Hillside Primary and Nursery School

Hillside Primary & Nursery is a mainstream setting.  We aim to provide every child with access to a broad and balanced education. This includes the National Curriculum in line with the Special Educational Needs Code of Practice.

At Hillside, children are identified as having SEND through a variety of ways, which may include some of the following:

• Liaison with previous school or any pre-school setting
• A pupil is performing below ‘age expected’ levels or failing to make progress
• Concerns raised by a parent
• Concerns raised by a teacher: for example, if behaviour or self esteem is affecting performance
• Liaison with external agencies e.g. a physical/ sensory issue
• Use of standardised assessment tools to assess need

What should I do if I think my child has SEND?

Talk to us – discuss with your child’s class teacher about your concerns initially. If you feel that you would like to speak to a senior member of staff, ask to arrange an appointment with the SENCo.

• As a school we track and analyse the children’s’ progress in learning against national expectations and age related expectations on a termly basis.
• The class teacher continually assesses each child and notes areas where they are improving and where further support is needed. As a school, we track children’s’ progress from entry at Early Years Foundation Stage through to Year 6, using a variety of different methods. Please ask the school if you require any further details
• Cohort Meetings are held each half term between each class teacher, the Head teacher and the SENDCo. In these meetings, a discussion takes place concerning children who are not making expected progress and possible actions are discussed. Interventions are then put into place as appropriate.
• Where specific needs are apparent, the school has a range of assessments which can be used to explore a child’s strengths and difficulties in more depth.
• The Headteacher and SENDCo report regularly to the Governing Body. We have a governor who is responsible for SEN, who meets regularly with the SENCO. They also report back to the Governing Body

• We hold parents’ evenings twice a year where your child’s progress will discussed and there are regular meetings held for those pupils on the SEND register
• You are welcome to make an appointment to meet with either the class teacher or SENCO at any time throughout the year and discuss how your child is getting on. We can offer advice and practical ways that you can help to support your child at home
• Your child may have their own individual targets. These are discussed with you on at least a termly basis. The conversation will also provide suggestions as to how you can support your child’s learning at home.
• When the child’s targets are reviewed, comments are made against each target to show what progress the child has made
• If your child has complex SEND they may have an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP). In such instances a formal meeting will take place to discuss your child’s progress and a report will be written at least annually.

• All learning activities within class are planned at an appropriate level, so that all children are able to access learning according to their specific needs. Scaffolding is provided in order to allow all children to access the learning. This might be by providing additional equipment, adapted text, personal copies of information, writing frame or pre-teaching to name but a few.
• The class teacher, alongside the SENDCo will discuss a child’s needs and what support will be appropriate
• Additional interventions will be put in place to accelerate learning/emotional needs when required
• Children with SEND will have access to the appropriate resources needed in order to help them to make progress e.g. visual aids, coloured overlays etc
• The SENDCo reports to the Head teacher and Governors regularly to inform them about the progress of children with SEND and how resources are being used.
• The governor responsible for SEND also meets regularly with the SENDCo. They report on their visit to the governors to keep them all informed with school or LA information.
• Where additional support is required, the school (with the permission of the parents) will involve outside agencies to ask for support. 

Please see above

• This will vary, depending upon the needs of the child. Sometimes the class teacher will scaffold tasks within the classroom or additional interventions will be provided.
• At times the SENDCo and outside agencies may work together to plan additional support. As a parent your opinions and contributions towards those decisions are valued.

• All children are included in all parts of the school curriculum and we aim for all children to be included on school trips. We will provide the necessary support to ensure that this is successful and may discuss this in advance with parents. It might be appropriate for a parent/carer to accompany a child on a school trip, depending upon the child’s individual needs
• A risk assessment is carried out prior to any off site activity to ensure everyone’s health & safety will not be compromised. In the unlikely event that it is considered unsafe for a child to take part in an activity, then alternative activities that will cover the same curriculum areas will be provided within the school environment, wherever possible.
• A variety of school clubs are provided. We aim for these to be as inclusive as possible and may provide additional staff or sessions in order to achieve this. Some children find the lunchtime period challenging. Depending upon their needs, it might not be appropriate for them to eat in the dining hall with a large number of children or spend long periods of time outside.  Each child’s needs will be considered on an individual basis.

PASTORAL SUPPORT

• We are an inclusive school where a child’s emotional and spiritual development is a priority
• The class teacher has overall responsibility for the pastoral, medical and social care of every child in their class.
• The school currently has an emotional literacy support assistant (ELSA)
• We have additional staff trained in other social and emotional interventions which can be accessed as required

MEDICINES

• The school has a policy regarding the administration and managing of medicines, which is available on the policy page of the school website.
• Parents need to contact the school office if prescribed medication is recommended by healthcare professionals and needs to be taken during the school day. Any medication must be given to the school in the packaging that it was dispensed in by the pharmacy, with the child’s name and administration information clearly shown. A form must also be completed by the parent and medicines handed into and collected from the school office.
• On a day-to-day basis, trained members of staff generally oversee the administration of any medicines. Another member of staff will always witness any administration.
• As a staff we have regular training and updates on specific conditions and medication affecting individual children, so that all staff are able to manage medical situations
• A large amount of staff hold first aid qualifications, which are updated regularly.

  BEHAVIOUR, AVOIDING EXCLUSION AND INCREASING ATTENDANCE

• The school has a clear positive behaviour policy. (This is available on our website)
• If a child has significant behaviour or emotional difficulties, an individual behaviour plan may be written to identify the specific issues, put relevant support in place and set targets with a view to identifying and addressing the underlying reasons behind the behaviour.
• The school has an adopted attendance policy. Attendance of every child is monitored on a daily basis by the school. Lateness and absence are recorded and reported to the Headteacher. Persistent absence is targeted by letters and may result in a fine being issued.
• The school are able to support families in making contact with other agencies who can provide appropriate support.

 HOW WILL MY CHILD BE ABLE TO CONTRIBUTE THEIR VIEWS?

• Children who are on SEND support have the opportunity to discuss their progress and targets before their review, as well as on a day to day basis within the class.
• If your child has an EHCP, their views will be sought before any review meetings.
• Children are routinely asked to reflect on their learning and share how they feel they are progressing during the course of their daily learning journey

The SENDCo is Mrs Linsey Beck, she can be contacted via the school office:

01158401477

On dojo, or emailed on:

Senco@hillsideprimary.com 

• Within the school we have a culture of sharing good practice and expertise; this enables us to ensure our staff have as much knowledge as possible within the field of supporting children with SEND
• We have ELSA trained members of staff who are able to offer a range of interventions 
• The environment is designed to support children with individual needs e.g. visual timetables, individual workstations etc as required
• Where a new pupil is entering our setting with a need we have not encountered before, we actively seek out training to ensure we are prepared to support the needs of that pupil. We work with outside agencies to develop our knowledge and apply this to other children in our school.

Some recent training completed by staff has been:

- Knowledge on the different areas of need and barriers to learning

- Quality first teaching

- Executive functioning

- Solutions conversations 

- ELSA supervision

- Precision Teaching

- The circle of SEND

- Our family of schools identifies the main needs of pupils across the family each year and organises training sessions

- The Flying High Trust and Teaching Alliance also offer Professional Learning Communities and training.

As a school we work closely with any external agencies that we feel are relevant to supporting individual children’s’ needs within our school including: 

• Health services including: GPs, school nurse, CAMHS, paediatricians, speech and language therapists, occupational and physiotherapists;
• Children’s Services including: Early Years team, social workers; educational psychologists and specialist advisory teachers.
• We work closely within our Family of Schools and the Flying High Trust to share best practice and use expertise from other schools.

• Our school has an accessibility plan.
• All areas of the school are accessible by wheelchair
• We have a disabled toilet with changing facilities and accessible shower.
• As a school we are always happy to discuss individual access arrangements.
• We work alongside specialist agencies in the county to access specialist equipment as required by individual children.
• We have disabled parking facilities and special arrangements are made to allow parents / carers access to those if this is necessary for their children.
• When pupils are hearing or vision impaired we follow the guidance of the HI or VI team to ensure the environment is accessible for their needs.
• If a pupil is unable to evacuate the building independently in the case of an emergency, a PEEP (Personal emergency egress plan) will be written for them.

• We hold parents’ evenings twice a year where your child’s progress will be discussed.
• You are welcome to make an appointment to meet with either the class teacher or SENDCo at any time throughout the year and discuss how your child is getting on. We can offer advice and practical ways that you can help to support your child at home
• Your child may be on SEND support and have individual targets. These will be reviewed termly. The conversation will also provide suggestions as to how you can support your child’s learning at home.
• When the child’s targets are reviewed, comments are made against each target to show what progress the child has made
• If your child has complex SEND they may have an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP). In such instances a formal meeting will take place to discuss your child’s progress and a report will be written at least annually.

• Children have the opportunity to discuss their progress and targets prior to their review, at parents' evenings as well as on a day to day basis within the class.
• If your child has an EHCP, their views will be sought before any review meetings.
• Children are routinely asked to reflect on their learning and share how they feel they are progressing during the course of their daily learning journey

• Please speak to the class teacher in the first instance
• General information relating to SEND can be found on the school website, including within the SEND policy. This can be found on the policy page of the school website.
• If you are still concerned then please contact the SENDCo  or the Head teacher 
• The school has a complaints policy, which is available from the office upon request

As a school we work closely with any external agencies that we feel are relevant to supporting individual children’s’ needs within our school including: 

• Health services including: GPs, school nurse, CAMHS, paediatricians, speech and language therapists, occupational and physiotherapists;
• Children’s Services including: Early Years team, social workers; educational psychologists and specialist advisory teachers, family Support workers and voluntary organisations such as WAM.
• We work closely within our Family of schools to share best practice and use expertise from other schools.  

We always follow Nottinghamshire's Pathway to Provision and will work with agencies to support a family and provide 'Early Help'.   

As a school we will always signpost parents to any services that we feel they may benefit from and will support in the referral process if appropriate

Our family support workers have a wealth of information that can be used to support families seeking help

We share any relevant advice on our 'School Dojo' message board

• We encourage all new children to visit the school prior to starting
• We can create passports for the children if transition is likely to prove challenging
• For children starting in Foundation Stage we run a transition event to help children, parents and staff share information
• We liaise closely with the staff when receiving and transferring children to and from different schools, ensuring all relevant paperwork is passed on and all needs are discussed and understood. We will visit your child in another setting if this will be valuable in their transition.
• If your child has complex needs, then an EHCP review will be used as a transition planning meeting to which we will invite staff from both schools. It may also be necessary to have additional funding, staffing or equipment in place before the pupil starts with us on a full time timetable. Sometimes a phased transition may be suggested.

At any point where a child with SEND is preparing to leave our school, we seek to arrange additional visits for the child in question to support smooth transition. Our feeder  secondary schools also run programmes specifically tailored to aid transition for the more vulnerable pupils at the end of the primary stage of education.

Transition between year groups and key stages within the school will be dealt with as part of our annual programme of transition and handover to the next class teacher

We provide all of our children with a broad and balanced curriculum.  This includes developing their independence and life skills at an age appropriate level for them.

Nottinghamshire’s local offer page:

https://www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/sendlocaloffer

Our school website hosts the SEND report and our SEN Policy Policies | Hillside Primary and Nursery School