ policy whereby the school’s SENDCo is contactable via the school office, ‘phone or email.  The school welcomes information from parents about how their child learns best to inform the approach adopted. 

Progress and outcomes of assessments by the school’s Educational Psychologist or other external agencies are shared with parents and discussion with parents takes place regarding the outcomes of any assessments completed. 

The progress of children with a statement or EHCP is discussed at the child’s annual review.  This includes, for year 5, discussions regarding transition to secondary school.  For pupils in year 6, the receiving secondary school is, where possible, invited to attend the annual review. 

Arrangements for consulting children with SEN and involving children in their education

Targets set for pupils with an additional need are reviewed with the pupil.  These targets are achievable but also challenging.  Pupils’ self-reflection is actively encouraged throughout the school and children are supported to think about their learning and how best to develop in school and at home. 

Child surveys are used at annual reviews and throughout the year to gain children’s views about their additional needs, the support in place to support them and any modifications to these needs that the child may feel would benefit them.

Graduated approach

Once a child has been identified as having a special educational need, the school follows the graduated approach as set out in the SEND Code of Practice, 2015 in order to remove the barriers to learning for that child. 

Arrangements for assessing and reviewing children’s progress towards outcomes

Individual Education Plans (IEPs) are written and reviewed in line with the graduated approach model detailed above.  This could include short or longer term targets.  The school uses attainment and progress data for individual pupils with an additional need as well as analyzing data for SEN across the school.  As detailed above, the school uses discussions / surveys from parents and pupils in their reviewing process.  This is all monitored by the school’s SENDCo.

The progress of pupils with speech and language needs are assessed and reviewed regularly throughout the year by SaLT services and the SaLT therapist commissioned by the school.  The SaLT therapist is Laura Franklin.  

An annual review is held for children with a statement or EHCP.  Interim reviews are also arranged throughout the year when deemed appropriate.  When pupils are assessed by the SENDCo, EP or other external agencies, meetings will take place with the parents / carers and the class teacher to discuss findings and how best to address need and meet targets. 

SEND funding

The school’s SEND funding is overseen by the SENCo and spent through the deployment of Teaching Assistants and external support staff such as Educational Psychologists, Counsellors, Speech and Language etc. as indicated below. Funding is also allocated in ensuring that effective staff training and differentiated resources are provided through department capitation.

Where pupils with SEND are also eligible for Pupil Premium (PP), personalised interventions are put in place for students. There are currently 32 pupils who are on the SEN and PP registers in the school out of a total of 114 PP students.

Pupil Premium provision is given in a number of ways (but not limited to) in the following ways:

Quality Assurance / Quality Improvement

·         We will develop the use of quality assurance and quality improvement activities to improve the quality of teaching of individuals for SEN pupils across the school 

·         To track interventions for SEN pupils we develop the use of SIMS Tracking Intervention module to track and evaluate the personalised provision for each disadvantaged pupil

Teaching and learning

·         In-house professional development will provide all staff with high-quality professional development in formative assessment, metacognition and collaborative learning

·         Personalised professional development and support from Educational Psychologist to provide CPD for all staff in collaborative learning techniques

·         EP to support individual teachers in implementing actions to support the progress of SEN pupils  

·         Personalised academic intervention in the form of one-to-one and small group intervention to disadvantaged pupils in all years in phonics, reading, writing, maths and GPS as required

·         Booster classes for SEN pupils in years 2 and 6 as appropriate

Parent / carer engagement

·         Stay and … sessions for parents to learn alongside their child and support their SEN

·         Parenting workshops including EP/Family support worker to provide parenting workshops to support families of children identifies as having SEN

Wider outcomes

·         Attendance and punctuality using the school minibus pick up service for pupils  

·         Use of external agencies such as SEBDOS to support pastoral needs of SEN pupils

·         Learning Mentor staffing, resources and training to support SEN children

·         Lego therapy

·         Educational visits    Off-site educational visits

·         On-site educational experiences

Staff development

The expertise and training of staff to support children and young people with SEND, including how specialist expertise is secured

Foxborough Primary School has a SENDCo who does not have a teaching commitment.  The school currently employs 10 Learning Support Assistants who are trained to deliver a range of interventions on a small group and 1:1 basis. 11  staff are trained as first aiders.

The school has a comprehensive programme of CPDL which is used to deliver the school’s strategic development plan and provide for personalised training for staff.  Specialist information gained through research / training is disseminated via staff meetings, briefings and updates. 

As specific needs arise, the SENDCo will seek input / advice from specialists from a range of agencies, for example, Educational Psychologist, SEBDOS, Occupational Therapy, to ensure that awareness of specific types of SEN is raised.  To enhance knowledge about a specific type of SEN, additional training may be provided to teachers or LSAs.  General support from the SENDCo is provided to all staff with a particular focus on NQTs and other new members of staff. 

The SENDCo attends termly borough-led network meetings organised to support SENDCos in their roles, affording an opportunity to discuss special educational needs issues with colleagues in other schools and disseminate information regarding current practice to colleagues across the borough. 

The SENDCo attends weekly meeting with the school’s Senior Leadership Team. 

Work with external agencies

At Foxborough Primary School, for children with specific identified or diagnosed needs, we work with a range of external agencies to ensure that the best possible support is in place.  The school utilises the support of the following external agencies:

·         Educational Psychologist;

·         Speech and Language Therapist;

·         Occupational Therapists;

·         Specialist teachers from Slough SEND team;

·         SEBDOS;

·         Sensory Consortium Service.

The school also uses the Local Authority’s Early Support system whereby help and support is offered to children and their families when low level issues emerge and before problems escalate.