Special Educational Needs and Disabilities
At St Wilfrid’s Catholic Primary School, we are committed to the inclusion of all pupils, recognising, supporting, valuing and nurturing all pupils including those with Special Educational Needs or Disabilities (SEND).
We are a school, which values and celebrates uniqueness recognising everyone as individuals, which is underpinned and celebrated within our Catholic Ethos. We strive to ensure that all pupils will achieve the best they can in an outstanding learning environment, knowing they are loved by God. Our belief is that every children will ‘Aim High, Believe and Achieve,’ to be able to develop life skills, achieve success and have the opportunity to live and follow their dreams.
Staff work collaboratively to recognise and nurture children’s individual talents and interests encouraging a range of opportunities and experiences across both core and creative subjects. Working hard to remove barriers to learning, raise self-esteem and inspire children to have high aspirations both for themselves and their peers.
Our SENCO Mrs Currie can be contacted by phone on: 01903 782188 or email using: send@stwilfridsang.co.uk
The allocated SEND Governor is Mrs Anne Hudspith.
Special Educational Needs Report
All schools are required to publish and review information for parents and carers about the support and provision for children with special educational needs or disabilities. Our school is part of the Angmering Locality of Schools who work collaboratively to ensure best practice and a common approach is in place. The questions and answers below have been written collectively by the schools and represent our common values and practices.
1. How does the school know if children need extra help and what should I do if I think my child has special educational needs?
We are committed to early identification of special educational needs and adopt a graduated response to meeting them in line with the SEN Code of Practice 2014. A range of evidence is collected through school assessment and monitoring arrangements. If this suggests that your child is not making the expected progress, the class teacher will consult with both you and the school SENCO (Special Educational Needs Coordinator) in order to decide whether additional or different provision is necessary. In addition to the usual assessment, there are specialist assessment tools which we use to explore the reasons for any difficulties. There is no need for pupils to be registered or identified as having special educational needs unless the school is taking additional or different action. If you have a concern about your child’s progress or believe they have a special educational need, this should be first discussed with the class teacher. Additional assessment or support can then be discussed with the SENCO.
2. How will the school support my child?
Our Governing Body ensure that as a school we make appropriate provision for all pupils identified as having special educational needs. The school may support your child in a variety of ways depending on their individual needs. The first way is within the class, where learning tasks will be matched to your child’s needs and will be overseen by the class teacher. An additional provision may be through targeted small group work that takes place out of the classroom. Your child’s targets will be set by the class teacher in collaboration with the SENCO. A further level of provision may involve your child working individually with a member of staff to meet specific targets. Initially, the class teacher will oversee your child’s Individual Education Plan (IEP) with support from relevant learning support staff.
3. How will the curriculum be matched to my child’s needs?
Our school strives to provide an engaging and exciting curriculum for all children. Your child’s class teacher will plan for the variety of needs in the classroom by providing appropriate tasks and achievable outcomes to consolidate and extend children’s learning. For children with special educational needs, the teacher may provide different resources for children to use or there may be an adult to assist a small group of children to complete the task as independently as possible.
4. How will I know how my child is doing and how will you help me to support my child’s learning?
In addition to the regular parent meetings, you will be kept regularly informed of your child’s progress by agreeing and sharing your child’s ILP targets with the class teacher. This will identify the next steps for your child to make progress and how the school and you can help them. Progress will be monitored and reviewed regularly to ensure that both you and your child can express your views and are fully involved in decisions. Regular contact may be communicated through a home/school link book.
5. What support will there be for my child’s overall well-being?
We aim to develop children’s emotional and social well-being in partnership with parents and carers. In some cases this may be provided by specialist support through one of our self esteem, social use of language initiatives which are run by either the SENCO, or Teaching assistants or from some children by working with one of our play therapists. Healthcare plans and pastoral support plans can be used to meet specific needs. These plans are created in collaboration with school, parents and pupil, and they are monitored and reviewed at agreed intervals.
6. What specialist services and expertise are available at or accessed by the school?
External support services play an important part in helping the school identify, assess and make provision for children with special education needs.
These include:
• Regular visits from the nominated Educational Psychologist for the school.
• Seeking advice from specialist advisory teaching services for children with sensory impairment or physical difficulties or from services like Occupational Therapy Service.
• Advice and support from the Speech and Language Therapist and contributions to the reviews of pupils with significant speech and language difficulties.
• Advice and support from the Primary Mental Health Worker and local Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) for children with emotional and behavioural needs.
• Advice and support from the school nurse and community paediatrician (Child Development Centre or CDC).
• Multi-agency meetings (known as the Early Help Planning Forum), with representatives from Children and Family Services, Social Care and Health. These are held to ensure effective collaboration in identifying and making provision for vulnerable pupils.
• Targeted support for families on a variety of issues through the Family Link Worker service.
• Referral to the Education Welfare Officer service. Before the school make any referral to a specialist service we will always gain your permission.
7. What training are the staff supporting children special educational needs having?
We make an annual audit of training needs for all staff taking into account school priorities and personal professional development. Particular support is given to new members of staff and to training that addresses children’s specific needs. The SENCOs of each school within the Angmering Locality meet together each term to share good practice and this is a strength of our group of schools.
8. How will my child be included in activities outside the classroom including school trips?
It is the school’s policy to enable every child to participate as fully as possible in all elements of the wider curriculum. We ensure that all children attend school trips and residential visits with support as appropriate. Where necessary, the school will meet with parents and carers to discuss individual needs prior to any visit or activity.
9. How accessible is the setting?
Our school has an accessibility policy which is reviewed regularly. As part of this review, we ensure that the school environment is accessible for all children, including those with physical and sensory needs or where English is not a first language.
10. How will the school prepare and support my child to join the school and transfer to the next stage of education or life?
When you apply for a place for your child at the school, we encourage you to share your concerns about your child’s special educational needs or pass on information about any specialist support or agencies already working with you. We will contact any previous educational establishments for relevant information. Any practical arrangements can then be discussed and put in place. At the end of the school year or if your child moves to another setting, the relevant staff communicate to pass on information and ensure that transition arrangements are in place.
11. How are the school’s resources allocated and matched to children’s individual special educational needs?
The school receives money on an annual basis to support provision for special educational needs. This is based on the number of pupils on roll who are on the ‘SEN register’ and this varies from year to year. The money is allocated annually by the Governing Body when setting the school’s budget. It is used to pay for staffing and resources which support children with special educational needs throughout the school. On top of this resource, there may be additional funding from the Government and West Sussex County Council to support individual children on specific programmes. This includes ‘Pupil Premium’ money and additional funds for children with a Statement of Special Educational Need.
12. How is the decision made about the support my child will receive?
Every child’s needs are carefully assessed and decisions are then made based on the ability of a child to access the curriculum and make progress. The school SENCO will work closely with you and all staff to discuss relevant interventions, adult support and advice from specialist services to make best use of available resources. We regularly assess the impact of any additional support and resources and report children’s progress to parents.
13. Who can I contact for further information?
The first point of contact will always be your child’s class teacher. The SENCO is also available if further assistance is necessary.
Who can I contact if I want to make a complaint about the provision of Special Needs at St Wilfrid's?
Families can contact the SENCO at the school by making an appointment with the office team by email or telephone (see contact details on front page of website) If families feel the nature of the complaint has not been dealt with they can follow the complaints procedure (see complaints policy) in the normal way.
SEND Policies
Click on the links below to view the following policies, paper copies of all our policies and documents are available from the main school office on request.
Local offer
The Government has asked all Local Authorities in the UK to publish, in one place, information about services and provision they expect to be available in their area for children and young people from 0-25 who have special educational needs and/ or disabilities (SEND).
This is know as the Local offer. Further information about the Local Offer can be found on the West Sussex County Council Local offer. The link below will take you to the St Wilfrid's Catholic Primary School Summary Card.
https://westsussex.local-offer.org/services/634-st-wilfrid-s-catholic-primary-school-angmering