Our Special Educational Needs (SEN) Co-ordinator (SENCo) is: Miss Emma Billingham

She can be contacted through the school office e-mail: office.3216@st-michaels-oxf.oxon.sch.uk

Our governor with responsibility for SEND is: George Southcombe

Our SEN and Equality Policies can be found under Policies on our website.

A child has a special educational need if they have a learning difficulty or disability which calls for special educational provision to be made for them. A child is considered to have a learning difficulty or disability if they:

  • ‘have a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others of the same age; or
  • have a disability which prevents or hinders them from making use of educational facilities of a kind generally provided for others of the same age’.

St Michael’s C of E Primary School provides for children with a wide range of special educational needs including those with:

  • Communication and interaction needs;

this includes children who have speech language and communication difficulties including autistic spectrum conditions.

  • Cognition and Learning needs;

this includes children who have learning difficulties and specific learning difficulties like dyslexia, dyspraxia (DCD) and dyscalculia.

  • Social, Emotional and Mental Health needs
  • Sensory and/or Physical needs;

this includes children who have visual or hearing needs, or a physical disability that affects their learning.

 

How do we identify and give extra help to children and young people with SEN?

Our school uses the County Council’s guidance on Special Educational Needs Support in Oxfordshire schools and settings:   Oxfordshire County Council’s Guidance for SEN Support.

The guidance helps us to identify a child’s special educational needs, what level of support we should provide, and how to arrange and monitor the support given.

How do we work with parents and children?

We will always contact parents if we have a concern that a child may have a special educational need and encourage parents to contact us if they have any concerns or questions about their children.

We work closely with children with SEN and their parents to agree outcomes, how we will all work towards these and review progress. We do this by meeting termly with parents; these meetings are separate from, and additional to, parent consultation meetings. St. Michael’s uses individual tracking to identify children’s strengths and needs and Pupil Profiles to specify the support that will be put in place. We ask children and parents to contribute to Pupil Profiles.

Adapting the Curriculum:

All children have, through high quality class teaching, access to a broad and balanced curriculum that is relevant and differentiated.  The way we adapt this for children with SEN and disabilities is set out in the school’s Accessibility Plan.

We have access to a range of specialist support services including:

  • SENSS, who support children with communication and language, sensory needs and physical needs
  • Educational Psychology
  • Speech and Language support from the OWL Centre
  • Behaviour Support through Point5 Ltd
  • Domino for emotional support
  • NHS Mental Health Support Team
  • Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS)
  • Oxfordshire School Inclusion Team
  • NHS Speech and Language and Occupational Health Therapists
  • Local Community Support Service

Information about some of these services and what they offer can be found on the Oxfordshire County Council SEN web pages.

We always discuss the involvement of specialist SEN services with parents before involving external agencies.

We also work with other services and organisations that are involved with a family, with the family’s permission.

How do we know if SEN provision is effective?

The progress of all children is tracked throughout the school year and teachers use a range of formative and summative assessments to inform next steps.

In addition for children with SEN we regularly review progress towards agreed outcomes; assessing whether the support that’s been in place has made a difference and what we need to do next. We evaluate this progress against age related expectations.

When we run special intervention programmes for groups of children we assess how successful they have been and use that information to decide on how best to run them in the future.

Information about how the governing body evaluate the success of the education that is provided for pupils with SEN is contained in the governors’ annual SEN report.

How are children and young people with SEN helped to access activities outside of the classroom?

All children are included in activities and trips following risk assessments, where needed, and in accordance with duties under the Equalities Act 2010. If a personal risk assessment is carried out then we talk to parents and children when planning trips so that everyone is clear about what will happen.

There is information about activities and events for disabled children and those with SEN in Oxfordshire in the Family Information Directory.

 What do we do to support the well-being of children with SEN?

All children have the opportunity to share their views through their class representatives and when pupil profiles are reviewed with teachers 1:1 termly.  Classroom staff prioritise SEN children, building strong relationships with them.

When necessary, specific strategies are put in place to enable children to have access to a chosen member of staff.

We teach our children to respect, appreciate and celebrate the many ways in which we can all be different and where appropriate we follow our anti-bullying policy.

Joining the school and moving on:

We encourage all new children to visit the school before starting. For children with SEN the necessary arrangements are made in the best interest of the child. This may include extra visit days, careful liaison with previous settings and parents.

We begin to prepare children for transition into the next stage of their education by working closely with all our transition schools. Liaison with these schools starts in the Spring Term. Additional visits during and out of school hours can be arranged. SEN, vulnerable or anxious children are encouraged to take part in additional visits.

At St. Michael’s we aim to work with all schools to ensure the successful transition of our children.

Who to contact:

If you are concerned about your child please contact the class teacher initially. The SENCo will be aware of this meeting and may be able to attend if it is appropriate.

If you’d like to feedback, including compliments and complaints about SEN provision please contact the class teacher/ SENCo/ Head Teacher. We aim to respond to any feedback as quickly as possible and wish to work together to resolve any issues or concerns.

SENDIASS (Special Educational Needs and Disability Information Advice and Support Service) offers impartial advice and support for parents

If you’d like to know more about opportunities for children and young people with SEN and their families, support groups or information about SEN these are listed in the Family Information Directory. 

Oxfordshire’s SEND Local Offer contains lots of information for parents.