Christ the King Catholic Primary School

SEND Information Report 2021-22

Christ the King Catholic Primary School is an inclusive school where teaching and learning, achievements, attitudes and the well-being of each and every child matters.  Our Catholic school, the Church and the Community, inspired by the teaching of Jesus Christ, feel a special responsibility to those children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). We offer a range of provision to support children with SEND in order to ensure that all pupils, regardless of their specific needs, make the best possible progress in school. In reference to the ladder of engagement, stakeholders and strategic groups are consulted when developments are made in SEND.

This information report gives an overview of the provision your child will receive at Christ the King. If you have any questions about the content of this report please contact the school SENDCo (Mrs Moloney) who will be happy to answer any of your questions. The Link Governor for SEND is Cath Madden.

Q1 What is a SEND Information Report?

Legislative changes in the Children and Families Act (2014) require schools to publish information about how they support children with Special Educational Need or Disability (SEND) in their school. The aim is to ensure that, where possible, all pupils will have their needs met in a mainstream school with access to the right resources, professional experts and high quality teaching. However for some children and young people a mainstream setting will not be the right place so that they can get the best provision to meet their needs. Children, young people and their families are more involved in decisions about the support they receive. Education, Health and Care Plans are developed to support children who have very significant and complex additional needs. All pupils are entitled to an equality of opportunity and to a broad, balanced and relevant curriculum, appropriate to their individual needs, talents and personal qualities, as stated in the 2010 Equality Act.  

 Further, more detailed information on what our school provides is detailed in our SEND policy. Click below

send-policy-2021-22.pdf (primarysite-prod-sorted.s3.amazonaws.com)

Q2 What is SEND?

The Code of Practice defines SEND as:

“A child or young person has SEND if they have a learning difficulty or disability which calls for special educational provision to be made for them.

A child of compulsory school age or a young person has a learning difficulty or disability if they:

• have a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others of the same age
  or

• have a disability which prevents or hinders them from making use of educational facilities of a kind generally provided for others of the same age in mainstream schools or mainstream post-16 institutions.”
   
  If a learner is identified as having SEND, we will provide support that is ‘additional to or different from’ the normal differentiated curriculum, intended to overcome the barrier to their learning. This will form part of our graduated response.
   
  The Equality Act 210 definition of disability is:
  “A person has a disability for the purposes of this Act if (s)he has a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on his ability to carry out normal day-to day activities.”
   
  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
   
  Communication and interaction
  Children and young people with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN) have difficulty in communicating with others. This may be because they have difficulty saying what they want to, understanding what is being said to them or they do not understand or use social rules of communication. The profile for every child with SLCN is different and their needs may change over time. They may have difficulty with one, some or all of the different aspects of speech, language or social communication at different times of their lives.
   
  Children and young people with an Autism Spectrum Disorder, including Asperger ’s Syndrome and Autism, are likely to have particular difficulties with social interaction. They may also experience difficulties with language, communication, social interaction and imagination, which can impact on how they relate to others.
   
  Cognition and learning
  Support for learning difficulties may be required when children and young people learn at a slower pace than their peers, even with appropriate differentiation. Learning difficulties cover a wide range of needs, including moderate learning difficulties (MLD), severe learning difficulties (SLD), where children are likely to need support in all areas of the curriculum and associated difficulties with mobility and communication, through to profound and multiple learning difficulties (PMLD), where children are likely to have severe and complex learning difficulties as well as a physical disability or sensory impairment.
   
  Specific learning difficulties (SpLD), affect one or more specific aspects of learning. This encompasses a range of conditions such as dyslexia, dyscalculia and dyspraxia.
   
  Social, emotional and mental health difficulties           
  Children and young people may experience a wide range of social and emotional difficulties which manifest themselves in many ways. These may include becoming withdrawn or isolated, as well as displaying challenging, disruptive or disturbing behaviour. These behaviours may reflect underlying mental health difficulties such as anxiety or depression, self-harming, substance misuse, eating disorders or physical symptoms that are medically unexplained. Other children and young people may have disorders such as attention deficit disorder, attention deficit hyperactive disorder or attachment disorder.
   
  Sensory and/or physical needs
  Some children and young people require special educational provision because they have a disability which prevents or hinders them from making use of the educational facilities generally provided. These difficulties can be age related and may fluctuate over time. Many children and young people with vision impairment (VI), hearing impairment (HI) or a multi-sensory impairment (MSI) will require specialist support and/or equipment to access their learning. Children and young people with an MSI have a combination of vision and hearing difficulties, which makes it even more difficult for them to access the curriculum or study programme than for those with a single sensory impairment.
   
  Some children and young people with a physical disability (PD) require additional ongoing support and equipment to access all the opportunities available to their peers.
   
   
  Q3 What is the Local Offer?
  Every Local Authority in England has a duty to provide children and young people, (0-25 years) with support if they have Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities - this is known as the Local Offer. Every Local Authority has to publish what support is available on a website: this is called the Local Offer Website.
   
  This Local Offer website gives information about the support that the local authority expects to be available across education, health and social care. The information on the website is clear and easy to find. It says who a particular service is for, how to apply, and how decisions are made about who gets that service. It includes information about the wide range of services that are available to support all areas of a child’s life (0-25 years) especially those with a Special Educational Need or Disability (SEND). This includes support with education, physical and mental health, social care, leisure activities and moving towards independence and adulthood. This is accessible: www.localofferbirmingham.co.uk
   
  Q4 How are children with SEND identified?
  At Christ the King children are identified as having SEND through a variety of ways including the following:
  • Liaison with the previous educational setting
  • Tracking information – is the child performing below age expected levels?
  • School based assessment
  • Concerns raised by parents
  • Concern raised by school staff
  • Concern raised by pupil
  • Liaison with external agencies
  • Health diagnosis

Q5 What should you do if you think your child has SEND?

At our school, we pride ourselves on building positive relationships with parents and carers. In the first instance, please talk to your child’s class teacher to raise concerns. At Christ the King Catholic Primary School the Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENDCo) is Mrs Moloney. She works with children, parents/carers, school staff and outside agencies to ensure that all our pupils special educational needs are met.

Should you have any concerns about special educational needs you can contact Mrs Moloney through the school office on 0121 464 9800 or email enquiry@christkng.bham.sch.uk

Q6 How will the school support children with SEND?

We follow the graduated response as outlined in the Code of Practice (2015). This follows an Assess, Plan, Do, Review cycle. Children with SEND have an individual pupil profile with targets set to meet their educational needs. Children will receive additional support. This is reviewed termly. The advice of outside agencies may be involved in the formulation and review of their pupil profile. Those with lots of involvement of outside agencies may require a support plan. Those with the most complex needs may have an EHC plan (assigned by SENAR).

All our teachers adapt their teaching to respond to the strengths and needs of all pupils in their class alongside rigorous and accurate assessment procedures. If they have concerns over a child’s progress they will talk to the parents regarding the need to provide specific high quality teaching to target the barrier to learning. This may be done within a small group inside the classroom or in a quieter room outside. Sometimes the class teaching assistant may provide this support under the guidance of the class teacher.

If progress is still a concern the class teacher will discuss with you their decision to involve the school’s SENDCo. The SENDCo oversees all support and progress of any child requiring support across school. Additional support may be provided by the class teacher through the use of targeted intervention. Termly meetings will be arranged to discuss and review progress towards the identified barrier to learning.  Sometimes additional meetings will also be arranged if needed. The school will need to ask your permission to involve external agencies so that a more specialist provision may be provided including specialist interventions, dependent on children’s individual needs. Under the Equality Act, schools are required to make sure that all reasonable adjustments are made to ensure equality of access to our services for pupils with SEND. See Accessibility plan. Click below

https://primarysite-prod-sorted.s3.amazonaws.com/christthekingbirmingham/UploadedDocument/c30373cfa77543a29ba13deaf434b919/christ-the-king-catholic-primary-school-accessibilty-plan-2021.pdf

Q7 What outside agencies help provide additional support for those with SEND?

The school works closely with external agencies (both in school and outside of school) to support staff training and to work with pupils in class/ withdrawal groups. These agencies currently include:

• • Educational Psychology Service (Ed Ps)
  • Pupil and School Support (PSS)
  • Communication and Autism Team (CAT)
  • School Nursing Service (School Nurses)
  • NHS Traded Services Speech and Language Therapists (SALT)
  • NHS Core Speech and Language Therapists (SALT)
  • Sensory Support (Hearing Impairment and Visual Impairment)
  • Teacher of the Deaf (Hearing Impairment)
  • Qualified Teacher of the Visual Impaired (QTVI)
  • Physical Difficulties (PDSS)
  • Occupational Therapy (OT)
  • Forward Thinking Birmingham (Child & Adolescent Mental Health Service)
  • SENDIASS (Parent Partnership)

We will always ask for your permission when we think an outside agency would support your child’s needs. We will ensure that you receive feedback about your child from the professional who has been working with them or from us.

Q8  What is the EHC process?

The school (or parents themselves) can request that the Local Authority SENAR Team carry out a statutory assessment of your child’s needs. This is a legal process which sets out the amount of support that will be provided for your child.

After the request has been made to the ‘Panel of Professionals’ with a lot of evidence of at least three ‘plan, do, review’ cycles (three terms), they will then decide whether they think your child’s needs (as described in the evidence provided) seem complex enough to need a statutory assessment. If this is the case they will ask you and all professionals involved with your child to write a report outlining your child’s needs. If they do not think your child needs this, they will ask the school to continue with the current support and we will continue to work with you to help your child make progress.

Once the reports have all been sent to SENAR, the ‘Panel of Professionals’ will decide if your child’s needs are severe, complex and lifelong. If this is the case they will write an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP). They will either ask the school to continue with the current level of support in school and also set up a meeting in school to ensure a plan is in place to ensure your child makes as much progress as possible or you may be able to look at an alternative specialist provision if a place is available.

The EHC Plan will outline the long and short term goals for your child. The school will plan what this looks like in consultation with SENAR, the agencies that have been supporting your child and the parent. EHC plans are reviewed annually.

Q9  What training do the staff in school have in relation to pupils with Special Educational Needs?

In our school, we believe that all staff should be involved in supporting pupils with special educational needs and so we make sure that staff have training to help them do this.

Our staff have all had training for Epipen, Allergies, Asthma, Epilepsy, Diabetes and First Aid. The staff who require more in-depth training have received Paediatric First Aid and Diabetes (insulin pump use). Outside agencies provide advice and training to staff when required in order to effectively meet the needs of the children in their care. The SENDCo provides whole school training for staff. The SENDCo is appropriately trained for her role and has the National SENDCo award.

Q10 How are pupils with Special Educational Needs and Disability involved in their own education?

For children and young people with SEND we use a variety of strategies to support the engagement of them in their learning through:

• Children or young people's views are sought in the creation of pupil profiles and as part of the termly review process.
• Children’s engagement with work on their targets from the continuum.
• Self-assessment at the beginning and end of learning.
• Having a range of equipment available for the children or young people to choose to use.
• Ensuring the children work with a range of different partners.
• Ensuring the children have a designated adult to go to if they need help.
• Medical alert cards.
• Visual timetables.
• Now and next boards.
• Prompt cards to promote independence.
• Personalised work stations.
• Learning breaks.
   
  Q11 How accessible is Christ the King Catholic Primary school?
  We have made every effort to ensure that we are fully compliant with legal requirements.  Our school building is quite old but has newer extensions in some parts. It has two different floor levels. The two floors are linked by a staircase. The ground floor is wheelchair friendly with a disabled toilet and ramps to the front of the school and on to the playground. On the occasion when children or adults, who are using a wheelchair need to access the school, provision has been made to use the ground floor in line with the Equality Act’s ‘reasonable adjustments’. See Accessibility plan. Click here https://primarysite-prod-sorted.s3.amazonaws.com/christthekingbirmingham/UploadedDocument/c30373cfa77543a29ba13deaf434b919/christ-the-king-catholic-primary-school-accessibilty-plan-2021.pdf
   
  Q12 How do parents of a child with Special Educational Needs make a complaint?
  If you have a complaint about the school, please contact the Head teacher, Mrs Breslin and we will do everything we can to resolve any issues arising. Our school and governing body take complaints seriously and will act upon these on an individual basis. We follow the school’s Complaints Procedure policy. Click here  https://primarysite-prod-sorted.s3.amazonaws.com/christthekingbirmingham/UploadedDocument/7f9a0ee8426748ecb674f7b5407c1b9c/complaints-policy-2014.pdf

Q13 Who can I contact for support outside of school?
 
SENDIASS (Special Educational Needs and disability Information and Support Service), formerly called Parent Partnership- www.birmingham.gov.uk/sendiass
 
This service exists to provide advice and information to parents and pupils in Birmingham. This information is designed to explain special educational needs procedures, to help you understand the law and procedures that affect you and your child, and to provide information on other issues that may be useful.
Contact the SENDIASS:
The POD,
28 Oliver Street,
Nechells,
Birmingham,
B7 4NX .
Email: sendiass@birmingham.gov.uk
Telephone: 0121 303 5004
 
 
DfE SEND Code of Practice, April 2015.
This is where the statutory framework and guidance for SEND can be found:
www.gov.uk/search?q=SEN+code+of+Practice