St Paul’s Special Educational Needs Offer *On the following pages you will be able to find out what we can offer the pupils and families in our school in the form of support. It shows you what you can expect if your child is placed on the list of children receiving Special Needs Support. *This is a draft document and we would welcome any feedback or comments about the format or information included. If you would like this information translated then please contact our SENCo via the school office. *This document should be read alongside the Local Authority’s “Local Offer” which makes clear what agencies and support families can access in our county.

Contact Details Mrs Kerry McEnery (Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator) If you have concerns for your child’s progress please feel free to make an appointment via the school office (Tel: ) or contact via on Please note that Mrs McEnery usually works in school on Mondays and Tuesdays.

What is the Local Offer? The Children and Families Act (2014) requires all local councils to set out a local offer of support available for children from birth through to adulthood (25 years of age). On the Local Offer families can find out about the support they can access for Education, Health and Social Care services. It is a good place to start if your child has Special Educational Needs or a disability. Click here to view Herefordshire’s Local Offer.

A Graduated Response In line with the new Code of Practice (July 2014) here at St Paul’s we use a graduated response to meet the needs of pupils with Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities (SEND). The following pages aim to show you how this might work for your child.

Stage 1 What will school do? How will you be involved? What will this mean for your child? You may have worries about your child’s needs or class teachers may have concerns. Teachers will have used well differentiated quality teaching strategies in their classrooms to support your child’s learning. We have a rigorous system of monitoring and termly meetings to discuss these concerns so that we quickly identify children who are not making the expected progress or who may need more support. If you have concerns please make an appointment with the Class Teacher as soon as possible. If we have identified concerns we will discuss these with you at the first opportunity which is usually your child’s parent consultation evening. This is the best time to find out how you can help your child too. At this stage we have lots of additional interventions and programmes of support to offer children. These sessions are normally in small groups or occasionally 1:1 and run by our school staff. They are usually enough to boost a child’s progress and there is not always a need to place a child on the Special Educational Needs Register.

Stage 2 What will school do? How will you be involved? What will this mean for your child? If, following this support, your child is still not making the expected progress the class teacher will ask the school’s Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCo) to become involved. She will offer advice to the teacher and parents on how best to support your child and she may carry out some assessments with your child to identify their strengths and any possible barriers to their learning. You will be invited to meet with the SENCo. She will want to find out your opinions on how best to support your child and it is a good time to let her know of any worries you may have. She may also ask to do more detailed assessments with your child and you will be asked to meet again to discuss the outcome of these. Information and the views of your child will be gathered and the SENCo will decide with you if your child needs to be placed on the school’s list of children receiving SEN Support. A programme of support will be organised at this stage with the support of the Class Teacher. It will be recorded on the school Provision Map or as an individual Provision Map depending upon the level of need.

Stage 3 What will school do? How will you be involved? What will this mean for your child? Your child’s progress is reviewed termly and all interventions and support are monitored by the SENCo. If it is clear that your child is still not making progress then the SENCo will discuss with you the possibility of making a referral to an outside agency. This outside specialist will be able to assess your child and make further recommendations to both school and your family. You will be invited to meet with the SENCo to discuss this referral and to gain your permission to go ahead. You will often get a chance to meet with the professional from the outside agency as part of the referral process or you may be asked to take your child to an appointment out of school hours. Any advice and recommendations from outside agencies will be used to further enhance the support given to your child. Targets and programmes will be adjusted appropriately and again these will be carefully monitored. By this stage children will most certainly be placed on the list of children receiving SEN Support.

Stage 4 What will school do? How will you be involved? What will this mean for your child? If we have followed expert advice and, over a period of time, there are still no satisfactory levels of progress then we may ask you to consider a request for assessment for an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP). For more information see the following pages. Just as we expect to keep parents fully involved in all stages of SEN support so the same will happen if an EHCP is requested. The SENCo will meet with you to fill in a “Family Conversation” form so that all of the correct information is gathered for the Local Authority to consider. Your child’s support will continue as before during this stage and their opinions will continue to be sought. If an assessment goes ahead then further assessments are likely to be carried out by the Local Authority and their team of professionals.

Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) EHCPs are replacing Statements of Special Educational Needs over the next three years. The SEN Code of Practice 2014 (9.2): “The purpose of an EHCP is to make special educational provision to meet the special educational needs of the child or young person, to secure the best possible outcomes for them across education, health and social care and, as they get older, prepare them for adulthood.” The following are able to make a request for the above: The child’s parent A young person over the age of 16 but under the age of 25 A person acting on behalf of a school or post-16 institution preferably with the agreement of the parent or young person where possible. For further advice please ask to speak to the SENCo at school, the Local Authority’s SEN Team or the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Information Advice and Support Service (SENDIAS).

Support for the Key Areas of SEN All pupils at St Paul’s receive Quality First Teaching from their class teachers but they may need additional support in one of the key areas identified by the SEN Code of Practice (2014). 1. Communication and Interaction – children needing support in this area may be on our small group intervention programme for “Teaching Talking”, they may have programmes written by a speech therapist and delivered by one of our trained Teaching Assistants or they may just need extra resources in class to help them to access the curriculum. We also use a wide variety of programmes to support those with Autistic Spectrum Disorders. 2. Cognition and Learning - some children may be learning at a slower rate than others or may need their teaching to be supported by certain strategies. They may need more small group work than others; 1:1 teaching time; pre-teaching or constant re-visiting of skills. We have a variety of intervention programmes in constant use such as ReadWriteInc, Guided Reading sessions or SNIP. 3. Social, Emotional and Mental Health Difficulties – this includes children experiencing difficulties that may include challenging or disruptive behaviour; being withdrawn and isolated; a mental health difficulty such as anxiety, depression or eating disorders. Disorders such as ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) and attachment disorder are also included. 4. Sensory and/or Physical – This includes children with vision or hearing impairments and other physical difficulties which may prevent or hinder a child from accessing the curriculum or accessing our facilities.

How do we help? Plus a whole lot more… 1:1 support Pre- teaching SEN training Interventions Adapted timetable Anxiety Support

We work regularly with outside agencies for advice and programmes of support - Behaviour Support Team Educational Psychologist Speech and Language Therapists Social Care Police Counsellors School Nurses Paediatricians Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) Occupational Therapists Physio Therapists The Brookfield School Blackmarston School Herefordshire Carers Home Start

Contacts Kerry McEnery, SENCo Jane Millington-Jones, Learning Mentor To request an Education, Health and Care Plan directly from the Local Authority you can ring the SEN Team on: For additional, impartial support and advice contact the Herefordshire Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Information and Advice Service (SENDIAS) - formerly known as the Parent Partnership Service. Tel: