SEND
SEND Report For Parents
Click here for: SEND report for Parents
SEND POLICY
Our Special Educational Needs policy outlines our aims and approach to supporting those children who require support over and above what is usually offered to all children.
Supporting pupils with Medical needs (Click here)
Mrs Wangdi is our Special Needs coordinator (SENCO) and her role is to support staff in ensuring all our children are reaching their potential in their learning. She works closely with parents to gather and relay information about children and their needs and how school can support them best. She instigates programmes to benefit all children through whole school initiatives, class support, small group interventions and individual sessions. Some children may have a long-term issue with specific learning difficulties or just need short-term help in a particular area. We are fully aware of how an emotional need can affect a child’s readiness to learn and we have interventions which take priority in order that children can access the curriculum and therefore progress. We have listed below a toolkit of interventions which we often have special training to deliver; these are used as appropriate according to a child’s need.
EMOTIONAL NEEDS
A THRIVE assessment can be very beneficial as we sit with parent and/or teacher and work out an Action Plan for home and school to help a child who may have emotional challenges.
The BOXALL profile can be helpful for a child with problems learning appropriate classroom behaviour.
https://nurturegroups.org/publications/boxall-profile-handbook-revised
OWL benefits all children as they learn outside. Chidlren learn how to work co-operatively as well as life skills such as planning and growing a garden, preparing items for sale and operating a market stall.
1:1 SEAL sessions on emotions and coping strategies are for children who are undergoing difficult life situations and who need a little extra help.
Social and Emotional Learning (SEAL) group are sometimes used to enhance the PHSE sessions which children receive in class. In these groups children generally work on feelings, e.g. anger, anxiety, relationships and changes as we prepare for the summer holidays and next year.
Parent groups run throughout the year across the whole of the Exmouth Learning Community and are run jointly by SENCO’s and our Educational Psychologist. These meetings are usually once every half term and take a particular focus, eg. anxiety, change, learning to wait, sibling rivalry, etc. They are usually held at Withycombe Raleigh Primary School.
READINESS TO LEARN
We have auditory memory groups, as directed by our educational psychologist, to help children with poor auditory working memory, as this can hinder learning.
Speech and Language Therapy: The Speech and Language Therapist will assess a child experiencing difficulties with their speech and devise a personalised programme for them. The Teaching Assistant will carry out activities with the child to help them achieve the targets.
Speech and Language groups operate across the school for children who need to work on certain sounds, as determined by Speechlink, a computer programme which helps identify any developmental speech and language difficulties. If necessary we can refer to a therapist. https://www.speechlink.co.uk/?0.93792500%201372965297
Listening and Attention groups are more commonly found in Foundation or Key Stage 1 and are set up as needed for children who need more practice in turn-taking, communication and interaction.
Narrative groups are similar and focus on story-telling, including asking ‘who?’, ‘where?’, ‘when?’, ‘why?’, ‘how?’ and encouraging the children to develop their oral language to help prepare them for the reading and writing they will be doing. It uses Black Sheep resources. http://www.blacksheeppress.co.uk/
ICAN Talkboost is a programme we hope to begin running in 2015. It narrows the gap between those children who have a language delay and their peers. http://www.icancharity.org.uk/EarlyTalkBoostTracker
LITERACY NEEDS
EXTRA PHONICS SUPPORT: Those children in KS1 who find learning their sounds and using them to blend for reading or segment for spelling receive extra 1:1 or small group phonics support based upon the games and activities the learn in class during their Letters and Sounds lessons.
CODE uses the Project X characters and is a hugely popular and effective reading intervention for Key stage 1 and 2.. This link says it all! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSyuPryftnw
Toe by Toe: This is a special red book where a child’s literacy progress can be seen before their eyes as they work through the book with a parent or teaching assistant. https://www.toe-by-toe.co.uk/toe-by-toe-testimonials/
1:1 Effective Hearing Reading: All of our teaching assistants are trained in how to be more effective when hearing children read.
We are always happy to welcome volunteers to hear readers and will train if necessary too.
MATHS NEEDS
Numeracy Support
From Counting to Calculating
From Counting to Calculating is an intervention programme for maths that is intended for children who lie just above the bottom 5% in Y2 and for children in Y3 and Y4 who are working significantly behind age related expectations. The programme is based on action research on key understandings in mathematics and how to address misconceptions and gaps in understanding.
From counting to calculating is a ten week programme based on maths objectives taken from the Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1 curriculum that focus on key aspects of mathematical understanding related to additive reasoning. At Bassetts Farm the programme is delivered by trained and accredited teaching assistants, who tailor the sessions to meet the specific needs of the children who learn in threes, pairs or one to one. The programme aims to accelerate children’s progress whilst on the programme.
PHYSICAL NEEDS
Occupational Therapy and Physiotherapy: we carry out any therapeutic tasks recommended by Vranch House for children needing help with movement, proprioception, posture, motor skills and so on, either 1:1 or in groups if more children need the same help.
FUNFIT is a programme set up by Vranch House for children who need help with their gross or fine motor skills or core body strength. They have a series of lessons, after which improvement is usually remarkable. If not, we refer them to Vranch House for a more in depth assessment.
http://www.vranchhouse.org/what-we-do/devon-fun-fit/
We run groups to improve Fine Motor Skills in Foundation and years 1 and 2. This helps with sitting correctly for writing, pencil grip, handwriting, using cutlery and scissors.
Class teacher generated intervention (led by teacher or TA):
We also have groups run by the teacher and/or teaching assistant in each class according to the needs found in that cohort of children. These could be run in or out of the class and may include:
Spelling group
Reading comprehension group
Handwriting group
Speaking and listening group
Speech and language group
Guided reading groups
Guided writing groups
Higher ability creative writing group where technical skills are developed, such as handwriting, spelling, punctuation and also creative skills such as story writing, descriptive work and poetry.
Phonic groups
SEND WEBSITES FOR PARENTS
The following websites provide help and advice for parents, particularly those of children with Special Educational Needs:
http://www.devon.gov.uk/disc_services
Devon Children’s University
https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/business-partners/partnerships/childrens-university
SEND and Local Offer information in Devon:
https://new.devon.gov.uk/educationandfamilies/special-educational-needs-and-disability-send-local-offer
DIAS - Devon Information, Advice and Support