SEND

Translate

SEND

Who are the SEND team at Holy Family?

Mrs Marisa Clark is our school SENDCo (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Coordinator)

Mrs Cath Timney is our SEND governor

Mrs Claire Whitelock is our ELSA (Emotional Literacy Support Assistant)

How do we support children with SEND?

At Holy Family, we strive to support all children to enable them to achieve their full potential through a rich, broad and balanced education. Some children need further support to help them reach their full potential and if this is the case, we offer excellent support for pupils with additional needs through inclusive Quality First Teaching. Our staff identify needs early. Through dedicated hard work our staff work alongside our SENDCo to provide and deliver structured programmes of interventions to support our pupils with SEND following the Assess, Plan, Do, Review cycle (Learning Plans) and Trafford’s Graduated Approach.

If you have any questions regarding your child’s current special educational needs, or you think that your child may need additional support, please do not hesitate to speak to your child’s class teacher. The class teacher will then speak to the SENDCo as appropriate. You can also contact our school SENDCo via the school office on admin@holyfamilysalemoor.co.uk, marking for the attention of the SENDCo.

A pupil would be considered to have Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) if they have a learning difficulty or disability that requires special educational provisions to be made for them which is in addition to or different from that which is made generally for other children (SEND Code of Practice: 0-20 Years, 2014).

There are four categories of SEND:

Cognition and Learning (specific learning difficulties such as dyslexia or dyscalculia)
Communication and Interaction (specific speech difficulties or with communicating with others)
Social, Emotional and Mental health
Sensory/ Physical

For more information on this, please see the link below for Trafford’s Local Offer:

https://www.trafforddirectory.co.uk/kb5/trafford/fsd/localoffer.page

Consulting and Involving Pupils and Parents

We strongly believe in the importance of working in close partnership with parents and that communication is vital in supporting your children during their time at Holy Family. Parents should let us know about life at home and how their child is accessing their learning so that school has the full overview. We will have an early discussion with the pupil, parents and teacher when identifying whether they need special educational provision. These conversations will ensure that:

Everyone develops a good understanding of the pupil’s areas of strength and difficulty
We take into account parents’ views
Everyone understands the agreed outcomes sought for the child
Everyone is clear on what the next steps are

Assessing and Reviewing Pupils' Progress Towards Outcomes

We will follow the graduated approach and the four-part cycle of assess, plan, do, review. The class teacher will work closely with Mrs Clark to carry out a clear analysis of the pupil’s needs. This will draw on:

The teacher’s assessment and experience of the pupil
Their previous progress and attainment and behaviour
Other teachers’ assessments, where relevant
The individual’s development in comparison to their peers and national data
The views and experience of parents, life at home and school
The pupil’s own views
Advice from outside agencies, if relevant

The assessment will be reviewed regularly. All teachers and support staff who work with the pupil will be made aware of their needs, the outcomes sought, the support provided, and any adaptive teaching strategies or approaches that are required. We will regularly review the effectiveness of the support and interventions and their impact on the pupil’s progress. This will be drawn up on a plan with SMART targets which is reviewed on a termly basis and new targets set.

Supporting Pupils for Transitions, Including Moving to Secondary

We will share information with the school the pupil is moving to. For pupils in Y6 moving to secondary education, the SENDCo from the chosen school will be invited to attend the transition review. Pupils will also be given additional opportunities to visit the new school and prepare for this transition.

Adaptive Teaching for Pupils with SEND

Teachers are responsible for the progress and development of all the pupils in their class. High quality first teaching is our first step in responding to pupils who have SEND. This will be adapted for individual pupils. We will also provide the following interventions:

Speech and Language interventions e.g. Social Communication Group; Block or Lego Therapy; Specific speech intervention – narrative therapy, comprehension.
Pastoral interventions
Support in accessing the curriculum via adaptive teaching

Adaptations To The Curriculum and Learning Environment

We make the following adaptations to ensure all pupils’ needs are met:

Adapting our curriculum to ensure all pupils can access it, for example, by grouping, 1:1 work, teaching style adaptions for the lesson.
Adapting our resources and staffing
Using recommended aids, such as laptops, coloured overlays, visual timetables, larger font and prompt scaffolds.
Adapting our teaching, for example, giving longer processing times, pre-teaching of key vocabulary and reading instructions aloud.
Wheelchair access and disabled toilets

Supporting children with SEMH difficulties (Social, Emotional and Mental Health)

We prioritise building meaningful and authentic relationships with all of our pupils and we believe that this is particularly important when working with children with SEMH needs. We focus on creating a strong sense of belonging and ensure that all of our pupils feel valued accepted within our school.

The key principles of this involve understanding wider life circumstances that children may have experienced, providing consistent emotional and social support and using strategies like emotion coaching to build emotional literacy. We have worked hard to foster a culture of compassion and inclusion to address the root causes of challenging behaviour. We strongly believe that with this approach, it will enable children to work closer towards their full academic potential.

Where can parents get support with SEND?