Special Educational Needs

Welcome to our SEN information report which is part of the Norfolk County Council Local Offer.  It provides details about how we support children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) in our school.

We have a legal duty to publish information on our website about the implementation of our policy for pupils with SEND.  The information is set out in the 2015 Code of Practice which can be accessed here.

The SEN information report should be updated annually with any additional changes occurring during the year updated as soon as possible. This report was updated in September 2023.

At Bunwell we aim to work closely with all members of our school community and value the views of parents, carers, families and the children to ensure that this offer reflects their needs.  This information report is a working document and we would welcome your feedback and future involvement in the review of our offer.  The best people to contact are:

Head teacher – Miss Emily Husbands

SENDCO– Mrs Kathryn Brookes

SEND Governor – Mrs Hannah Grainger

All of the above can be contacted by email at the office on:

office@bunwell.cee.coop

or by phone on

01953 789318

Our aim

At Bunwell Primary School we are committed to provide all children, including those with special educational needs and disabilities with a broad and balanced academic and social curriculum which is accessible and ensures they are fully included in all aspects of school life and feel equally valued and fully part of the school community.

To achieve this aim:

• We strive to establish a fully inclusive school, eliminate prejudice and discrimination and create an environment where all children can be happy feel safe and flourish.
• We respond to the children in ways which take account of their varied needs and life experiences.
• We are committed to identifying children’s special educational need/s at the earliest point and then making effective provision to ensure improvement in long term outcomes.
• We aim to work in close partnership with parents and carers to achieve these aims. This includes ensuring parents/carers are able to participate fully in decisions and are provided with information and the support necessary to enable this.
• We support children to participate in discussions and express their views and be fully involved in decisions which affect them.
• We work in close partnership with a range of specialist agencies to enable us to provide effective targeted support.
• We provide support, advice and training for all staff working with children with SEND to enable them to be increasingly able to adapt teaching and resources to respond to the strengths and needs of all children.
• We employ a qualified Special Needs Coordinator who will have responsibility for the day to day operation of the SEN policy and coordination of specific provision made to support individual pupils with SEND, including those who have EHC plans.

At different times in their school life, a child or young person may have special educational needs.  The 2015 SEN Code of Practice states that:

‘A child or young person has SEN if he or she has a learning difficulty or disability which calls for special educational provision to be made for them.  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 that the majority of others of the same age.

Or

• Has a disability which prevents or hinders them from making use of educational facilities of a kind generally provided for others of the same age in mainstream school and mainstream post-16 institutions.’

Many children and young people who have SEN may also have a disability under the Equality Act 2010 – that is ‘…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’.

According to the SEN Code of Practice 2015, this definition provides a relatively low threshold and includes more children than many realise: ‘long-term’ is defined as ‘a year or more’ and ‘substantial’ is defined as ‘more than minor or trivial’. This definition includes sensory impairments such as those affecting sight or hearing, and long-term health conditions such as asthma, diabetes, epilepsy, and cancer.

Children and young people with such conditions do not necessarily have SEN, but there is a significant overlap between disabled children and young people and those with SEN. Where a child with a disability or young person requires special educational provision they will also be covered by the SEN definition.”

High quality teaching, differentiated for individual pupils is the first step in supporting children who have, or may have, SEN. For some pupils, additional and/or different provision may be required to meet a range of needs.  The purpose of identification is to work out what action the school needs to take, rather than to fit a child into a category.  It is often found that children’s needs do not fit neatly into one category or area and their needs can overlap significantly into several areas.  These needs can also change over time.

The areas of difficulties are identified by the SEN Code of Practice 2015 as:

• Communication and Interaction (C&I)
• Cognition and Learning (C&L)
• Social, Mental and Emotional Health(SEMH)
• Physical and/or Sensory (PS)

We will also take into account other factors that may impact on progress and attainment that are not considered SEN:

• Disability
• Attendance and punctuality
• Health and welfare e.g. bereavement, separation, illness.
• English as an additional language (EAL)
• Being in receipt of Pupil Premium funding (PP)
• Being a child who is looked after (LAC)
• Being a child of a parent in service.

Currently at Bunwell Primary School or SEND profile is as followed:

We are committed to ensuring that all children have access to learning opportunities and for those who are at risk of not making progress, we will intervene.  Only the children who need provision that is additional to and/or different from that which is offered in class, in order to overcome the barrier to the learning will be identified as having SEN.

In order to identify the children who have SEN we follow a range of procedures, which include:

• Discussions with parents/carers
• Discussion with other settings, such as nurseries, childminders or playgroups
• Classroom observations
• Targeted programmes set by the teacher to address the areas posing difficulty
• Monitoring work and progress over time through pupil progress meetings
• Assessment data tracking system (Pupil Asset)
• Evaluating the impact of any adjustments that have been made for the child
• Working with the child and parents/carers to identify strengths and barriers to learning to consider the best way to build on these strengths and overcome barriers to learning.
• The use of a range of assessment materials that have been purchased by the school that can be used to identify strengths and areas of difficulties

For some learners we may seek advice from specialist support.  This may include:

• Speech and Language – An NHS service, run by East Coast Community Health Care, working with individual children and providing feedback to parents and school.
• Educational Psychology (EP) – Educational Psychologists work with individual children, understanding assessments and then giving advice and support to parents and the school. They also provide training and advice for school staff.  School commission the services of Willow Tree Learning.
• Access Through Technology (ATT) – A service commissioned by the local authority providing equipment such as laptops and iPads to support children with severe and complex communication difficulties who are currently involved with at least one health professional.
• Specialist Resource Base outreach and/or placement (SRB) – a service for learners with a high level of SEN who are educated in mainstream schools.
• Supporting Smiles – Mental health support
• Time for You – A counselling service commissioned by the school. A therapeutic play worker works with individual children and is also available to offer advice and support for parents/carers.
• Providing reports for GPs to refer to the Neuro Developmental Pathway/ Paediatricians/ OT/ physiotherapist/ CAMHS

If you have any concerns about your child’s progress or learning, please contact your child’s class teacher and we will arrange a time to discuss your concerns.

Each child on our SEN record has their own Individual Learning Portfolio which is created with the child, parent and teacher considering the child’s strengths and barriers to learning and is reviewed termly.

Where a child is identified as having a special educational need we follow the graduated approach which takes the form of cycles of ‘Assess, Plan, Do, Review’.

Assess

We ensure that assessment of educational needs involves the children, their parents/carers and the class teacher.  The SENDCO is also available to provide support in identifying barriers a child’s learning.  We have a range of assessment tools that we use within school, however, for some learners we may also want to seek advice from specialist teams (For more information see the section-  How do we identify children and young people with SEN and assess their needs?)

Plan and Do

Every teacher is required to adapt the curriculum to ensure access to learning for all the children in their class.  Teachers at Bunwell will use a variety of strategies and resources to adapt access to the curriculum in order to meet the needs of the children:

• Differentiated teaching and small group work
• Use of computers, tablets and other electronic devices
• Provision to support learning (e.g. sound charts, colour overlays, visual prompts)
• Social stories
• Visual timetables

The type of support is dependent on the individual learning needs and is intended to enable access to learning and to overcome the barrier to learning that has been identified.

Additional support and interventions could include:

• Time for You – Benjamin Foundation
• Anxiety Gremlin
• Talk Boost
• Personalised learning programmes
• Small group and individual support for maths, phonics and English
• Nessy spelling programme
• Individual behaviour plans
• Working memory support
• Sensory circuits
• Fine and gross motor interventions

Review

The SENCO works with the staff to evaluate the impact of the interventions, to ensure that we only use interventions that work.  Meetings are held every term between the SENCO and individual class teachers to review any Individual Learning Portfolios and to set new targets.  These meetings are then followed up by a pupil progress meeting with the Head teacher.  Children, parents/carers and school staff are involved in the reviewing progress.  If a child has an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP), then a formal review of the plan will take place annually.  We encourage all parents/carers to maintain regular contact with their child’s class teacher.

At Bunwell Primary School we have processes that we use in order to assess, monitor and review the support that is given to children who have been identified as having SEN and/or a disability.

• Record of Need – These identify children’s barriers to learning and the adjustments, support and interventions (if required) to overcome these barriers.
• SEN Record – Children who have been identified as having SEN and/or a disability are, with the agreement of the child’s parents/carers, recorded on the school’s SEND record. The record includes the child’s name, date of birth, barriers to learning and the agencies that are involved in their support.  This record is kept to ensure that we can monitor the children’s progress effectively.  We monitor and review the children’s needs regularly and as the child’s needs change it may mean that they no longer need to be on the record.  If this is the case, then we speak to the child’s parents/carers about this.
• 7 C’s Individual Learning Portfolios – An Individual Learning Portfolios is written and reviewed termly for children who have been identified as having SEN and/or a disability. Individual Learning Portfolios are created with the child, parent and teacher considering the child’s strengths and barriers to learning. Targets are agreed for term ahead, including interventions required.
• EHCP outcomes termly focus – for children with an EHCP, specific outcomes from their EHCP will be identified as the focus for each term.
• Provision Map – This identified the provision offered to children who have been identified as having SEN and/or a disability. It is reviewed and updated termly.
• INDES (Individual Needs Descriptors) – All children identified on the SEND record will be recorded on the Local Authority INDES system
• Intervention monitoring sheet – Some children who have been identified as having SEN and/or a disability will take part in small group and/or individual interventions. The progress the children make is monitored and the impact of the intervention is assessed.

The majority of children and young people who have SEN or disabilities will have their needs met within the school.  A small percentage of children and young people with significant and/or complex needs may require an Education, Health and Care needs assessment in order for the local authority to decide whether it is necessary for it to make provision in accordance with an EHC plan (EHCP).  As identified in the SEN Code of Practice 2015, 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 outcome for them across education. It is a legal document that describes a child or a young person’s educational, health and social care needs.

For further information about Education, Health and Care Plans see Local Offer.

For the year 2022/23

Effective teaching for children with SEN starts with effective teaching for all children; every teacher is required to ensure access to learning for all children in their class.  This is quality first teaching and is where the work is differentiated and suits the needs of all the children, it comes in the form of a lesson rather than an intervention programme.

Alongside the quality first teaching that your child will receive in lessons, there may also be a Teaching Assistant (TA) working with your child, whether individually or as part of a group, if this is seen as necessary by the class teacher.

As well as quality first teaching, our staff will also use a variety of adjustments, support and interventions in order to adapt access to the curriculum and meet the additional needs of the children in their class; these strategies might include:

• Visual timetables
• Practical resources to support learning and emotional development
• Social stories to support social, emotional and mental health issues
• Writing frames
• Use of ICT
• Positive behaviour reward system
• Teaching interventions led by Teaching Assistants (e.g. sound discovery, Toe-by-Toe, Talk Boost)
• Interventions for Social, Emotional and Mental Health Needs (e.g. Anxiety Gremlin, Lego Therapy, Creative club)
• Additional pre-teaching sessions to introduce less confident learners to new topics.
• Lunchtime support.
• Time for You (1:1 Social and Emotional support provided by The Benjamin Foundation)
• External support, such as Speech and Language, Access Through Technology and EP visits.

Each child identified as having SEND is entitled to support that is ‘additional to or different from’ a normal differentiated curriculum.  The type of support is dependent on individual needs and is intended to enable access to learning and overcome the identified barriers to learning.

• All children with SEND are able to access all of the school’s activities including, activities, clubs and residential/day visits.
• The school works in advance to plan access or adaptation where necessary.
• Advance visits are made by staff to the site to ensure access arrangements are made.
• Sports Day is adapted with alternative resources as needed.
• Parents/carers of children with SEND are invited to discuss and have an input on the planning of day or residential visits as needed.
• Specific risk assessments are done to ensure all children can participate.

The classrooms in the main school are on a single level and are accessible to students with physical disabilities.  The Ladybird’s input room can only be accessed down a flight of stairs from the main classroom, but can be accessed through the school library without using the stairs.  The classrooms in the mobile can be accessed by a ramp.

There is one accessible toilet in the main school building.

We monitor school and site development to ensure that, within the resources available to use, all new equipment or building are accessible to all pupils, regardless of their needs.

At Bunwell Primary School we are pride ourselves in being a happy and safe school and on the relationships we have with the children.  All staff appreciate the importance of children having self-esteem and positive emotional wellbeing.  Children are given high levels of pastoral and social support in a variety of ways:

• Staff in school can be identified as mentors.
• As a school we follow the Jigsaw scheme for PSHE which supports children’s emotional and social development.
• Resources, such as emotion fans and emotion charts are given to children as needed.
• The school takes very seriously the rare incidents of bullying and work with children and families to resolve issues.
• External referrals can be made for an assessment for those children who might benefit from specific counselling support.
• School pays for 1:1 social and emotional support through the Benjamin Foundation for children who might benefit from working with a therapeutic support worker.
• Interventions are carried out with children who might benefit from social and emotional support.

Personal Education Plans (PEPs) are completed termly with carers and social workers to ensure that the optimum support is put into place and funding is used to create maximum impact.  Where a Looked After Child is on the SEND record, their PEP targets incorporate targets from their Individual Learning Portfolios.  The Head Teacher is the school’s Designated Teacher for Looked After Children and attends all PEPs.

The school aims to work in close partnership with parents/carers to ensure that they are fully informed about all matters relating to their child’s SEND. We do so by:

• Giving parents and carers opportunities to play an active and valued role in their child’s education.
• Making parents and carers feel welcome.
• Encouraging parents and carers to inform school of any difficulties they perceive their child may be having or other needs the child may have which need addressing.
• Instilling confidence that the school will listen and act appropriately,
• Focusing on the child’s strengths as well as areas of additional need.
• Allowing parents and carers opportunities to discuss ways in which they and the school can help their child.
• Termly meetings to agree and review targets for their child’s Individual Learning Portfolios.
• Keeping parents and carers informed and giving support during assessment and any related decision-making process about SEND provision.
• Making parents and carers aware of the support available, such as Norfolk SEND Partnership.
• Providing advice on how to support learning at home.
• Parent/teacher consultations – formal in the autumn and spring term, informal at other times.

We recognise that all children have the right to be involved in making decisions and exercising choice.  Where appropriate all children are involved in deciding, monitoring and reviewing their progress and the support they receive:

• At the beginning of a new academic year the children work with their class teacher to decide on the support and adjustments that they would like in class to support their learning. This is reviewed termly.
• Children who take part in interventions are asked for feedback as part of the measure of the effectiveness of the intervention.
• Children are asked to review their progress against their targets on their Individual Learning Portfolios.
• An annual questionnaire is carried out to gather the children’s view of their school experience.
• Completing Wishes and Feelings where appropriate.
• Attending annual review for Education, Health and Care Plans.

We recognise that ‘moving on’ can be difficult for a child with SEND and take steps to ensure that any transition is as smooth as possible.

If your child is starting in Nursery or Reception, we will:

• Arrange a meeting with preschools, nurseries and/or childminders to make a transition plan.
• Arrange home visits for the Class Teacher and Teaching Assistant to visit the child in their home setting, where necessary.
• Arrange open mornings for Nursery and Reception intake.
• Provide photographs or a booklet about the school if appropriate.

If your child is moving to another school, we will:

• Contact the new school’s SENCO to pass on any special arrangements or support that need to be made for your child.
• Make sure that all records about your child are passed on as soon as possible.
• Arrange transition visits over an extended period of time as needed.

If your child is moving class, we will:

• Arrange a transition meeting between the current and new class teacher to discuss the adjustments and provision provided for your child in their current class.
• Hand over all information and relevant documents to the new class teacher.
• Provide photographs or a booklet about the school if appropriate.
• Give the children the opportunity to meet their new teacher and spend a morning with them in their new class in the summer term.

If your child is moving to high school, we will:

• Invite staff from the high schools into school to meet the children.
• Facilitate taster days at the local high schools, with additional transition days arranged for children with SEND if needed.
• Complete the transition paperwork identifying the children who will be attending the high school who have SEND.
• Contact the high school’s SENCO to pass on any special arrangements or support that need to be made for your child.

At Bunwell Primary School our staff have expertise and/or have received training in the following areas:

• The SENCO holds the National award for SEN Co-ordination. She attends network meetings termly to keep up to date with local and national issues in SEND.
• The SENCO is also an Alternate Designated Safeguarding Lead and receives annual training to keep up to date with this role.
• Norfolk Steps Training – Behaviour management techniques.
• Implementation of Literacy and Numeracy programmes.
• Working with children with Speech, Language and Communication needs, including Talk Boost training.
• Training from the Norfolk County Council SEND team on how to identify SEND need.
• A visit from the school EP to support staff on implementing adjustments and provisions to support children in class.

We are always seeking to improve on the quality of education we provide for children with SEND and are keen to hear from parents and carers about their child’s experience.

Compliments and feedback are always greatly received and can be passed on directly to the member of staff, sent via Class Dojo, formally recorded via our regular questionnaires to parents/carers, or in an email or letter to the Head Teacher.

Should you have any concerns or complaints about provision for your child, then you should first arrange to speak to the class teacher, this can be done in person, by phone, via Class Dojo or by email.  If you then feel that the matter has not been resolved, then please contact either Kathryn Brookes (SENCO) or Emily Husbands (Head teacher).  This can be done in person, by phone, via Class Dojo or by email.  If you feel that your concerns or complaint has not be resolved they should follow the school complaint procedure, available from the school office and website.

If you are a parent/carer of a child with disabilities, then you have the right to make disability discrimination claims to the first-tier SEND tribunal if you believe that our school has discriminated against your children. Claims about alleged discrimination regarding can include:

• Exclusions
• Provision of education and associated services
• Making reasonable adjustments, including the provision of auxiliary aids and services.

The Head teacher/SENCO regularly reviews how to use funds. The Head teacher informs the Governing Body of how the funding allocated to support special educational needs has been employed.

Funding comes from three sources:

• The school’s core budget – this is used to make general provision for all pupils in the school including pupils with SEN.
• The notional SEN budget – in addition to the school’s core budget, every school receives an additional amount of money to make special educational provision to meet the needs of pupils with SEN. The government has recommended that schools should use this notional SEN budget to pay for up to £6000 worth of special educational provision to meet the needs of a pupil with SEN.  Most pupils with SEN need provision that comes to less than £6000 worth of special educational provision.
• High need funding – if as pupil requires more than the £6000 worth of special educational provision, the school can ask the local authority to provide higher need funding. This is accessed via a banding system for children with an EHCP or application for those without.

SEN Budget 2022/23