Inglewood Nursery and Infant School

Schools Extended Local Offer Response

How does the setting/school/college know if children/young people need extra help and what should I do if I think my child/young person may have special educational needs?

At Inglewood Nursery and Infant School, we recognise if children need extra help in a variety of ways including:

• Liaison with previous pre-school setting or school
• They are performing below age-related expectations, and concerns will be raised by key worker(s) or teacher (s) within day-to-day classroom activities and discussed with you and at pupil progress meetings with the headteacher or SENCOs
• Liaison with external agencies – such as Family Action, Social Care
• Health diagnosis through a Health Visitor, Paediatrician or GP

You are able to raise your concerns about your child's additional needs by talking to your child’s keyworker or teacher, one of our SENCOs. We operate an open door policy and by emailing or ringing us, we can always arrange an appointment with one of us very quickly,

 

How will early years setting/school/college staff support my child/young person?

• Our class teachers oversee, plan and direct the work with each child with SEND in their class to ensure that progress is made in every area.
• Our SENCOs oversee all support and progress of any child requiring additional support across the school.
• There may be a Nurture Assistant or Senior Teaching Assistant (STA) working with your child either individually or as part of a group if this is seen as necessary by the class teacher/SENCOs. The regularity of these sessions will be explained to you when the support starts.
• From nursery onwards, class teachers and key workers meet with parent/carers at least twice a year (this could be as part of Parents’ Evenings, Review meetings or Focus Child meetings)  to discuss your child’s needs, support and progress. For further information the SENCOs are available to discuss support in more detail. 
• One of the Governors, who is responsible for SEND meets regularly with the SENCOs, reporting back to the Governors to keep everyone informed about school processes and the Governors receive reports every term about the progress of children with SEND. Governor reports do not refer to individual children and confidentiality is maintained at all times. The Governors agree priorities for spending within the school budget with the overall aim that all children with SEND receive the support they need in order to make progress.

How will the curriculum be matched to my child's/young person's needs?

We plan all our learning opportunities so that all children are able to access it according to their specific needs.  Typically, means  that in a lesson a teacher’s input is adapted for different groups of learners or for individuals. Sometimes your child might be supported to record their learning in different ways from other children. Sometimes your child might access their learning in one of the smaller learning stations that we have in each unit. This might be in a small group or they may work individually with a key worker.

We also take advice from external specialists and make further adaptations to the curriculum for your child if necessary – this might include using equipment or assistive technologies.  

We also use a range of approaches for supporting children to develop their self-esteem – this may include personalised books, reward charts and learning boxes.

We believe that the benefit of this is that all children can access their learning and make progress.

How will both you and I know how my child/young person is doing and how will you help me to support my child's/young person's learning?

We believe that your child’s education should be a partnership between us all, therefore we keep communication channels open and communicate regularly, especially if your child has complex needs.  We operate an ‘open door’ policy, where you are welcome at any time to make an appointment to meet with either the class teacher or SENCOs and discuss how your child is getting on.  We offer advice and practical ways that you can help your child at home. 

If your child is receiving  more adapted input than is usual in a classroom, we write an Individual Education Plan (IEP) Learning Plan. This ensures that your child has individual targets, which we review these targets every 8 to 10 weeks in discussion with you and your child and you will be given a copy of the IEP/Learning Plans, so that you can support with activities at home. 

There are also many opportunities for regular contact about things that have happened in school. We hold ‘open’ events during the year when you can visit school to see your child’s learning – and even take part in some activities yourself! We also organise parent training/learning events covering a wide range of useful areas. 

What support will there be for my child's/young person's overall well being?

We are an inclusive school – everyone matters - and we welcome and celebrate diversity.  We believe that children having high self-esteem is crucial to their wellbeing. Our caring, understanding team looking after your child ncludes pastoral support workers, SENCOs, and key workers, who work children on a group or individual basis.   Parents/ carers are welcome to drop in and talk with our team if they have any concerns about their children.  Class teachers have overall responsibility for the pastoral, medical and social care of every child in their class, therefore this should be your first point of contact.   If further support is required, the class teacher liaises with the SENCOs for further advice or support for your child.  This may involve working alongside outside agencies such as: health services, inclusion support, family support organisations and local authority specialist teachers, social care or educational psychologists.

We have a policy to support pupils with medical conditions (on our website) and use healthcare plan which we write with you and with advice from health professionals. We also have a policy regarding the administration and management of medicines. We ask that you contact the school office if medication is recommended by health professionals to be taken during the school day.  As a staff, we have regular training and updates of conditions and medication affecting individual children so that staff are able to manage medical situations. 

As a school, we have a very positive approach to all types of behaviour. We recognise and celebrate good behaviour throughout school using the traffic light system, class rewards, pom-pom parties, Top Table Tuesday and SUMO certificates and use a traffic light system - with a supporting  nurturing system  to teach behaviours for learning and for  self-regulation. If your child has significant behavioural difficulties, an individual Behaviour Management Plan may be written alongside you and them to identify the specific issues, put relevant support in place and set targets.   As a result of the support we give, the rate of exclusions is very low at this school. But if your child’s behaviour is deemed unsafe or unacceptable, an exclusion may be given. Due to our positive approach to managing behaviour, the exclusions rate is very low here. 

We also know that children achieve more and are more settled if they attend school when it is open and they are well. We monitor attendance on a daily basis and absence and lates are recorded and reported upon to the Head teacher and our Attendance Officer. The Attendance Officer monitors attendance closely each half term. If you are having trouble with attendance or punctuality, we work with you to improve this. We celebrate good and improved attendance.

 We value and celebrate each child’s voice in school. This includes their views on all aspects of school life.  We gather their views through the class circle time, School Council and Eco Committee meetings. From time to time, subject leaders chat with about different aspects of the curriculum and school life. We make sure that as part of this process, children with SEND are asked in a sensitive way about the additional support that they receive. 

What specialist services and expertise are avaliable at or accessed by the setting/school/college?

Our SENCOs have qualifications and experience in managing Special Educational Needs. They work closely as a team.

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

• Behaviour/Inclusion Support
• Health including GP, Practice Nurse, School Nurse, Clinical Psychologist, Paediatrician, Speech & Language Therapist, Occupational Therapist, Physiotherapist, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services
• Social Care including Locality Team, Social Workers, Educational Psychologist, Counselling services and therapists
• Others e.g. Police Community Support Officers, Operation Encompass, Safety Net, Cumbria Family Support, Family Action, NSPCC.

What training have the staff supporting children and young people with SEND had? Are any being trained currently?

Throughout the school week, we have staff working who are trained in the following areas including:

• Speech and Language
• Nurture
• Cumbria Reading Intervention
• Emotional Literacy
• Maths Recovery
• Precision Teaching
• Smart Moves
• Hearing Impairment
• Autism Spectrum Condition
• Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS)
• Makaton
• Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE’s), Trauma and Attachment
• Team Teach
• English as an Additional Language Intensive Programme (EALIP)
• Bereavement Counselling

How accessible is the setting/school/college enviroment?

Our classrooms and learning areas are large and airy. There are smaller teaching and spaces throughout the school. Our site also has large, secure fields / gardens with static outdoor play equipment and we have hard-standing areas. We have outdoor classroom areas where your child can learn and play. This means that there is a space and place for everyone to learn. We are built on a hill so are not fully wheelchair accessible, although we adapting areas of our school for easier access so that learners can stay on one level.  We have adapted toilets in our early years areas. We have handrails to support movement around school. Translation services and bilingual books/materials are available for families who are new to English, as required.

 

How will the setting/school/college prepare and support my child/young person to join the setting/school/college or the next stage of education and life?

We encourage all new children to visit the school prior to starting when they will be shown around the school.  For children with SEND, we would encourage further visits to assist them with acclimatisation of the new surroundings.  We would also visit them in their current school or home, if appropriate. 

We write social stories with children if transition is potentially going to be difficult, as well as making photo books of visits. 

When children are preparing to transfer to other settings, visits are planned in to allow children and parents to become familiar with their new environment.

We liaise closely with staff when receiving and transferring children to different schools ensuring all relevant information is passed on, and all needs are discussed and understood.

If your child has complex needs, then an EHCP review meeting will be used as a transition meeting during which we will invite staff from both schools to attend.

How are the setting's/school's/college's resources allocated and matched to children's/young people's special educational needs?

We ensure that all children who have SEND have their needs met to the best of the school’s ability with the funds available.

The SEND and support teams plan programmes designed to meet the needs of groups of children. These are delivered by a team of key workers / Senior Teaching assistants who are funded from the school budget. 

Some STAs are funded through EHCPs to support children who have complex SEND.  The school is currently required to contribute the first £6,000 of the funding of an Educational Health and Care Plan with the LA providing the ‘top up’ resource. At review meetings, you can make decisions about the use of your child's personal budget. 

The Governors uphold the principle that the budget is allocated on a ‘needs’ basis.

How is the decision made about what type and how much support my child/young person will receive?

We judge if the support has had an impact by:

• using our tracking data and discussions with class teacher and key workers to measure progress from starting points;
• reviewing targets from IEPs/learning plans and ensuring they are being met; by monitoring progress against national age expected outcomes and observing that the gap is narrowing;
• discussions with your child and you about their learning and progress.

For children with complex SEND, advisory teachers/educational psychologists conduct their own assessments e.g. in Speech, Language and Communication, Cognitive Ability, Perceptual Reasoning which form part of the review process and provide additional information about the child’s developmental progress

Governors review the use of the budget each term against children’s progress.

How are parents involved in the setting/school/college? How can I be involved?

We pride ourselves on the positive relationships that we have built with parents/carers over the years and the new partnerships that we create each year.

Our open door policy means that we can be responsive to you and your child's needs at different times of their school life. We are open and honest with parents/carers and hope that you feel able to be the same with us.

We encourage you to visit school as often as you can and take an active part in your child’s learning - either at home or in school.