SEN Support
SENCO and SEN Staff
Our SENCO is Mrs Alison Hague. She can be contacted on 0191 3847331 or by emailing stmargarets@durhamlearning.net
It is the SENCO’s job to:
- Oversee the day-to-day operation of the school’s SEN policy
- Advise other teachers on using a graduated approach to ensure the right support is put in place for each child
- Liaise with the relevant Designated Teacher where a looked after pupil has SEND
- Advise on the deployment of the school’s delegated budget and other resources to meet the pupil’s needs effectively
- Liaise with parents/carers of pupils with SEN
- Liaise with and be a key point of contact for external agencies
- Arrange training for staff so they understand your child’s needs
Learning support assistants deliver support and interventions to meet individual’s needs. These staff are partly funded from our additional needs budget. The budget is allocated on a needs basis and the children who have the most complex needs are given targeted support. All children, regardless of need receive daily Quality First Teaching. We aim to keep children with SEN within the class as much as possible. Support may be given in the form of a classroom assistant working within the class to support children. Interventions are carried out throughout the day. If a child has complex special educational needs, we can also apply for additional funding from the Local Authority to meet the agreed outcomes.
Members of staff have First Aid and Safeguarding training. In addition, our SEND support staff have a wide breath of expertise and training has included Speech and Language, developing visual perception skills, ASD, fine motor programmes, emotional well-being to name but a few.
More details of the SENCO’s role can be found in the SEN Policy which you can find in the School Policies section of our website.
External Specialists and Other Bodies
The school enjoys good working relationships with a wide range of people who provide services to children with SEND and their families.
The external specialists may:
- Act in an advisory capacity
- Extend expertise of school staff
- Provide additional assessment
- Support a child directly
- Suggest statutory assessment is advisable
- Consult with all parties involved with the child
These include:
How do we secure specialist expertise?
Our Additional Needs Budget is used to support children and young people with SEN. In 2021/2022 this amount is £121,982 for the academic year. Schools receive funding based on a formula and this ‘notational budget’ is used to help provide appropriate support for children. Schools are expected to show a commitment of £6000 per child before additional funding may be sought. This spend is detailed on costed provision maps.
Our Additional Needs Budget is used to support children and young people with SEN. This is used to support children and young people with SEND by:
- Training staff
- Supporting children directly in school
- Sourcing external specialists
- Specific SEN resources
If a child has complex special educational needs, we may also receive additional funding from the Local Authority to meet the agreed outcomes.
The school makes an audit of training needs for all staff, taking into account school priorities as well as personal professional development. Special Needs is included within all school training. In addition, staff attend training organised by the LA and other agencies. We currently have staff in school who have attended training on:
- Speech and Language Development;
- Autistic Spectrum Disorder;
- Movement Difficulties;
- Specific Learning Difficulties, including dyslexia
Support for Emotional & Social Development
At St Margaret’s CE Primary School, we are an inclusive school and our staff is committed to supporting and promoting the emotional wellbeing of all children. Mrs C Black is our designated Emotional/ Well-being lead.
Each class teacher is responsible for the pastoral and social care of every child in their class, therefore should further advice or support be required, they would be parents’ first point of contact. Our designated lead then liaises with parents and staff and consults with a wide range of agencies and partnerships to ensure that the support for any Emotional and Social Development needs of children are met.
We take the time and opportunity to listen to children and parents about any concerns and possible additional support that they may need. When it is felt that additional support or intervention is necessary to support a child’s social or emotional development then we can offer:
- A school with caring and dedicated staff.
- A school ethos inspired by Christian values, which has children’s social and emotional well-being at the heart of it.
- A designated member of staff to liaise with the family to provide the support available to help to meet the child’s needs or signpost them to somebody who may be able to help.
- A member of staff trained in ‘Drawing and Talking Therapy’ and timetabled sessions for support.
- Getting Along/ Friendship Interventions
- Access to a counselling service for high levels of need.
- Close liaison with external services where referrals for specialist advice can be made.
- Assembly themes that focus on social and emotional well-being of all, including visiting speakers and production companies to cover themes such as Anti-bullying.
- Participating in National Events such as Anti – bullying week and follow up activities to ensure that we have an anti-bullying culture in school.
- A behaviour system that employs a restorative approach and a reward system (using both class dojos and a stamps towards school ‘Values Card’) that encourages children to embody our school values to be kind, caring and considerate towards others.
Support for Looked after Children with SEN
We have a Designated Lead for Looked after Children, Mrs Helen Tait. She works closely with the SENCO to ensure all teachers in school understand the implications for those children who are looked after and have SEN.
Looked After Children with SEND are supported in the same way as all children in school with SEND through the Graduated Response, the Assess, Plan, Do, Review cycle. The process will start with a Short Note and following the identification of need an SEN Support Plan or EHCP to meet the requirements of the pupil and the addition of a PEP (Personal Education Plan).
When a child becomes looked after his/her social worker must ensure that the child’s needs and the services to meet these are documented in the Care Plan. The Care Plan – of which the PEP is an integral part – is made before the child becomes looked after or in the case of an emergency placement within 10 working days. The PEP is a record of what needs to happen for looked after children to enable them to fulfil their potential and reflects any existing education plans, such as an EHCP, SEN Support Plan or Provision Mapping. The PEP should reflect the importance of a personalised approach to learning which secures good basic skills, stretches aspirations and builds life chances. The PEP is the joint responsibility of the local authority and the school.
Our Designated Lead for Looked After Children is Mrs Helen Tait.