SEND

Special Educational Needs and Disabilities

We are committed to providing all our pupils with a broad, balanced and enriched curriculum which is accessible to all and promotes Inclusion. We value all our children and work hard to ensure that they can flourish. Our Special Educational Needs and Disability Coordinator (SENDco) advises our team to ensure that all children are happy, safe and achieving in school not only academically, but also emotionally and socially. She will also liaise with a number of external agencies to make sure the school has access to the right expertise to help the children who need extra support. Our SENDco is Miss Francessca George.

What is SEND (Special Educational needs and Disabilities)

A pupil has SEND needs if they have a learning difficulty or disability which calls for special provision to be made for them.

They have a learning difficulty or disability if they have;

• A significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others of the same age: For example, they may have dyslexia, or have language and communication difficulties.
• A disability which prevents or hinders them from making use of facilities of a kind generally provided for others of the same age in mainstream schools. For example, they may be visually-impaired, or use a wheel-chair. 

Special Educational Provision is educational or training provision that is additional to, or different from, that made generally for other children and young people of the same age by mainstream schools through our Ordinarily Available Provision.

Children with SEND needs are placed on the SEND register. Parents are always involved in the decision to add a child to the register so it should never come as a surprise. It is always the results of discussions between the teaching team, the SENDco and the family. 

Our School offers: 

Here at Luttons Community Primary Academy, we are committed to providing our pupils with a broad, balanced and enriched curriculum which is accessible to all and promotes inclusion through providing an equitable learning experience for all. 

All our pupils are included in all aspects of school life and are equally valued in school. We create environments that are safe and calm so that our pupils feel comfortable to be in school and to enable them to flourish. Our staff work closely as a team to provide consistency of approach and strategies that we have in place for our pupils.

Because all children learn in different ways, we have tailored our classroom environments so that they can meet a range of needs through our Ordinarily Available Provision. 

Where needed, our classrooms provide:

• Visual supports (including dyslexia friendly, speech and language friendly and autism friendly approaches)
• A distraction free learning zone
• Sensory Processing strategies (movement breaks, noise reducing headphones, move and sit cushions, fiddle toys etc)
• Access to multi-sensory and hands-on learning
• Use of IT and alternative methods of recording where needed
• Use of de-escalation strategies
• A Restorative Practise Approach with daily check-ins 
• A preventative rather than reactive approach
• Positive praise – and lots of it!
• Staffing ratios appropriate to the level of support needed.

What do I do if I have concerns about my child’s progress?

The first step is to talk to your child’s teacher. They may be able to help straight away. They may advise that you make an appointment to see Miss George and discuss your concerns further once they have adapted classroom provision in line with our Ordinarily Available Provisions. It may be that your child’s difficulties need extra support and equipment. We will discuss this together and decide whether your child needs to be on the SEND register.

My child is already on the SEND register:

This means that the school (or a former school) has assessed your child and you have already had discussions about their needs. Your chill will receive extra support. This can take many forms: 1:1 support, paired support, small group teaching, use of technology like Chrome books, adaptations to the environment, extra equipment like work stations, timers, ear defenders etc… 

Your child’s needs will be recorded in an Individual Education Plan (IEP). In the Autumn term, following a period of time to settle into new learning environments, you will meet with your child’s teacher to discuss targets for the year. In the Summer term, you will meet again to discuss how you child has progressed against those targets. You and your child will be involved in shaping the support plan and we will actively seek your opinions.  

My child’s needs are increasing: they are more complex and/or more severe

If despite extra support, your child is still not progressing, then it may be time to consider escalating the support and request an Education, Health and Care Plan assessment (EHCAR). The school would apply to the LEA (North Yorkshire) for extra funding because your child’s needs are too severe/complex for the school to be able to provide enough support without extra funding. 

Once the school applies for an EHCAR, the decision to award an EHCP or not resides with the SEND department at North Yorkshire County Council. We will hold a meeting where everyone involved in supporting your child will contribute. You and your child will be at the centre of this process. At the end of the meeting, a representative of the NY SEND department (ARO: Assessment Review Officer) will either recommend an EHCP or not. 

Only a minority of children in mainstream schools have an EHCP. It is a statutory plan reviewed every year. It entitles your child to extra funding but does not equate to 1:1 support. The support is expressed as an amount of Element 3 funding calculated by the Council. It will follow your child wherever they go and whatever school they attend provided the needs are still requiring extra support.

For further information, please call the school office or email admin.lut@ebor.academy

What is the Local Offer?

North Yorkshire County Council have published their local offer for children and families from 0-25. This outlines what is available for children and young people with SEND in our Local Authority. All schools are required to provide information to parents on how to seek additional support beyond that which is ‘normally available’ for their child. The main aim of the local offer is to enable families to see readily the support they can expect locally without having to struggle to find the information.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE LOCAL OFFER

https://www.northyorks.gov.uk/children-and-families/send-local-offer

Miss George is our Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCO) and can be contacted through the school office