Special Educational Needs & Disabilities (SEND) Information Report 2019 - 2020

Stoke Primary

School

Briton Road

Coventry

CV2 4LF

Telephone: 024 7645 1724

Special Educational Needs & Disabilities (SEND) Information Report 2019 - 2020

November 2020

Stoke Primary School is a two form entry mainstream primary school.  It is a vibrant, multi-cultural school with delightful pupils and an enthusiastic and committed staff who have high aspirations for all children.  We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and expect all staff to share this commitment.  

We provide a fully inclusive main stream primary provision, our aim being to help children aspire and achieve their potential academically, personally, socially and emotionally in all areas of the curriculum regardless of their gender, ethnicity, social background, religion, sexual identify, physical ability or educational needs.

Children who have a Special Educational Need and/or Disability (SEND) are expected to make progress.  Outlined below are the ways in which Stoke Primary School supports all of our pupils including those with Special Education Needs and Disabilities (SEND) in order that they realise their full potential.  

Please be mindful that the support given to children at Stoke Primary School may change.  Please check with your class teacher or the SENDCo if you have a question about your child’s learning.

Local Authority

Local Offer

The Coventry Local Offer website has information about the services that are available.

Mrs Anke Brooker

Stoke Primary School

02476 451724

Chair of Governors - Mr S Quarterman

Inclusion Governor - Mr B Gallagher

The school’s approach to teaching and learning

All children have access to Quality First Teaching delivered by class teachers, who have the highest possible expectations for all children. 

Work and tasks are differentiated to match the needs of the child. Children are grouped according to their needs so teachers can plan teaching and learning which addresses their needs. The teaching is based on building on what your child already knows, can do and can understand. There are many different ways of teaching and the teaching staff will ensure your child is fully involved, which may involve practical learning or different resources which have been adapted for your child.

If children are still finding it challenging to understand and make progress with the curriculum, additional support, known as interventions, are arranged through the identification processes listed earlier.  Additional support delivers focused and targeted interventions through small group or 1:1 work, both within or  outside of the classroom in one of our ‘learning pods’. 

Dependent upon the provision, this will be delivered by our team of Teachers, HLTAs, Learning Support Assistants and Outside Agencies. 

Stoke Primary School makes provisions for children who have difficulties with:

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

• Vision impairments
• Hearing Difficulties

We acknowledge that individual children often have needs that cut across all these areas and their needs may change over time.

There are a variety of ways in which we identify pupils with SEND at Stoke Primary:

1. Our open door policy means that parents can come at any time to raise concerns about a child or children. Parents can ask to speak to their child’s class teacher at the beginning or at the end of the day to discuss any concerns they may have about a child’s progress.  Parents can also make an appointment to speak to the SENDCo.

2. The progress of children at Stoke Primary School is monitored by class teachers on a day-to-day basis and they will report on this to senior leaders half termly.  A meeting between class teachers and the Deputy Head is then held to examine the progress of individual children.  This is called the pupil progress meeting.  If a child is making inadequate progress despite high-quality teaching (this will be monitored by school leaders), the class teacher, working with the SENDCo and parents, may decide that they require SEND support and may be placed on the SEND register.  Once a potential special educational need is identified, four types of action will be taken to put effective support in place – Assess, Plan, Do, Review – this is called the graduated approach.

Stoke Primary School has a whole-school graduated approach to supporting children with SEND.  We operate the following 3 ‘waves’ of support:

WAVE 1: Quality First Teaching for all children (universal provision) 

Every teacher is responsible and accountable for all children within their care, and will provide quality first teaching for all pupils.  This means that our teachers will use a variety of different ways to help your child learn best, which is an entitlement for all of our children to enable them to achieve well.  High quality teaching is the first step in responding to pupils who have or may have SEND.  Additional intervention and support cannot compensate for a lack of good quality teaching

WAVE 2:  SEN Support

Where a child is not making adequate progress despite Wave 1 provision, they may be placed on the SEN Register and receive SEND Support which is additional to and different from the support which other children may receive. This may could include:

1. Different strategies and approaches used by the class teacher, for example further differentiation;
2. SEND provision, for example

• Additional targeted small group or individual support
• Specific evidence based intervention programmes e.g. phonics, number, reading
• Extra in-class adult support
• Additional behaviour/emotional/social support

At Wave 2, class teachers will identify a child’s support on a Provision Map.

A SEND Support Plan, known as a My Profile will be written for children at this stage.  This will set up a specific programme of support for a child.

Wave 3 – Specialist SEN Support

If a child continues to make little or no progress, despite well-founded support that is matched to the child’s area of need, specialist outside agencies may be commissioned to carry out formal assessments, offer advice, and provide targets for staff and parents to follow to support the children. Parents must provide consent for such referrals to be made. 

My Support Plans

If a child still continues to make little or no progress despite the previous steps being taken, the school may decide to begin a cycle of My Support Plans.  These are detailed support programmes which set out the difficulties, the outcome sought and the provision which will be put into place to achieve the desired outcomes.  These are reviewed formally at least termly by the class teacher and the parent and, where appropriate, the SENDCo.  We will complete up to three My Support Plan cycles before deciding whether sufficient progress has been made and a My Profile can be used instead or whether we need to move to the next stage.

Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs)

Where there are still ongoing issues, it may be necessary to request for a child to have an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) Needs Assessment.  These are reviewed at least annually with all agencies involved with the child invited to attend the meeting.

As soon as a child’s SEND has been identified, we will contact parents promptly and invite them to come into school to discuss plans to help their child make better progress.  

Our Inclusion Policy will give you the information you need about how we make provision for all pupils with SEND.

Please look on the school’s website for a copy of the Inclusion Policy or ask at the school office for one.

Information about the school’s policy for the assessment of pupils with SEND

Stoke Primary School uses the following assessment strategies to plan for the provision of children with SEND:

• Ongoing assessment through teaching and marking of children’s work
• Formal termly assessments
• End of Key Stage tests (SATs)
• Phonics Screening (Years 1 and 2)
• School tracking systems (Teaching, Learning and Curriculum Policy)
• Basic skills checks
• Language screening (WELLCOMM in Nursery and Reception)
• Formal assessments (including BPVS screen) from outside agencies if additional support is requested from school and/or parents (parents have to give their consent).

Information about your child’s progress will be provided by the class teacher through:

• Informal verbal conversations at drop off or collection  
• Parents Consultation meetings (3 per year)
• Termly assertive mentoring reports

Information on how we consult with parents

All SEND children and their parents will be invited to attend an extended consultation meeting 3 times a year (Autumn, Spring and Summer).  The meeting will last for up to 30 minutes and aims to find ways to remove any barriers to a child’s learning by:

• reviewing progress towards their targets
• setting clear goals
• discussing the activities and support that will help achieve them
• identifying the responsibilities of the parent, the child and the school.

Typically, parents, children and class teachers will be involved in these meetings.  Information will be recorded in a written report and given to parents.  This is called the My Profile.

If your child receives support from outside agencies, you may be invited to attend an additional meeting with the SENDCo, class teachers (where possible) and the professional(s) involved with your child.  Relevant information may be added to the My Profile and copies will be given to parents. 

In addition, parents can contact the SENDCo directly.

Children will be invited to be part of the extended consultation meeting.

How the school reviews progress towards outcomes and the effectiveness

Teachers at Stoke Primary School continually monitor all children’s progress, typically though:

• observation;
• feedback and marking;
• questioning;
• discussion with staff, parents and child;
• tracking progress data   

Progress is reviewed more formally every term and you will be informed whether your child is working at, above or below expectations in reading, writing and maths through our assertive mentoring profile sheets. 

Stoke Primary School has a robust system of reviewing provision.

These include:

1. Termly parent / teacher consultation meetings (including extended consultation meetings and meetings with outside agencies for SEND children)
2. PPA sessions – staff meet on a weekly basis to discuss, plan and prepare for the provision of the children for the next week. This may include focused discussions around particular children.
3. Analysis of data and tracking – Members of the Senior Leadership Team (SLT) rigorously analyse progress data and identify vulnerable groups of children.   
4. Termly Pupil Progress Meetings – class teachers meet with the Deputy Head to discuss children’s progress against targets, concerns and identify needs.   
5. Provision Maps – staff devise provision maps which show the interventions/support the children will be receiving for the upcoming term.
6. Work Scrutinies and Learning Walks – members of the leadership team look at work and teaching and learning to monitor progress over time.
7. Lesson Observations – monitoring of teaching and learning within the classroom environment.

Stoke Primary School is dedicated to making sure teachers and Learning Support Assistants (LSAs) have access to continuing professional development (CPD).  We have a school development plan that includes identified training needs for all staff to improve teaching and learning of children including those with SEND.  This includes whole school training on SEND issues or bespoke training sessions for staff with particular needs within their year group.  Staff training allows us to share knowledge, strategies and experience; ensure consistency to the school’s approach for children with SEND and ensure that the needs of all children are met.

The following staff have had specialist training to support in the teaching and learning of children with SEND:

At Stoke Primary School we provide weekly Personal, Social & Health Education (PSHE) sessions to all pupils.  Teachers make use of materials such as ‘Protective Behaviours’ and the Go Givers units of work alongside Circle Time activities, which all work to improve children’s emotional and social development.  

As part of the school staff, we have a team of 1 Family Support Worker and 2 Learning Mentors who support families and children by providing advice, support and nurturing opportunities.

We access support from the following outside agencies:

Education

• EY SEND
• EP (Educational Psychology)
• SEMH&L (Social, Emotional, Mental Health and Learning)
• CCT (Complex Communications Team)
• EMAS (Ethnic Minority Achievement Service)
• Virtual School (Looked After Children)

Health

• Speech and Language Therapist (SALT)
• School Nursing Service
• Children’s Occupational Therapy & Physiotherapy Service (OT and PT)
• The Sensory Team
• Child & Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS)
• School counsellor
• Harmony Family Hub and associated services

Social Care

• Referral & Assessment Service (RAS)
• Children and Family First Team
• Social Workers

It is the school’s duty to provide aids and services and as such, we work alongside outside agencies such as Occupational Therapy, Physiotherapy and the Sensory Team to meet the needs of children with SEND. 

The NHS provides some specialist equipment, for example wheelchairs, standing frames etc. when prescribed by a health professionals and the school will support in arranging this equipment.

Our school meets the duties outlined in paragraph 3 of schedule 10 to the Equality Act 2010 and in section 69 of the Children and Families Act 2014 towards individual disabled children and young people. We endeavor to make reasonable adjustments, including the provision of auxiliary aids and services for disabled children, to prevent them from substantial disadvantage.  Provision is put in place to ensure all children can access all activities including school trips (including residential), swimming and Physical Education. The school has a Single Equality Scheme, which outlines our commitment to ensuring how pupils with aspects of vulnerability, including SEND, will be protected in our school from harassment and discrimination.

Thought is given in advance to what disabled children and young people and adults at school might require and what adjustments might need to be made to prevent disadvantage.

The school site is wheelchair accessible via all entrances and the building is on one level.  We have a hygiene suite with a changing bed, shower and accessible toilet facility. The school car park has an identified Disabled Access parking space and has recently built outside storage facilities to ensure specialist equipment can be secured. 

If you require further support please contact:

SEND Information, Advice and Support Service (IASS)

Open Mon - Thurs 9.00am - 5.00pm. Fri - 9.00am - 4.30pm

Email: IASS@coventry.gov.uk

Tel: 024 7669 4307

Fax: 024 7669 5627

Visit: http://www.coventry.gov.uk/iass

Coventry Local Authority manages the admissions process for all children at Stoke Primary School, except Nursery (see separate policy). The Governing Body believes that the admissions criteria should not discriminate against pupils with SEND and has due regard for the practice advocated in the Code of Practice.

Transition arrangements begin at the earliest opportunity.  Children and their families are welcomed into school by the Assistant Head with responsibility for transition, who will hold a meeting to establish a child’s specific education, health or care needs.   

To support transition from KS2 to KS3 (years 6 to 7), Stoke Primary offer transition workshops to support SEND children.

The class teachers (and SENDCo where appropriate) will meet with a member of staff from the receiving schools to discuss children’s needs and the provision which has been put into place in the current setting.  Children with SEND are encouraged to attend after school workshops at the feeder school in order to familiarise themselves.   

For children in the Early Years, the EYFS Leader will visit the children in their current setting to establish any areas of need.

In the Summer Term, all children have the opportunity to spend some time with their new class teacher.  Teachers hold a transition meeting between to pass on information about all of the children and in particular those with SEND.

If you are not happy with your child’s learning and/or progress, you should talk directly to the Class Teacher in the first instance. 

If you feel your issues are still not fully resolved, you should speak with the Assistant Headteacher responsible for the phase, who may involve the SENDCo.