Special Educational Needs & Disability
At St Lawrence CE, the nurturing environment provided at our inclusive school by staff helps our children to flourish, achieve and enjoy their learning. Our children try to be the best they can be and are encouraged to ‘have a go’ in their learning. The learning experiences provided by our dedicated teaching staff are supported by our devoted team of teaching assistants. All children learn, develop and progress in their own ways and we support all children to be the best they can be. Some children may require additional support to reach their full potential. As a school we monitor and put the relevant support mechanisms in place, reviewing these measures regularly. Everyone needs help sometimes and it is brave and okay to ask for help when you need it.
Special Educational Needs (SEND) are categorised into the Four Areas of Need. These are:
- Communication and Interaction
- Cognition and Learning
- Social, Emotional and Mental Health Difficulties
- Sensory and/or Physical Needs
Please take the time to read through the following sections that explain SEND and the work we do at St Lawrence CE to support children and families with SEND who attend our school. If you have any SEND enquiries, please contact the school office a3091@telford.gov.uk (01952 387780) and our SENDCo will happily discuss these with you.
Mrs Nash – Executive Head
Mr Battrick – Headteacher
Mrs Osborne – SENDCo
Four Areas of Need
The Four Broad Areas of Need within Special Educational Needs are: Communication and Interaction; Cognition and Learning; Social, Emotional and Mental Health and Sensory and/or Physical needs. In school, we work with parents, the children, local authority and outside agency professionals to support children within these four areas to be the best they can be.
Communication and Interaction
Children with Communication and Interaction needs have difficulties in communicating with others. This can take the form of not understanding what is being said to them or challenges in saying what they want to; not only verbally but in the selecting of words. A child may also find it tricky to recognise the social rules of communication. Children with Communication and Interaction needs may need support with one, some or all of the previously mentioned areas. Their needs can also change over time. This area can also be referred to by professionals as Speech, Language and Communication Needs (SLCN).
Cognition and Learning
Despite adapted teaching metho ds used in lessons and class based support, some children may have difficulties in their learning that result in them learning at a slower pace. Cognition and Learning needs cover a wide range and these are categorised into: Moderate Learning Difficulties (MLD); Severe Learning Difficulties (SLD); Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulties (PMLD) and Specific Learning Difficulties (SpLD).
Social, Emotional and Mental Health
Children and young people may experience a wide range of social and emotional difficulties which manifest themselves in many ways. These may include becoming withdrawn or isolated, as well as displaying challenging or disruptive behaviour. These behaviours may reflect anxiety, uncertainty, anger or another underlying cause.
Sensory and/or physical needs
Some children and young people require special educational provision because they have a disability which prevents or hinders them from making use of the educational facilities generally provided. These difficulties can be age related and may fluctuate over time. Many children and young people with vision impairment (VI), hearing impairment (HI) or a multi-sensory impairment (MSI) will require specialist support and/or equipment to access their learning.
SEND Documentation
Please find our Special Educational Needs Policy for our provision offer at St Lawrence CE. It outlines the Four Areas of Need within SEND, the processes we follow in assessing and supporting children with these needs and our graduated response.
SEN Information Report 2024 ST LAWRENCE
You will also find the Department for Education’s Special educational needs and disability code of practice: 0 to 25 years attached to this page below.
What does support look like?
At St Lawrence CE, we follow a graduated response. Below is a diagram that outlines how the graduated response works in school. Assess, Plan, Do and Review According to The SEND Code of Practice: 0-25 years (Sep 2014), supporting children and young people with SEND via the Graduated Approach and includes the use of a four-part cycle of ‘Assess, Plan, Do and Review’.
Through this cycle, earlier decisions and actions are revisited, refined and revised with a growing understanding of the child or young person’s needs and what supports the child or young person in making good progress and securing good outcomes.
If support put into place in a step is not resulting in the desired outcome, the support in the next step is put into place. It is important to remember that parents of SEND children in school are informed through all steps and encouraged to contribute and help support their child.
Below you can find our Waves of Support.
Federation Waves of Support (1)
The Graduated Approach
Assess
Class teachers assess and monitor progress of all children in their classes. With discussion with key adults and the SENCo a clear analysis of the child’s needs are drawn up from a variety of evidence.
Plan
Parents will be formally notified of an Individual Provision Map that the cl
ass teacher will create with SMART targets and carefully planned provisions and interventions to make small steps of progress in areas of difficulty. Parents will receive a copy of this plan and will know
the targets set for the cycle.
Do
The class teacher remains responsible for planning the interventions and monitoring progress of the plan and targets. Children may work in small groups or 1:1 on interventions and this will be monitored by the SENCo.
Review
This is the key part of the cycle. How well has the planned intervention worked? What is the progress? What is the next step? This step evaluates the impact of the interventions and is used to plan the next steps. Parents will receive a copy of the reviewed plan and are invited in to discuss this with the class teacher.
Pupil Voice
We share the views of the most important people in our school – the children. Specifically, here you will find the voices of children on the SEND register within school.
Parent Collaboration
At St Lawrence, we strive to have the best communication channels possible with parents of SEND children and we regularly arrange meetings to plan and review our support. We believe that the parents of children with SEND play an essential role in supporting their children’s progress both in and out of school. Mrs Nash, Mr Battrick and Mrs Osborne are available through contacting the school office.
Coffee Mornings
This year our SENCo has introduced termly SEND coffee mornings for parents. This enables parents to meet each other and outside agencies in the local area.
The first informal meeting was well received by parents who attended and our second one has been planned from feedback and discussing what parents wished to be supported with.
SENDTalk
We send out half termly SENDTalk newsletters to parents with information, signposting, updates and any important dates for the diary.
SEND Updates
We like to keep you updated on all the activity with SEND at school. Take a look at some of the things we have been doing.
Outside Agencies
In Telford & Wrekin, schools and parents/carers have access to a range of support and services. As a school, we work closely with these services. Please find a list of some of the Outside Agencies we access and a link to the services available to parents/carers that you may find useful on the SEND Local Offer.
Learning Support Advisory Teachers
Educational Psychology Services
Speech and Language Therapy Services
Occupational Therapy Services
Strengthening Families
SEND and Inclusion Service
Behavioural Support Advisory Team
Services Available to Parents/Carers on SEND Local Offer
This link below will take you to the Events page on the SEND Local Offer that you may find useful.
Events
Staff Training
At St Lawrence, in line with the Code Of Practice, ALL teachers are teachers of SEND.
Our dedicated team in school have a range of SEND training, qualifications and skills that have been developed through our investment in Professional Development. These enable our team to support children on the SEND register effectively. We think carefully about the strengths staff have and how we can use these skills to support the children in our care.
Below is a list of some of the support we are able to offer through our staff.
Precision Teaching
Talk Boost KS1 and Talk Boost KS2
SNIPs Spelling Programme
Toe by Toe
Plus1
Dough Gym
Cool Kids
Little Wandle SEND
Little Wandle Keep Up
Word Wasp
Stareway To Spelling
Social Stories
Attachment
Makaton
Talk About
Zones Of Regulation
ELSA – Elsa Network – Tips for School
Autism Education Trust – leading Autism training (SENCo)
We continue to actively look for opportunities to further develop our staff and align this to the needs of the school and children in our care.
SEND Newsletters
Telford & Wrekin’s Local Offer provide regular SEND newsletters on their website for parents and carers. The website also contains information, support and tips that parents might find useful. The newsletter has recently taken the form of a webpage which can be accessed at https://www.telfordsend.org.uk/info/1/home/109/send_news.
The SEND newsletter webpage sits as part of the SEND Local Offer Website which “aims to bring together useful information across education, health and social care within one website. You can find information, advice and guidance and a range of local service providers who support children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND).”
Well-Being
Please see this section of our Parent Handbook
Transitions
As a school, we are very aware of the contextual influences on transition for children. For children with SEND, moving to a new class, key stage or school can be particularly worrying and may also incur difficulties of a practical nature. Our current structure means that children complete two academic years in one class. As a result, we manage the transitions carefully for children with additional needs and allocate extra sessions and provisions if needed. We also manage the transition across key stages carefully and discuss these key moments in our children’s journeys with parents/carers.
We hold transition sessions at the end of the summer term. During these sessions, children will meet their new teacher, class and take part in activities in their new classroom. Children from elsewhere who are due to start at the school often attend these sessions. Reception sessions for parents and children in the summer term are slightly different due to the nature of the children starting full time school.
If a child is moving to us from a different school, a visit during school hours can be made. This gives children and parents the opportunity to see a normal day at St Lawrence. Where necessary we may feel that it is appropriate for a child to have additional visits to their teacher and classroom on the lead up to the transition and this will be assessed on a case by case basis.
When it is time for children on the SEND register to leave us at St Lawrence and being their Secondary School education, we work with parents/carers, the children and transition teams at their new setting to provide the most supportive and seamless transition possible. We understand that transitions from Primary to Secondary can be a time of anxiety for children and parents/carers, so do our best to support to the best of our ability.
Local Offer Guidance for Transition
YoungMinds Transition Tips
SEND Reviews
Schools in Telford & Wrekin regularly take part in SEND Reviews. An advisor within the field of Special Educational Needs carries out a review of the provision and support offered by school. They do this by talking to parents, children, the Senior Leadership Team, SENDCo and observing support. The purpose of this review is to support the team at St Lawrence as we continue to strive towards being the best we can be with God.
We are confident that the SEND provision provided at St Lawrence is of a high standard and this is regularly validated by Telford & Wrekin Local Authority. However, should parents need to raise a complaint, the procedure for doing so is outlined in the SEN Information Report and also in our complaints policy.