SEN report

Local Offer for Pupils with Special Educational Needs and / or Disabilities
 

  • Whitley Lodge is a fully inclusive school which ensures that all pupils achieve their potential personally, socially, emotionally, physically and educationally. 

    Our Local Offer lets you understand how we support pupils with special educational needs and disabilities. 

    We consult with pupils and their families on our local offer by:

    ·         Meeting with parents/carers when a child is first admitted to school regarding any existing needs or concerns.

    ·         Liaising with the child’s previous placements and other agencies such as Speech Therapy, Language and Communication, Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy or medical consultants.

    ·         Regular meetings in school between teachers and families.

    ·         Review meetings with families, school staff and other professionals involved in meeting the needs of a child, as listed above.



Supporting Pupils with Special Educational Needs / 
Disabilities and Their Families

We will let families know about any concerns about a pupil’s learning by:

Holding regular parent – teacher consultation meetings.

Providing an “open door” policy whereby parents can contact school at any time if they have concerns. Meetings can then be arranged with appropriate school staff, including the Headteacher and/or School SENCo.

When a pupil is identified as having special educational needs, we support their development and progress by:

Carrying out assessments to clarify the nature of the need or difficulty.

Adapting tasks and resources to suit the pupil’s individual needs. This may include additional support from the class teacher or a teaching assistant.

Pupils may be placed in a small focus group for additional support in a specific curriculum area such as spelling, writing or number work. These interventions are reviewed termly to ascertain their effectiveness and inform future planning.

Parent-teacher consultation evenings are held each term. This discussion can be used to highlight ongoing concerns, contribute to the planning of future interventions, and monitor the effectiveness of on-going support.

Sometimes a pupil may need support from an outside agency. With parents consent, a referral can be made to a variety of teams who can offer more specialised assessment and advice.

The other people / agencies and teams providing services to children with a special educational need / disability in school include:

Speech and Language Therapists

Occupational Therapists

Physiotherapists

Language and Communication Team

Dyslexia Referral Team

Sensory Support Service

CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service)

Public Health Nurses

Transition

We will work in partnership with other education providers to ensure that pupils make a successful transition to the next stages of their learning, through careful and coordinated planning of the transition. The process of actual transition includes visits by the young person to their new placement with and without parents and school staff, visits by staff of the receiving placement to Whitley Lodge, and personal “handover” of all relevant information and resources.

Support staff are placed where they are needed throughout the school to ensure pupil progress, independence and value for money. Support is always given in excess of the hours stipulated on a statement (now called a “One Plan”). This may take the form of one to one intervention, small group work, or liaison with parents or other professionals working with the pupil.



Staff Training

All staff have completed, and will continue to receive, ongoing training in special educational needs and disabilities. Recent training has focused on meeting the needs of children with ADHD, ASD, and Dyslexia; and on accelerating progress in Maths.

Our fully trained Special Educational Needs Coordinator attends additional training each academic year, and provides advice and guidance to staff.


Supporting Families

The school works in partnership with families to help them support their children’s learning outside of school.

Families are also signposted to other services or organisations which may offer appropriate help and support.


Further Information

Behaviour and anti-bullying policies are regularly reviewed with a focus on how they affect pupils’ with special educational needs or disabilities.

Other useful documents such as our Special Educational Needs and Inclusion Policy are also available on the school website. 

The school’s self-evaluation process will look at teaching and learning for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities. 

All school-related activities are evaluated in terms of their benefit to the learning and inclusion of pupils with special educational needs and disabilities.

If you would like further information about what we offer here at Whitley Lodge First School, then please contact the Special Educational Needs Coordinator, Mandy Elkin, on: 0191 2008781

School entitlement offer to pupils with special educational needs or disabilities
 

Support Available Within School

Communication and Interaction Needs:

e.g.

  • Autistic Spectrum Disorders
  • Speech, Language and Communication Needs
  • Social communication difficulties

 

  • Visual timetables
  • Areas of low distraction
  • Support / supervision at unstructured times of the day.
  • Social skills programme / support including strategies to enhance self-esteem.
  • Small group work to improve skills. 
  • ICT is used to support learning where appropriate. 
  • Strategies / programmes to support speech and language development.
  • Strategies to reduce anxiety / promote emotional wellbeing.
  • Where appropriate we will use support and advice from other partners to meet the needs of pupils. 
  • Planning, assessment and review.
  • Work with pupils, parents, carers and staff to develop and review plans based on the need of the pupil. 
  • Teaching resources are routinely evaluated to ensure they are accessible to all pupils.
  • Differentiated curriculum and resources

Cognition and Learning Needs:

e.g.

Moderate Learning Difficulties























Dyslexia /  Literacy-based difficulties

  • ·         Whitley Lodge has a 5 place Additionally Resourced Provision (ARP) for children with Moderate Learning Difficulties (MLD). Please see the leaflet on our website for more information.

    ·         Strategies to promote/develop literacy and numeracy.

    ·         Provision to support access to the curriculum and to develop independent learning.

    ·         Small group targeted intervention programmes are delivered to pupils to improve skills in a variety of areas, i.e. reading skills groups etc.

    ·         ICT is used to reduce barriers to learning where possible.

    ·         Support and advice is sought from outside agencies to ensure any barriers to success are fully identified and responded to.

    ·         Planning, assessment and review.

    ·         Access to teaching and learning for pupils with special educational needs is monitored through the schools self-evaluation process.

    ·         Teaching resources are routinely evaluated to ensure they are accessible to all pupils.

    ·         Work with pupils, parents, carers and staff to develop and review plans based on the need of the pupil. 

    ·         Differentiated curriculum and resources

     

    ·         Staff have all received training on classroom strategies and resources appropriate for children with difficulties with Literacy in general and dyslexic type difficulties in particular.

    ·         Appropriate resources and intervention programmes are used throughout school to support children individually and in the wider classroom environment.

    (Whitley Lodge achieved North Tyneside’s “Dyslexia Friendly School Award” in 2014.)

Social, Mental and Emotional health
e.g.

• Behavioural needs
• Social need
• Mental health needs
• Emotional Health and Wellbeing

 
  • The school ethos values all pupils.
  • Behaviour management systems encourage pupils to make positive decisions about behavioural choices.
  • The schools behaviour policy identifies where reasonable changes can be made to minimise the need for exclusions. 
  • Risk assessments are used and action is taken to increase the safety and inclusion of all pupils in all activities.
  • The school provides effective pastoral care for all pupils.
  • Support and advice is sought from outside agencies to support pupils, where appropriate. 
  • Small group programmes are used to improve social skills and help them deal more effectively with stressful situations.
  • Outdoor learning is used to offer a different approach to the curriculum. 
  • Information and support is available within school for behavioural, emotional and social needs.
  • PHSE is delivered to all pupils weekly.

Sensory and Physical Needs:

e.g.
• Hearing/Visual Impairment
• Multi-sensory impairment
• Physical and Medical Needs
  • Support and advice is sought from outside agencies to support pupils, where appropriate. 
  • ICT is used to increase access to the curriculum.
  • Support to access the curriculum and to develop independent learning.
  • Advice and guidance is sought and acted upon to meet the needs of pupils who have significant medical needs.
  • Access to Medical Interventions.
  • Access to programmes to support Occupational Therapy / Physiotherapy.
  • Support with personal care if and when needed.
  • Staff receive training to ensure they understand the impact of a sensory need upon teaching and learning.
  • Staff understand and apply the medicine administration policy.
  • The Special Educational Needs Coordinator completes any necessary training in order to offer advice and guidance to staff about the needs of pupils.
  • All entrances to the school have ramps fitted to allow wheelchair access.
  • The school has an accessible toilet and facilities.
If you have any concerns about your child’s special educational needs or disability, their progress or the support you receive, we would ask that you to come into school and discuss matters further with your child’s class teacher and / or the Special Educational Needs Coordinator.  

Although school complaints procedures are in place and can be accessed through our website we would always hope to resolve any issues or concerns informally by working in partnership with parents. 


Note

Parents can contact North Tyneside’s SENDIASS team (Special Educational Needs and Disability Information, Advice and Support Service) for impartial information, advice and support in relation to their child’s special educational need and / or disability :                 

                                        Tel:     0191 6438313 

                                        Email: SENDIASS@northtyneside.gov.uk

 

 

This information  was updated  in October 2015 by the Assistant Head with responsibility for SEND, Mandy Elkin, following consultation with school staff,  parents, and the governor for SEND, Mrs Margaret Jackson (Chair of Governing Body).