All Ebor Academy Trust schools have a similar approach to meeting the needs of pupils with Special Educational Needs and are supported by the local authority (LA) to ensure that all pupils, regardless of their specific needs, make the best possible progress in school. All schools are supported to be as inclusive as possible, with the needs of pupils with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities being met in a mainstream setting wherever possible.
What is the Local Offer?
The LA Local Offer
- The Children and Families Bill was enacted in 2014. From this date, Local Authorities and schools are required to publish and keep under review information about services they expect to be available for the children and young people with Special Educational Needs (SEN) aged 0-25. This is the ‘Local Offer’.
- The intention of the Local Offer is to improve choice and transparency for families. It will also be an important resource for parents in understanding the range of services and provision in the local area.
The School SEND Information Report
This utilises the LA Local Offer to meet the needs of SEND pupils as determined by school policy, and the provision that the school is able to meet.
Our Environment
At Staynor Hall Community Primary Academy, we are committed to providing our pupils with a broad, balanced and enriched curriculum which is accessible to all and promotes inclusion. All our pupils are included in all aspects of school life and are equally valued in school. We create environments that are safe and calm so that our pupils feel comfortable to be in school and to enable them to flourish. Our staff work closely as a team to provide consistency of approach and strategies that we have in place for our pupils.
Because all children learn in different ways, we have tailored our classroom environments so that they can meet a range of needs. All of our classrooms provide:
- Visual supports (including dyslexia friendly, speech and language friendly and autism friendly approaches)
- A distraction free learning zone
- Sensory Processing strategies (movement breaks, noise reducing headphones, move and sit cushions, fiddle toys etc.)
- Access to multi-sensory and hands-on learning
- Use of IT and alternative methods of recording where needed
- Use of de-escalation strategies
- A Restorative Practice Approach with daily check-ins and Affective Questions
- A preventative rather than reactive approach
- Positive praise – and lots of it!
- Staffing ratios appropriate to the level of support needed.
Our school is fully wheelchair accessible. We have a wetroom to support a range of physical and medical needs. Our staff have experience with a variety of equipment supporting physical needs including a range of wheelchairs, standers, and a mobile hoist. We work with Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy Teams both from North Yorkshire LEA and the NHS to improve the outcome for all our learners with medical/physical and sensory needs through our close cooperation, our training and our yearly audit of our school environment. Please see the link to our Accessibility Plan.
Identification and Intervention
Every teacher here at Staynor Hall is working towards the achievement of every child through excellent quality first teaching. Our first response to emerging needs is adaptive teaching and an inclusive curriculum offer. Class teachers are responsible for tracking and monitoring the progress of all learners, including those with an identified special educational need. They receive training from the SENDco and external agencies to ensure that they can quickly identify needs and support them in class. We call this our Universal offer. If any child is struggling in class for any reason, strategies and or interventions will be put in place at a Targeted level to support with this after discussions with parents/carers. Advice would be sought from the SEND team and progress would be tracked to see if these strategies were proving to be successful.
If a child is still struggling in school and needs additional support, it may be that they need more Specialist level intervention and resources putting in place. Again, parents would be very much involved in this discussion and would work with the school to plan this. At this stage, your child would be receiving ‘SEND Support’ and the SEND Team would be closely involved to support staff, your child and the family. The majority of children at this level with have some Assistant Teacher Support. Each child’s support package will look different depending on their level of need. As we are keen to promote independence and develop young people’s life skills for the future, where a child has AT support, we discourage the concept of 1:1 ‘velcroed’ support. Through careful planning, we will ensure that each child’s needs are met through a balanced approach of 1:1, group work and monitored independent time.
SEND Support: defining SEND and SEND provision
The new SEND Code of Practice (2014) defines children as having special educational needs (SEND):
A child or young person has SEND if they have a learning difficulty or disability which calls for special educational provision to be made for him or her.
A child of compulsory school age or a young person has a learning difficulty or disability if he or she:
- has a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others of the same age, or 16
- has a disability that prevents or hinders him or her from making use of facilities of a kind generally provided for others of the same age in mainstream schools or mainstream post-16 institutions.
- A disability is defined as “a physical or mental impairment which has a long-term and substantial adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities”. (Equalities Act 2010)
The Pupil Support Team oversee the provisions and interventions we have in place for all our pupils at Staynor Hall. Along with the Senior Leadership Team, they monitor the effectiveness of provision through observations and data analysis and provision will be adjusted as required to ensure pupils are fulfilling their full potential. Children will always be supported to engage in activities available to pupils who do not have SEND.
We work closely with individuals and other agencies to help us identify the right support for each child, including:
- CAMHS (Child Adolescent Metal Health Service)
- Speech and Language Therapists (both in school and in clinic)
- Other Health Professionals
- Physiotherapists
- Occupational Therapists
- CYC Specialist Teaching Teams
- Hearing & Vision Impairment Services
1. Communication and Interaction
6.28 Children and young people with speech, language, and communication needs (SLCN) have difficulty in communicating with others. This may be because they have difficulty saying what they want to, understanding what is being said to them or they do not understand or use social rules of communication. The profile for every child with SLCN is different and their needs may change over time. They may have difficulty with one, some, or all of the different aspects of speech, language, or social communication at different times of their lives.
6.29 Children and young people with ASD, including Asperger’s Syndrome and Autism, are likely to have particular difficulties with social interaction. They may also experience difficulties with language, communication, and imagination, which can impact on how they relate to others.
Communication and Interaction Interventions
- Delivery of individual speech and language programmes
- Time to Talk
- Talk Boost
- Talking Partners
- Mind maps, task plans, modelling, limited use of language etc.
- Lego Therapy
- Pre teaching vocabulary
- Communication Toolkit
- Augmented Communication (objects of reference, PECS)
- Access to ICT (Ipad, Chromebook)
- Makaton trained ATs and Makaton awareness throughout the school.
2. Cognition and Learning
6.30 Support for learning difficulties may be required when children and young people learn at a slower pace than their peers, even with appropriate differentiation. Learning difficulties cover a wide range of needs, including moderate learning difficulties (MLD), severe learning difficulties (SLD), where children are likely to need support in all areas of the curriculum and associated difficulties with mobility and communication, through to profound and multiple learning difficulties (PMLD), where children are likely to have severe and complex learning difficulties as well as a physical disability or sensory impairment.
6.31 Specific learning difficulties (SpLD), affect one or more specific aspects of learning. This encompasses a range of conditions such as dyslexia, dyscalculia and dyspraxia.
Learning and Cognition Interventions
- Phonics Boosters/Rapid Phonics
- Rapid Reading/1:1 reading
- Reading/writing/ Sentence and punctuation boosters
- Handwriting intervention – multi-sensory or alternative methods
- Precision Teaching (bespoke to child’s need)
- Numeracy Booster
- Number Gym Booster
- Big Maths Quiz
- Numicon
- Pre Teaching
- Use of specialist equipment – ICT equipment, coloured overlays and books, pencil grips etc.
- IDL
- Widgit
3. Social Emotional and Mental Health difficulties
6.32 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, disruptive or disturbing behaviour. These behaviours may reflect underlying mental health difficulties such as anxiety or depression, self-harming, substance misuse, eating disorders or physical symptoms that are medically unexplained. Other children and young people may have disorders such as attention deficit disorder, attention deficit hyperactive disorder or attachment disorder.
6.33 Schools and colleges should have clear processes to support children and young people, including how they will manage the effect of any disruptive behaviour so it does not adversely affect other pupils. The Department for Education publishes guidance on managing pupils’ mental health and behaviour difficulties in schools – see the References section under Chapter 6 for a link.
Social, emotional, and mental health interventions
- The Hub
- Lunch Clubs
- Circle of Friends
- Peer Buddies
- Worry Box
- Fireworks – anger management
- Use of visual prompts and timetables
- Young Carer Group
- Wellbeing worker (CAMHS)
- 1:1 HUB support
- Early Help
- Hub Club
- Small group work with the Behaviour and Wellbeing Lead
- Play Based Therapy
4. Sensory and/or Physical needs
6.34 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, or habilitation support. Children and young people with an MSI have a combination of vision and hearing difficulties. Information on how to provide services for deafblind children and young people is available through the Social Care for Deafblind Children and Adults guidance published by the Department of Health (see the References section under Chapter 6 for a link).
6.35 Some children and young people with a physical disability (PD) require additional ongoing support and equipment to access all the opportunities available to their peers.
Sensory and Physical interventions
- Handwriting intervention – multi-sensory or alternative methods
- Busy Fingers boxes
- It’s in the bag
- Delivery of 1:1 Physio and OT programmes
- Use of sensory resources and strategies
- Adapted PE sessions
- Early movement sessions.
Family and Pupil Engagement
Communication is key
We pride ourselves on strong links with parents/carers and the child. We will always keep you in the loop when planning provision and intervention for your child. We have introduced comprehensive documentation for all our pupils receiving SEND Support that is written and reviewed jointly with parents and pupils. We know that by working together, we have a much greater chance of getting it right for your child. There are dedicated sections within your child’s plan for parents/carers and pupils to complete. We welcome yours and your child’s input into their plan, not just at their review meeting, but on a more regular basis as things arise.
Workforce
As part of Ebor Academy Trust, we are committed to providing high quality training and support to all our staff. We have an experienced Academy Specialist for SEND
who has dedicated time to work with our schools and our workforce. Our staff access in house specialist training as a well as a wide range of external courses from other professionals and agencies.
Examples of recent staff training would include:
- Sensory processing disorder training
- Differentiation in classrooms
- Creating an inclusive environment for ALL pupils and reducing anxiety
- Language friendly classrooms
- Supporting pupils on the dyslexia continuum
- Autism awareness training
- Restorative Practice
- Attachment and trauma and their impact on learning
- Pathfinder SEND Champions
- Tier 1 AT SEND training, including Makaton training
Our Pupil Support Team ensures that all children are given the means to succeed alongside their peers by supporting their needs, enhancing resources and awareness and developing staff expertise.
Staff also benefit from the expertise of several other agencies like The SEND Hub or the Speech and language therapists. We refer children regularly and specialist colleagues may visit the school and model to our staff new approaches and strategies. Parental consent is always sought before the interventions and a report is shared at the end.
Our Senior Leadership Team carry out weekly learning walks in all of our classrooms which ensure that advice and support is given regularly to staff which means we are confident that our pupils are receiving the best possible support and teaching.
All staff in school are made aware of individual children’s specific needs and training/ support will be put in place as needed. This helps ease transitions from different teachers and into new year groups in September. Careful transition is also planned with Secondary Schools for those pupils in Year 6.
We work closely with our secondary colleagues to ensure the transition to Year 7 is as smooth as possible for all children, but particularly for children with SEND. Secondary Inclusion lead will meet with our Pupil Support team to discuss the needs and what has been successful in supporting them. We share all the information we hold on a child’ needs so that the provision can be ready straight away. We will facilitate extended transition for children who may benefit from it.
This is also the case if a child moves to another school or transfers to a specialist setting. If a child comes to Staynor Hall from another school, we will communicate with the teaching team to gather as much information as possible so a plan can be put in place very quickly.
The SEND team
Ms Valerie Steunou
SENDCO
Ms. Mandy Bell
Personal Development, Behaviour & Welfare Lead
For a full list of our SEND support staff, please have a look at the Meet the staff section on our website.
Other links you may find useful
By clicking on each area below you will see more detail and examples of interventions that we run for our pupils. Some children will need support in more than one area of need so we will personalise their learning to encompass this. At Staynor Hall Community Primary Academy, we strive to support children with a wide range of special educational needs in each of these areas.
All pupils with SEND in Staynor Hall have a document in place that is jointly written by parents, the child and professionals. Depending on the level of needs, it could be a My support plan or an Education and Health Care plan, an EHCP is a statutory document that is written alongside the SEND panel at the LEA.
