SEND and Inclusion

The class teacher 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) and letting the Special Education Needs and Disabilities Co-ordinator (SENCo) know as necessary.

Targets are based on the smaller steps outlined in assessment tools such as PIVATS (Performance Indicators for Value Added Target Setting) and B Squared.

Personalised teaching and learning for your child as identified on the academy provision map.

Ensuring that the academy SEND Policy is followed in their classroom and for all the pupils they teach with any SEND.

The SENCo is Miss Jenny Ward who is responsible for: 

Developing and reviewing the academy SEND policy.

Coordinating all the support for children with Special Educational Needs or Disabilities (SEND).

Ensuring that you are:

i) involved in supporting your child’s learning

ii) kept informed about the support your child is getting

iii) involved in reviewing how they are progressing.

Liaising with all the other people who may be coming in to the academy to help support your child’s learning, e.g. Speech and Language Therapist, Educational Psychologist.

Updating the academy SEN information (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 academy, so that they can help children with SEND in the academy to achieve the best progress possible.

The Principal is Mrs. C. Boothroyd who is responsible for: 

The day-to-day management of all aspects of the academy; this includes the support for children with SEND.

The Principal will give responsibility to the SENCo and class teachers, but is still responsible for ensuring that your child’s needs are met.

The Principal must make sure that the Governing Board is kept up to date about issues relating to SEND.

The SEN Trustee is Mrs D Hardman who is responsible for:

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

Regardless of the special educational need good progress is made when academy and home work together supporting each other.

Language and Communication

The classroom environment provides learning support so that all children are included in activities and can learn well.

Some children will require a more specialised approach if they are to make good progress in their ‘communication’. This could involve a Speech and Language Therapist working alongside the academy to identify the specific needs of a child and the strategies that will work best. Ongoing assessment, good teamwork and opportunities to practice what has been taught throughout the academy day are approaches that will help the children.

English and Mathematics

The classroom environment provides learning support so that all children are included in activities and can learn well. Through continuous assessment, the teacher will pick up when a child is not making good progress and will adjust his/her teaching accordingly providing additional opportunities for the child to practice the necessary skills or techniques until they have mastered it.

Sometimes children require additional catch up programmes to increase their progress in the development of English or Maths skills. These may take place through small groups working in the class or in a quiet space outside of the classroom.

Sensory needs

The classroom environment provides learning support so that all children are included and resources are provided to help focus and regulate the children. If needed there is a designated room with sensory resources that can be used with the children.

Sometimes a child will have particular sensory needs and will require further specialist assessment followed by a programme to address their ‘sensory diet’ (a personalised activity plan that provides the sensory input a child needs) both in home and at the academy.

Physical needs

The classroom environment provides learning support so that all children are included in activities and can learn well. A review of your child’s needs will be carried out so that adjustments can be made and put into place.

Behavioural needs

The classroom environment provides learning support so that all children are included in activities and can learn well. There is a behaviour policy in place to ensure that children make positive behaviour choices.

Some children have additional behaviour needs despite a well planned and motivating curriculum and a consistently applied behavioural support policy. If this is the case a personalised behaviour support plan may be developed. It is important that all staff who work with the child are involved and agree with the plan. Parents will be involved throughout so that strategies are understood and consistently applied at home too. 

Class teacher input, via excellent targeted classroom teaching (Quality First 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 (a way of learning using real objects and materials). 
• That specific strategies (which may be suggested by the SENCo) are in place to support your child to learn.
• Your child’s teacher 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.

Specific group work

An intervention programme which may be: 

a) Run in the classroom or an area outside the classroom by a teacher or a learning support assistant (LSA).

b) Specialist groups run by outside agencies, e.g. Speech and Language therapy

This means a pupil has been identified by the SENCo/class teacher as needing some extra specialist support in the academy from a professional. This may be from various Local Authority central services such as Educational Psychologist and advisory teachers or outside agencies such as Shine Therapy and the NHS to support Speech, Language and Communication and Sensory needs.

What could happen: 

You may be asked to give your permission for the academy to refer your child to a specialist professional, e.g. a Speech and Language Therapist or Educational Psychologist. This will help the academy and you to understand your child’s particular needs better and be able to support them more effectively in the academy.

The specialist professional will work with your child to understand their needs and make recommendations as to the ways your child is given support.

c) Specified Individual support

This type of support is available for children whose learning needs are severe, complex and lifelong.

This is usually provided via an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP). This means your child will have been identified by professionals as needing a particularly high level of individual or small-group teaching.

This type of support is available for children with specific barriers to learning that cannot be overcome through Quality First Teaching and intervention groups. Your child will also need specialist support in the academy from a professional service. This may be from: 

• Local Authority central services such as the ASD Outreach Team, Behaviour Support or Sensory Service (for students with a hearing or visual need)
• Outside agencies such as the NHS Speech and Language Therapy (SALT) Service or NHS Occupational Therapy (OT) service

For your child this would mean: 

The academy (or you) can request that Local Authority Services carry out a statutory assessment of your child’s needs. This is a legal process which sets out the amount of support that will be provided for your child.

After the request has been made to the ‘Panel of Professionals’ (with a lot of information about your child, including some from you), they will decide whether they think your child’s needs (as described in the paperwork provided), seem complex enough to need a statutory assessment. If this is the case, they will write an Education Health Care Plan (EHCP). If this is not the case, the school will continue with the current level of support and also set up a meeting in school to ensure a plan is in place to ensure your child makes as much progress as possible.

The EHC Plan will outline the number of hours of individual/small group support your child will receive from the LA and how the support should be used, and what strategies must be put in place. It will also have long and short-term goals for your child.

An additional adult may be used to support your child with whole class learning, run individual programmes or run small groups including your child.

If you have concerns about your child’s progress, you should speak to your child’s class teacher initially.

If you continue to be concerned that your child is not making progress, you may speak to the Special Education Needs and Disabilities Coordinator (SENCo).

The academy SEND Trustee can also be contacted for support.

If your child is identified as not making progress the class teacher will set up a meeting to discuss this with you in more detail and listen to any concerns you may have. From this they may plan any additional support your child may need. Depending upon the concerns, the SENCo may be involved to offer further help and discuss with you possible referrals to outside professionals to support your child.

The academy budget includes money for supporting children with SEND.

The Principal decides on the deployment of resources for Special Educational Needs and Disabilities, in consultation with governors on the basis of need.

The Principal and the SENCo discuss all the information they have about SEND in the academy, including the children getting extra support already, the children needing extra support, the children who have been identified as not making as much progress as would be expected.

From this information, they decide what resources/training and support is needed.

The academy identifies the needs of SEND pupils on a provision map. This identifies support given within the academy and is reviewed termly, changes are made as needed, so that the needs of children are met, and resources are deployed as effectively as possible.

Academy provision: 

There are teachers responsible for teaching SEND groups/individuals.

Learning Support Assistants and the Family Support Worker mainly work with either individual children or small groups.

Learning Support Assistants and the Family Support Worker offer support for children with emotional and social development through one to one and small group work

Local Authority Provision delivered in the academy includes: 

Communication and Interaction Team

Educational Psychology Service

Behaviour Advisory Service

Sensory Service for children with visual or hearing need

Student Support Team

Cognition and Learning Advisor

Advisory Teacher Physical and Medical Difficulties

Social Emotional and Mental Health Advise

SEND information Advice and Support Service (formerly Parent Partnership)

Health Provision delivered in school

Other outside agencies:

NHS Speech and Language Therapist

School Nurse

Occupational Therapy

Physiotherapy

CAMHs (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service)

The SENCo’s job is to support the class teacher in planning for children with SEND.

The academy provides training and support to enable all staff to improve the teaching and learning of children, including those with SEND. This includes whole academy training on SEND issues, such as sensory needs and speech and language difficulties. Individual teachers and support staff attend training in house and courses run by outside agencies.

Class teachers plan lessons according to the specific needs of all groups of children in their class (referring to resources such as B squared as necessary) and will ensure that your child’s needs are met.

Support staff, under the direction of the class teacher, can adapt planning to support the needs of your child where necessary.

Specific resources and strategies will be used to support your child individually and in groups.

Planning and teaching will be adapted, on a daily basis if needed, to meet your child’s learning needs.

Your child’s progress will be continually monitored by their class teacher.

Their progress will be reviewed formally with the Principal, Phase leader and SENCo every term in reading, writing and maths through pupil progress meetings.

At the end of each key stage (i.e. at the end of year 2 and year 6), all children are required to be formally assessed using Standard Assessment Tests (SATS). This is something the government requires all schools to do and results are published nationally.

Where necessary, children will have individual targets set by school or in liaison with an outside agency. Targets may be set using B squared and are designed to accelerate learning and close the gap. Progress against these targets will be reviewed regularly, evidence for judgements assessed and a future plan made.

The progress of children with an EHC Plan will be formally reviewed at an Annual Review with all adults involved with the child’s education.

The SENCo will also check that your child is making good progress within any individual work and in any group that they take part in.

Regular book scrutinies with pupil discussions and lesson observations will be carried out by the SENCo and other members of the Senior Management Team to ensure that the needs of all children are met and that the quality of teaching and learning is high.

The class teacher is regularly available to discuss your child’s progress or any concerns you may have and to share information about what is working well at home and school, so that similar strategies can be used.

The SENCo is available to meet with you to discuss your child’s progress or any concerns/worries you may have.  Appointments can be made via the academy office.

All information from outside professionals will be discussed with you directly, or where this is not possible, in a report.

Homework will be adjusted as needed to meet your child’s individual requirements.

A home-school contact book may be used to support communication with you when this has been agreed to be useful for you and your child. An example is the Little Book of Success.

The academy is fully compliant with DDA requirements (Disability Discrimination Act 1995). The academy is on a split-level with easy access and lift.

The front desk has a wheel-chair height section and is DDA compliant.

Evacuation chairs are available for use in the event of evacuation.

There are five disabled toilets, shower area and changing facilities and a medical room.

We ensure, where ever possible, that equipment used is accessible to all children regardless of their needs.

Provision outside of the academy day is accessible to all children, including those with SEND.

Extra-curricular activities are accessible for children with SEN.

HSA Accessibility plan

Bullying is not tolerated at Hawes Side Academy and, as such, has an anti-bullying policy which is reviewed regularly with pupils through the curriculum and assemblies. All children are encouraged to reports incidents of bullying. Children are taught through the curriculum about the distressing outcomes that victims and their families may feel; they are also taught the self confidence to resist bullying.

If you suspect that your child is being bullied it is important that you let the academy know of your concerns and work in partnership with the academy to resolve this. 

If medication is needed during academy hours it should be handed into the school office and a form filled in. Many GPs will prescribe medicines that can be taken before and after academy.

If your child uses an inhaler please discuss the arrangements for this with your child’s class teacher, SENCo or the medical coordinator.

If you child has ongoing medical needs a healthcare plan will be written which the academy will manage.

The medical coordinator at Hawes Side Academy is Mrs McDonnell.

We recognise that transitions can be difficult for a child with SEND, and we take steps to ensure that any transition is a smooth as possible and that children’s individual needs are communicated effectively.

If your child is joining us from another school/setting/starting school with us?

When starting Foundation Stage the SENCo will visit pre-schools with the Foundation Stage Leader when appropriate.

To support your child with this transition 'sharing information' passports will be developed along with photographs of familiar people and places they will see in the September

Your child will be able to visit our school and stay for the taster sessions, extra visits will be arranged if this is appropriate. Staff will also visit your child in their pre school setting if it is appropriate

If your child is moving to another school or academy: 

We will contact the school SENCo and ensure he/she knows about any special arrangements or support that need to be made for your child. Where possible, a planning meeting will take place with the SENCo from the new school or academy.

We will make sure that all records about your child are passed on as soon as possible.

A communication passport/sharing information sheet can be written so that your child feels comfortable going into his/her new setting and that his/her story is known.

When moving classes in the academy: 

Information will be passed on to the new class teacher in advance and in most cases a planning meeting will take place with the new teacher. Individual learning plans will be shared with the new teacher who will spend time with your child in their current class getting to know their new teacher and starting to build a relationship before going to their new classroom for a taster session. If your child requires more visits these are built into the transition timetable. The class teacher will arrange a meeting with you and the new teacher if it is felt it is needed extra to ‘meet the teacher’ in July. A communication passport/sharing information sheet can be written so that your child feels comfortable going into his/her new setting and that his/her story is known.

In Year 6: 

The SENCo will discuss the specific needs of your child with the SENCo of the child’s secondary school. In most cases, a transition review meeting to which you may be invited will take place with the SENCo from the new school.

Your child will participate in focused learning relating to aspects of transition, to support their understanding of the changes ahead.

Where possible, your child will visit their new school on several occasions, and in some cases staff from the new school will visit your child in this school. If your child would find it helpful to have a book/passport to support them in understanding about moving on, then one will be made for them. A communication passport/sharing information sheet will be written so that your child feels comfortable going into his/her new setting and that his/her story is known.

We recognise that some children have extra emotional and social needs that need to be developed and nurtured. These needs can manifest themselves in a number of ways, including behavioural difficulties, anxiousness, and being uncommunicative.

All classes value and experience Personal and Social and Health Education to further their pupil’s personal development. However, for those children who find aspects of this difficult we offer in-school nurture provision run by trained learning support assistants. Lunchtime is also supported through planned activities and groups.

If you have a concern about the support in place for your child, in the first instance, please discuss this with your child's class teacher or SENCO.  Should your concern remain unresolved then please advise a member of our Senior Leadership Team to support you further.

In the unlikely event that you feel your concern has not been appropriately addressed please refer to the academy complaints policy.