SEND Provision at Lyndhurst

Lyndhurst Community Primary is an inclusive school. We ensure that all of our children are involved in all aspects of learning and are challenged and motivated to reach their full potential. Pupils may need additional support to help them meet their learning needs and we are here to support those children.

Local Offer Overview

Mrs McConnell is our school SENDCo

She is responsible for the operation of the Special Educational Needs policy and coordination of specific provision made to support individual children with SEND. Mrs McConnell can be contacted on the school telephone number: 0161 330 7220 or via email: senco@lyndhurst-primary.co.uk

Our Governor with responsibility for SEND is Helen Fletcher.

Mrs McConnell (Assistant Head Teacher  is our Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) and Mrs Patterson (Head Teacher) and Mrs Savill (Pastoral Manager) are our Deputy Designated Safeguarding Leads.

Our Attendance Officer is Mrs Janice Carr.

Our Special Support Assistant is Miss Gee.

The kinds of SEND that are provided for

Our school currently provides additional and/or different provision for a range of needs, including:

• Communication and interaction, for example, Autistic Spectrum Condition (ASC) and Speech and Language difficulties
• Cognition and learning, for example, Dyslexia, Dyspraxia
• Social, Emotional and Mental Health difficulties, for example: Anxiety   
• Sensory and/or physical needs, for example, visual impairments, hearing impairments, epilepsy 

Identifying pupils with SEND and assessing their needs

We will assess each pupil’s current skills and levels of attainment on entry, which will build on previous settings and Key Stages, where appropriate. Class teachers will make regular assessments of progress for all pupils. This may include progress in areas other than attainment, for example, social needs which we can assess using the Boxall Profile.  

Consulting and involving pupils and Parents/Carers

We know that Parents/Carers know their children best and therefore listen when they express concerns about their child’s development.  We also listen to any concerns raised by children themselves. If parents are concerned, they need not wait for school to identify their child’s needs. Parents/Carers are encouraged to communicate with the class teacher and meetings can be arranged with the SENDCo to further discuss any worries.

SEND Coffee Mornings

We hold coffee mornings termly where parents can get together, chat over a coffee and share advice and useful information. The school SENDCo and SSA are present at these meetings to offer support and answer any queries parents may have.

Assessing and reviewing pupils' progress towards outcomes
Children who have been identified as needing additional support, will then be part of our ‘assess, plan, do, and review’ cycle. This is where we create and monitor Learning Plans for children to set targets, desired outcomes, and provision to help us achieve these. Learning Plans are then reviewed at the end of each term. These reviews include the teacher, parent/carers and the pupil. The SENDCo may also attend.

Supporting pupils moving between phases and preparing for adulthood

We encourage all families to visit our school for a tour before joining, whether that is before your child’s first day in Nursery or Reception or when transferring to us from another school. 

We liaise with children’s current school/nursery settings to obtain information about children’s achievements and needs. Similarly, we will share information with the school, college, or other setting the pupil is moving to. We will agree with Parents/Carers and pupils which information will be shared as part of this.

Home visits are undertaken for all pupils starting in our nursery by EYFS staff. We visit children starting in our Reception at their Nursery setting or complete a home visit if they are not attending a Nursery. These visits are for us to meet the children in their own environment and to find out about each child before they start in our school.

Where a child is coming to our school with already identified SEND needs, the SENDCo and EYFS lead will arrange a meeting with parents for further details and/or observe the child on an individual basis in their current setting. This is so we can plan provision for them and arranged a heightened transition if required.

Transition between year groups:

• Staff take part in transition meetings to pass on information about the cohort
• Pupils take part in transition days/sessions to meet their new teacher and see their new classroom
• Pupil Passports are reviewed at the end of a school year and discussed with the new staff who will be working with the pupil next

Where pupils need heightened transitions we will collaborate with the next phase, Parents/Carers and the pupils to help achieve this. This may include:

• Transition booklets so that pupils have a visual reference of where they will be moving on to
• An increased number of visits to their new setting
• Opportunities to build relationships with new staff

Our approach to teaching pupils with SEND

Teachers are responsible and accountable for the progress and development of all the pupils in their class. We use a graduated approach to the support we offer pupils in our school.

These are in 3 waves of support we offer:

Adaptations to the curriculum and learning environment

We endeavour to enable children with SEND and their families to access all our facilities. The school is wheelchair accessible. There is a disabled toilet large enough to accommodate changing in both the main school building and the EYFS unit. There is a lift to access KS2 on the first floor. For further information please see our Accessbility Plan.

We 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 - we look at the levels of need in each class before allocating teaching assistant support.
• Using recommended aids, such as laptops, visual timetables, larger font, etc.
• Making reasonable adjustments in consultation with Parents/Carers to enable children to access school and fully meet their potenetial.

Additional support for learning

We have a large number of teaching assistants who are trained to deliver a range of interventions.

Teaching assistants will support pupils on a 1:1 basis for wave 3 interventions or for a short time to help support a child in class. A teaching assistant will support a child 1:1 longer term and for more hours of the school day if that child has an EHCP and this is the support needed as stated in that plan.

Teaching assistants will support pupils in small groups in order to deliver wave 2 interventions and to support learning in the classroom. They will help the teacher to deliver differentiated sessions and may be used to support learners who need more resources and scaffolding or to challenge learners further.

Securing equipment and facilities

Lyndhurst Community Primary School will allocate the appropriate amount of core per-pupil funding and notional SEND budget outlined in the local offer in order to provide for SEND pupils.

We have a service level agreement in place with a private Educational Psychologist to secure our access to this service and reduce waiting times as much as we can.

We have a service level agreement in place with The SEMH Support & Inclusion Service (formerly BLIS) to ensure their support for any pupils who may need it and to access training opportunities for our staff.

All of our classrooms have a designated reading corner/quiet space and we have intervention spaces available outside of our classrooms. We also have e dedicated room where children can work in small groups taking part in Lego Therapy or Social Skills groups and a nurture room/pastoral manager's office for 1:1 or small group work.

Our SENDCo audits current resources and manages the SEND budget for purchasing any additional resources required to support pupils with SEND. We follow the recommendations of external agencies and professionals when purchasing new resources.

Our SENDCo manages EHCP personal budgets and uses the allocated funding to meet the desired outcomes outlined in the EHCP for that individual child. These budgets are allocated from the local authority’s high needs funding block.

Evaluating the effectiveness of SEND provision

The effectiveness of the support and the impact on your child’s progress are reviewed termly. This information along with the views of Parents/Carers and children, enables us to revise and adapt the support given. Where the SEND provision does not enable a child to make adequate progress at school support level , we work with parents/carers to request an assessment for an Educational, Health and Care Plan.
 

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

All of our extra-curricular activities and school visits are available to all our pupils, including our before-and after-school clubs.

All pupils are encouraged to go on our residential trip to Robinwood.

All pupils are encouraged to take part in sports day/school plays/special workshops, etc with adjustments made to enable them to do so.

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

Support for improving emotional and social development

Through our PSHE curriculum, theme days/weeks, circle time and pupils’ own experiences, all children are encouraged to explore their own worth in the school community and within their wider community. In doing so, the aim is for each individual to become increasingly responsible for their own actions and learning and also to foster a sense of wellbeing and self-worth.

We provide support for pupils with SEND to improve their emotional and social development in the following ways:

• Pupils with SEND are encouraged to be have additional responsibilties within school for example: Head Boy/Girl and Deputy Head Boy/Girl, Reading Champions, School Councillors and Subject Ambassadors.
• Pupils with SEND are encouraged to participate in extra-curricular activities.
• Pupils with SEND have access to a number of SEMH interventions.
• Pupils with SEND have access to our SSA Miss Gee and Pastoral Manager Mrs Savill.

Working with other agencies

We work with a number of external agencies to provide support for pupils with SEND.

Including, but not exclusive to:

• Educational Psychology
• CLASS (Communication, Language & Autistic Spectrum Support)
• The SEMH Support & Inclusion Service (formerly BLIS)
• SPLD (Specific Learning Difficulty Team)
• ISCAN (Integrated Service for Children with Additional Needs)
• SALT (Speech and Language Therapy)
• Healthy Young Minds (previously CAMHS – Children’s and Adolescent’s Mental Health Service
• School Nursing Team

Contact details of support services for parents of pupils with SEND
Please access the local authority service directory: Tameside SID Support

The local authority local offer
Our local authority’s local offer is published here: Tameside Local Offer

For further information or feedback you are very welcome to make an appointment with the Head teacher or SENDCo. Appointments can be made through the school office