My child has a SEND, what extra support will my child have?

Support depends entirely on your child's individual needs. Each child's needs are different therefore support is tailored to those needs. The Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Co-ordinator (SENDCo) and class teacher will decide which strategies and resources are appropriate to support your child's needs. Outside agencies involved provide advice and may contribute to IEP targets. Special Educational Needs (SEN) are divided into four areas. Below are some examples of what our school can provide.

Cognition and Learning (Learning Need)

• Different approaches to learning, e.g. visual, hands-on
• Different work expectations, matched to the child's ability
• Different/extra resources, e.g. word cards, number squares
• Special Literacy or Numeracy programmes, e.g. the IDL programme, Wordshark, Precision Teaching, Adacus, Numbershark
• Extra adult support, group work, individual support

Communication and Interaction (Speech and Language)- supported by Elklan trained staff

• Resources provided by the Speech and Language Therapy Service - First Call
• Communication and language games
• Social skills games e.g. Socially Speaking
• Specific Speech and Language programmes provided by the Speech and Language Therapy Service
• Use of Makaton - an early sign language tool
• Communication into Print - a visual/picture resource to support language and communication

Social, Emotional and Mental Health - supported by our qualified ELSA/ Learning Mentor

• Behaviour Support Plans which outline a pupil's difficulties and the best strategies to use to help them
• Social skills games
• Reward strategies
• Clear individual support plans

Medical, Physical and Sensory Needs

• Specialist equipment such as adapted seating, writing slopes, pencil grips, Yoropens and calmers
• Sensory circuits
• First Move
• Specialist equipment requested by occupational therapists etc

We have a bank of equipment and resources already in school. For example:

• Hygiene suite
• Accessible toilet
• Shower facilities
• Sensory circuits
• Wobble stools 
• Writing slopes
• Coloured overlays
• Pencil grips and specialist writing pens
• Calmers (squeezy/stress balls etc)
• Sand timers
• Communicate in Print - a visual/picture resource to support language
• 1^st Move
• 1^st Call
• Diagnostic Testing programmes including WellComm, Boxall Profiling and DSTj/DEST (dyslexia screening tests)

The support that your child receives will be outlined on an Individual Education Plan (IEP) through targets. This will tell you what the school is doing to help your child and how often they will be getting help. We will share the IEP with you at Parent Consultations every term so that you are kept informed. If your child has outside agencies involved, we will also review the support that they receive at regular review meetings. If you have any concerns about the support that your child is receiving or the support is not helping your child to make progress then we will change the support appropriately.

An Individual Education Plan (IEP) is a document which identifies what your child finds difficult, sets small achievable targets for them to help them to make progress and outlines what extra support your child will receive. IEPs are child friendly and written from the child's point of view so that they are easy to understand. The IEP is shared with you each time it is reviewed. At these times, we will also share the new targets with you. You will be given a copy of the IEP so that you can take it home and you can help your child with each of the targets if you wish to. IEPs are shared with your child too, so that they understand what they are trying to achieve and what we are going to do to help them.

Teachers adapt the curriculum for all children and consider how best to deploy resources including extra adults (usually teaching assistants). Where individual children do not appear to be making the expected progress then further support may be provided through consultation with the SENDCo and parents. This could for example include a teaching assistant providing extra support during lesson times or through delivering an intervention strategy to an individual or small group.

An outside agency, is an agency, service or profession used by the school to offer advice about how best to support a pupil's needs. The Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENDCo) can refer to most of these agencies directly. Most agencies used by the school are to provide the school with advice, but the SENDCo can also refer to, or advise you about, services that can support a parent/carer or family. Most referrals will require parental/carer permission and a referral form will need to be signed. The school cannot access agency support without this permission.

Cognition and Learning (Learning Needs)

• Futures in Mind - Educational Psychologist (EP) Service - Assessments or observations within the school setting to provide advice about educational needs
• Specialist Teacher (STT) - Assessed within the school setting. The assessment then outlines a pupil's strengths and weaknesses and can identify, for example, Dyslexia and Dyscalculia

Communication and Interaction (Speech and Language)

• Speech and Language Therapy Service (SALT) - Pupils can be seen either by appointment at the hospital or assessed within the school setting

Social, Emotional and Mental Health

• Pathways - Assessed or observed within the school setting to provide advice social, emotional and behavioural needs
• Child and Mental Health Service (CAMHS) - Support can either be provided by a paediatrician or by a more locally based team
• Working Together Team (WTT) - Observations within the school setting to provide advice about social, communication or behavioural needs

Medical, Physical and Sensory Needs

• Community Paediatrics (NHS) - Provide medical advice and can diagnose specific difficulties such as ADHD and Autism. Pupils would be seen by appointment at a local hospital
• Sensory Education and Support Team (SEST) - Provide advice to the school about how to support pupils with sensory impairment, for example a visual or auditory impairment
• Physiotherapist - The SENDCo cannot refer directly to this service, but a referral can come from a GP or Paediatrician
• Occupational Therapist - The SENCo cannot refer directly to this service, but a referral can come from a GP or Paediatrician
• General Practitioner (GP) - GP's will carry out hearing tests and can refer to all outside agencies

Where a pupil has lots of outside agency involvement, the SENDCo may suggest using a service called 'ESCo' (Early Support Care and Co-ordination), a team which will lead and organise the many agencies supporting the family. 

The SENDCo would decide that the school needs advice from an outside agency because the support already put in place has not helped the pupil to make enough progress. This would be discussed with the parent/carer and a joint decision would be made and parental agreement given.

If an outside agency is involved with my child, does that mean that social care will become involved?

No, where the pupil only requires support within school to access the curriculum due to a special educational need, social care would not normally be involved. Where there are wider ranging issues, social care may become involved in order to support both the pupil and family.

Entry into Foundation Stage

If your child attends a pre-school/nursery, the SENDCo there will normally inform us that your child will be joining us and that he/she has special educational needs. The SENDCo or Foundation Stage teacher at our school will then attend any meetings at the pre-school before they start school, so that we have a clear picture of your child's needs and what support they might need when they join us. If any support is needed, we will try to have it in place as soon as they start, for example any training or equipment. The SENDCo will also speak with outside agencies involved to make sure that any advice is in place.

Joining school after the Foundation Stage

If your child joins our school at any other time in their school life and they have additional needs, their previous school should send us all their pupil information, which would identify that they have special educational needs. It would be useful if you could tell us all about your child and their needs too. The information from the previous school should tell us what support has been in place. We will use this information as a starting point, and try to provide similar support within a short space of time. If outside agencies are involved, the SENDCo will contact them so that they continue to support your child in our school. This will often be through a review meeting to which you, the parent/carer, will be invited.

Moving class

The current teacher will pass on any significant information to the new class teacher so they are kept fully informed. Any pupil who has a special educational need and/or disability will have an Individual Education Plan (IEP) and possibly other support plans. All paperwork and any outside agency support reports are passed on to the new teacher so that they have a full understanding of the pupil, their needs and what support is in place to help them. The SENDCo will also ensure that new teachers and support staff are informed about pupils with SEND so that there is a smooth transition between classes and support continues as soon as pupils start in their new classes in the new academic year. Children have an opportunity to meet and work with their new teacher in the summer term before transition.

Moving to another Primary School

If your child moves to a new school due to relocation, once we have been informed that they are on roll at their new school, we will send on any relevant paperwork, including documents such as IEPs and outside agency reports. The new school will then have all the relevant information needed to put support in place as soon as your child joins them. It is always helpful for you to also keep the new school staff informed and make sure that they have received the paperwork from us.

Moving to Secondary School

Details of pupil's needs are passed on to the secondary school SENDCo, along with details of what support has been in place at our school to help them. Our SENDCo passes on information about any outside agencies that have been involved and all SEND paperwork is passed on, including documents such as IEPs and outside agency reports. The receiving secondary school will then have all the relevant information needed to put support in place as soon as your child joins them in Year 7.

This document will outline a pupil's special educational need and the support that the school needs to put in place to help them, this will be a child friendly document, based around the pupil and their family. 

You will need to discuss your concerns with the school SENDCo, who will advise you about whether your child needs an Education, Health and Care Plan. Only pupils with significant special educational needs would be considered for an EHCPlan and only once the school has exhausted its provision and outside agency support. These discussions are normally held at a review meeting with outside agencies.

The Lincolnshire Education Authority (LEA) publishes and updates all the information regarding EHCPlans as part of the 'Local Offer'. the link below covers:

1. EHCPlan Eligibility and Request
2. EHC Assessment
3. EHC Plan's
4. EHC Implementation and Annual Reviews
5. Personal Budgets
6. Moving into the County

https://lincolnshire.fsd.org.uk/kb5/lincs/fsd/family.page?familychannel=2_1_10_1

You will usually find out within 16 weeks whether or not the LEA are going to make an EHC plan for your child.  If they decide to go ahead, they will create a draft EHC plan and send you a copy. You then have 15 days to comment, including if you want to ask that your child goes to a special needs school or a specialist college. The LEA have 20 weeks from the date of the assessment to give you the final EHC plan.

If at any point you or the school feel that a mainstream school can no longer meet your child's needs, an early Annual Review can be called. Any discussions about school places need to be discussed at the Annual Review, preferably with any supporting outside agencies present to give their views. The request for a special school place will be noted on the Annual Review form and the Local Authority will consult the named special school. A decision will then be made based on whether any places are available and if the special school could meet your child's needs.