Lovers Lane Primary and Nursery School

At Lovers’ Lane Primary School, we make provision for a variety of needs. These can include children with: Dyslexia, ADHD, ADD, autism, learning difficulties, speech and language delay, physical disabilities and other emotional and behaviour difficulties.  All children in school have support within lessons through differentiation and quality first teaching strategies. This means that activities are planned according to the level the child or young person is working at. This can include a variety of adaptions including changes to the physical environment, changes to teaching styles as well as levels of adult support.

On entry and each half term throughout the year, we assess all the children in reading, writing and maths. This supports us to identify those children who are working behind academically. If your child is identified as not making the expected progress, the school will set up a meeting to discuss this with you in more detail and to listen to any concerns you may have.

We will plan any additional support your child may need and discuss with you any referrals to outside professionals to support your child.

If you are concerned about your child or know that your child has any additional needs, including special educational needs, speak to the class teacher or Mrs Graham, the school SENCO.

Your child’s progress will be continually monitored by his/her class teacher. Their progress will be reviewed formally with the teacher and Senior Leadership Team every half term in reading, writing and numeracy.

Where it is determined that a pupil does have SEN, parents will be formally advised of this. The aim of formally identifying a pupil with SEN is to help school ensure that effective provision is put in place and so remove barriers to learning. The support provided consists of a four – part process:

Assess

Plan

Do

Review

This is an ongoing cycle to enable the provision to be matched to the needs of the pupil. This cycle enables the identification of those interventions which are the most effective in supporting the pupil to achieve good progress and outcomes

Each half term the children are assessed in reading, writing and maths using a variety of assessment methods. This information is shared and discussed with the Senior Leadership Team (which also includes the SENCO). Interventions are monitored to check the effectiveness of supporting the child’s needs in order for progression to be made. Each term a Termly Learning Conference is set up with all parents/carers to discuss with the teacher the progress and needs of their child. Support with learning is also done frequently throughout the term where the teacher feels it is needed alongside parents/carers.

a) Class teacher input, via targeted classroom teaching (Quality First Teaching).

For your child this would mean

• That the teacher has the highest possible expectations for your child and all pupils in their class.
• That all teaching is built on what your child already knows, can do and can understand.
• That different ways of teaching are in place, so that your child is fully involved in learning in class. This may involve things like using more practical learning.
• That specific strategies are in place to support your child to learn.
• Your child’s teacher will have carefully checked on your child’s progress and will have decided that your child has a gap or gaps in their understanding/learning and needs some extra support to help them make the best possible progress. This is done through regular assessment and target setting.

Specific group work

Intervention which may be

• Run in the classroom or a group room.
• Run by a teaching assistant (TA).

b) Specialist groups run by outside agencies, e.g. Speech and Language therapy

This means a pupil has been identified by the SENCO/class teacher as needing some extra specialist support in school from a professional outside the school. This may be from:

• Local Authority central services, such as the ASD Outreach Team, Behaviour Support Team or Sensory Service (for students with a hearing or visual need).
• Outside agencies such as the Education Psychology Service (EPS).

What could happen:

• You may be asked to give your permission for the school to refer your child to a specialist professional, e.g. a Speech and Language Therapist or Educational Psychologist. This will help the school and you to understand your child’s particular needs better and be able to support them more effectively in school.
• The specialist professional will work with your child to understand their needs and make recommendations as to the ways your child is given support.

c) Specified Individual support

This type of support is available for children whose learning needs are severe, complex and lifelong.

This is usually provided via an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP). This means your child will have been identified by professionals as needing a particularly high level of individual or small-group teaching.

This type of support is available for children with specific barriers to learning that cannot be overcome through Quality First Teaching and intervention groups.

Your child will also need specialist support in school from a professional outside the school. This may be from

• Local Authority central services such as the ASD Outreach Team, Behaviour Support or Sensory Service (for students with a hearing or visual need).
• Outside agencies such as the Speech and Language Therapy (SALT) Service.

For your child this would mean

• The school (or you) can request that Local Authority Services carry out a statutory assessment of your child’s needs. This is a legal process which sets out the amount of support that will be provided for your child.
• After the request has been made to the ‘Panel of Professionals’ (with a lot of information about your child, including some from you), they will decide whether they think your child’s needs (as described in the paperwork provided), seem complex enough to need a statutory assessment. If this is the case, they will ask you and all professionals involved with your child to write a report outlining your child’s needs. If they do not think your child needs this, they will ask the school to continue with the current support.
• After the reports have all been sent in, the Panel of Professionals will decide if your child’s needs are severe, complex and lifelong. If this is the case, they will write a Statement of Special Educational Needs or an Education Health Care Plan (EHCP). If this is not the case, they will ask the school to continue with the current level of support and also set up a meeting in school to ensure a plan is in place to ensure your child makes as much progress as possible.
• The EHC Plan will outline the number of hours of individual/small group support your child will receive from the LA and how the support should be used, and what strategies must be put in place. It will also have long- and short-term goals for your child.
• The additional adult may be used to support your child with whole class learning, run individual programmes or run small groups including your child.

All lessons are tailored to the children’s needs and work is planned and matched to the children’s different abilities by teachers to ensure that your child’s needs are met. This is through:

• Support staff, under the direction of the class teacher, can adapt planning to support the needs of your child where necessary.
• Specific resources and strategies will be used to support your child individually and in groups.
• Planning and teaching will be adapted, on a regular basis if needed, to meet your child’s learning needs.

• The school budget, received from Nottinghamshire County Council, includes money for supporting children with SEN.
• The Head Teacher decides on the deployment of resources for Special Educational Needs and Disabilities, in consultation with the school governors on the basis of needs in the school.
• The Head Teacher and the SENCO discuss all the information they have about SEND in the school, including:

-the children getting extra support already,

-the children needing extra support,

-the children who have been identified as not making as much progress as would be expected.

From this information, they decide what resources/training and support is needed in the most effective way. This could be through interventions, outside support from professionals, 1:1 adult support etc.

Appropriate provision is provided to enable all children to access activities and trips outside of the classroom. Risk assessments are carried out prior to visits outside of school to ensure that all children are safe. We regularly provide enrichment days to develop learning beyond the classroom as well as have visitors to provide a variety of opportunities.

At Lovers’ Lane Primary, staff strive to ensure that the children have positive relationships with all of the adults they work with. Therefore they feel they can talk to their teacher or other adults supporting in the classroom. We also have Think Children play therapy which we offer to children who we feel might need some extra emotional support.

School Council also promotes dialogue of needs amongst pupils to ensure that they are happy and supported at school.

The SENCO at Lovers’ Lane Primary School is Mrs A Graham.
Contact details are: office@loverslane.notts.sch.uk
01636 683352

The school provides training and support to enable all staff to improve the teaching and learning of children, including those with SEN. This includes whole school training on SEN issues, such as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).

Individual teachers and support staff attend training courses run by outside agencies that are relevant to the needs of specific children in their class.

The SENCO is currently taking part in the National Award for SEN C0-ordination at Nottingham Trent University.

School provision

• Teachers responsible for teaching SEN groups/individuals.
• Teaching Assistants working with either individual children or small groups.
• ICT support in the form of writing and maths programmes.

Teaching Assistants offering support for children with emotional and social development.

Local Authority Provision delivered in school

• Education Support Services
• Educational Psychology Service
• School Behaviour and Attendance provision
• SALT (Speech and Language Therapy)

Health Provision delivered in school

• Additional Speech and Language Therapy input to provide a higher level of service to the school.
• School Nurse

There are four disabled toilets, shower areas and changing facilities.

We ensure where ever possible that equipment used is accessible to all children regardless of their needs.

After-school provision is accessible to all children, including those with SEN.

Extra-curricular activities are accessible for children with SEN.

We have an open door policy where the class teacher is available to discuss your child’s progress or any concerns you may have and to share information about what is working well at home and school, so that similar strategies can be used.

The SENCO is available to meet with you to discuss your child’s progress or any concerns/worries you may have.

All information from outside professionals will be discussed with you, with the person involved directly, or where this is not possible, in a report.

Personal progress targets will be reviewed with your involvement through Termly Learning Conferences.

Our home learning menu allows homework to be adjusted as needed to your child’s individual requirements.

A home-school contact book may be used to support communication with you when this has been agreed to be useful for you and your child.

We value and celebrate each child being able to express their views on all aspects of school life. This is usually carried out through the School Council which has an open forum for any issues or viewpoints to be raised. All children have a Termly Learning Conference with their teacher and parents to allow time to share, show and discuss work or concerns with learning. This is also used to set targets.

If you have a concern or complaint, please contact the Head Teacher or SENCO and we will do everything to fix the issue. Our school and governing body take complaints seriously and will act upon these on an individual basis. Please look at the school complaints procedure.

The SENCO provides reports to governors and liaises regularly with the governor who oversees Special Educational Needs. This enables the governors to see the progress data of children with additional needs and ask questions to ensure that all children’s needs are being met.

The school SENCO can signpost parents to a wide range of support organisations such as Family Support, local Support groups. The SENCO will also refer a child to obtain other professional support if she feels that staff in school needs some advice or training in relation to a specific need of a child.

We recognise that transitions can be difficult for a child with SEN, and we take steps to ensure that any transition is a smooth as possible.

If your child is joining us from another school:

• The Foundation team will visit pre-schools when appropriate.
• If your child would be helped by a book/passport to support them in their understanding of transition, then one will be made for them.
• Your child will be able to visit our school and stay for a taster session, if this is appropriate.

If your child is moving to another school:

We will contact the school SENCO and ensure he/she knows about any special arrangements or support that need to be made for your child. Where possible, a planning meeting will take place with the SENCO from the new school.

We will make sure that all records about your child are passed on as soon as possible.

When moving classes in school:

Information will be passed on to the new class teacher in advance and in most cases a planning meeting will take place with the new teacher. Pupil Passports will be shared with the new teacher. Transition sessions for whole class also take part before the start of a new academic year.

In Year 6:

The SENCO and year 6 teacher will discuss the specific needs of your child with the SENCO of the child’s secondary school. In most cases, a transition review meeting to which you will be invited will take place with the SENCO from the new school.

Your child will participate in focused learning relating to aspects of transition, to support their understanding of the changes ahead.

Where possible, your child will visit their new school on several occasions, and in some cases staff from the new school will visit your child in this school.

Further information is available on the school website, the Special Needs and Disabilities Policy on the school website, the school newsletters, on displays around school and in the office.