Supporting Educational Needs – Information Report 2020/21
This report sets out how Tetsworth Primary school ensures that all children receive their right to a broad, balanced, relevant and differentiated curriculum. We aim to create a happy, educationally exciting and positive environment in which all pupils can develop to their full potential. We recognise that all children are individuals, each with their own needs that are special to them.
About our school
At Tetsworth Primary School we aim to provide for children with a wide range of special needs including those with:
- Communication and Interaction Needs:
This includes children who have speech, language and communication difficulties including autistic spectrum conditions. - Cognition and Learning Needs:
This includes children who have learning difficulties and specific learning difficulties like dyslexia, dyspraxia and dyscalculia - Social, Emotional and Mental Health Needs:
This includes children who may have behaviour difficulties relating to emotional conditions such as anxiety or depression. - Sensory and/or Physical Needs:
This includes children who have visual or hearing needs, or a physical disability that affects their learning.
About our SENCo (Special Educational Needs Coordinator)
Our school SENCo is Mrs Luci Watson. She is a qualified teacher and has been awarded the National SENCo Award. She works closely with Mrs Charlton to oversee the provision and monitoring of children’s learning and progress throughout the school and to support the families of those children with special educational needs.
Mrs Watson teaches Nursery aged pupils at our federated school, John Hampden Primary School in Thame. Mrs Watson will be in Tetsworth School on Tuesday afternoons.
You can contact the SENCo by:
Email: lwatson@tetsworth.oxon.sch.uk
Tel (School Office): 01844 281328
Our SEN Governor is Mrs R Bowling.
Our SEN Policy and our Equality Scheme and Accessibility Plan can be found on the school website.
How do we identify and give extra help to children and young people with SEN?
The school uses Oxfordshire County Council’s guidance ‘Identifying and supporting
Special Educational Needs in Oxfordshire schools and settings’.
The guidance sets out:
- How we identify if a child or young person has a special educational need.
- How we assess children and plan for their special educational needs, and how we adapt our teaching.
- Ways in which we can adapt our school environment to meet each child’s needs
- How we review progress and agree outcomes and involve our pupils in this.
You can read it here:
We also use the data from the PIRA and PUMA assessments which is collated on Target Tracker and informal tests done throughout the year to see whether children are at risk of falling behind. In the Foundation Stage we look at data that tracks progress towards the Early Learning Goals. We also use information from parents if they have developmental concerns.
How do we work with parents and children/young people?
The partnership between school and home is important to us here at Tetsworth Primary School. We will always contact parents if we have a concern that a child or young
person may have a special educational need. We work closely with children and young people with SEND and their parents to agree outcomes, how we will all work towards these and then how progress will be reviewed.
The communication happens in a variety of ways:
- Each child has a pupil profile which outlines the interventions and / or strategies used to support the child’s learning. This document is updated by the class teacher and will be shared with parents.
- Review meetings are held between the parents and class teacher in line with parent evening meetings, but additional meetings may take place if there is a need. Parent evenings are held twice a year in the Autumn and Spring terms.
- Parents are able to arrange for a remote meeting or a telephone conversation by contacting the office on 2456@tetsworth.oxon.sch.uk or on 01844281328.
- Appointments can be made to see the school SENCo by phoning the school office – 01844281328.
- We will also liaise with anyone who parents have told us are already involved with their child in an SEN capacity.
Adapting the curriculum
We offer a broad and balanced curriculum for all children and young people including those with SEND. The way in which we adapt this provision for pupils with SEN and/or disabilities is set out on our website in the School Accessibility Plan. We follow the Jigsaw scheme of work to support the emotional literacy of all of our pupils. We use intervention programmes such as Precision monitoring to support the development of language and literacy skills for children identified as needing extra support in these areas. We run 1:1 and group intervention work across the school to target difficulties pupils may be experiencing in developing their learning and/or social skills in line with age related expectations.
What expertise can we offer?
Our SENCo holds a Post Graduate Certificate in Education (QTS) and completed the National SENCo Award. She has undertaken training on Early Help Assessment form completion, Good Autism Practice (Autism Education Trust) and various Down Syndrome courses. She attends meetings of SENCO’s at least three times a year to share good practice and keep up to date with local and national initiatives. These are at partnership level and also across the other local partnership, Watlington. She also attends the SEN conference in July each year to listen to national speakers.
Staff are kept updated on new developments and initiatives by our SENCo.
Our Head of Teaching and Learning and Senior teacher are both fully trained in safeguarding procedures.
Teaching assistants are trained to support the particular needs of the children they work with. A TA representative attends each of the partnership TA sessions. We have had specialist training from a visual impairment specialist teacher for all staff related to a child with complex needs. One of our TA’s has had training in ASD support strategies.
The senior manager/head of learning had been a SENCO of long standing in primary education. The SENCO from the other school in our federation of schools (John Hampden Primary School) has undertaken the extensive National SENCo Award and both SENCos work very closely together across the federation to accommodate joint training.
We employ a K.S 2 teacher to teach maths across K.S.2 and who also undertakes intervention work across the school. We also have a T.A. who provides differentiated work for groups of pupils in K.S.2.
We also have access to a range of specialist support services including:
- Educational Psychology
- SENSS, who support children with communication and language, sensory needs and physical needs
- Communication and interaction specialist teachers working to support ASD pupils
- Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS)
- Therapy services including a counsellor from Bucks Family Network
- Home school link worker.
- Children’s social care
Information about these services and what they offer can be found on the
Oxfordshire County Council SEN web pages about the Local Offer.
https://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/cms/public-site/special-educational-needs-anddisability- local-offer
We always discuss the involvement of specialist SEND services with parents first. They
will usually need to sign a consent form for any service to become involved with their
child/ren.
We are also happy to work with other services and organisations that are involved with a family, with their permission.
How do we know if SEN provision is effective?
The progress of all children/young people is tracked throughout the school following the three assessment weeks that are spread across the academic year. We input data for the PIRA and PUMA assessments into the Rising Stars website and then use this to identify groups and individual’s progress.
In addition, for children/young people with SEND we regularly review progress towards agreed outcomes assessing whether the support that’s been in place has made a difference and what we need to do next. We write a pupil profile for each child on the
SEN register which includes recommended actions from outside agencies and child’s and parents’ views and keep track of interventions on the provision map each term.
When we run special intervention programmes for individuals or groups of children we assess how successful they have been and use that information to decide on how best to move learning forward. The HLTA keeps records of what she is doing and data
shows how the children have improved. Sometimes the child’s work will have shown enough progress toward their goals that we will decide that the intervention is no longer needed. We are planning to implement individual provision trackers for the children with SEND to help us see how the interventions and support are helping them to progress and therefore plan the most appropriate support for them going forward.
How are children and young people with SEN helped to access activities outside
of the classroom?
The inclusion of all children in our extra curricular activities is important to us at Tetsworth Primary School. We ensure that all children are able to join in with our many and varied activities throughout the year such as special services in the village church, sporting events on the village green, swimming lessons in Thame, and other class trips that are related to learning topics.
All children and young people are included in activities and trips following risk
assessments where needed and in accordance with duties under the Equalities Act 2010. We communicate with parents and young people when planning trips so that
everyone is clear about what will happen. We will do a full risk assessment for individuals if we feel that their SEND makes this necessary.
There is information about activities and events for disabled children and those with SEN in Oxfordshire in the Family Information Directory:
http://fisd.oxfordshire.gov.uk/kb5/oxfordshire/fsd/disabilities.page
Oxfordshire’s accessibility strategy can be read at:
What do we do to support the wellbeing of children with SEN?
All children have the opportunity to share their views through the school council and in school PSHCE lessons and assemblies and use the Jigsaw PSHE scheme throughout the federation. We listen to the views of children/young people with SEND by involving them in the writing of their pupil profiles. We take bullying very seriously. We help to prevent bullying of children/young people with SEND by discussing incidents with children both in PSHCE lessons and by dealing with incidents very seriously in school. We have an anti-bullying week each year where we look at current issues. We encourage all children to speak to their class teacher if they have a problem or concern.
Special arrangements in relation to COVID-19.
From the week commencing 1 June, the government announced plans for a phased return of some children to school. The children this impacts are:
- children in Nursery, Reception, year 1 and year 6
- vulnerable children and children of key workers – they have been supported since the end of March
Tetsworth Primary School will continue to be open to vulnerable children and key workers. From the 4th of June, provided it is considered safe to do so, we will open further to Reception, Year 1 and Year 6 Pupils. Due to staffing challenges and physical space constraints we are unable to accommodate the return of all four additional year groups at this time so have taken the difficult decision to not reopen for Nursery children at this time.
For children who have an education health and care (EHC) plan, attendance is expected where it is determined, following a risk assessment, that their needs can be as safely or more safely met in the educational environment. In order to ensure that our pupils with EHC plans are supported we have continued to consult families with regards to whether or not their child needs to attend school. If it is determined that their needs can be met in school. Tetsworth will be providing the following:
- Children will be taught in ‘bubbles’ with a small group of their peers and up to 2 adults.
- Adult support will be available for younger children who may need support with social distancing.
- Children will have access to the curriculum through planned lessons, set by class teachers, which take into account the needs of the children.
- Children will have access to activities linked to the outcomes on their Education Health Care Plans.
- Children will have access to visual supports such as visual timetables, now and next cards or task cards.
- Children will have access to resources such as coloured overlays, ear defenders and sensory boxes.
- Children will have access to technology where appropriate, such as laptops and iPads.
- Children will have access to online provisions such as Reading Eggs, and Mathletics.
- Children will have access to well-being activities and resources to support emotional well-being, such a social or emotional stories.
- Due to staffing capacity, some other provisions, such as 1-2-1 and individual intervention/therapy sessions will not be possible at this time. i.e: Theraputty Sessions, Fizzy Sessions.
The previous offer (shown above) still applies to SEND children who remain at home.
Following the closure of schools from the 23rd March 2020 Government guidelines stated:
- Vulnerable children include those who have a social worker and those children and young people up to the age of 25 with education, health and care (EHC) plans.
- Those with an EHC plan should be risk-assessed by their school in consultation with the local authority (LA) and parents, to decide whether they need to continue to be offered a school or college place in order to meet their needs, or whether they can safely have their needs met at home. This could include, if necessary, carers, therapists or clinicians visiting the home to provide any essential services. Many children and young people with EHC plans can safely remain at home.
In order to ensure that our pupils with EHC plans are supported we have consulted families with regards to whether or not their child needs to attend school. We have ensured that the expectations for work being done at home is understood and that pupils can access the work being set by school staff. As a school we are undertaking weekly check ins to ensure that pupils outcomes are kept at the forefront and that their emotional needs are being met. Work set by class teachers takes in to account the needs of the pupils in their classes and is open-ended in nature to allow pupils to engage with and further their own learning.
Class teachers will send work for individual SEND children relating to the outcomes on their EHCP or Pupil Profiles.
Parents of SEND pupils may require our support at this time and parents have access to staff and class emails to allow for private conversations to be had between staff and parents. The SENCO can be reached at lwatson@tetswoth.oxon.sch.uk
We are aware that the transition period for our pupils with SEND has been greatly affected by the current situation and we continue to work alongside our secondary colleagues to ensure that the information needed is shared. We will keep you informed as to any other transition opportunities that might be available as the summer term continues.
Resources that support our pupils’ SEND needs during this unprecedented time have been uploaded on to the school Purple Mash site in the SEND and Wellbeing sections. These will continue to be updated as time passes.
External agencies will only become involved if necessary following the usual graduated response process detailed above.
Joining the school and moving on
We encourage all new children to visit the school before starting. For children who did not attend in our Nursery class, we receive EYFS profiles from local childminders and other pre-school provision. We visit nurseries wherever possible. The merger in 2016 with the pre school on site means that the teaching staff have already had daily access to the children who will join the foundation group and will be aware very early on of any needs or involvement with SEN agencies. For children with SEND a meeting with the SENCo is recommended.
We begin to prepare our Year 6 pupils for their transition into the next stage of their education by liaising with the local secondary schools and talking to their Year 7 mentors and pastoral teams. This helps to ensure as smooth a transition as possible. This year they were offered Pioneers programmes for vulnerable children and also extra sessions for those with ASD. These were extra session with specialist staff and less children on site.
Developments this year
Pupil profiles are now well embedded and use recommendations from all external agencies to provide a holistic approach to provision. Staff now are familiar with these and will review three times each year with parents. They include the strengths of the child as well as areas for development. We will now be working on a more consistent format across the school.
TA’s have continued to support children both in groups in class and on a one to one
basis.
We continue to submit EHCP Applications for pupils as well as referrals to outside agencies as required.
We have worked with parents to apply for CAMHS support for a number of children this year.
We have successfully applied for a child to receive Occupational Therapy support and have a number of other referrals in process.
Outside support
- The speech and language therapist Helen Brockett has been our SALT this year and will continue to support us next year.
- The Communication and Interaction service (Fiona Thomson-Tur) will be supporting whole staff through training on Neuro-Diversity throughout the rest of this academic year and into the next. She will also be supporting some children with Communication and Interaction needs throughout the year.
Feedback and complaints procedures
At Tetsworth Primary School we welcome feedback from parents. If a parent of guardian is concerned about SEN provision for their child, initial contact should be made with the class teacher. A meeting will then be arranged, which may include the Head and/or SENCo, to discuss the concern.
If you would like impartial advice from Oxfordshire’s Parent Partnership Service (now called SENDIASS) contact: https://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/cms/content/contact-parent-partnership
In the event of a formal complaint concerning SEN provision, parents/guardians are advised to contact the Head of Learning and follow the Oxfordshire LA procedure in the first instance. Parents may also contact the Governing Body.
Oxfordshire’s Local Offer contains lots of information for parents:
Updated: April 2021