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SEN Local Offer

Special Educational Needs & Disability (SEND)

Special Educational Needs School Information Report
2022 – 2023

Holy Trinity Church of England Primary School 

Local authorities are required to set out and publish a ‘local offer’. This explains how they will work with parents, local schools and colleges, as well as other services, such as speech and language occupational therapy, physiotherapy and the educational psychology service. This will encourage a more joined-up process when delivering services for children with Special Educational Needs. It will also make the system less stressful for families by giving parents more information about the services and expertise available locally and increasing their choice. 

You can view our SEN and Children With Health Needs Who Cannot Attend Policies on our Policies page. Or by clicking here.

Vision Statement 

At Holy Trinity Primary School, we believe that all children have an equal right to a full and rounded education that will enable them to achieve their full potential. We use our best endeavours to secure special educational provision, for pupils for whom this is required, that is ‘additional to and different from’ that provided within the differentiated curriculum, to better respond to the four areas of need identified in the Code of Practice (January 2015).

What kind of SEN does the School provide for?

Special educational needs and provision can be considered as falling under four broad areas:

  • Cognition and learning 
  • Communication and interaction 
  • Social, mental and emotional health 
  • Sensory and / or physical needs 

How will children with Special Educational Needs be identified and what sorts of assessments will be completed?

  • Baseline tests – Reading ages / Spelling ages / Maths ages / Speech & Language ages  
  • Teacher / LSA / SENCO identification through observation / marking / book sampling
  • Pupil Progress Meetings 
  • Parental concerns 
  • Monitoring of progress from interventions 
  • Transition meetings 
  • Target Tracker analysis 
  • Phonics screening 
  • Phonological Awareness assessment 
  • Speech and language screening 
  • Early Years baseline 
  • Literacy assessments – reading, comprehension and spelling ages
  • Maths assessments 
  • Working Memory
  • Boxall Profile 
  • Essex Provision guidance banding descriptors
  • Input from School Inclusion Partner / Educational Psychologist 
  • Input from therapist such as speech and language, occupational therapy 
  • If children come into school with an Education Health and Care Plan or medical diagnosis already in place 

Who is responsible for the Special Educational Needs provision in school?

Our SENCO is Miss Passfield. 

Our School Counsellor is  Mrs Kenny 

Our Child and Family Worker is Lindsay Wood 

Our Governor responsible for SEN is Mrs Hammond 

What arrangements are there for consulting parents of children with Special Educational Needs and involving them in their child’s education?

Formal – these may include:

  • Parent Evening meetings
  • Termly One Plan review meetings
  • Inviting you in to meet with professionals
  • Annual reviews for children with an Education Health and Care Plan

Informal – these may include:

  • Informal discussions with staff
  • Home – school diaries 
  • E – Mails
  • Phone Calls

What arrangements are there for consulting with young people with Special Educational Needs and involving them in their education?

  • Creation of One page profile following discussion between child and familiar adult 
  • Collection of child’s views for One Plan / EHCP
  • Conversations with teacher/learning support assistant/SENCO 
  • Observations of child in the learning environment 
  • Participation in progress reviews
  • Interactions between child and specialist teachers, educational psychologists etc. 

What arrangements are there for assessing and reviewing children and young people’s progress towards outcomes, including the opportunities available to work with parents and young people as part of this assessment and review? 

  • Baseline assessments 
  • Termly monitoring and assessment through the use of Provision Maps – detailing entry and exit levels when accessing a wide range of in school interventions
  • Observations by SENCO or other members of staff
  • Person Centred One Planning
  • Pupil Progress meetings
  • Outside agency feedback meetings
  • Pupil views
  • Parent views

What arrangements are there for supporting children and young people in moving between phases of education? 

Pre-school to Foundation 

  • Home visits carried out by Foundation Stage Teachers
  • Liaison with pre-school, SENCO, Foundation Teachers and Key Workers
  • Parents invited to welcome meetings
  • Tours of the school 
  • Transition Visits 
  • Transition photobook

Foundation to Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 1 to Key Stage 2

  • Transition sessions in new class
  • Liaison between Foundation staff and Year 1 staff 
  • Transition Photo books
  • Additional ‘getting to know you’ sessions, with Learning Support Assistants  

Key Stage 2 – Key Stage 3 

  • Transition programmes in place with local Secondary School
  • Secondary SENCO invited to Year 6 annual review of EHCP
  • Extra visits to Secondary School if required
  • Parents encouraged to visit arrange of secondary schools to decide on correct secondary provision for their child’s needs
  • Liaison between primary SENCO and teachers with Secondary SENCO and teachers
  • Transition photobook
  • Taster days in year 
  • Transition days in year 6 
  • Information sharing between professionals in both settings

What is the approach to teaching children and young people with Special Educational Needs? 

All teachers are teachers of children with special educational needs.

Teachers are responsible and accountable for the progress and development of the pupils in their class, including where pupils access support from teaching assistants or specialist staff’

[Code of Practice; June 2014: 6.36] 

  • Each child’s education will be planned for by the class teacher as part of high quality teaching. It will be differentiated according to the child’s individual needs. This may include additional support by the teacher or Learning Support Assistants in class. 
  • If a child’s needs are not sufficiently responsive to these differentiated strategies and interventions, then the child’s teacher will offer interventions that are different from or additional to those provided as part of the school’s usual working practises. They may be run by the Teacher or Learning Support Assistant. The length of time of the intervention may vary according to need but will be monitored regularly. Such monitoring is carried out in the format of class provision maps, of which are assessed and reviewed termly. 
  • If a child has higher level needs this may result in the creation of a support plan. A Graduated Approach is used within school – this involves assessing a child’s needs, creating a plan to meet those needs, carrying out the plan and then reviewing the impact. This cycle then begins again. This ‘One Planning’ process involves the family, child and other relevant professionals. This process will identify planned outcomes for the child and how they may be achieved.
  • Advice is often requested by schools from outside agencies, such as an educational psychologists, speech and language therapist, specialist teachers and medical professionals. This is to gain a detailed insight into the child’s needs and to assess current support.
  • An Education and Health Care Plan can be requested by Parents, the school or a Doctor if it is felt that the child is not making progress despite the increased provision in place. Detailed evidence would need to be provided showing current support and interventions and the subsequent impact on the child’s learning and progress. Information and evidence is also shared from other professionals involved in supporting the child and family. 

How are adaptations made to the curriculum and the learning environment of children and young people with Special Educational Needs? 

  • Changes and adaptations to the physical environment eg. ramps and handrails to make the site accessible
  • Toilet adapted for disabled users
  • Double doors in some parts of the building
  • Use of assistive technology
  • Visual timetables
  • Advice taken from specialist teachers 
  • Specialist resources
  • Playtime provision 
  • Sensory Room 

Please also see the following documents for further clarification, available on our school website:

  • Accessibility plan
  • Equality Scheme
  • SEND Policy

What expertise and training do staff supporting children and young people with Special Educational Needs have, including how specialist expertise is secured? 

All staff receive training on areas of SEN and new interventions, carried out by the SENCO or external agencies.

In addition, Teachers, LSAs and the SENCO often access advice from the following services: 

  • Educational psychologist advice
  • Speech and language therapy
  • Occupational Therapy 
  • Physiotherapy 
  • Advice from Emotional Wellbeing and Mental Health Service (EWMHS)
  • Child and Family Worker
  • School Nurse 
  • School Inclusion Partner 
  • SENCO update meetings, run by Essex County
  • Paediatricians

How is the effectiveness of the provision given to children and young people with Special Educational Needs evaluated? 

  • Target Tracker 
  • ASP – Analyse School Performance System
  • Attainment and Progress evaluations
  • EYFS (Early Years Foundation Stage) Profiles
  • Attendance and Exclusion Data
  • Provision Map reviews
  • One Plan reviews 
  • Annual Reviews (for those children with an EHCP)
  • Child views
  • Parent views
  • Ofsted
  • Governors Reports 
  • Reports from outside agencies 

Following evaluation and progress monitoring, if a child has made suitable progress within their learning they may be removed from the SEN register. 

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

  • Quality First Teaching 
  • Appropriate differentiation 
  • Inclusion in activities / curriculum 
  • Appropriate resources 
  • Bespoke equipment as advised by professionals
  • Access to before and after school clubs 
  • Social skills groups 
  • Support for school residential and trips as needed 
  • Adult or peer support as necessary to help children access all areas of the curriculum 
  • Bespoke curriculum under the advice of professionals 
  • Life skills 
  • Enrichment activities 
  • Lunchtime Club 

What support is there for improving emotional and social development? 

  • Access to School Counsellor
  • Access to Child and Family worker  
  • Zones of Regulation 
  • Sensory Room 
  • Forest Schools
  • Social Stories 
  • Lunch Club
  • Whole School behaviour and reward system 
  • PSHE Lessons 
  • Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning (SEAL)
  • E – Safety 
  • SMART Thinking

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 Special Educational Needs and supporting their families? 

  • Invites to join Team Around the Child / Team Around the Family Meetings 
  • Referrals, as appropriate to:
  • General Practitioner (GP)
  • Paediatrician
  • Emotional Wellbeing and Mental Health Service (EWMHS)
  • Speech and Language (SALT)
  • Family Solutions/Social Care
  • Educational Psychologist (EP)
  • Inclusion Partner

Family Support to include signposting to:

  • School Counsellor
  • Child and Family Worker 
  • Families in Focus
  • Family Solutions
  • Apex parent support group
  • MAZE
  • Play and Resource Centre (PARC)
  • Parent Partnership
  • SENDIASS

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

Please refer to the school’s complaints policy.

Summary 

All of the information here applies to children with special educational needs, including those who are looked after by the local authority. This information should be read alongside the information provided by the local authority which can be found on the Essex website www.essex.gov.uk