Netherthong

The Equality Act 2010 defines a person with a disability as someone who has a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on his or her ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities. The definition of disability encompasses a broader range of impairments than might be commonly assumed, including children with autism, those with Tourette's syndrome and those with communication difficulties

Netherthong Primary School pays due regard to the need to: eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct that is prohibited by or under the single Equality Act.

Netherthong Primary School is part of the Holmfirth Pyramid of schools.

The Head Teachers of all these schools have delegated, to their special educational needs co-ordinators (SENDCos), the responsibility to outline each school’s offer for special needs and disability (SEND). These SENDCos are part of the Holmfirth Additional Needs Partnership and meet regularly and have reviewed together their provision, setting out their arrangements for access to services and the school’s offer for SEND.

Staff at Netherthong Primary School recognise the wide range of abilities, aptitudes and interests of pupils in our planning, teaching and assessing. We strive to meet the needs of all our pupils irrespective of their abilities or difficulties. We are committed to a “whole school” approach to Special Educational Needs and Disability, believing that all staff have an important part to play to ensure that all pupils, regardless of their specific needs, make the best possible progress within school.

“We believe that all children have rights no matter who they are, what their ability is, where they live, what their parents or carers do; what language they speak; what their religion is; whether they are a boy or a girl; what their culture is; whether they have a disability; whether they are rich or poor. We believe no child should be treated unfairly on any basis.” (Article 2 from the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child)

Your first point of contact is your child’s Class teacher who is responsible for:

• Monitoring and reporting on the progress which your child is making and identifying, planning for and giving any additional help your child may need. This could be in the form of an intervention group activity; targeted work; additional classroom support or precision teaching. They will inform the SENDCo and parents about any additional support your child is receiving.

• Writing ‘Personal Plans’ (PPs) if appropriate. These will be shared with parents/carers each term and reviewed, before future targets are set.

• Ensuring that the school’s SEND Policy is followed in their classroom and for all the pupils they teach with any SEND. The SENDCo who is responsible for:

• Coordinating all additional support for pupils with special educational needs or disabilities (SEND) and developing the school’s SEND Policy to ensure all pupils receive a consistent, high quality response to meeting their needs in school.

• Ensuring that parents/carers are involved in supporting their child’s learning at home; kept informed about the support their child is receiving and involved in reviewing their child’s progress made towards targets

• Liaising with professionals who may come into school to help support the child e.g. Speech and Language Therapy, Educational Psychology etc.

• Updating the school’s SEND list (a system for ensuring all the SEND needs of pupils in this school are known) and making sure that there are records of your child’s progress and needs.

• Monitoring, tracking and analysing the progress of all SEND pupils including progress made through attendance at intervention groups.

• Providing specialist support for teachers and support staff in the school so that they can help SEND pupils in the school to make the best progress possible.

The Head Teacher (Miss R C Kelly) who is responsible for:

• The day to day management of all aspects of the school; this includes the support for pupils with SEND.

• Working with the SENDCo (Dr. L Bamfield) and class teachers to ensure that your child’s needs are met.

• Ensuring that the Governing Body is kept up to date about any issues in the school relating to SEND. The SEN Governor (Mrs C Wood) who is responsible for:

• Ensuring that the school has provided the necessary support for any pupil who attends the school with SEND.

Specific group work with a smaller group of children.
This type of support is available for any child who has specific gaps in their understanding of a subject/area of learning, which means they have been identified by the class teacher as needing some extra support in school.

This is called an intervention group and may be

• Run in the classroom or another space outside the classroom
• Run by a teacher or learning support assistant who has had appropriate training.

For your child and yourself this would mean,
• Your child will engage in group sessions with specific targets to increase progress
• A teacher, teaching assistant or outside professional such as a Speech and Language Therapist will run these small group sessions using targeted planning with specific objectives
• You may be asked to come to a meeting to discuss your child’s progress and help plan possible ways forward.

Specialist groups run by outside agencies e.g. Speech and Language therapy OR Occupational therapy groups
This type of support is available for pupils with specific barriers to learning that cannot be overcome through whole class quality first teaching and intervention groups. They have been identified by the class teacher or SENDCo as needing some extra specialist support in school from a professional outside the school such as: Speech and Language therapy (SALT) Service, Occupational Therapist, Sensory Impairment teachers, Behavioural Support, Portage, Portex, Educational Psychologist etc.
For your child this would mean:
• Identification by the class teacher or SENDCo (or you will have raised your worries) as needing more specialist input instead of or in addition to quality first teaching and intervention groups.
• You may be asked to come to a meeting to discuss your child’s progress and help plan possible ways forward.
• 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 yourself 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, which may include:
o Making changes to the way your child is supported in class e.g. some individual support or changing some aspects of teaching to support them more effectively
o Providing support to set targets which will require their expertise in order to make further progress e.g. practicing specific speech sound before others, practicing physical actions such as fine/gross motor skill activities, carrying out core strength exercises etc.
o A group run by a member of school staff under the guidance of the outside professional e.g. a social skills group
o Group or individual work
• We will tell you how the support will be used and what strategies will be put in place.
• An Education Plan will be created to support your child’s next steps. This will be reviewed with you and new targets set on a termly basis.

Specified Individual support
This type of support is available for children whose learning needs are severe, complex and potentially lifelong. This is usually provided through a Statement of Special Educational Needs or an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP). This means your child will have been identified by the class teacher and SENDCo as needing a particularly high level of individual or small group teaching, which cannot be provided from the budget available to the school. Usually your child will also need specialist support in school from a professional outside the school.
This may be from: Outside agencies such as the Speech and Language therapy (SALT) Service, Occupational Therapist, Sensory Impairment, Behavourial Support, Portage, Portex, Educational Psychologist etc.
For your child this would mean:
• The school (or you) can request that the Local Authority 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 school has submitted the request to the Local Authority, which contains detailed information about your child’s needs, including your views, they will decide whether they think your child’s needs (as described in the paperwork provided), are complex enough to require 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 a statutory assessment after examining this evidence, they will ask the school to continue with the support at the previous level within school.
• After the reports have all been submitted. The Local Authority will decide if your child’s needs are severe, complex and/or potentially lifelong that they need support in school to make good progress. If this is the case they will write a Statement of Special Educational Needs or an EHCP. If this is not the case, they will ask the school to continue with the previous level of support by writing an Education Plan 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 Statement or EHCP will outline the banding of support that your child will receive from the Local Authority and what strategies must be put in place. It will also have long and short term goals for your child. An Education Plan will also be created to support your child’s next steps. This will be reviewed with you and new targets set on a termly basis.
• An additional adult may be used to support your child with whole class learning, implement individual programmes or support small groups, which would include your child.

• This if you have concerns about your child’s progress you should speak to your child’s class teacher initially.

• If you are not happy that the concerns are being managed and that your child is still not making progress you should speak to the SENDCo or Head Teacher.

If your child is identified as not making progress with their learning or needs help managing their behaviour, the class teacher will set up a meeting to discuss this with you in more detail and to:

• listen to any concerns you may have

• plan any additional support your child may receive by creating a Personal Plan The SENDCo may set up a meeting with you to discuss:

• any referrals to outside professionals to support your child

• The school budget, received from the Local Authority) includes money for supporting children with SEND.

• The Head Teacher decides how the budget will be allocated 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 SENDCo discuss all the information they have about SEND in the school, including: o the pupils receiving extra support o the pupils needing extra support o the pupils who have been identified as not making as much progress as would be expected o the pupils who need behavioural or emotional support o the resources, training and support needed. All resources/training and support are reviewed regularly and changes made as needed.

• Class Teachers plan lessons according to the specific needs of all groups of pupils in their class, and will ensure that your child’s needs are met.
• Specially trained support staff will adapt the teachers planning to support the needs of your child where necessary. This may be in small groups or on a 1:1 basis.
• Specific resources and strategies will be used to support your child individually and in groups.
• Planning and teaching will be adapted on a daily basis, if needed, to meet your child’s learning needs.

• The SENDCo’s job is to support the class teacher in planning for children with SEND.
• The SENDCo attends the Pyramid Additional Needs Partnership where children’s needs can be discussed anonymously (parent/carer consent given first) with Educational Psychologists and other SEN colleagues sharing their expertise.
• The school has a training plan for all staff to improve the teaching and learning of children including those with SEND. This includes whole school training on SEND issues such as Autism, Speech and Language difficulties and Dyslexia.
• Individual teachers and support staff attend training courses run by outside agencies that are relevant to the needs of specific children in their class / school

Emotional Well-being / behaviour: • Our Learning Mentors (Mrs Jo Pearce & Mrs Nik Oddie) works with individuals and small groups on a daily/weekly basis to support pupils in managing their emotions and/or behaviour. • We have a positive behaviour policy, which rewards a child’s appropriate actions and responses.

• Your child’s progress is continually monitored by their class teacher.
• Progress is reviewed formally every term and a National Curriculum level in Year 2 and Year 6 (Year 1,3,4 & 5 are measured against the New National Curriculum end of year expectations) given in reading, writing, maths and science.
• At the end of each key stage (i.e. at the end of Year 2 & 6) all pupils are required to be formally assessed using Standard Assessment Tests (SATS). This is something the government requires all schools to do and these results are published nationally and given to parents along with their child’s report.
• The progress of children with a statement of SEND/ EHC Plan is formally reviewed at an Annual Statement Review.
• The SENDCo will also check that your child is making good progress within any individual work and in any group that they take part in. The assessment levels are tracked and analysed to ensure that progress is being made.

Directly funded by the school:
• SENDCo
• Educational Psychologist; Behavioural Specialists
• Learning Mentor

Outside agencies which are delivered in school but paid for by the Local Authority:
• Educational Psychology Service
• Sensory Service for children with visual or hearing needs
• Portage – a service which provides short term, structured educational support at home
• Portex - a service which provides short term, structured support at home for children with social and communication difficulties
• Autism Outreach
• Primary Pupil Referral Service (Behaviour)
• Physical Impairment

Outside agencies which are provided and paid for by the National Health Service:
• Occupational Therapy
• Physiotherapy

Outside agencies which are provided and paid for by Locala:
• School Nurse

• The class teacher is regularly 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 similar strategies can be used.

• The SENDCo 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.

• If your child has a Personal Plan, this will be reviewed with your involvement each term.

• If your child has a Statement or EHC plan, an annual review will be held. You can request a review at any time.

• Homework will be adjusted as needed to meet your child’s individual needs.

• 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 will invite you to Parent Consultation Meetings during the autumn and spring terms where you can look at your child’s work and discuss their progress with the teachers.

• We can provide details of a service called Parent Partnership who help to support parents of children with SEND by making phone calls, discussing reports, helping complete forms and attending review meetings if necessary.

• We regularly review our accessibility plan, which ensures that all pupils can access the school building and grounds.
• The building is accessible to children with physical disability via ramps and graduated paths
• We ensure that equipment used is accessible to all pupils regardless of their needs.
• Extra-curricular activities are accessible for children with SEND.
• All pupils are able to go on school trips; special arrangements will be discussed surrounding the needs of your child.
• We have a sound system to support pupils with hearing impairments.
• We have disabled toilet facilities which include a shower room.
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We recognise that transitions can be difficult for a child with SEND and take steps to ensure that any transition is a smooth as possible.
Before starting Netherthong Primary School:
• You may want to tour the school. You can do this by telephoning the school and requesting an appointment to look around.
• When admission details are collected we ask if your child has any SEND.
• The Head Teacher then passes this information onto the SENDCo who will contact you to arrange a meeting to discuss your child’s SEND.
• We arrange transition days for both children and parent/carers
• We will arrange a transition meeting with their current pre-school/nursery to discuss your child.
• A member of staff may visit their current setting to observe your child.
When moving classes in school:
• Information will be passed on to the new class teacher in advance and a transition meeting will take place with the new teacher. All EP’s will be shared with the new teacher.
• If your child would be helped by a book to support them understand moving on then it will be made for them. This may contain pictures of new teachers, the classroom etc.
In Year 6:
• The School SENDCo will meet with the High School SENDCo to discuss the specific needs of your child.
• Your child may take part in focused learning about aspects of transition to support their understanding of the changes ahead
• Transition programme with Holmfirth High School, including ‘Feel Good ‘Friday’ (where all Y6 pupils in the Pyramid) visit the High School to engage in activities together before they start in September.
• Where possible your child will visit their new school on several occasions and in some cases staff from Netherthong Primary School may visit your child in their current school.
• The Year 6 teachers and High School Head of Year meet to have a transfer of information meeting where all of the children are discussed.
• We have a transition period where children entering Reception class are invited to spend several half days with their new class and teacher.

If your child is leaving Netherthong Primary School:
• A transition day may be organised for your child to visit their new school. We will contact the school SENCO and ensure that they know about any special arrangements or support that needs to be made for your child.

Head Teacher:

Miss R C Kelly

SENDCo:

Dr L Bamfield

SEND Governor:

Mrs  C Wood

All of the above can be contacted through the school office:

Telephone: 01484 681950

Email: office@netherthongprimary.co.uk

Educational Psychologist: SENACT: 01484 456888  SENACT@kirklees.gov.uk 

SEND Case Worker: Mrs A West Telephone: 01484 221000

Kirklees Council Local Offer can be found at: http://www.kirkleeslocaloffer.org.uk/