Special Educational Needs and Disability Information

At The Colleton we are very proud of our work with our children who have special education needs and disabilities (SEND) and their families. We recognise that all our children are individuals who have special talents as well as areas for development. Some children may need additional help in specific areas of their personal development or to access the National Curriculum to reach their full potential and may be identified as having special educational needs or disabilities.

This may include difficulties with:

• Reading, writing, spelling or maths
• Expressing themselves
• Interacting and socialising with others
• Understanding or following instructions
• Concentration levels
• Controlling their emotions
• Sensory needs
• Physical mobility

Our aim is to ensure that we continue to raise standards of progression and attainment for all our children, whatever their needs may be, by removing barriers to their learning and by ensuring that they are included and are part of their team. Through our flexible working arrangements, our committed and experienced staff are able to devise a curriculum to suit a range of personal and educational needs. We strive to not only develop academic progress but also self-esteem, confidence and emotional well-being by looking at every child as an individual.

At our school we will assess all children to identify their strengths and needs and use this to help us to best to support them with their learning. However, if a teacher identifies there are difficulties which are causing a barrier to learning, we implement a graduated response to support special educational needs. We do this through an assess, plan, do and review process in order to ensure that every child receives quality first teaching alongside any targeted provision and support that is suited to meet their needs through the following steps:

Parents will be consulted through this process and further assessments may be carried out by the class teacher or the SENCo. Children may then receive additional support in school under one of the following categories:

• Special educational needs support (SEN support)
• Educational, health and care plan (EHCP)

What is SEN support?

SEN support describes any additional help that a child receives to enable them to fully access the curriculum. This could support any of the 4 areas of needs identified in the SEN code of practice (cognition and learning, communication and interaction, social, emotional and mental health difficulties or physical and/or sensory). The support we offer may be a short-term intervention to target a particular skill or longer-term support as explained in our local offer but could include:

• extra support within the team
• small group or 1:1 learning
• use of particular resources or strategies to support learning
• support programmes as advised by therapists such as speech and language or occupational therapy

Teachers continue to monitor the progress for all children in their registration group. The SENCo supports teachers and families by leading and coordinating the SEND provision through the school. We work closely with parents at all stages of SEN support to discuss and agree the support that will be provided and what it will achieve for your child. This support will be included on our provision map or we may decide to have an individual education plan (IEP) and your child could be listed on our SEN register.

What are EHCPs?

If your child has more complex needs, they might require a more intensive level of specialist provision. This could involve further support or assessments to be carried out by outside agencies including the educational psychology service (EPS), the learning support service (LSS), the children and mental health service (CAMHS). In small number of these cases, a child may then be assessed for an EHCP. This assessment is a detailed evaluation of a child’s SEN. If an EHCP is issued, this is a legal document that describes a child’s learning, social and emotional, health or social care needs and explains the extra support that must be provided to meet these needs. This support will ensure that they continue to learn, progress and achieve academically as well as socially, emotionally and physically.

Details of ‘The Local Offer’ provided for SEN pupils by Wokingham Borough Council can be found by clicking on the logo below:

Details of ‘The Local Offer’ provided by the Colleton Primary School can be found by clicking on the logo below:

Local Offer Explanatory Leaflet – Click To View

We recognise that some children, for example some children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), may not be able to access remote education without support from adults at home. We acknowledge the difficulties this may place on families, and we will work with parents and carers to support those pupils in the following ways:

• All children with an EHCP have been invited to attend school on site and will continue to receive in-class support as set out in their plan.  For those with EHCPs who are at home, steps will be taken to ensure that, where possible, we provide the provision set out in their plan.
• The SENCo will be in regular contact with families of children with EHCPs and will be available to be contacted via the office if families of children with SEND need any further advice or support.
• For those children with SEND accessing learning from home, teams will ensure that they continue to set work appropriate for the child to meet their individual needs and send this home as needed.
• We will support parents and children with the use of tools on Microsoft Teams such as immersive reader or dictate to help with learning tasks.
• Where possible, specific interventions may still be carried out remotely by teachers or learning support assistants either as a 1:1 or within a small group. Parents will be given the most recent copies of any therapy support plans e.g. speech and language, occupational therapy, along with any specific resources to support the plan for children to do at home with their families if they are able to.
• 1:1 staff will keep in contact with children to maintain relationships where possible
• Additional resources such as sensory objects, wobble cushions, visual timetables, word lists, coloured overlays and individual writing equipment, pencil grips, have been offered to those children who are learning at home.  There is also a folder on Teams called Additional Support which has suggestions and resources for ways to support children at home.
• Continue contact with outside agencies either remotely or in person where possible and the SENCo will continue to co-ordinate this.

At The Colleton we support children with English as an Additional Language (EAL) through a variety of strategies. We place a great emphasis on using visual support, using diagrams, photos and pictures as well as immersing them in language based activities. We work with families, take advice from Wokingham LA and may also use targeted support from a Learning Support Assistant, especially initially when the child is settling into the school and class routines.