How will my child be supported in school?

Learning & Development

Class teachers have responsibility for enabling all learners to learn effectively. To achieve this, they:

• Identify learners who require additional or different support in order to make progress
• With the support of learners, parents and carers regularly review and update targets on Learner Profiles
• Plan appropriate work and activities for all learners
• Ensure that the relevant support is available for all learners
• Differentiate the curriculum taking into account different learning styles, interests and abilities
• Ensure that all learners can be included in tasks and activities
• Monitor progress
• Celebrate achievement

Our inclusive approach to provision means that all our learners have their needs met by carefully differentiated lesson planning. Lessons are structured to provide a range of activities to suit the range of learning needs and a rigorous approach to monitoring and tracking progress supports the teachers with their planning. Support staff are deployed on a flexible basis according to the emerging needs of learners.

Interventions

Interventions are small group or individual activities that are carefully planned to address a specific area of difficulty that a learner might be experiencing. The intervention groups are agreed by the class teachers and the senior leadership team to target individual or groups of children ensuring optimum progress is made. Many of the interventions are delivered by trained teaching assistants, working towards specific targets or outcomes for each child. The outcomes are carefully monitored by the SEND team.

The following interventions are currently utilised in school:

• Bug Club - an online personalised reading programme which focuses on decoding and comprehension skills
• Phonics Bug - an online personalised phonics programme
• Reading Plus - an online personalised reading programme which focuses on improving reading fluency and comprehension skills
• RWI Phonics Tutoring - a focussed phonics intervention based on assessment outcomes
• Fresh Start - a reading programme designed to help improve accuracy and fluency of reading and develop comprehension skills
• Penpals - a handwriting intervention where handwriting is taught through frequent, discrete lessons
• Reception & Nursery Narrative - a speech & language intervention delivered by a speech & language therapist weekly
• Language Through Listening - a communication & interaction intervention to develop listening & attention skills
• Memory Fix - an intervention to develop working memory skills
• IDL - an individually tailored online programme to develop literacy skills
• Shine – reading and maths intervention designed to address the gaps in knowledge identified through ‘Rising Stars’ assessments
• Lego Therapy - a collaborative ‘play therapy’ aimed at developing a range of skills including communication, interaction, team work, organisation and fine motor skills
• Drawing Therapy - a form of psychotherapy that uses art media as its main mode of expression and communication
• Sensory Circuits - a form of sensory integration involving a sequence of physical activities that are designed toalert, organise and calm the child to facilitate sensory processing to help children regulate and organise their senses in order to achieve the ‘just right’ or optimum level of alertness required for effective learning. 
• Attention Autism - an intervention approach by Speech and Language Therapist Gina Davies which aims to work on the early fundamentals of language including awareness of others, attention, listening, shared attention, switching attention and turn-taking
• Colourful Semantics – a common approach used in speech therapy that aims to teach children how to build and understand sentence structures, both spoken and written, using a colour code for the structuring sentences

 The Sanctuary & The Burrow

Some learners (e.g., some of those at our school with autism) have sensory issues. This can include one or more of the senses and they can either be over-developed (hypersensitive) or under-developed (hyposensitive). Both have an impact on how learners experience different environments. Learners with a sensory difficulty will have regular access to ‘The Sanctuary’ (EYFS & KS1) or ‘The Burrow’ (KS2) as part of their individualised provision, which can be a non-distracting, calm space or a stimulating environment, depending on need, where they will be able to work on their individual targets either 1:1 with a member of support staff or as part of a small group.

Speech & Language Therapy

Speech and Language Therapy is delivered in school by therapists employed directly by the school. The speech and language therapists deliver regular therapy sessions to small groups of identified learners across all year groups.  Therapy is based upon targets identified in learners’ EHCPs and Learner Profiles, as well as from baseline assessments of each learner.  Support staff observe sessions on a regular basis as part of their ongoing CPD and repeat the therapy modelled during further 1:1 and small group time with learners. 

Supporting the Well-being of All Learners

The school monitors learner well-being carefully and plans to support learners and their families in the best interests of each child. Class teachers have a responsibility to promote positive outcomes for all learners and they are obliged to act on any concerns that they may have regarding the well-being of a child in their care. If any member of staff has a concern about a child they will notify the Designated Safeguarding Lead, Miss Lund who will then act upon the information given following the procedures outlined in the Child Protection and Safeguarding Policy.

Also, in addition to the PSHE curriculum which covers many aspects of personal development, the school supports individuals and groups of learners in a range of ways, including through key worker support, the use of individual and small group interventions with school staff or external agencies and most importantly the positive classroom climate evident in all classes. The school councillors encourage learners with any worries to confide in them or share their concerns in the ‘worry jars’, located in all classrooms.