Berry Hill Primary & Nursery School

Our school provides for pupils with needs across the four areas of SEND described within the SEND Code of Practice. These include needs within communication and interaction, physical or sensory needs, learning and cognition and social, emotional and mental health.

All our class teachers are aware of SEN and are on the lookout for any pupils who aren’t making the expected level of progress in their schoolwork or socially. This might include through marking, assessments, observations. These pupils will be highlighted and discussed in Pupil Progress meetings termly.

If the teacher notices that a pupil is falling behind, they try to find out if the pupil has any gaps in their learning. If they can find a gap, they will give the pupil extra support to try to fill it. Pupils who don’t have SEN usually make progress quickly once the gap in their learning has been filled.

If the pupil is still struggling to make the expected progress, the teacher will talk to the SENCO, and will contact you to discuss the possibility that your child has SEN.

If you think your child might have SEN, the first person you should tell is your child’s teacher, by speaking with them, through the school office or in a termly parent’s meeting.

We will evaluate the effectiveness of provision for your child by:

• Reviewing their progress towards curriculum benchmarks.
• Reviewing progress towards their outcomes each term
• Reviewing the impact of interventions after an appropriate number of weeks
• Using pupil voice
• Monitoring by the SENCO
• Holding an annual review (if they have an education, health and care (EHC) plan)

SEND reviews are held termly. Individual Pupil Profiles are used to record pupil and parent views, termly outcomes, specific and wider provision to support and progress towards these outcomes. 

In school assessment in academic subjects is also supplemented with wider assessments to support a whole child view. These include but are not limited to non verbal reasoning assessments, BPVS, B squared assessments, individual reading ages.  

Your child’s teacher/s is/are responsible and accountable for the progress and development of all the pupils in their class.

High-quality teaching is our first step in responding to your child’s needs. We will make sure that your child has access to a broad and balanced curriculum in every year they are at our school.

We will  adapt how we teach to suit the way the pupil works best. There is no 'One size fits all’ approach to adapting the curriculum, we work on a case-by case basis to make sure the adaptations we make are meaningful to your child.

These adaptations include:

• Adapting our curriculum to make sure all pupils are able to access it, for example, by grouping, 1-to-1 work, adapting the teaching style or content of the lesson, etc.
• Adapting our teaching, for example, giving longer processing times, pre-teaching of key vocabulary, reading instructions aloud, etc.
• Adapting our resources and staffing
• Using recommended aids, such as laptops, coloured overlays, visual timetables, larger font, etc.
• Teaching assistants will support pupils on a one to one where appropriate
• Teaching assistants will support pupils in small groups when

Our whole school Intervention Map records the interventions in place and is reviewed termly. This can be available on request.

Individual wider and specific provision is recorded on a pupil profile. 

Our school curriculum has recently been reviewed, and aims to support pupils to be confident, independent and resilient. Teachers adapt their teaching, resources, and experiences to ensure that most children can access the curriculum. Where this is not possible, on an individual basis, planned support and decisions are made to provide an appropriate curriculum for pupils. 

The SENCO and senior leaders meet regularly to consider development of provision and practices. 

There are termly meetings such as Pupil Progress, and STEP meetings which support decision making with class teacher, senior leaders and SENCo. Regular meetings with TAs also support with communication on pupil needs. Individual Pupil Profiles are also completed termly to summarise pupil and parent view. 

All of our extra-curricular activities and school visits are available to all our pupils, including our before and after-school clubs.

All pupils are encouraged and supported  to go on our school trips, including our residential trips.

All pupils are encouraged and supported to participate in the full range of wider opportunities offered to non SEND pupils.

No pupil is ever excluded from taking part in these activities because of their SEN or disability and we will make whatever reasonable adjustments are needed to make sure that they can be included.

Well-being is key to pupil success, and we support pupils to embody our school ethos: "Be kind, work hard and be brave."

We also have the support of two school Emotional Literacy Support Assistants (ELSAs), as well as staff with trained skills in these areas. We also seek additional support from outside agencies where this is decided to be appropriate. 

Personal Development is supported through the positive outcomes of our wider curriculum, including specific PSHE and RSE education, teaching and promotion or British Values, spriritual, moral and social education delivered through sessions and assemblies, as well as wider opportunities. 

The school SENCo is Miss L Smith and she can be contacted through the school office on office@berryhill.notts.sch.uk

We aim to keep all school staff up to date with relevant training and developments in teaching practice in relation to the needs of pupils with SEND. The SENCO attends relevant SEND courses, Family SEND meetings and facilitates/signposts relevant SEND focused external training opportunities for all staff. We recognise the need to train all our staff on SEND issues. The SENCO, with the senior leadership team, ensures that training opportunities are matched to school development priorities and those identified through the use of provision management. Training may also be matched to the needs of the children currently in school, or those we are expecting into school in the future.

We have staff trained in:

Little Wandle Phonics reading, blending and intervention 

Drawing and Talking 

Sand therapy 

FunFit 

PEEPs 

Makaton 

A return to our Autism Awareness and further Interoception training is planned for next year. 

Sometimes we need extra help to offer our pupils the support that they need. Whenever necessary we will work with external support services to meet the needs of our pupils with SEN and to support their families. These include:

• Speech and language therapists
• Educational psychologists
• Occupational therapists
• GPs or paediatricians
• Healthy Family Team
• Speech and Language therapists
• Physiotherapists
• ICT specialists
• Local Authority specialist services
• Child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS)
• Social services and other LA-provided support services
• Voluntary sector organisations

Our site is fully accessible, with access to two disabled toilets.

We work with support teams such as PDSS, to ensure our environment is suitable for children's needs.

Where a specific child's needs are not being met through a graduated response accessing reasonable adjustments, support and resources inhouse we will, with parental consent,  seek a range of external specialist services and expertise. 

We provide annual reports for all pupils on pupil's progress. Your child’s class/form teacher will meet you twice a year in Parents evening.

For pupils on the SEND register, there are termly meetings to:

• Set clear outcomes for your child’s progress
• Review progress towards those outcomes
• Discuss the support we will put in place to help your child make that progress
• Identify what we will do, what we will ask you to do, and what we will ask your child to do

The SENCO will also attend these meetings to provide extra support. 

We know that you’re the expert when it comes to your child’s needs and aspirations. So we want to make sure you have a full understanding of how we’re trying to meet your child’s needs, so that you can provide insight into what you think would work best for your child.

The level of involvement will depend on your child’s age, and stage. Key staff support pupils to capture their views and wishes termly before review meetings. This may include using symbols, signing, pictures and choices to help your child communicate their needs. 

The school offers visits to parents and children, who wish to join the school.Transition visits are planned within school for transition from year to year. The school SENCO will arrange any additional transition arrangements required for any pupils leaving our school, including those moving to secondary school at Year 6. They will work with the parents and the SENCO from the receiving school to ensure smooth transition. Our school values, which are at the centre of our school ethos, give children the tools they need to become good citizens. We also run a school council, which give our children a voice and the capacity to make decisions. Our involvement within the school community and nurture and life skills sessions allows children to experience activities that are vital to adulthood.

All parents will be able to access visits to the school before their child enters the setting. They will also have termly consultation with their child’s teacher about progress as well as an annual written report. In addition to this, parents of pupils on our SEND Register will have a termly review meeting to discuss progress, provision and targets for their child. The school operates on an open-door policy, and if parents have any concerns in between these meetings they can easily access their child’s teacher, the Key Stage Leader or the Headteacher.