SEND REPORT 2023 - 2024

WHAT IS 'SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS?'

Special Educational Needs (SEN) is when a child or young person has a learning difficulty or disability which calls for special educational provision to be made for them. 

A child of compulsory school age has a learning difficulty or disability if they have a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of the others of the same age or/and have a disability which prevents or hinders them from making the use of facilities generally provided for others of the same age in mainstream school.

At Whiston Worrygoose, we follow the SEN Code of Practice 2014 which guides us in providing the right support for our pupils.   

The Code of Practice categorises SEN into 4 different areas:

HOW DO WE KNOW IF A CHILD HAS SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS?

It is important to recognise that children start school with varied experiences and usually need a little time to settle in and engage with new learning opportunities.

Many children with complex needs have these identified very early.  Parents and carers may have already noticed that their child struggles in certain areas.  For other children, difficulties may only become evident as they grow and develop or as they learn and interact in new and different environments.

The school regularly assesses all children and this will identify children that are making less than expected progress.

Children will be identified as needing extra support if, despite high quality teaching, their progress is;

• Significantly slower than that of other children of a similar age
• Failing to match or better the child’s rate of progress
• Failing to close the attainment gap between the child and their peers
• Widening the attainment gap

The Class Teacher and SENCo will monitor the pupil closely and make observations which will also include discussions with parents, with clear review points. This is referred to in the Code of Practice as the Assess, Plan, Do, Review model. 

WHO ARE THE BEST PEOPLE TO TALK TO IF I THINK MY CHILD MAY HAVE SPECIFIC/ADDITIONAL LEARNING NEEDS?

The first person to speak to if you have any concerns about your child is the Class Teacher.  The Class Teacher knows your child better than any other adult in school and is always willing to listen to any concerns which you may have.

The Class Teacher will also raise any concerns they have with you about your child’s development.  This might be through our regular parent consultation days or before or after the school day.  We prefer this discussion to be in person however, we are aware that parents are not always able to pick up and drop off at school and in these cases we shall make a phone call to home. 

Where appropriate the concern will then be shared with the Special Educational Needs Coordinator, Miss Angell.  Further discussions may then take place between all relevant parties to determine the best way forward for your child.

If you are unhappy about the SEN support your child has received you can speak to the Head Teacher Mrs Hill.   Our governors can also be contacted about and SEN concerns you may have.

For additional advice of or support you can contact Rotherham Parent Partnership. They provide parents with confidential, impartial advice and information on special educational needs from staff and trained volunteers.  They have a website with further information here: https://rpcf.co.uk

HOW DO WE MEET CHILDREN'S LEARNING NEEDS?

The method we use to identify and then meet a child's learning needs follows a graduated approach:

Each pupil's education will be planned for by the Class Teacher as part of Quality First Teaching.  It will be differentiated accordingly to suit the pupil's individual needs.  This may include additional general support by the Class Teacher or Teaching Assistants in class.

HOW DO WE KNOW IF THE SUPPORT IS WORKING FOR YOUR CHILD?

We follow the Assess-Plan-Do-Review model (above)

The class teacher will continually check and assess your child’s progress in lots of ways including:

Regular marking

• Verbal Feedback Conferences
• Questioning
• Maths/Writing workshops
• Written and Verbal assessments or low stakes testing

Various assessment tools are then used to track if pupils are meeting their targets, including Little Wandle Phonics and Fluency Assessments, PIRA/PUMA assessment, British Picture Vocabulary Score, Pivats, EBSA questionnaire assessments, KS1 and KS2 national assessments and phonics screening.  These are used to measure both the progress in class and of interventions.

Once we have a clear understanding of the needs of your child we shall plan the most effective provision for them and deliver (do) that provision over the school term.

The Class Teacher and SENCO will then review the effectiveness of the support during the termly review meetings with you to work out the next steps in their learning.

HOW WILL MY CHILD AND I BE INVOLVED IN MAKING DECISIONS ABOUT THEIR EDUCATION?

Should we have any concerns over the educational development of your child, we shall inform you as to the action that we are planning to take.  If we would like to ask for more specialist external advice then we shall seek the permission of yourselves as guardians first.  You will be invited along to review meetings every term to discuss your child’s progress. These meetings are a little longer than a parent/teacher consultation and usually around 20 minutes long.   Although we arrange these more formal termly meetings, the adults working with your child will gladly meet with you at any time during the school year should you have any concerns you would like to discuss.   

Children are at the centre of every provision we offer at Whiston Worrygoose.  We give regular feedback to all children including those with SEN so that they are aware of what they need to do to progress.  We collect 'Pupil Voice' for each SEN review so that we are able to share with you the way in which they are feeling about their education.  We use this document to help us to collect pupil voice:

WHAT SKILLS, TRAINING AND QUALIFICATIONS DO OUR STAFF HAVE TO MEET THE NEEDS OF CHILDREN WITH SEND?

The SENCO’s job is to support the class teacher in planning for children with SEN.  Every teacher in school is a teacher of SEN and every leader in school is a leader of SEN. The school provides training and support to enable all staff to improve the teaching and learning of children, including those with SEN.  This includes whole school training on relevant SEN issues.  All Teachers and Support staff are committed to their own professional development and identifying their own training needs via annual staff appraisals.

The White Woods Academy Trust Community is committed to working together to improve learning for all, and we are able to share resources, training and expertise to meet the needs of learners with SEN.

WHICH EXTERNAL SUPPORT SERVICES MIGHT WE ASK TO HELP US SUPPORT YOUR CHILD?

We have access to a range of professional services, who can advise us on how to meet your child’s needs, if specialist intervention is required. These services include:

• Rotherham Specialist Inclusion Team
• Educational Psychology Service
• Sensory Service for children with visual or hearing needs
• Speech and Language Therapy
• Occupational Therapy Service
• Physiotherapy
• Child Development Centre (Under 5 years old)
• CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services
• School Nursing team (within 0-19 service)
• Early Help 
• With Me In Mind
• Aspire Outreach Team

Parents may be able to access some of these services through their GP.

We will refer to these services in circumstances where we feel more specialised advice is needed.  A referral will only be made once we have already put school based support in place, reviewed the impact it has had and decided in consultation with parents that a more specialised level of provision is required.

In addition, across our White Woods Trust of Schools we have access to a range of specialisms including SEND Networking Conferences, where we are able to confidentially discuss strategies to help support our children with SEN. The Trust have also invested in an SEMH specialist teacher to support staff with strategies to help children feel regulated within school. 

HOW WILL YOU HELP ME TO SUPPORT MY CHILD'S LEARNING?

The Class Teacher knows your child best and will be able to suggest a numerous ways of how you can support your child alongside set homework activities.

During review meetings Miss Angell, the school Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator, will discuss how to support your child with strategies to use that are bespoke to your child’s needs.

If outside agencies have been involved, suggestions and programmes of study are often provided by them and can be implemented or adapted to support at home.

The school website can be used to access resources, policies and links that will provide further support as will the Local Offer (link below).

Rotherham SEND Local Offer

WHAT IS 'QUALITY FIRST TEACHING' IN THE CLASSROOM?

All children have a right to access universal quality teaching in a classroom, delivered by a qualified teacher.  At Whiston Worrygoose, this means that:

• The teacher has the highest possible expectations for all pupils in their class.
• All teaching is built on what your child already knows, can do and can understand.
• Differentiation of teaching methods, outcomes and tasks are in place, so that your child is fully involved in learning in class.
• Specific strategies (which may be suggested by the SENCO) are in place to support your child to learn.
• Adaptations are made to ensure that your child can access every learning opportunity, for example seating positions, adaptations to visual displays or allocated specific resources and prompts. 
• Our school have invested heavily on ICT to help support our learners.

WHAT SUPPORT IS AVAILABLE FOR MY CHILD'S OVERALL WELLBEING?

Safeguarding children is our utmost priority and we are strongly committed to ensuring that this includes protecting every child’s emotional wellbeing.

At Whiston Worrygoose we are extremely proud of the pastoral care and support that we offer to both pupils and their families.  We have 2 support staff in school who are highly experienced and they work closely with children who may be experiencing emotional difficulties. 

Personal, Social, and Health Education (PSHE) is an integral part of our core curriculum, delivered sensitively not only in our classrooms but also as a whole school ethos through assemblies and focus groups.  Our staff also have access to other outside agencies who they are able to liaise with so that we can best support families who are in crisis. 

We aim for all children at Whiston Worrygoose to be kind, responsible and respectful members of our school and the wider Whiston community.  We have a zero tolerance to bullying, our Relationship Policy can be viewed here:

Policies page

 At Whiston Worrygoose we ensure that every child is able to take part in curricular and extra-curricular activities. Should your child need extra support or resources to access these activities, we will endeavour to provide provision on an individual needs basis wherever is reasonably possible.

HOW WILL MY CHILD'S MEDICAL NEEDS BE MET?

• If a pupil has a medical need then a Care Plan is compiled with support from parents and in consultation with medical practitioners where appropriate.  These are shared with all staff who work with the pupil. This care plan may include a risk assessment to ensure that you child is able to access all learning safely.
• All members of staff have basic first aid training which is updated every three years.  The date of our last training took place at in September 2023
• EYFS staff receive Paediatric First Aid Training in line with national requirements.
• Epi-pen training is undertaken by all staff on a two year basis. 
• Where a child has specific medical needs, additional staff training with be arranged in consultation with the relevant professionals or training providers.

 Accessibility

A detailed accessibility plan can be found on our website here:

Policies page

HOW IS INFORMATION ABOUT MY CHILD SHARED?

The details of the learning needs of your child are shared on a need to know basis.  This may include the SENCO, Class Teacher and any other adult who is working with your child and needs to be aware of their needs.  Each child on the SEN register has an individual file which is stored electronically on an encoded and password protected system.   Any hard copies of letters from medical professionals are scanned into the secure system.  In your child’s file we store copies of the minutes of any review meetings, letters or documents from external agencies, Individual Education Plans, Provision maps and a diary of intervention.  Your child’s class teacher and SENCO can access these files. Information is shared with adults working with your child in arranged meetings, we respect the privacy of every child and we do not discuss their needs in an open environment.

All of the staff at Whiston Worrygoose Primary School have signed a Professionalism Policy.  If we need to send emails to other external professionals, for example an upcoming appointment, we refer to your child by their initials so that they cannot be identified. Once your child leaves our school we transfer their file to their new school.  

Some key reports for example Educational Psychologist reports, diagnosis letters and EHCP are stored on our CPOMS (safeguarding) system. This is because these reports are vital in ensuring that your child receives the right support to meet their needs.

HOW DOES SCHOOL SUPPORT YOUR CHILD WHEN THEY ARE LEAVING THIS SCHOOL, STARTING THIS SCHOOL OR JOINING A NEW CLASS?

We recognise that transitions can be difficult for a child with SEN, and we take steps to ensure that any transition is as smooth as possible.

If your child is joining us from another school they will be able to visit our school and stay for taster sessions, if this is appropriate.  Our SENCO will liaise with the SENCO at your child’s current school to discuss the best way to meet their learning needs.  If appropriate a key member of staff will visit your child in their current setting.

If your child is moving to another school: 

• We will contact the school SENCO and ensure they knows about any special arrangements or support that need to be made for your child.
• Whenever possible visits will be arranged to the receiving school for your child, prior to the move.
• We will make sure that all records about your child are passed on as soon as possible.

When moving classes in school: 

• 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.  Support plans will be shared with the new teacher.
• During the final weeks of the school year your child will visit his/her new class on at least two occasions in order to become familiar with new staff and classmates.

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 will be invited to, will take place with the SENCO from the new school.

HOW ARE THE SCHOOL'S RESOURCES ALLOCATED AND MATCHED TO CHILDREN'S SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS?

 The SEND budget is allocated each financial year.  The money is used to provide additional support or resources dependent on an individual’s needs.

The additional provision may be allocated after discussion with the Class Teacher at pupil progress meetings or if a concern has been raised by them at another time.

Resources may include deployment of staff depending upon individual circumstance.

COMPLAINTS PROCEDURE AND CONTACT LIST

If you have any concerns regarding the SEN provision at Whiston Worrygoose please speak to the Headteacher/SENCO or SEN Governor.  We aim to resolve any concerns at you may have in person. 

Please see our complaints policy for further information.

School Telephone Number:  01709 541878

SENCO :  Miss C Angell  c.angell@wwg.wwpat.org

Headteacher:  Mrs V Hill v.hill@wwg.wwpat.org

If you are unhappy with the response received please follow our complaints policy here:

Complaints Policy

This page will be updated at least annually as we review the service that we expect to be available to children and young people with SEND in accordance with the Equality Acts 2010 and the Children and Family Act 2014.