SEN Information Report
For any additional SEND enquiries, please contact Mrs K France (SENDCo) on 01373 462798 or kate.france@selwood-academy.co.uk
Mrs L Rosier (Deputy SENDCo) on 01373 462798 or lisa.rosier@selwood-academy.co.uk
How does the school know if children need extra help?
1. Information about your child's special educational needs comes from a number of sources:
- Liaison with the First School or previous school
- Screening tests for reading age, spelling age, dyslexia, mental health and anxiety.
- Quality first teaching differentiation
- Observations
- Teacher/Teaching Assistant feedback
- Parental concerns
- Pastoral Leader/Head of year concerns
2. If the child's progress in any area of the four broad areas of Special Educational Needs provision is significantly lower than that of their peers starting from the same baseline. (Communication and Interaction, Cognition and Learning, Social, Mental and Emotional Health and Sensory and/or Physical)
- Fails to match or better the child's previous rate of progress
- Fails to close the attainment gap between the child and their peers
- Widens the attainment gap
3. Diagnosis from Paediatricians, Speech and Language, Occupational Therapy, CAMHs etc. (From SEN Code 2015).
How will I be able to raise any concerns I may have?
If you have any concerns regarding your child, please contact the Tutor or subject teacher in the first instance. Concerns can also be raised at Parents evenings.
Your Tutor or subject teacher will discuss your child’s difficulties with the SENDCo/Deputy SENDCo when a ‘Quick checker’ will be completed to gain a better understanding of their needs and strategies can be given for how best to support the child in the classroom.
How will school staff support my child/young person?
Quality First Teaching underpins all educational provision. It focuses on inclusive practice and breaks down barriers to learning. For the majority of pupils this can be achieved by identifying specific barriers, the teachers will then use differentiation and personalisation to meet the needs of each pupil.
Strategies as identified in the Somerset Graduated Response Tool will be used. The Somerset Graduated Response Tool breaks down SEN into four broad areas of need. This targets specific support for teachers to plan and for any interventions to take place. You can learn more about the Somerset Graduated Response at: https://www.somerset.gov.uk/children-families-and-education/the-local-offer/education/what-to-expect-from-education/
Teachers will monitor the effectiveness of the strategies used and make changes if necessary. Where a pupil is still not making the expected progress, class teachers will liaise with the SENDCo for advice. An assessment using the ‘Quick checker’ from the Somerset Graduated Response tool combined with other formal assessments will be made as to whether the pupil has a significant learning difficulty. Agreement will be reached between the teacher, SENDCo and Parent/Carer as to the next course of action. This could include more targeted support such as 1-1 or small group support or completing a referral to be able to liaise with external agencies.
Who will be planning to provision for my child, what will be their roles and who will explain this to me?
The class teacher has an overall responsibility for every child in their class. Specific interventions are overseen by the SENDCo and usually run by TAs. The SENDCo is available to discuss progress, interventions and any other area of the pupil's development with parents/carers by email, telephone or in person.
How will the curriculum be matched to my child's needs?
When a pupil has been identified with special educational needs their work will be differentiated by the class teacher to enable them to access the curriculum more easily. Teaching Assistants may work with the pupil in class or run a small intervention group to target and support more specific needs. Where a pupil has a physical impairment or medical need, their provision will take account of their individual plans.
Where a pupil has an Educational Health Care Plan (EHCP), the curriculum provision will be tailored to your child's needs.
How will I know how my child is doing and how will you help me to support my child's learning?
Early in term 1 there is a 'Meet the Tutor' evening for parents, in addition to a monitoring report at Christmas, Easter and in the summer. These reports give you updates on progress, attainment and attitude to learning.
Each year group has a subject-consultation evening in the Spring term.
All children working at SEND Support and those with an Education, Health and Care Plan have an Individual Learning plan which is reviewed 3 times a year; twice by your child’s Form Tutor and once by the SENDCo or Deputy SENDCo. The Learning Plans follow the Assess, Plan, Do and Review cycles (APDR).
Pupils who have an EHCP will also have an Annual Review which pupils are involved in and to which they are invited.
Some Pupils also have a Link Book where staff and parents can keep up-to-date with each other- this is completed if their parents request it.
The SENDCo, Liz Cook and Deputy SENDCo, Lisa Rosier can also be contacted in conjunction with this or afterwards if still necessary on selwoodacademy@selwood-academy.co.uk
What support will there be for my child's overall wellbeing?
All children and young people are entitled to an education that enables them to:
- achieve their best (Let their light shine)
- become confident individuals living fulfilling lives
The pupil’s Tutor has overall responsibility for the pastoral, medical and social care of every child in the class, therefore this would be the parents’ first point of contact. If further support is required the class teacher liaises with the Pastoral Team Leader or with the SENDCo for further advice or support.
The Learning Support Base supports pupils at break time and lunchtimes who need a quiet place to go instead of in the lunch hall or on the playground.
Our Mental Health First Aider (Mrs Sheldon) and our ELSA (Mrs Barrett) work in the Learning Support base, and support the mental health of our pupils.
We also run confidence and resilience small group interventions, forest school and Oasis/Talkabout interventions to support the wellbeing of our pupils.
The school has access to a Parent Support Adviser who is available to work with pupils and parent/carers.
A Place 2 Be Counsellor is also supporting the wellbeing of our pupils in school.
How does the school manage the administration of medicines?
Here at Selwood Academy we are happy to administer medications for your child should it be required either on a short-term or long-term basis. We can authorise this if a Health Care Plan is completed in full and sufficient training is in place (dependent on type of medication). Please contact the school reception to speak to the Finance and Premises Manager for further advice and guidance.
What specialist services and expertise are available at or accessed by the school?
External agencies the school can access include:
- Autism and Communication Adviser/ Lead teacher.
- Educational Psychologist
- Vision support service
- Hearing support service
- Physical Impairment and Medical Support Team
- Integrated Therapy Service (Speech & Language/Occupational Therapy/Physiotherapy)
- Learning Support Service
- Frome Learning Partnership (FLP) Behaviour Strategy Panel
- Parent & Family Support Advisor (PFSA)
What training have the staff supporting children with SEN and disabilities had or are having?
Staff receive training in the following areas:
- Dyslexia Friendly Strategies, ADHD, ASD, Language and Communication
- Visual and Hearing Impairment and Medical issues where applicable.
- Inclusion and the Inclusive Classroom
Teaching Assistants also have training in many SEN areas including:
- ILI – Individualised Literacy Intervention
- Spelling Detectives
- RWI – Read, Write Inc phonics programme.
- Elklan Speech and Language.
- Narrative Intervention Programme
- Use of Numicon in Numeracy
- TALKABOUT & TALKBOOST
- ELSA (Emotional Literacy Support Adviser)
- THRIVE
- Mental Health First Aid
- Diagnostics – including Dyslexia Portfolio, BPVS (British Picture Vocabulary Screening), Reading & Spelling ages,
Training is also given in many medical areas:
- Diabetes – use of insulin pump and injection method.
- Use of an epipen.
- Moving and Handling
- EVAC training
Staff training is regularly up-dated on a rolling programme and where necessary to support the needs of new pupils.
How will my child be included in activities outside the classroom including school trips?
Each pupil’s needs are considered individually and trips are organised to suit the needs of the majority.
Where necessary a Teaching Assistant may need to accompany the pupil or occasionally a parent carer may be asked for their support.
Risk assessments are carried out for all school trips.
Medical Plans are used to prepare for the trip. The content of a trip may be modified to allow a pupil to access as much as possible.
How accessible is the school environment?
Selwood Academy is composed of 3 main buildings, one of which is on two levels. This block does have an accessible lift/elevator. There are ramps to provide access to all buildings and points of access. All the buildings and the rest of the school is fully wheelchair accessible
There are two accessible toilets, one having fully adjustable toilet seat and ceiling hoists. Both accessible toilets are spacious to allow for disabled changing.
The school is also suitable for visually impaired pupils and has the necessary adjustments.
How will the school prepare and support my child to join the school and transfer to a new school?
The Pastoral Team Leader, Tutors and SENDCO meet staff at the transferring school. A school entry plan for pupils on an EHC Plan or higher SEND Support needs is set up and reviewed after a set period of time at Selwood Academy.
Pupils who are deemed vulnerable and/or with Special Educational Needs will also have additional visits to the school. They may also receive their timetable in advance, possibly in visual form and photos of their new teachers.
For pupils transferring at the end of Year 8, a similar process occurs with meetings and visits arranged.
How are the school’s resources allocated and matched to children’s special educational needs?
The SEND budget varies yearly. The amount of funding a school receives is based on a formula that takes into account factors like free school meals, social deprivation and how well the children are achieving when they join the school.
Funding is also allocated to a pupil with an Educational Health Care Plan (EHCP)
The budget is mainly used to engage Teaching Assistants, but also for resources and specialist equipment.
How is the decision made about what type and how much support my child will receive?
The decision regarding support will be based on many factors from outside agency recommendations, to assessments of progress.
Adequate progress can include progress which:
- is similar to that of peers starting from the same baseline;
- matches or betters the child’s previous rate of progress;
- closes the attainment gap between the child and their peers;
- prevents the attainment gap growing wider. Tutors, subject teachers and team leaders will be part of the decision-making process, with parents involved regarding support that is different from and additional to the majority of pupils. Support will be monitored and its effectiveness assessed by teachers in conjunction with the SENDCo.
Somerset Local Authority offer
The academy works closely with the local authority which retains a strategic role across its area to support SEND provision.
Somerset’s SEND Local Offer is our local hub of information and guidance for children and young people with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), their families and professionals in Somerset.
You can explore the services available to support you and how to access them.
This can be found at:
https://www.somerset.gov.uk/children-families-and-education/the-local-offer/
www.somerset.gov.uk/localoffer and www.facebook.com/LocalOfferSomerset