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SEND

 

Special Educational Needs and Disabilities at St Peter's

At St Peter’s, we believe passionately that every child should be able to enjoy and succeed when learning and living life in all its fullness.  We are proud of our warm family feel and inclusive, nurturing environment- a place where every child is known and valued. 
 
We strive to nurture, inspire, support and challenge every child to know and achieve their full potential and aspirations.  We are fully committed to identifying children’s needs and best supporting them.  In collaboration with the SENCo and other agencies, our teachers are well-equipped to tailor lessons and provide activities, enabling all children to enjoy the feeling of success at St Peter’s.
 
We believe that every child deserves to flourish in life.  We aim to make every child’s journey with us a rich and fulfilling one which each child can be proud of.  If you would like to discuss any special educational needs, please contact our SENCo, Ms Stephanie Charman.  

SENCo: Ms Stephanie Charman

SEND Link Governor: Caroline Worman

The Children & Families Act 2014 defines Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) in the following way: a child or young person has SEN if they have a learning difficulty or disability which calls for special educational provision to be made for him or her.  Special educational provision involves schools providing something different from or additional to that which is routinely provided in a mainstream classroom.

Pupils who have difficulties in the following areas may have Special Educational Needs:

  • Communication and Interaction
  • Cognition and Learning
  • Sensory and / or Physical
  • Social, Emotional and Mental Health

We want our children with SEND to make at least as good progress as all children in school.  We aim to provide them with both support and challenge, enabling them to live 'life in all its fullness' and to feel like a valued, happy and motivated member of the St Peter’s school community.


We aim to:

  • Provide equality of opportunity for all our children
  • Make the full curriculum accessible to all our children
  • Recognise different learning styles, and adapt our teaching accordingly
  • Set targets suited to a child’s individual needs
  • Provide support, yet challenge the child to be independent
  • Develop enthusiastic, motivated learners regardless of their attainment level
  • Build relationships based on mutual respect
  • Encourage parents to be part of their child’s journey with us
  • Collaborate with external agencies and other members of our community
  • Prepare children to achieve their hopes, dreams and aspirations

HIGH QUALITY INCLUSIVE TEACHING

Staff at St Peter’s are driven by their passion for inclusion – it is at the heart of everything that we do.  Every teacher is a teacher of SEND, and therefore we understand that if we are getting it right for children with SEND, we are getting it right for all of our children.

High quality inclusive teaching ensures that all children are supported and challenged within the classroom environment according to their individual needs.  It also includes providing personalised provision through individual Learning Journeys and target setting.

We expect our children to have full access to the entire curriculum and adapt and resource our lessons in ALL subjects to suit the needs of our learners with SEND.  Please see our Teaching and Learning Policy for further details.

INTERVENTIONS

We believe that children learn best when taught alongside their peers by a qualified member of teaching staff.  At St Peter’s, we are also fortunate to have a team of well-trained, knowledgeable and dedicated Learning Support Assistants to support our teachers in the delivery of provision for children with SEND.  LSAs play an important role within the classroom, as part of our High Quality Inclusive Teaching, as well as planning and implementing specific interventions for our children.

Interventions include: Precision Teaching, Talk for Number, Nessy, Read Write Inc phonics, Guided Reading and TLG (Transforming Lives for Good) coaching.  This is not an exhaustive list.

PERSONALISED PROVISION

At St Peter’s, we are rightly proud of our personalised provision for children with SEND.  This provision means that every child with identified SEND receives a Learning Journey book, which sets out specific, small step targets specifically designed to enable the child to make progress.  These targets are agreed in discussion with the child, allowing them ownership over their own learning, and instilling a real sense that their opinions are important and valued.  

Progress towards the targets is recorded in the Learning Journey in a variety of ways: photographs, photocopies of children’s work, jottings by teachers and LSAs, children’s work directly written in, thoughts and reflections by any member of our school community.  Children also have the opportunity to reflect upon and assess their own learning, suggesting where they would like to go next and what they can do to achieve.  

The books are a joyful celebration of our children’s achievements, and they are very proud of these special journeys.  With a focus on the children’s dreams and aspirations, we hope to enable children to be as successful as possible on their way to achieving these.

ELSA - Emotional Literacy Support Assistant

ELSAs are emotional literacy support assistants. They are LSAs who have had special training from educational psychologists to support the emotional development of children and young people in school.  Our ELSA has regular professional supervision from educational psychologists to help support their work.  ELSA provision helps our children learn to understand their emotions and respect the feelings of those around them and provides the time and space for them to think about their personal circumstances and how they manage them.

Children are referred for ELSA by their class teachers based on observations of the child made at school.  Most ELSA programmes will last for approximately 6 weeks, during which time, the child is supported in learning specific new skills or coping strategies. Clear targets are set for the child by the ELSA and SENCO, and each session has an objective - something the ELSA wants to help the pupil understand or achieve.

School ELSAs: Mrs Collisson and Mrs Adjovi

HUMPHREY, OUR SCHOOL DOG

Humphrey, our school dog, is much more than just a pet – he and his handlers have trained hard to support him in becoming a therapy dog.  Research shows that therapy dogs can be used as calming influences for children and adults who may be anxious or in distress. There is also evidence that children who struggle with managing emotions gain a great deal from spending time with therapy animals.  Humphrey has several named handlers, who will be able to use him across the school, especially for supporting children with social and emotional needs. 

Humphrey's Owner: Mrs Mynott

Dog Mentor Lead: Mrs Burgess

TALA - Therapeutic Active Listening Assistant

A TALA Practitioner is a specially trained member of staff who can offer a young person a safe and supportive environment to talk about difficult issues in confidence. They listen to a young person’s views, experiences and feelings without judgement in an atmosphere of respect and empathy based on a secure and trusting working relationship. TALA Practitioners have regular professional supervision from Educational Psychologists, experienced Counsellors or therapists to help them with their work.


TALA is a child-led intervention and may work on any area in which the child feels they need support.  Children are referred for TALA sessions by school staff based on their knowledge and observations of the child.

School TALA: Mrs Paver

Values for all

We strive to embed our values in all areas of school life, promoting them as a guide for flourishing in life and learning.
 
As an inclusive school, we:

  • Celebrate all our children's successes. Sometimes the smallest step is the biggest joy!
  • Encourage perseverance, trying our best in all that we do and learning that hurdles are there to be jumped, not a block.
  • Value curiosity. Questions are always welcome and can lead to valuable and sometimes unexpected learning.
  • Strive for honesty, showing friendship and living our lives with integrity.
  • aim for kindness in all that we do together.

SEND Information Report and Policy

St Peter’s is a mainstream Church of England junior school.  We are an inclusive school that aims to provide for the individual needs of all children.  For full details of our SEND provision, please refer to our SEND Information Report, which can be found under our main policies page.

The following policies can also be downloaded from this page:

  • SEND Policy
  • Accessibility Plan
  • Behaviour Policy
  • Attendance Policy
  • Supporting Pupils with Medical Conditions Policy

Please click on the link below to visit our parent support page, including further information about supporting children with SEND.

 

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