St. Matthew's SEND Information Report / School's Offer

At St Matthew’s C of E Primary School, we have high expectations for all our learners and are committed to ensuring that all of our children achieve their full potential. We work hard to remove any barriers that may be affecting learning and aim to provide them with the support they need to make progress and succeed. However, we understand that children learn at different rates and that some children require more personalised help (sometimes referred to as SEN Support). This report aims to answer any questions you may have about this and signpost you to where you can find out more information.

What does SEND mean?

SEND stands for Special Educational Need/Disability. It is a term used in schools to describe a child who needs extra help with their learning and/or support to access the curriculum.

What types of SEND are there?

There are four main areas of need as described in the SEND code of Practice. A child might have needs in one or more of these areas:

1. Communication and Interaction

1. Difficulties with talking and understanding language
2. May include Speech and Language difficulties or Autism

1. Cognition and Learning

1. Learning at a slower pace than others
2. May include Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, or moderate learning difficulties

1. Social, Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH)

1. Struggles with emotions, behaviour, or mental health
2. May include anxiety, ADHD, or attachment difficulties

1. Sensory and/or Physical Needs

1. Physical disabilities or difficulties with seeing, hearing, or processing sensory information
2. May include hearing impairment, visual impairment, or sensory processing disorder

How does the school identify children who may have a SEND?

Some children have already been identified before they start with us. This is usually done by a Health Visitor, doctor or pre-school setting. If this happens, we work with the people who already know the child, before they start school, and use this information to plan what they might need in our school setting.

We rely heavily on parents. YOU know your child best. If you have any concerns regarding their progress or general development, we want to know. We will then look into it and share with you what we find.

All staff in school observe and assess children regularly. If we notice that your child is not making the same progress as other children, we will give them some extra support (sometimes called ‘intervention’). If this does not help as much as we would like, we will ask you to come into school to discuss next steps.

What happens if school have a concern about your child’s progress?

Staff will ensure the right ordinarily available support is in place for your child first and may use some small adaptations in class to help support further. This will be communicated to parents and carers and monitored for a half term. At the end of the monitoring period, we will ask you to come into school so that we can talk about our concerns, discuss what has already been put in place and if it has been successful. We also use this as an opportunity to find out more information from you. Often, you as parents can ‘shed more light’ onto the difficulties your child is having, which then helps us to identify a way forward. At this stage, your child will be categorised as requiring ‘SEN support’, but please do not worry about this – it is not a label that will stick with your child for the rest of their lives. In many cases, it is a temporary issue that resolves itself once the right support has been given.

What happens once a child has been identified as needing SEN Support?

Together with parents we identify the main areas of difficulty and consider what might be causing these. We will also set out everything we, as a school, will do to help your child to achieve their targets, along with ideas/strategies that you can do at home. This information will be recorded on a One Page Profile. This document allows all adults working with your child to understand their needs, what interventions are working well for them, their specific targets and what support needs to be in place daily for them to thrive. As parents/carers you will be invited to a termly SEND review meeting to discuss your child’s needs. In these meetings we will work together to discuss the progress they have made towards their targets, what we feel is working and update their One Page Profile. Following each review, a record of the meeting ( 4+1 document) will be completed and sent home capturing parental views also. This is known as the graduated response.

What is the graduated response?

The SEND Code of Practice states that a graduated response is a four-part cycle (Assess, Plan, Do, Review) for supporting children and young people with SEND. This means that we will:

• Assess a child’s special educational needs and the support that they need. This would include assessment by teachers supported by the SENCO. It may also include observations and assessments carried out by external agencies.

• Plan the provision to meet your child’s needs. Decide on the support and interventions to be put in place, often with the involvement of specialists. At St Matthew’s we often involve the child ( where appropriate) alongside the views of the parents/carers.

• Do what we have planned. We put in place the provision to meet those outcomes. This may be strategies we have agreed to use in the classroom or interventions that will take place during the day.
• Review the support and progress. We assess the effectiveness of the support and its impact on the child's progress. This is reviewed with teachers, parents/carers and the child looking at progress towards targets and next steps.

If children require SEN support, what will school provide for them?

Support can be provided in lots of different ways. Some of these include:

- Small group sessions in Reading, Writing and Maths.

- Activities to develop social interaction with others.

- Targeted interventions – following advice from other agencies (e.g. Speech & Language therapists, Educational Psychologists, Occupational therapists, etc.)

- Pre/post-tutoring – talking through new topic before and after they are taught, to consolidate understanding.

- Access to assistive technology, i.e. a laptop with special software (especially if a child struggles with handwriting and/or spelling.)

- Extra help in lessons, from the teacher or a teaching assistant.

- Using a range of resources, e.g. Numicon (to develop understanding of number).

- Providing a place for children to ‘calm down’ if they need it.

- Giving children someone to talk to about their feelings (i.e. the pastoral lead or another adult they feel comfortable with.)

-Providing sensory/movement breaks

Support is allocated according to the needs of the child. However, funding can be limited. Therefore, it sometimes becomes necessary to prioritise children with more complex needs.

How will the curriculum be matched to a child’s need?

All staff in school are trained to identify aspects that children find challenging. We then adapt our approach so that children are able to access learning at their level. This may be via a different task/activity; modified resources or a higher degree of adult support.

How will the curriculum be matched to a child’s need?

Most children at St Matthew’s C of E Primary School will have their special educational needs met through excellence classroom practice. This is called Quality First Teaching. Teachers set high expectations for every pupil, whatever their prior attainment using adaptive teaching. Lessons are planned to address potential areas of difficulty and to remove barriers to pupil achievement.  Such planning will mean that most pupils with SEND will be able to study the full national curriculum. Where the class teacher identifies that quality first teaching is not meeting the child’s specific learning needs, additional observations and assessments are undertaken and discussed with the SENCO. The SENCO works alongside class teachers and support staff to oversee SEND provision and monitor the progress of any child requiring additional support. Class Teacher and/or SENCO meet with parents at least termly to review how things are going and modify support to maximise impact.

Some pupils at St Matthew’s C of E Primary School, may require a bespoke personalised curriculum in order to meet their complex SEND needs. This means they may also have access to our internal provision ‘The Hive’.  This is a designated learning area to support children with complex additional needs. The Hive allows for a smaller classroom, where teaching can be taught at further differentiated levels and allows access to a stage and age-appropriate continuous provision for play based learning.

How will school know if the extra support is working?

We use a child’s specific targets, alongside observation and assessment to monitor children even more closely and regularly assess how well they are doing. We also meet with parents at least termly (SEND reviews) to review how things are going and update their OPP/IAP modifying support to maximise impact.

What happens if the support that school provides does not appear to be working?

If this is the case, we may call upon the advice of other agencies, with your consent. These include medical professionals (i.e. Speech and Language therapists, the community paediatrician, Occupational therapist, CAMHS, etc.) as well as Educational Psychologists and QEST (a service who can complete assessments and give more specialised SEN support.) Before any referral is made, we will talk to you about why we think this kind of involvement will be useful. It will not be forced upon you, if you do not agree. We may also formulate an IAP (Integrated Assessment Plan), which is a more specific/measurable way of reviewing progress and planning next steps. The SENCO will go through this with you, if the need arises.

What happens if my child has high level needs that require more specialised support and/or funding?

At this point we will need to consider applying for an EHC Assessment. This is a process where we have to submit evidence to an external panel, to determine whether an EHC plan is a suitable way forward (see below for an explanation of an EHC plan). If this is agreed, and an EHC plan is produced, school will receive additional money into school for which to support the child. This money can be spent on a range of things, including adult support, resources, etc. This should hopefully then lead to a faster rate of progress. An EHC plan is reviewed annually and will stay with the child for as long as they need it, even if they move school.

What is an Education & Health Care plan?

This is also known as an EHC plan. It is a co-ordinated way that different agencies can come together, to support the child. This is for any child with high-level complex and specific needs.

What training do school staff have, in supporting children with SEN?

Training is based upon the needs of individual staff and individual children. As a school, we make sure that any member of staff who is supporting a child with SEN has access to relevant training and support, so that they are better able to cater for the child’s personalised needs. The SENCO ensures that pupils receive interventions with the most qualified or appropriate staff member.

Will my child be left out of any activity because of his/her SEN?

St Matthew’s C of E Primary is fully inclusive, which means that we take steps to make sure that ALL children are included in every aspect, regardless of a particular difficulty. We select activities and trip destinations that all children can access and make adjustments, if necessary, to enable full participation. Where arrangements need to be made, risk assessments will be in place. Should a pupil need adaptation within class, parents will be informed.

What happens if/when my child moves to a different school?

School staff will liaise with people from your child’s new school and inform them of their needs. We will also explain what steps have been taken to support them, including whether or not external agencies have been involved. In addition, we will give them copies of any reports/action plans, so that they are ready to support the child once they move on. If it is a Secondary school transition, we will invite parents, and a representative from the new school to a meeting in school. This will give you an opportunity to ask any questions you might have about how your child will be supported as they move up. Pupils will also engage in any planned transition sessions into the school; and we will seek additional sessions if needed.

How are pupils with SEND supported during assessments?

Where a child is able to access the SATs tests, or any internal testing, a number of additional arrangements can be put in place to support them:

• Additional time
• Rest breaks
• A reader
• A scribe
• Use of a laptop
• Adapted papers e.g. Braille, enlarged font size etc

These access arrangements will be discussed with parents by the class teacher and/or SENCO if it is felt they are needed.

How do schools respond to Bullying?

We take issues of bullying very seriously and always endeavour to address any issues of this nature as soon as they arise. Children with SEND may find it more difficult to seek help if they are unhappy at school or if they are being bullied. For this reason, teachers incorporate less formal teaching sessions such as circle time or ‘talk time’ to encourage children to discuss their worries.

Children may also report concerns to their class teacher or another member of staff with whom they feel comfortable- this can be done verbally, through drawn pictures and helping children express their feelings using symbols/emotion cards etc. Staff may seek support from the safeguarding team if they feel a child has a worry or concern that they are not readily sharing.

Parents are encouraged to report any concern of bullying immediately to school either on drop off/collections, by making an appointment, phone call or email/Seesaw message to discuss any concerns.

How do school support Children Looked After?

We have a Designated Teacher for Children Looked after ( CLA) who works to ensure all teachers in school understand the implications for those children who are looked after and have SEND. School is committed to working with carers to identify any SEND needs and help ensure referrals to outside agencies are made when needed.

CLA with SEND are supported in school and have a plan which is regularly reviewed. All CLA have statutory Care Plan which is drawn up by the Local Authority. The Electronic Personal Education Plan (EPEP) is a legal part of the care plan and is a statutory requirement for CLA in education. We ensure that CLA with SEND also have a OPP/IAP that is reviewed once a term. If a CLA child with SEND is requiring further assessment for an EHCP, this will be discussed with the Virtual School and will be completed in a timely manner.

How do we evaluate the effectiveness of SEND provision?

At St Matthew’s we evaluate the quality and effectiveness of our SEND provision through monitoring impact and tracking pupil progress. As a school we carry out lesson observations, learning walks, SEND drops in, book looks, subject leader reviews specifically looking at children with SEND, pupil progress meetings with teachers and regularly gather pupil and staff voice. Pupil and parental voice are captured during termly SEND reviews, annual reviews ( for child with EHCP’s) and through parental surveys on SEND. Feedback is used to inform future planning. The SENCO meets regularly with a SEND working group which is comprised of the SEND governor and a selection of volunteer parents who have children in school with SEND. The SENCO works with the SEND working group as ‘a critical friend’ to ensure provision is always of the highest standard and ever evolving to meet the needs of all.

How do we work in partnership with our families?

At St Matthew’s C of E Primary School we obsess over happiness and excellence in equal measures as a happy child is one that thrives! This means that pupils are at the heart of what we do, and we ensure their voice is paramount in what we do with and for them, whilst having the highest of expectations for them. We use a range of techniques to enable our pupils to share with others the best ways we can support them and any barriers they feel they face to learning. Meetings with class teachers and the SENCO are based on person centred techniques, meaning the child’s views are listened to and valued. Building relationships with parents is a key part of our working practice and the school is committed to working collaboratively with parents to ensure the needs of our pupils are met. Parents/carers will meet with school staff (teacher and/or SENCO) in SEND reviews, at least once each term to ensure their child’s progress is reviewed and that the provision in place is modified to continually maximise impact. We encourage parents/carers to contact school at their earliest convenience if they have any questions, need further information or have any concerns relating to their child’s provision.

Where can I find out more information?

You can speak to our school SENCO – Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (Mrs Fellone); your child’s class teacher or the Headteacher (Mr Buxton-Moore). Please contact the school office, who will then direct you further.

Telephone: 0161 6556225

Email: info@stmatthews-primary.org

Parents can also access the Oldham’s Local offer: Oldham SEND Local Offer

This provides all the support available within Oldham.

POINT – SEND Oldham- parent and carer services.

How can I make a complaint about SEND at St Matthew’s C of E Primary School?

Any concerns or complaints about the special educational provision at St Matthew’s C of E Primary School should initially be discussed with the class teacher and then SENCO. If the matter is not satisfactorily resolved, then it will be referred to a member of the School Leadership Team or the Headteacher and finally onto the school’s governing body. If a solution cannot be reached, then the matter may then be referred to Cranmer Education Trust.

All parents are encouraged to access POINT – parent/carer support services to access impartial advice. POINT will sign post to SENDIASS services, who can offer support with statutory and legal requirements surrounding SEND.