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SEND Information

Chester Blue Coat C.E. Primary School Parents’ SEND Information

SENDCo: Mrs L Martinez

SEND Information Report 2021

At Chester Blue Coat C.E. Primary School, we embrace the fact that every child is different, and therefore the educational needs of every child is different; this is certainly the case for children with Special Educational Needs.

Since September 2014, all schools have been required to publish a Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Information Report on their school website. This sets out detailed information about the implementation of the government's policy for pupils with SEN and disabilities.

It includes arrangements for identifying, assessing and making provision for pupils/students with SEN and disabilities. The four broad ‘areas of need’ with regard to SEND are;

Communication and Interaction,

Cognition and Learning,

Social, Emotional and Mental Health Difficulties, and

Sensory and Physical Needs.

SEN at Chester Bluecoat

At Chester Blue Coat CE Primary School, children are identified as having SEND through a variety of ways, (usually a combination), which may include some of the following:

• Liaison with previous school or pre-school setting

• Child performing below ‘age expected’ levels

• Concerns raised by a parent

• Concerns raised by a teacher: for example, if behaviour or self-esteem is affecting performance

• Liaison with external agencies e.g. a physical/ sensory issue

• Use of tools for standardised assessment such as: Dyslexia Portfolio, GL non-verbal and verbal assessments, York Assessment of Reading for Comprehension (YARC) reading test, Aston Index, British Picture Vocabulary Scales (BPVS).

• Children with a Statement / EHCP already have many of their needs clearly identified.

 

The staff who support your child include:

 

The class teacher who is responsible for

  • Checking on the progress of your child and identifying, planning and delivering any additional help your child may need (this could be targeted work or additional support).
  • Personalised teaching and learning for your child as identified by themselves in a termly pupil progress meeting, and if the need is severe, in your child's SEND profile.
  • Ensuring that the school’s SEND Policy is followed in their classroom and for all the pupils they teach with any SEND.

 

The SENDCo: Mrs L Martinez who is a lead professional on Autism and holds the National SENCO Award. Mrs Martinez is responsible for:

  • Developing and reviewing the school’s SEND policy.
  • Co-ordinating all the support for children with special educational needs or disabilities (SEND)
  • Ensuring that you, as a parent are;

i) involved in supporting your child’s learning

ii) kept informed about the support your child is getting on

iii) involved in reviewing how they are doing.

  • Liaising with all the other people who may be coming in to school to help support your child’s learning, e.g. Speech and Language Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Autism Team, Educational Psychology.
  • Updating the school’s SEND register (a system for ensuring that all the SEND needs of pupils in this school are known) and making sure that records of your child’s progress and needs are kept.
  • Providing specialist support for teachers and support staff in the school, so that they can help children with SEND in the school to achieve the best progress possible.

She can be contacted by e-mail at - l.martinez@chesterbluecoatce.cheshire.sch.uk

The Head teacher: Mr M Hover who is responsible for

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

The SEN Governor: Ms E Elston who is responsible for

  • Making sure that the necessary support is given for any child with SEND who attends the school.

Chester Blue Coat CE Primary School has an open door policy for all parents including those with SEND.

The Parent

If you have a concern regarding your child's progress or well-being please come in to school and talk to us.

Contact your child’s class teacher about your concerns initially or if you feel that you would like to speak to a senior member of staff, ask to arrange an appointment with the SENDCo (Mrs Martinez) or the Deputy Head (Mrs Ellis-Rushton).

Appointments can be arranged in person, by phone or by email.  School contact telephone number:  01244 455275

 

The Child

As part of the regular monitoring of progress which takes place between class teachers, and senior leaders, children are identified who are not making the expected progress or who have needs that are affecting their ability to engage in learning activities. If your child is identified as having SEN then the school is recognizing that your child requires something additional or different to enable them to make further progress. This is referred to as being in need of school support.                                                                                         

SEN Code of Practice 2014: School Support (SS)”

At Chester Blue Coat C.E. Primary, we are able to support each child with SEND by ~

Quality 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 built on what your child already knows, can do and can understand.
  • That 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 adapting the learning environment to meet individual needs.
  • That Pupil Progress is regularly and carefully monitored, resulting in the additional provision required for your child to make or maintain progress.
  • That specific advice suggested by outside experts, is in place to support your child to learn.
  • Your child’s teacher and/or SENDCo will have carefully checked on your child’s progress and will have decided that your child has a gap or gaps in their understanding/learning and needs some extra support to help them make the best possible progress.

And additional specific interventions ~                                                                                                      

Examples of possible additional support:

  • Pre-teaching opportunities
  • Small group sessions in and out of class
  • One-to-one sessions
  • Providing intimate care
  • Scripting/modelling behaviours
  • Support with tasks when differentiation is not appropriate
  • Preparation for a change of lesson or activity
  • Chunking instructions
  • Support during unstructured times

Additional strategies or programmes to support Communication and interaction including

  • Recommendations and programmes provided by Speech and Language
  • Speaking and listening groups such as LOLA
  • Class co-operative learning groups
  • Talk Partners

Additional strategies/programmes to support Cognition and learning including

  • Reading Buddies
  • Toe by Toe
  • Beat Dyslexia
  • Big Cat Phonics
  • Jelly and Bean reading programme
  • Fuzzbuzz reading programme
  • Additional guided group sessions
  • LUCID Memory programme
  • Reading Recovery
  • Direct Phonics

Additional strategies/programmes to support Social, Mental & Emotional Health including

  • Time to Talk
  • Socially Speaking
  • Yoga
  • Safe space
  • ELSA
  • Pawsb
  • Social Mental & Emotional Health (SMEH)
  • Additional transition support
  • Intimate care needs
  • Social & emotional needs through circle of friends, art therapy, nurture work plus individualised care plans
  • Quiet spaces to reflect and calm
  • Chester Blue Coat CE Primary School has a comprehensive anti-bullying policy which can be found on our website under 'Policies'.

Additional strategies/programmes to support Sensory or Physical Needs including

  • Specific programmes designed by physiotherapists
  • Specific programmes designed by occupational therapists
  • Fine/Gross motor skill programmes including Funky Fingers and Speed Up
  • Sensory Circuits
  • Sensory equipment such as body belts, ear defenders, chew toys, weighted lap and shoulder snakes, body sock and more

Additional provision to facilitate and support access to the curriculum

  • Additional support from a Teaching Assistant
  • Differentiation or modification of resources including:-
  • Task planners
  • Coloured paper
  • Overlays
  • Writing Slope
  • Chair cushion
  • Pencil grips
  • Easy use scissors
  • Visual timetables
  • Word banks
  • Multi-sensory approaches to learning
  • Home diaries
  • Alternative methods of recording
  • Thinking time given
  • Time provided to process information
  • Co-operative learning strategies

The Child's voice

Children are routinely asked to reflect on their learning and share how they feel they are progressing during the course of their daily learning journey.

Children who have a statement/EHCP discuss their progress and targets when these are reviewed if it is appropriate. If your child has a statement, their views will be sought before any review meetings.

Inclusion

All children at Chester Blue Coat CE Primary School, including those with SEND, will be offered the same opportunities. Staff work closely with the parents of individual children to enable every child to participate fully in all activities.

Accessibility

Chester Blue Coat C.E. Primary School is a mainstream primary school on two levels. As a school, we are happy to discuss any individual access requirements your child may have prior to starting. The facilities we have at present include:-

  • A lift
  • Ramps into the school
  • 2 toilets adapted for disabled users
  • Wide-opening doors in corridors

 

Partnership with External Agencies and Staff Training

The school works with a number of external agencies to seek advice and support to ensure that the needs of all children are fully understood and met.

These include:-

  • CWAC Special Educational Needs and Inclusion Advisory Service.
  • Educational Psychology service
  • Physiotherapy
  • Speech and Language Therapy
  • Occupational Therapy
  • Child and Adolescence Mental Health Service (CAMHS)
  • Paediatric Services
  • School Nurse
  • Social Services
  • Autism Team
  • Sensory Service for children with visual or hearing need
  • Independent Advisory Support Service (IASS), formerly Parent Partnership Service

As a whole school we have worked with external agencies to provide whole-school training. We have recently been trained in the following areas:-

  • Supporting children with ASD
  • Supporting children with ADHD
  • Stammering
  • Guided reading
  • Guided writing
  • Safeguarding

Individual support staff have also had specific training in:

  • Dyslexia
  • Speech and language

 

If after support school still have concerns with regard to your child’s learning ~

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, member of the Autism team, Community Paediatrician or Educational Psychologist. This is to help the school and you to understand your child’s particular needs better and be able to support them more effectively in school.

The cycle of assess – plan – do – review

The Graduated Approach

If your child has additional funding then a system known as The Graduated Response is implemented.                        

The process for implementing SEND support is arranged into four stages as outlined in the new Code of Practice and parents are kept fully informed.

Assess

Information is gathered from a variety of sources (teacher, pupil, parent, outside agencies) so we can develop an accurate picture of the pupils’ needs, attainment, projected targets, and motivators and how they respond to teaching approaches.

Plan

After gathering information a support plan will be put together to outline the methods that will be used to achieve specific outcomes. This will be recorded on your child's SEN profile. Short-term targets are agreed which prioritise key areas of learning that are to be addressed and ways in which the progress will be measured. If external agencies are involved, their advice and recommendations are included in the support plan. Any actions agreed take in to account pupil’s strengths as well as their learning differences. In some cases, additional resources may be allocated including teaching assistant support. This support is deployed to ensure the pupil makes progress and can engage in lessons and wider school activities and develop independent learning.

Do

All SEND profiles are an on-going plan and will be adjusted if the class teacher in discussion with the SENDCo feels that the plan is not working, for whatever reason.

Review

All SEND profiles are reviewed termly. In this review, all targets will be evaluated and the views of the pupil will be recorded. A further plan will then be devised.

 

The allocation of additional support

The school budget, received from the Local Authority, includes money for supporting children with SEND. The Head Teacher decides on the deployment of resources for Special Educational Needs and Disabilities, in consultation with the school governors on the basis of needs in the school.

If your child is supported by an additional adult and the member of staff is absent for whatever reason, we will endeavour to provide additional support.

English as an additional language (EAL)

Chester Blue Coat Primary School has a community made up of a wide variety of different languages and cultures. We are able to access dual language staff and volunteers who are able to interpret and discussion with parents of children whose first language is not English. We also have access to a telephone interpreter service.

Transition

Transition can be a particularly anxious time for children and young people with SEND and we aim to provide as successful and smooth transition as possible.

When moving schools we will always contact the new schools SENDCo and share information about the type of provision that is required to help your child achieve their learning goals. If appropriate, additional transition visits can be arranged for your child so they can experience their new school at different times of day. This will be arranged in liaison with the new school. All information we have on record will be passed up to the new school even if your child is no longer requiring SEND support.

When moving to a new class in the same school information-sharing sessions will take place with the new class teacher.  Regular opportunities will be provided in the summer term for your child to meet their new teacher and, if appropriate, transition workbooks will be completed.

In some cases, multi-agency meetings may be arranged to create a more detailed transition plan.

 

 Medical needs

Where a child attending Chester Blue Coat CE Primary School requires regular medicine or therapy as part of a long-term medical condition then the school, in conjunction with parents and the child, complete a medical needs assessment of the building in regard to the individual child's needs.

 

Behaviour, Avoiding exclusion and Attendance causing SEND

If a child has significant behaviour difficulties, a plan is devised to identify the specific issues, put relevant support in place and set targets with a view to identifying and addressing the underlying reasons behind the behaviour. The Deputy Head, Mrs Ellis–Rushton, will coordinate this plan.

Attendance of every child is monitored on a daily basis by the school. Lateness and absence are recorded and reported to the Headteacher who may involve the Educational Welfare Officer or Children’s Services if this becomes a concern.

The Family Support Worker (Mrs Khalifa) can provide support for families.

 

Admission Arrangements

Details on our admission arrangements for children with specific medical or social needs can be found in our Admissions Policy on the Policies page.

Our SEND policy can be found below. 

 

Further Information

Cheshire West & Chester provide a central place for families to go to explore the SEND provision within our borough: www.livewell.cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk

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