Introduction

Welcome to our SEND information report which is a part of Derby City Council’s Local Offer for learners with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND).

The LA Local Offer

The Children and Families Bill was enacted in September 2014. From this date Local Authorities (LA) and schools are required to publish and keep under review information about services they expect to be available for children and young people with special educational needs (SEN) aged 0-25. The Local Authority refer to this as the ‘Local

Offer’.  The intention of the Local Offer is to improve choice and transparency for families. It will also be an important resource for parents in understanding the range of services and provision in the local area.

The Derby City Local Offer can be accessed here:

http://www.derby.gov.uk/education-and-learning/special-education-needs-disabilities

http://www.derby.gov.uk/media/derbycitycouncil/contentassets/documents/education/The%20Local%20Offer.pdf

Our School

Arboretum Primary School values the abilities and achievements of all its pupils, and is committed to providing each pupil with the best possible environment for learning.

We want all children to                                                                                                 We believe our school is:                     

  Reach for the Stars!

• S- Supportive                                                                                       A safe, supportive stimulating learning environment    T- Team Player                                                                                     A team of respectful, tolerant ,open minded citizens
• A -Aspirational                                                                    A community where everyone aspires to be the best they can be
• R- Resilience                                                                                             A community of resilient lifelong learners                                    S -Successful                                                                                                  A centre of excellence where all achieve success

Special Educational Needs supported at Arboretum Primary School

DEFINITION OF SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS

 Definitions of special education needs taken from section 20 of the Children and Families Act 2014.

A child has special educational needs if he or she has learning difficulties that call for special educational provision to be made.

 A child has learning difficulties if he or she:

• Has a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of children of the same age.
• Has a disability which prevents or hinders the child from making use of educational facilities of a kind provided for children of the same age in other schools within the Local Authority.   

  Children must not be regarded as having learning difficulties solely because their language is different from that in which they are taught.

Arboretum Primary School will have due regard for the Special Needs Code of Practice 2014 when carrying out our duties towards all pupils with special educational needs, and ensure that parents are notified when SEND provision is being made for their child.

The broad areas of SEND need are:

Communication and Interaction

Cognition and Learning

Social, Emotional and Mental Health Difficulties

Sensory and/or Physical Needs

Children and young people with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN) have difficulty in communicating with others. This may be because they have difficulty saying what they want to, understanding what is being said to them or they do not understand or use social rules of communication. The profile for every child with SLCN is different and their needs may change over time. Children with an Autism Spectrum Disorder are likely to have particular difficulties with social interaction. They may also experience difficulties with language, communication, social interaction and imagination, which can impact on how they relate to others.

Support for learning difficulties may be required when children and young people learn at a slower pace than their peers, even with appropriate differentiation.

Learning difficulties cover a

wide range of needs,

Specific learning difficulties

(SpLD), affect one or more specific aspects of learning.

This encompasses a range of conditions such as dyslexia, dyscalculia and dyspraxia.

Children and young people may experience a wide range of social and emotional difficulties which manifest themselves in many ways.

These may include becoming withdrawn or isolated, as well as displaying challenging, disruptive or disturbing behaviour. These behaviours may reflect underlying mental health difficulties such as anxiety or depression, self-harming, eating disorders or physical symptoms that are medically unexplained. Other children and young people may have disorders such as attention deficit disorder, attention deficit hyperactive disorder or attachment disorder.

Some children require special educational provision because they have a disability which prevents or hinders them from making use of the educational facilities generally provided. These difficulties can be age related and may fluctuate over time. Many children and young people with vision impairment (VI), hearing impairment (HI) or a multi-sensory impairment (MSI) will require specialist support and/or equipment to access their learning. Some children and young people with a physical disability (PD) require additional on-going support and equipment to access all the opportunities available to their peers.

Who are the best people to speak to in school about my child’s difficulties with learning/ Special Educational Needs or Disability (SEND)?  

You can talk to your child’s Class teacher. He/she 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 or additional support) and letting the SENCo know as necessary
• Writing Pupil Progress targets/Individual Education Plans (IEPs), and sharing and reviewing these with parents at least once each term and planning for the next term.
• Personalised teaching and learning for your child as identified on the school provision maps where necessary
• Overseeing support that TAs provide for your child
•  Ensuring that you (the parent/carer) are involved in supporting your child’s learning

You can also talk to our SENCo Mrs Linnecor. The SENCo is responsible for:

· Developing and reviewing the school’s SEND policy.

 · Co-ordinating all the support for children with special educational needs or disabilities (SEND).

 · Providing specialist support for teachers and support staff in the school, so that they can help children with SEND in the school to achieve the best progress possible.

· Ensuring that you are: -involved in supporting your child’s learning -kept informed about the support your child is getting -involved in reviewing how they are doing.

· Liaising with all the other people who may be coming in to school to help support your child’s learning, e.g. Speech and Language Therapy, Educational Psychology.

 · Updating the school’s SEND register (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.

SENCo: Mrs. Natalie Linnecor 

Contact number: 013332 291140

Email address: senco@arboretum.derby.sch.uk

   You are also welcome to talk to our Headteacher, Mr Daintith.

Responsible for:

· The day to day management of all aspects of the school, including the support for children with SEND.

· Making sure that the Governing Body is kept up to date about issues relating to SEND

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

 Mrs Parveen Ali is also available who is our SEND Governor.

As the SEND Governor, she takes a special interest in SEND and meets with the SENCo. The full Governing Body has overall responsibility for ensuring that the necessary support is given for any child who attends the school, and that appropriate support is provided for all SEND pupils.

What are the different types of support available for children with SEND in our school?  

Quality First Teaching

Quality first teaching refers to targeted classroom teaching from class teacher and/or support staff.

Every child will have access to Quality first teaching.

This entails-

• Having high expectations from all staff and from pupils and ensuring the classroom environment distills these
• Ensuring teaching and new learning is built upon prior learning and is accessible for all pupils
• Developing key skills through a range of activities and ensuring learning is represented in different ways
• Ensuring key resources and equipment are available if required to support learning and independence
• Putting specific strategies/ provision in place to support pupils to learn and feel ready to learn
• Checking progress and attainment and adapting learning accordingly
• Celebrating everyone’s achievements equally and promoting a positive, happy learning environment

Specific group work

Intervention programmes may run inside the classroom or in specific areas around school. These groups could be led by the teacher or teaching assistant (TA). Such group work could include pre-teaching opportunities, additional support reflecting on prior learning and group work based on social, emotional support.

Specialist support from outside agencies

This means a pupil has been identified by the SENCo/class teacher as needing some extra specialist support in school from a professional outside the school. This may be from:

- Local Authority services, such as STePS (Specialist Teachers and Educational Psychology Services), which includes sensory support services such as, hearing or visual impairment specialist teachers, ASD specialist teachers and physical impairment specialist teachers.

- Health services such as, Occupational Therapists or physiotherapists and Speech and Language Therapists.

What could happen:

- You will be asked to give your permission for the school to refer your child to a specialist professional e.g. a

Speech and Language Therapist or Educational Psychologist. This will help you and the school to understand your child’s particular needs better and be able to support them more effectively in school where possible.

- If appropriate, the specialist professional will work with your child to understand their needs and make recommendations as to the ways your child is given support within our mainstream setting.

Individualised support

This support is tailored to meet children’s specific areas of need and usually for those with more complex needs or disabilities. The vast majority of pupils may have an Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCP) which ensures set provision and support is in place and targets specific outcomes. Support can be provided through small group or 1:1 provision or through a professional from outside of school.

The EHCP process

Supporting children and young people who are looked after and have Special Educational Needs (SEN)

• In addition to the above, meetings are held for children who are looked after by the local authority and an Individual Educational Plan (IEP) is completed.
•       These meetings are attended by all agencies involved with the child to discuss IEPs and to look closely at the provision,          
•   progress and well-being of the child. Their views are a vital part of the process. These meetings take place termly and
•     a plan of action is produced alongside a provision map. The meeting contents, agreed actions, targets and voice of the child are shared with all agencies.

How can I let the school know that I am concerned about my child’s progress in school?

• If you have concerns about your child’s progress or/and attainment, you should first speak to your child’s teacher. Any additional concerns regarding your child’s progress or/and attainment, you are able to speak to the SENCo and other members of the Senior Management Team. The school SEN governor can also be contacted for support.
•  

How is extra support allocated to children and how do they progress in their learning?

·    The school budget, received from Derby City LA, includes money for supporting children with SEND.

• The Headteacher decides on the deployment of resources for Special Educational Needs and Disabilities in consultation with the school governors, on the basis of needs in the school.
• The Headteacher and the SENCo discuss all the information they have about SEND in the school, including:

                  - the children who currently receive additional support

                  - the children needing extra support

                  - the children who have been identified as not making as much progress as would be expected and decide what resources/training and support is needed

                   - the child’s view will be sought informally and for review meetings; this may not always be possible with very young children / children with delayed development.

The needs of pupils are identified on a school provision map which for SEND pupils identifies all resources, training & support.

If a child has an EHCP, the SENCo will apply for funding to ensure suitable provision identified in their plans can be put in place. This funding is allocated to schools and the amount is decided by the Local Authority. This provision will be reviewed regularly and shared with parents/carers.

Who are the other people providing services to children with SEND in our school?

 School provision

• Class Teachers working with individual children or small groups
• Teaching Assistants working with either individual children or small groups.
• SENCo
• Behaviour lead and SLT (Sarah Ferguson)
• Learning Mentor (Ros Nisha) and Thrive Specialist (Laura Tivey)
• Mid-day Supervisors offering support for children with emotional and social development needs on the playground
• Volunteers and parent helpers

Local Authority Provision delivered in school

• STePS (Specialist Teachers and Educational Psychology Services)
• ASD Specialist & Advisory Teacher
• Educational Psychology Service
• Sensory support for children with visual or hearing needs
• Parent Partnership Service
• SALT (Speech and Language Therapy) Jessica Flintoff
• LAC (Looked After Children)
• Family Intervention Worker to support families

Health Provision delivered in school

• Additional Speech and Language Therapy input to provide a higher level of service to the school
• School Nurse
• Occupational Therapy – Lighthouse Team
• Physiotherapy – Lighthouse Team
• Community Paediatrician (Dr. Mehta)

• CAMHs (Child and Adult Mental Health)

How are teachers in the school helped to support children with SEND, and what training do members to staff have?

Arboretum Primary strives to ensure staff members are well-trained and feel confident in what is expected of them. All teachers and staff members who have training are then given the platform to share their training and resources with relevant staff to support others.  

How will the teaching be adapted for my child with SEND and how will they be involved in this process?

Class teachers plan lessons and differentiate their planning according to the specific needs of all groups of children in their class (including using Pre-key stage standards and using the Brackensfield levels for children working well below year group expectations) and will ensure that your child’s needs are met where ever possible within our mainstream setting.

• 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, including that for Brackensfield levels and for specific intervention programmes, in order to meet your child’s learning needs
• Your child’s views are sought when and where appropriate. Individual Educational Plans are shared with children when appropriate and children are asked to record what they think. Children are invited to meetings where appropriate, and their views are actively sought through questionnaires, discussions and being present at meetings

• Children who have an EHCP complete an informal questionnaire during the review process and are invited to the meeting to share their feelings, aspirations, likes, dislikes, favourite subjects etc
• For key lessons, such as Read, Write Inc and Maths,  children have access to appropriate groups based on their starting points
• For selected children who meet the Orchard criteria, they are invited to join sessions in our Orchard setting which provides learning opportunities through sensory and child-led approaches
• Thrive and Forest schools is available for social, emotional development and children are selected by SLT, SENCo, Teachers and TA’s in collaboration

How will we measure the progress of your child in school?

•  Your child’s progress will be continually monitored by his/her class teacher.
•  His/her progress will be reviewed formally with members of the Senior Leadership Team every term in Writing, Maths and Reading, through Pupil Progress meetings.
• If your child is working below their Year Group Expectations, a more sensitive assessment tool can be used called Brackensfield levels, which shows children’s attainment in more detail – breaking learning down into smaller steps. Along with this, schools can use the Pre-Key Stage levels to support judgements.
• At the end of each key stage (i.e. at the end of year 2 and year 6), children are required to be formally assessed using Standard Assessment Tests (SATS). This is something the government requires all schools to do and are the results that are published nationally.
• Where necessary, children will have an Individual Education Plan (IEP) based on targets agreed by teachers, parents, the SENCo and/ or external agencies which is specific to their needs. Targets will be 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 Education Health Care Plan (EHCP) 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 via the use of provision maps and IEPs.
• Regular book scrutiny and drop ins are carried out by members of the Senior Leadership Team and Subject Co-ordinators to ensure that the needs of all children are met and that the quality of teaching and learning is high.

What support do we have for you as a parent of a child with SEND?

• 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
• All information from outside professionals will be discussed with you with the person involved directly, or where this is not possible, in a report.
•  Additional support plans will be reviewed with your involvement at least termly.
•  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.
• Derby SEND Information Advice and Support Service (SENDIASS) is available to give further impartial advice and support should you need it. Their website address is: http://www.derby.gov.uk/education-and-learning/schools-and-colleges/sendiass/

How is Arboretum Primary school accessible to children with SEND?

•  The school is fully compliant with Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) requirements.
•  The school is on one level with easy access and double doors where appropriate.
• We have slopes outdoors in order for every child to access all areas.
• We have two disabled toilets, one with a hoist and one with a shower area and changing facility.
• We ensure, where ever possible, that equipment used is accessible to all children regardless of their needs.
• After-school provision is accessible to all children, including those with SEND.
• Extra-curricular activities are accessible for children with SEND.
• Simple adaptations have been made for specific needs e.g. organisation of classroom furniture for wheelchair uses, specific seating arrangements for children who are hearing impaired or sight impaired.
• We have the support of the Physical Impairment Advisory Teachers via STePS and the Occupational and Physiotherapy Team should we require any specialised equipment e.g. sloping boards, tables, adapted chairs etc.

How will we support your child when they are joining the school?

Leaving the school? Or moving to another class?

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.

If your child is joining us from another school:

• The SENCo will visit pre-schools with the class teacher or Foundation Stage Leader where possible. Failing this, telephone conversations will be held to gather as much information as possible

• If your child would be helped by a social story to support them in understand moving on, then one will be made for them with information about their current placement and their new school
• Your child will be able to visit our school and have a look around, depending on your child’s specific needs
• Parents will be invited to attend an information meeting when starting in our Foundation Stage and other year groups at the start of each term
• You may be given an opportunity for additional visits where appropriate to help to prepare your child for their move to the school depending on your child’s needs

If your child is moving to another school:

• We will contact the school’s SENCo and ensure he/she knows about any special arrangements or support that need to be made for your child. Your child’s new SENCo is very welcome to visit the school and observe and meet you child in school prior to moving on
• We will make sure that all records about your child are passed on as soon as possible and will still be available for further conversations with the school
• If your child would be helped by a transition book/social story to support them in understanding the change/move, then one will be made for them
• The SENCo and other key members of staff can support with visits to the school prior to the move

When moving classes in school:

• Transition meetings take place every year and teacher’s exchange information and records
• All children will have the opportunity to spend at least a day in their new class with key members of staff
• Your child may be able to visit the new class more frequently where appropriate, to prepare them for the move
• Every child will get a letter from their new teacher/TA giving them more information about themselves
• Social stories will be created to support children with the changes which will be gone through in school and copies can be made available for home

In Year 6:

• Transition meetings take place between Secondary and Year 6 class teachers every year

• The SENCo will discuss the specific needs of your child with the SENCo of the child’s secondary school at which time all of your child’s records will be transferred to the SENCo. Where necessary, year 6 lead/ class teacher can be the adult to have these conversations. The online portal is a way which Derby City schools share information and ensure secondary schools have the necessary information in enough time.
• Your child will participate in focused learning relating to aspects of transition and change linked to PSHE lessons, to support their understanding of the changes ahead
• Your child will visit their new school and if needed additional sessions can be arranged as part of a transition.
• In some cases staff from the new school will visit your child in this school
• Social stories can be created to explain the process and share photo’s/ key information of the new school
• Pre-visits can be arranged when choosing secondary schools- these visits can be supported by SENCo and other key staff members when required
• The SENCo and team are still available to support with enquires even after your child has moved on

How will we support your child’s emotional and social development?

 How will this include support for mental health?

 Some children have additional emotional and social needs that need to be developed and nurtured. We also appreciate that following Covid-19 and the implications of this, additional children need further support. These needs can manifest themselves in a number of ways, including behavioural difficulties, anxiousness and struggling to communicate effectively.

We will support children in many different ways such as;

• Additional RHE lessons and activities- all lessons focus on different RHE aspects which feeds through everything we do at Arboretum
• Some children engage with the Zones of Regulation intervention which support children with understanding their emotions and verbalising these
• We offer the “Boxall Profile Assessment Tool” plus “Beyond the Boxall Profile” for planning interventions and helping to assess children’s specific needs
• Some children have the opportunity to engage in Thrive twice a week
• Some children have the opportunity to attend Forest Schools weekly
• Peer mentoring- using older children to support younger children
• Small group social and emotional skills sessions based on individual or group’s needs
• Social stories
• Additional visual and verbal support including support from Widget symbols
• Use of ELSA resources – One TA is being trained as an ELSA TA
• Use of emotional literacy in classes
• Lunch time and afterschool clubs
• Worry monsters in classrooms
• Additional stories available to use
• Ensuring private restorative conversations are happening regularly- visuals are available when needed
• Mental Health lead: Mrs Hardy
• Behaviour Lead: Mrs Ferguson
• Learning mentor: Ros Nisha

If your child still needs extra support, with your permission the SENCo will access further support from CAMHS or through the Community Paediatrician, Educational Psychologist or School Health Team (school nurse).

How will we support your child’s emotional and social development?

 How will this include support for mental health?

 Pupils, staff and parents are expected to listen carefully and respectfully to each other. Where an issue arises, parents should, in the first instance, make an appointment to speak with their child’s class teacher and seek to resolve any concerns. If a parent believes that their concern has not been resolved to their satisfaction or is of a more serious or sensitive nature, an appointment should be made to see the Headteacher, who will investigate and report back on the results of the investigation. Where an issue is not satisfactorily resolved, parents should then take up the matter with the Chair of Governors.

If you still want to complain please see our complaints policy which can be found on the school website: http://www.arboretum.derby.sch.uk