SEND

Our SENCo is Mrs Anna Vella

If you have any questions about additional needs for your child please contact the school office who will arrange for Mrs Vella to contact you.  

Our Lady of Compassion Catholic Primary School SEND Local Offer

Under the Children and Families Bill which became law in 2014, Local Authorities are required to publish, and keep under review, information about services that they expect to be available for children and young people with disabilities and Special Educational Needs aged 0-25. This is called the Local Offer. The intention of the Local Offer is to improve choice and transparency for families. It will also be an important resource for professionals in understanding the range of services and provision in the local area.

At Our Lady of Compassion School, in line with our Catholic ethos, we believe that everyone has a special part to play in God’s plan. As a fully inclusive school, we welcome all children, with their individual strengths and needs, and strive to give them the best opportunities to be able to participate in school life. We believe that all children are entitled to a rich and diverse curriculum that is differentiated to meet their needs.

The aim of this document is to give you information regarding the many ways in which we ensure that we offer the appropriate support for all of our children, including those with SEND. It is important to note that it may not include every skill, resource and technique that we employ as these are continually being developed and modified to meet the changing requirements of individual children.

At Our Lady of Compassion School, we therefore aim:

•  To provide a solid grounding in the Catholic faith for our children and develop their love of God, our creator; to value the achievement, and promote the dignity and worth, of each individual. To be distinguished by the quality of care extended to all of its members.
• To succeed by working in partnership with the home and parish; to be of service to the local, wider and world community.
• To provide the children with a curriculum that prepares them for the opportunities, responsibilities and challenges of their secondary education and adult life.
• To provide a rich variety of experiences and activities that provide the spiritual, mental, physical, creative and emotional stimuli for the children to fully develop as rounded individuals.
• To nurture a love of learning and understanding of how to learn; to promote each child’s independence, ability to contribute to the community and personal fulfilment.

In order to achieve our aims, we strive to remove barriers to learning through a variety of teaching approaches and styles, appropriate differentiation and strategies, techniques and resources which are implemented through a graduated approach to intervention and support, focussed around four main actions – Assess, Plan, Do, Review (SEND Support). We use our wealth of knowledge and experience to make careful use of our school’s limited delegated resources to benefit children who need additional help and/or support so as to be able to access the curriculum, make the necessary progress, develop and achieve their potential.

Children develop at different rates, with their level of work being in line with, above or below age-related expectations. At our school, we have set guidelines for identifying difficulties and for implementing additional support. We therefore strive to ensure that no child gets missed, whether a child is struggling in a particular area (eg reading, writing and/or maths) or is attaining at a very high level. Other aspects are also considered – a child may be achieving well academically but may need support with making and maintaining friendships.

Our SENCO ensures that the children’s needs are identified early and works closely with the class teachers and parents to ensure that these needs are always prioritised. Special educational needs and provision can be considered as falling under four broad areas:

• Communication and interaction
• Cognition and learning
• Social, mental and emotional health
• Sensory and/or physical

Provision given, allocated through a staged approach, and dependent on the particular need of the child, is as shown below:

• Adaptations in the classroom to ensure that the child is being given the best opportunities,
• Small group intervention/s to address specific area/s of need,
• Individual intervention/s using specialist resources,
• Support (advice and involvement) from external agencies (Special Inclusion Support Service and other LA expertise) as necessary,
• In-class support (Teaching and Learning Support Assistant) – the highest level of support given to a child when they have an Education, Health and Social Care Plan.

Interventions are also used to boost the progress of children who have fallen behind in a particular area, even if these children may not have a special educational need or a disability.

Our school supports a vast number of children with a range of additional needs including ASD (Autistic Spectrum Disorder), Specific Learning Difficulties (including Dyslexia), ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), Down Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy, Speech and Language Difficulties and other learning difficulties.

Working with our school, we have advisory teachers from the Specialist Inclusion Support Service (SISS), ASD, Sensory Impairment, Physical Impairment Teams. We also buy the services of the SEMH team.

Our teaching and support staff have regular training on all areas of the curriculum, as well as on whole school strategies such as behaviour management and differentiation. Teachers are also given the necessary knowledge and skills to enable all children to progress - this includes strategies for meeting the needs of children with SEND.

We also encourage the academic and practical achievement of very able children, as well as children who show outstanding artistic, musical and creative talent, physical skills, leadership qualities... Teachers provide challenging activities to ensure that these children are being stretched. These activities further enhance the children’s aptitudes, skills and abilities.