SEND

What should I do if I think my child may have special educational needs?

We have a rigorous transition process during which we visit and share information with all our feeder schools prior to students joining us in Y7.

Our SENCo is available to listen to all concerns or issues regarding pupils with SEND. An appointment to see the SENCo can easily be arranged. Any referral made will be looked into on an individual basis and will take into account attainment data and responses from all subject areas, the opinions of all teaching staff as well as specialist screening tools. This is a very reliable method of establishing whether students have a Special Educational Need or not. Once this information has been collated you will be invited in to school to discuss the results and what will happen next with the Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator.

What should I do if the school and I disagree?

In the unlikely event that there is a disagreement between parents and the SENCo then the Head Teacher runs weekly surgeries where an appeal can be made – should this still not resolve matters there is a School Governor, with SEND as their remit, who can respond to parent’s written complaints..

Each student on the SEND register will have a Learning Support Plan (LSPs) outlining the information that was collated during the referral process. This document is how we share information with staff about your child, so it is important that you check it for accuracy and contribute to its content. It is a working document and will follow your child all the way through school.

It contains a photo of the student and a summary of their attainment. There is a generic explanation of the Special Need and there are specific strategies that are to be used when working with your child. Staff will also have the student’s targets on this document and will be expected to move the student towards these targets each lesson. Other information includes any interventions and any special arrangements that have been made as well as information about how you can help at home. The LSPs are sent out every summer term for preparation for the next academic year and reviewed at least twice annually.

If your child has an Educational Health Care Plan (EHCP) then you will be invited to an Annual Review each year, where progress and targets will be discussed. This will be held around the anniversary of the original statement. It is important that you attend these meetings with your child so that the EHCP remains current and relevant. These meetings will be with the SENCo.

If your child does not have an EHCP then you can expect to attend a review with either the SENCo Assistant SENCo or a HLTA, where targets will be discussed and progress shared.

On top of these opportunities the SENCO is available to meet with parents to discuss any aspect of their child’s Special Educational Needs.

The LSP will be used by staff at parent’s evenings and is the main way that we will keep a record of your child’s progress.

This is decided on a very much an individual basis in the meetings described above, and will be detailed in your child’s Learning Support Plan. It is essential that you and your child contribute to these meetings so that the targets are updated and relevant.

We monitor these targets in school 4 times a year. Following each data drop and reporting cycle a member of the SEND team to consider if they are on track to achieve their target grades.

If during these meetings we establish that your child is falling behind we will put in place an intervention – this may be subject related or specific to the student’s SEND requirements – if this happens you will be contacted and you will be given full details of the planned intervention.

Whenever you need to. The SENCo will always see you should you feel the need arise. However throughout the year there will be a minimum of 2 scheduled meetings per year, on top of calendared parent’s evenings. You will receive a letter informing you of when your next review meeting is to be held around 4 weeks prior to the date.

We do ask parents to try and make themselves available on the date and time given as due to the number of meetings cancellations are hard to factor in.

This will be part of our Intervention package and will be tailored specifically to meet your child’s individual needs – details of this can be found on the LSP.

Although we have many staff who are able to manage these needs.

As well as the School Pastoral team whom we work very closely with, each LSA is attached to a year group.

This will be determined by the overall needs of our students, but regular and frequent visits to the school come from the following professionals:

• Educational Psychologist
• Visual Impairment Specialist Teacher
• Hearing Impairment Specialist Teacher
• Councillors
• Chaplaincy

Specific and appropriate interventions are also provided such as:

• Lexia (Literacy Improvement Support)
• Hornet & Wasp
• Socialisation
• Spelling / Reading
• Numeracy
• Reading Support
• RML – Fresh Start
• Handwriting/Touch-typing

These are not exhaustive or definitive – if a student has a specific need we will strive to provide for that need, either through training or external services.

Additional to the offer provided directly through the school, the Local Authority (LA) also provides information and services that will support students and families with SEND. The provisions through the LA may be accessed through the “Local Offer”, which can be accessed at www.thurrock.gov.uk/localoffer.

The Local Offer provides detail information on services across education, health, social care and volunteer groups, on how to access specialist support, including eligibility criteria.

All support staff receive regular training on a monthly basis, this has included:

• Safeguarding (annually)
• Manual Handling
• Evac Chair
• Epilepsy
• Behaviour Management
• Dyslexia in the classroom
• CT
• Autism
• Dyspraxia
• Guided Reading

Wherever possible all reasonable attempts will be made to ensure that your child has access to the same activities and trips as their peers.

Ortu Gable Hall School is fully in line with the requirements of the SEND Code of Practice: 0 -25 years 2014 and The Children and Family Act of 2014. On admission to the school reasonable adjustments will be made if required.

Ortu Gable Hall School operates a rigorous and robust Transition programme for all year 6 pupils prior to joining us in Year 7. This includes a full week in school during the summer term. All students are given their CATs tests during this week SEND students are also tested for reading age and spelling age. This is part of the data that will inform us of your child’s needs and will establish if any further tests are needed.

In the first term, following your child’s admission to year 7 you will be invited into school to discuss your child’s Learning Support Plan – this discussion will include how we intend to support your child in school and both you and the student will be involved in this process.

Should your child join us at a later date, we will set up a Support Implementation meeting when we will go over the same process.

Transition Plans will be completed for all students with EHCPs in Years 6, 9, and 11.

This will be determined through the use of qualitative attainment data which will tell us where your child’s needs and difficulties lie. This information will help us decide which ‘rung’ of the intervention ladder they need to access. This will be discussed with you and your child and outcomes agreed.

We will meet with you and your child to discuss the level of need alongside any data and/or evidence of their needs. We will consider all information and data including any external reports or advice which will enable us to establish how we can support your child.  From this we will put in place a Learning Support Plan which will state what will be put in place and when. You and your child will play an active role in these decisions and anything put in place will be explained to you and your child.

Please refer to answer 4 above.

Rest assured you and your child will always be able to air your views and preferences with regards planning for their needs.

Please either call the school on 01375 400 800 or email ghsoffice@gablehall.com marking your enquiry for the attention of the SENCo.