Bournes Green Junior School’s Local Offer
All mainstream schools (including maintained schools and academies) have a similar approach to meeting the needs of pupils with SEND and are supported by the Local Authority to ensure that all pupils, regardless of their specific needs, make the best possible progress in school. All schools are supported to be inclusive, with the needs of pupils with SEND being met in a mainstream setting wherever possible, where families want this to happen.
Additionally schools have to provide details of the school specific offer this should reflect Southend Borough Council’s Local Offer which can be found at www.southendinfopoint.org
The main areas of SEND, as defined in the new SEN Code of Practice (2014) encompass the following four broad areas:
1. Communication and Interaction
2. Cognition and Learning
3. Social, emotional and mental health difficulties
4. Sensory and/or physical needs
At Bournes Green Junior school our Local Offer of support reflects this and provides details of the resources, interventions etc. that we provide to support children with SEND. Due to the ever changing needs of our children there may be additional support available that has not been covered here in this document. If you would like further information about what we offer at Bournes Green Junior school then please do not hesitate to contact our SENCo (Mrs Harris) directly.
Admissions: Pupils with SEN are allocated places in two separate and distinct ways.
Those pupils with statements or Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) have a separate admissions procedure overseen by the SEN team at Southend-on-Sea Borough Council.
Those pupils who have SEND but do not have a statement or EHCP are admitted via the normal school admission criteria.
Provision Available
Needs / Support / CriteriaCommunication and Interaction Needs / Autistic Spectrum Disorders / · Access specialist teaching advice from The St Christopher School
· Social stories
· Individual Visual timetable
· Calm and safe environment / work station for calming down
· Key LSA and/or learning mentor
· Educational Psychology Service where deemed appropriate / · Pupil being identified as having a social communication difficulty and is on the SEND register.
Speech, Language and Communication Needs / · Access to Speech and Language therapist and / or advisory teacher
· ELKLAN trained Learning Support Assistants
· Individualised speech and language programmes
· Makaton
· Picture exchange communication system / · Pupil identified with Speech and Language Difficulties and / or Delay by Speech and Language Therapist.
· Depending on the severity of the child’s needs, they may / may not be on the SEND register.
Cognition and Learning Needs / Moderate Learning Needs / · Screening programme to identify those who need targeted support
· Interventions – small group and individual
· Educational Psychology Service where deemed appropriate / · Children identified as being below age-expectations in attainment and /or progress and seen to struggle to acquire and retain knowledge and / or skills.
· Children unlikely to be on the SEND register unless difficulties are persistent.
Specific Learning Needs / · Screening programme and further assessment to devise a bespoke programme by way of an ISP
· Access to external specialist teachers in education and Educational Psychology Service when the school deems it appropriate / · General screening programme identifies that the child is at risk of having a specific learning need.
· Additional more detailed assessment (which may be carried out by and Educational Psychologist) will confirm this and give additional information about specific areas of need and how to best support them.
· Child is likely to be on the SEND register.
Social, emotional and mental health difficulties / Social Needs / · Social Skills groups
· Pastoral Care support/learning mentor
· Social work support provided by external services / · Staff observe child with needs in these areas.
· Parents approach staff with concerns to be looked into.
· Children may / may not be on SEND register depending on severity and persistence of needs.
Emotional and Mental Health Difficulties / · Outreach Support Service from Seabrook College
· Access to Counsellors/learning mentor
· Educational Psychology Service where the school deems appropriate
· Tailored support package from EHFS team (Early Help & Family Support) / · Staff observe child with needs in these areas.
· Parents mention concerns to staff.
· Children may / may not be on SEND register depending on severity and persistence of needs.
Sensory and Physical Needs / Hearing Impairment / · Access to hearing impairment
Specialist for advice and support
· Educational Psychology Service where the school deems appropriate / · Identified by Health Services.
Visual Impairment / · VI specialist via Kingsdown Special School following referral
· Physical environment audit
· Enlarged texts
· Use of ICT equipment to support learning as needed
· Magnifiers, specialised writing and maths equipment including writing slope, holder for text / whiteboard etc / · Identified by Health Services.
Multi-Sensory Impairment / · Risk assessment and individualised support
· Range of sensory equipment to be used alongside the curriculum / · Identified by Health Services.
Medical Needs / · Specialist support
· Access to specialist nurses following referral
· Access to school nurse
· Care plan
· Medical room
· Secure storage for medication
· Health Care Plans / Identified by Health Services.
Frequently asked questions
What is the role of the SENCo at Bournes Green Junior School? / Overseeing day to day operation of the school’s SEN Policy.
Co-ordinating provision for the children with Special Needs.
Liaising with and advising fellow teachers.
Managing learning support assistants administering interventions.
Overseeing the records of children with Special Educational Needs.
Overseeing and maintaining the resources for Special Educational Needs.
Liaising with the parents of children with Special Educational Needs.
Contributing to the in-service training of staff.
How will I know how my child is doing? / In addition to the normal school reporting process the class teacher and SENCo will meet with you and explain school’s concerns about your child’s attainment and /or progress in the relevant area of concern, (academic or social, behavioural and emotional) At this meeting you will hear about your child’s progress and attainment.
How does the school know how well my child is doing? / We assess the children every term in the core academic subjects of reading, writing and Maths. An individual teacher’s assessments are then moderated by other staff, including Senior Management Team.
The Local Authority also moderates our assessments in Year 6.
In addition all of our members of staff are constantly assessing our children’s needs in non-academic areas, such as friendships and emotional well-being. We discuss children’s needs in these areas and set up support for individuals / groups as needed.
How will I know what progress my child should be making? / All members of teaching staff are aware of expected levels of attainment and progress in the core subjects of Reading, Writing and Maths. Children are assessed against these bench-marks. We are also aware of a range of assessment tools that allow us to assess children’s social and emotional levels against those that are age-appropriate.
How will the curriculum be matched to my child’s needs? / All lessons are differentiated. This means that the focus of the learning can be adapted so that more able children can be extended in their learning and less able children can be supported to make progress from their starting point.
Adult support can also help to ensure that children can access the learning.
If children require additional support in a subject to secure the basic skills then additional lessons and /or interventions can be set up.
We aim to provide many of our interventions at times outside the main lessons so that children are not excluded from the curriculum.
In addition we only run interventions that have a proven history of success and a positive impact on children’s learning.
What are the school’s approaches to differentiation? / Differentiation in learning is achieved through a range of methods including:
· Extension / challenge work for more able children
· Simplified work for children with a lower level of understanding / skills
· Additional support including scaffolding for tasks, adult support, word-banks, writing frames, number squares, maths apparatus, visual aids
· Work is differentiated to cater for different learning styles
Our aim is to ensure that every child makes progress with their learning in every lesson
The quality of all our teaching, together with the attainment and progress of every child is regularly monitored and support given to teachers through training to improve their differentiation to ensure that every child has the best possible teaching experience.
How does the school monitor the impact of extra support? / The approach taken to designing and implementing provision is constantly reviewed and updated to ensure it is effective in supporting the pupils’ with their learning and development.
The progress of each child is also regularly tracked.
Based on this information, interventions and other forms of support are adapted where necessary.
What support is there for children with social and emotional difficulties? / Behavioural support includes a wide range of approaches and methods including:
· Visual reminders
· Social stories
· Small group interventions in Social Skills Clubs
· Mentoring (from a trained learning mentor)
· Counselling (from an outside agency)
· Individual behaviour plans (designed in liaison with the child, parents and class teacher) with associated short-term rewards
· Adapted timetable to support the child to succeed in school
How will my child/young person contribute his/her views and how will the school support my child/young person to achieve this? / Children with an Individual Support Plan or EHCP are involved in the creation and review of their plan on a termly basis. There is a section for them to contribute their views on school and their contribution to their own target-setting is encouraged.
What training are the staff supporting pupils with SEND had or having? / All teaching staff will have received training on the new SEN Code of Practice.
Staff with children in their class with specific needs / conditions will receive additional training as required.
How will I be involved in discussions about planning for my child’s special educational needs? / Parents / carers are invited to meet their child’s teacher termly to discuss their child’s progress / attainment.
In addition parents of pupils on the SEN register will be invited to a termly ISP conversation where parents, SENCO and teacher can jointly discuss the child’s strengths and needs and plan targets and a support package for the child.
How will my child be included in activities outside the classroom including school trips? / We make every effort to include all our pupils in all aspects of school life.
As a school where we strongly believe in the value of learning outside the classroom, we organise many trips to enhance our pupils’ learning. In addition we offer a range of extra-curricular activities run by our own staff and outside providers
In order to include all our pupils in these experiences we can provide:
· Additional member of staff to support the child to access the activity
· Social story to prepare child for different circumstances
· Adapted activities (e.g. in sport)
· Invitation to parents to accompany their child
How accessible is the school environment? / We are a single story building with no steps at the entrance.
Our classrooms are able to accommodate wheel-chairs and we have a disabled toilet facility.
We can arrange for additional equipment to be available as and when needed to support physical impairments and learning needs.
How will the school prepare and support my child to join the school, transfer to college or the next stage of education and life? / We support all children joining our school in Year 3 with an extended induction programme that both those pupils transferring from the infants AND those joining us from other schools are able to access.
Children requiring additional visits / induction programmes can have specific tailor-made programmes (e.g. photo book to look at over the holidays)
We support Year 6 pupils in their transition to secondary school by providing opportunities for them to develop independence and responsibility over the course of their last year with us.
Again children requiring additional transition packages can have these, which will be planned in consultation with parents / carers and the receiving school.
When transitioning between year groups, children are supported by our ‘settling in’ sessions which happen at the end of the summer term. Children may be identified requiring additional support and so will be provided with a bespoke package to meet their individual needs. All information regarding pupils with SEND is passed on to child’s new teacher.
How are school resources allocated and matched to pupils special educational needs? / We regularly review children’s attainment and progress data, identify any pupils who are making inadequate progress and / or not meeting age-expectations and plan support accordingly. In addition pupils with SEN will have support packages agreed by parents and school at termly ISP conversations and the impact of the support can be regularly reviewed and adapted as needed.
How is the decision made about how much support my child will receive? / This decision will be made in the context of an ISP conversation. It will be a joint decision, involving parents / carers, school, and, where appropriate the child. In general children will only receive 1 intervention per term outside of the classroom. Interventions will be short-term (no more than 2 terms) and regularly reviewed for their impact.
How does the school communicate with parent/carers whose first language is not English? / We would use a range of resources for this, including translators for meetings and translated versions of any written information.
Who should be my first point of contact if I want to discuss concerns about my child’s progress? / Your first point of contact should always be your child’s CLASS TEACHER. They may decide to refer the matter to a Senior member of staff and / or the SENCo.
You can contact the school office on 01702 587913 to arrange an appointment or alternatively email .
What should I do if I wish to complain about the provision made for my child at school? / We aim to make the utmost effort to work with parents / carers to jointly plan support packages for pupils with SEN. If you are not happy at any time with the provision your child is receiving you should first speak to your child’s class teacher. It is likely that the teacher will consult with our SENCo who will contact you to arrange a meeting to resolve the issue. If you are still unsatisfied, please refer to our Complaints Procedure, which is on our website and write a letter to our Headteacher, Mr Lupton, who will then follow the protocols outlined in our policy.
Is there any support from external services to help me ensure that the school (and / or other services) are providing the best possible support for my child’s needs? / ISS (Independent Support Services) can offer support over the phone and in person. They are an impartial advisory service, not linked to the school or the Local Authority. Contact details can be found on the Southend Childrens and Families Information Point website:
www.southendinfopoint.org
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