Inclusion

SEN Information Report 2023-24

How do we define special educational needs and disabilities at Watermore Primary School?

Watermore regards pupils as having a Special Educational Need if they:

1. a) Have a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of pupils of the same age, or;
2. b) Have a disability which prevents or hinders them from making use of facilities of a kind generally provided for others of the same age in mainstream schools.

(SEND Code of Practice 2015).

How does the education setting know if children need extra help?

At Watermore, the staff get to know the children quickly, and specific relevant information about children with SEND is shared with all members of staff in order to ensure a consistent approach.  A concern about a child may be identified by the class teacher, parent or another professional such as the child’s pre-school. Concerns may involve educational underachievement, a specific learning difficulty (such as Dyslexia, ADHD or Autism), a physical, behavioural, social or emotional need.

Once a concern has been identified, the class teacher and parents will meet to discuss the child’s progress and decide on future action. The Inclusion Manager may also attend this meeting.  A support plan is drawn up, where the pupils are involved in discussions around their own targets and this will be agreed with parents.  The support plan is reviewed with parents and pupils three times a year.  

What should I do if I think my child may have special educational needs?

If you have concerns about your child’s progress you should speak to your child’s class teacher initially. If you are not happy that the concerns are being managed and that your child is still not making progress you should speak to the Inclusion Manager or Head teacher. If you are still not happy you can speak to the school SEND Governor.

Special Educational Needs are identified in the following ways:

A child will be identified as having special needs if he or she seems to be experiencing significant difficulties accessing the curriculum in line with their peer group. There are four broad areas of need:

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

Immaturity can play a significant role, which means in the early years all children will be monitored closely but may not be identified as having a special need until they are older.

If the gap widens between the individual and their peers, the class teacher will highlight the child as having a special need and they will be given extra support in an identified area. The child will be added to the SEND register. These children will then be referred to as receiving SEND support.

The school offers a range of support for children with SEND. This starts with the class teacher who provide excellent targeted classroom teaching known as Quality First Teaching.

Our class teachers have the highest possible expectations for your child and all pupils in their class. We offer many interventions which range from specific smaller group work with a qualified Teaching Assistant who has had training to run these groups, to specific strategies suggested by the Inclusion Manager or outside professionals. Your child’s teacher will have carefully checked on your child’s progress and will have decided that your child has a gap in their learning and needs some extra support to help them make the best possible progress.

All children at Watermore get this as part of excellent classroom practice when needed.

If a child has specific support or attends an intervention group that has been seen to have been successful and has closed the gap in learning, they may then be taken off the SEND register. These children will then continue to be monitored by the class teacher.

How will Watermore support my child?

Most children with SEND will have their needs met through in class provisions.  When planning, teachers have the responsibility to make sure learning can be accessed by all members of their class.  This could be through in class resources (e.g. equipment and lesson support materials), differentiated learning tasks or access to interventions to support what is happening in the classroom.

For some children specific group work is provided with a smaller group of children.

Intervention groups:

• Can be run for academic or pastoral needs
• Are run in the classroom or outside
• Run by a teacher or most often a teaching assistant who has had training to run these groups.

For your child this would mean:

• He / she will engage in group sessions with specific targets to help him / her to make more progress.
• A teaching assistant or teacher will run these small groups using appropriate planning

This type of support is available for any child who has specific gaps in their understanding of a subject / area of learning or who lacks confidence in a particular subject or has low self-esteem.

How will my child be consulted and involved in their education?

Children who have an assess-plan-do-review support plan contribute to the process by sharing their views on their strengths and needs, and strategies that they find helpful.  Pupils with EHCPs will contribute views on their progress and next steps as part of the annual review process.

How will both you and I know how my child is doing and how will you help me to support my child with their learning?

The support plan document is written with parents / carers. This contains the information explaining the additional and different support a child is receiving, how often this is happening and the practitioners involved in delivering this support.

 

Watermore encourages good contact levels with staff. Teachers are on hand at the beginning of the day to discuss concerns and can be contacted through the Year Group email address.  This happens outside of our normal reporting arrangements, which happen three times a year.

The Inclusion Manager is available to meet with parents / carers to provide updates and explore options regarding meeting children’s needs.  This may be over the phone, virtually or in person.  Parents / carers can also speak with our Pastoral TA to look at ways of meeting additional needs at home.

What support will there be for my child’s overall wellbeing?

We have the following support available, to support your child’s wellbeing:

Parent Link Worker: works with parents to provide a vital link between home and school, offering individual support and signposting to external services.

Sports Coach/Mentor: works with individuals and small groups of children to build confidence and resilience amongst other things using sport to engage children.

Pastoral TA:  works with children who have academic or social/emotional needs by offering targeted support both in and outside of the classroom.

Full time welfare team (first aiders) who follow children’s individual care plans, coordinating medicine administration and personal care. They are available by phone. 

What specialist services and expertise are available at or accessed by the educational setting?

We access external specialist support for children as required these include:

Speech & Language Therapy

Occupational Therapy

Physiotherapy Service

Behaviour Support

Community Paediatric Service

School Health Nursing Team

Inclusion Support

Ethnic Minority and Travellers’ Achievement Service (EMTAS)

Parent Link Services

Supportive Parents

Autism Education Trust

Educational Psychology Service

Child and Mental Health Service (CAMHS) including Primary Mental Health Lead

Pets as Therapy

Thinking Aloud

Social Services

Virtual School

Sensory Support Service (hearing and vision)

Cluster Board Project

Community Police

Drama/Sand Therapy

Many of these services are called in by school, others are accessed via your child’s GP.  The Inclusion Manager can offer advice around accessing such support.

What training are the staff supporting children with SEND had or having?

Our curriculum is matched to a SEND child’s needs. Staff are trained in how to adapt lessons to meet the needs of children with SEND.

The Inclusion Manager and Headteacher monitor the training needs of the staff and training is then offered depending of the needs of the staff and the needs of the children they are working with. Over the last few years support staff received training from Speech and Language therapists, Autism Education Trust, Team Teach and the Hearing Impairment Services.

Staff access training on a rolling programme depending on the children they are working with.

We have an in-house performance management system for support staff, which identifies needs and targets support. Recently, this has included speech and language development, inference training, Gem Project, ELSA training and meeting children’s sensory needs.

An element of the school budget will be used to support SEND training. 

How will Watermore prepare and support my child to join their setting, transfer to a new setting or the next stage of education and life?

Prior to joining school in Reception, the school are notified if a child will be starting who has SEND and with whom the Early Years Inclusion Team have been involved. A transition meeting will be held where all parents, carers, staff from the current setting and professionals involved will be invited to a transition plan for the child. This may include a range of arrangements such as additional visits to the school, photo books and home visits.

When a child joins from another primary school, the Inclusion Manager of the child’s current school will pass on information about the child’s needs and current support they are receiving. This also happens when a child moves to a secondary school or a new primary school.

When moving from year to year, the child will be supported by being given the opportunity to meet their new teacher more than once and have additional visits to the classroom. The past and future teacher will meet before the start of the school year to discuss the child’s needs and support.

Links with other schools are maintained to ensure a smooth transfer on entry. We have a Pastoral Lead (Georgia Atkinson) who will work with any vulnerable children when moving to secondary school to make it a smooth and enjoyable experience. 

The Head of Year 7 of the Winterbourne Academy visits Watermore during term 5 /6 to discuss our Year 6 pupils. All our year 6 pupils will spend some time at the WIA. A more supported transition for SEND pupils will be devised by the Inclusion Manager and Teaching Assistant, in liaison with the SENCO of the chosen secondary school.

 

How are Watermore’s resources allocated and matched to children’s special educational needs?

A provision map is produced each year to show how the school’s SEN budget is spread across the school.   Interventions are implemented in response to need.  The level of additional support in each class or year group is not uniform, as it is based upon the needs of our individual cohorts.

When a child has received support in excess of £6,000 per year and still needs a greater level of provision, then a request for additional funding may be applicable in order to meet their needs via an application for an Educational Health Care Plan or Medical Needs Funding

How is the decision made about what type and how much support my child will receive?

The decision to give a child additional support may be made by measuring their distance away from age related expectations. This decision is made by the Inclusion Manager in response to concerns raised at pupil progress meetings, parents meetings or through the Cause for Concern process. We have a wide-ranging package of interventions that have proven results to aid the acquisition of basic skills in both literacy and numeracy. These are time constrained and progress measured.  Parents / carers will be informed their child is on such a programme by the class teacher or the practitioner running the intervention. Ways to support at home can also be discussed at this point.  The impact of these interventions are measured three times a year by the Inclusion Manager. The measures of attainment and more importantly, progress are used to measure success and plan effectively.

If a child is supported by a SEND Teaching Assistant, they are available before and after school to meet with parents/carers to discuss learning and offer support.

How are parents / carers involved in the education setting? How can I be involved?

Teachers are available to speak to before and after school daily.  Members of the school Senior Leadership Team (SLT) are also on hand to discuss any concern they may have.  We encourage a close working relationship between parents and school as we believe they know their child best. We consult heavily when forming care plans and meeting medical and physical needs. We understand that parenting can be a demanding job and encourage parents to access our Pastoral TA and Inclusion Manager.

How will my child be included in activities outside the classroom including trips?

We strive to make sure all trips and activities are accessible for all learners. Ratios of staff to children are adjusted to make this possible. Parents of children with specific disabilities or medical needs are consulted in the planning stages and an individual risk assessment is carried out if needed. 

How accessible is the education setting?

The main school building is two storey and has many outside spaces areas, with the exception of the woodland area, these are fully accessible for wheelchair users. We have an accessible toilet on both floors and a shower facility on our ground floor. There are no steps to access the building and a lift to ensure access to the first floor. All classrooms are built to meet current acoustic standards and one classroom of each pair and group rooms have a higher acoustic specification to further support children with any auditory impairment.

Equipment to support children is often purchased directly by the school. In the case of a large piece of equipment e.g. a hoist, needed for a particular length of time, we would look to hire or loan it.

 

Every caution is taken to make sure the site is secure, however, we cannot accommodate children with high levels of behavioural needs that present as climbing, escaping or hiding, as the site is large and has two levels, making it difficult to guarantee their safety

The school will take account of needs of pupils and visitors with physical difficulties and sensory impairments when planning and undertaking future improvements and refurbishments of the site and premises.

Accessibility Plan

In line with the Equality Act, 2010, Watermore Primary School has an Accessibility Plan, which is reviewed and updated every two years. This Accessibility Plan is available on the policies page of our website.

The plan is in place in order to:

Increase the extent to which disabled pupils can participate in the school curriculum

Improve the physical environment of the school to increase the extent to which disabled pupils can take advantage of education and associated services

Enable the needs of all pupils to be met so that they reach their fullest potential and school standards of achievement are raised

Ensure that all pupils have equal access to information, the curriculum and the physical environment.

Challenge and prevent disability discrimination in any aspect of school life by consistently restructuring existing cultures, policies and practices so that they respond to the diverse needs of all pupils

Create an inclusive atmosphere where all pupils are equal members of the school community.

Provide written information to disabled pupils in a format which takes into account their preferred method of communication.

Who can I contact for further information?

If a parent / carer is worried about their child they should first contact their child’s teacher or the Inclusion Manager, Mrs Jacqui Powell (ask at main office).

If a parent / carer of a child with SEND is considering joining Watermore Primary they should speak to the Inclusion Manager, who will talk to them about their child’s specific needs and how we can meet them.

The South Glos Local Offer website had a range of advice and information for parents and carers and can be found here:

https://find-information-for-adults-children-families.southglos.gov.uk/kb5/southglos/directory/localoffer.page?localofferchannel=0&channel=localoffer

Parents may also like to contact SEND and You.  More information can be found here:

https://www.sendandyou.org.uk/

 

SEND Policy Oct 2023

Parent Info 2023-24

Provision Offer 2023-24