Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND)

Welcome to our school

At Ben Rhydding Primary School we see everyone as individuals valuing their unique qualities as members of our school community. Our school welcomes all children and their families. With this comes a vital requirement to meet a variety of learning needs, ensuring that every child is equipped with the necessary skills and personal qualities to achieve the best educational outcomes possible and to positively follow the life that they choose.

SEND and the Curriculum

At Ben Rhydding Primary we are committed to improving the outcomes of all pupils including those with SEND. We believe that inclusion is about supporting all children and we strive to equip all of our pupils to reach their full potential. This can be through the Ordinarily Available Provision (OAP) in the classroom; through reasonable adjustments or bespoke intervention programmes where appropriate.

We also know how important it is that each and every child has access to all the activities of the wider school curriculum. We will do our utmost to ensure that all children have the opportunity to attend all the extracurricular activities and trips on offer.

For more details about our Teaching and Learning Policy click here.

Meet the SENDCO

My name is Sandy Leach and I am the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities coordinator (SENDCO) at Ben Rhydding Primary School. I have a strategic role to develop the ethos, policies, practice and school improvements to promote an inclusive and welcoming school for all children. I am part of the Senior Leadership team and work with them to inform decision making and policy review and contribute to the self-evaluation procedures.

On a day to day basis, I work with the management team, teachers, teaching assistants and parents to support children with their learning. I am here to help all children in school who may have a barrier to their learning, whether it be a long-term need, or something that requires short-term intervention in a particular area. I am keen to encourage parent and pupil voice in delivering best practice to support each child with SEND.

I have been developing the universal provision in all classrooms, known as Ordinarily Available Provision (OAP), striving to improve the support for Specific Learning difficulties (e.g. Dyslexia) and that for children with Communication and Interaction differences (e.g. Autism). It is my role to ensure that all teachers recognise their responsibilities to children with SEND and then help them fulfil these. I will also liaise with other outside agencies to ensure as best as we can that a child’s needs are met.

I believe that at Ben Rhydding we work hard to identify needs and then strive to find ways to support difficulties whilst celebrating differences. Every child deserves a high quality education and to feel valued and happy in school.

Meet our Trainee SENDCO

My name is Tilly Stead and I am in the process of completing my Special Education Needs and Disabilities qualification (SEND) and currently shadowing Sandy Leach, our SENDCO.

On a day to day basis, I am a classroom teacher and currently the Year 2 Teacher. I have a real interest and ambition when working with pupils, especially those with additional or special educational needs and disabilities. I am committed to making sure that all pupils, including those with SEND have access to a fulfilling and meaningful education with equal opportunities to participate and achieve whilst at Ben Rhydding Primary School.

SENDCO Responsibilities

develop and oversee the implementation of the school’s SEN strategy and policy
carry out assessments of pupils with SEN to identify needs and monitor progress – including observations in the classroom and meeting with teachers and parents
work with classroom teachers, the school leadership team, parents and relevant external agencies to develop, implement and monitor individual support/learning plans
provide regular updates on pupil progress through regular meetings with parents
make referrals and liaise with professionals outside of the school – this could include psychologists, health and social care providers, speech and language therapists and occupational therapists
provide advice, guidance and training to classroom teachers on supporting pupils with SEND
support teachers to develop schemes of work and learning programmes for pupils with SEND
support teachers to develop and implement effective teaching and behaviour management approaches in the classroom
manage and advise on the school budget and resources for SEND provision
develop and maintain systems for keeping pupil records, ensuring information is accurate and up to date
analyse school, local and national data and develop appropriate strategies and interventions
manage SEND teachers, teaching assistants and support staff to improve pupil progress and attainment
keep up to date with national and local policies related to SEND and cascade information to colleagues.

Leadership Structure

We have a small staff that works closely to develop provision for our learners.
As SENDCO I work with teachers and TAs to support the teaching and learning within the classroom. I am also part of the Senior Leadership team driving change for impact across the whole school: as seen recently with the initiative to improve provision for children with Autism in our school.

Reporting to the Governors

I also provide regular information to the Head and the Governing body on the effectiveness of provision for pupils with SEND. I meet regularly with the Governors with responsibility for SEND (Lea Berrang). She then reports back to the governing body. Contact details are below.

Once a year the governors are presented with an overview report on SEND provision at Ben Rhydding click here. I present this to the whole governing body and am open to their questions and scrutiny. Please find this report below.

Strategy for SEND

The funding levels in schools across the country have led to a reduction in the number of support staff. This is particularly visible in small schools with low numbers of children who are entitled to pupil premium, like Ben Rhydding Primary School. With this in mind, my focus is to ensure high quality Ordinarily Available Provision (OAP) within the classrooms across all year groups and this has driven staff training and development for a number of years. Previous to the COVID-19 closures the focus had been on improving OAP for children with Specific Learning Differences e.g. Dyslexia. Once the school reopened, the focus had been on transition back to classroom learning as well as keeping all children and staff safe and well, both physically and emotionally. This year I have been able to turn my focus back to OAP and classroom provision, but this time with a drive to improve the learning environment for children with communication and interaction difficulties including Autism.

I worked to improve parental involvement in the graduated approach by ensuring that all EHC reviews happen within 12 months of the previous review, with My Support Plans reviewed at least each term in between. In addition, the provision for all other children on the SEND register is reviewed termly. I aim to attend all reviews. Pupil voice is gathered by parents and staff. We have started to develop this by using alternative ways for the children to communicate e.g. by using talking mats.

We have a SEND register and we also have OAP registers that we use to monitor children of concern that receive OAP support without additional interventions. I track the progress of these children closely within each year group using the internal data at two key points of the academic year (Spring term 1 and Summer term 2). I also track progress over a number of years using the Bradford ‘Progress For School Age Children Grid.’ Any concerns or trends are discussed with the Senior Leadership team and the Head. Concerns about the progress of individual children are discussed with the teacher during Pupil Progress meetings and strategies for future support are agreed. Staff are responsible for the education of all children in their class including children with SEND.

In broad terms I will be working towards the following outcomes:

Short term outcomes:

Continue to refine and improve practices around the use of the My Support Plan as part of the graduated approach to provision through active, meaningful involvement of parents and pupils in the review procedures.
Embed the transition process between year groups and when joining or leaving the school by producing a one page profile for all children on SEND register and arranging SEND transition meetings with current and future teachers as well as parents.
Promote Autism friendly practices as part of OAP across the whole school including the introduction of WIDGIT and communication friendly learning environments.

Medium term outcomes:

Develop routines to assess impact of interventions and OAP across the school
Further develop SEND drop-ins to promote parental understanding of how best to support SPLD needs.
Maintain the Autism parent network meetings.

Long term outcomes:

Build on OAP practices to promote classroom ethos that uses oracy and feedback to develop the learning of children with Autism
Build an assessment framework and routines that recognise, track and celebrate the achievements of the children with SEND.

To see our SEND policy click here

To see our Inclusion policy click here

SENDCO	SANDY LEACH	Sandy.leach@benrhydding.bradford.sch.uk Tel: 01943 431133
Trainee SENDCO	TILLY STEAD	tilly.stead@benrhydding.bradford.sch.uk Tel: 01943 431133
Governor with responsibility for SEND	LEA BERRANG	lea.berrang@benrhydding.bradford.sch.uk Tel: 01943 431133

Admissions

If your child has an EHCP and you would like them to come to our school, we encourage you to come meet Mrs Leach and discuss the consultation and application process. This is the link to the Bradford Local Offer page supporting admissions of children with SEND.

What is a SEND local offer?

All local authorities must publish a Local Offer, setting out in one place information about provision they expect to be available across education, health and social care for children and young people in their area who have Special Educational Needs (SEN) or are disabled, including those who do not have Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans. In setting out what they ‘expect to be available’, local authorities should include provision which they believe will actually be available.

The Local Offer provides information for children and young people with special educational needs (SEND) and their parents or carers in a single place.

Bradford Local Offer

The Local Offer is a new way of giving children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) 0-25 and their parents or carers information about what activities, services and support is available across education, health and social care (Inc. voluntary sector) in the area where you live.

If you would like to find out more information about the Bradford Local Offer, please click here.

Bradford SEND Newsletter

If you would like to give feedback or leave comments please complete the box below or to discuss issues specific to your child please contact sandy.leach@benrhydding.bradford.sch.uk

Ben Rhydding Primary School

Working in partnership to build our learning community