Special Educational Needs (SEND)
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Assistant Head-Inclusion Manager and SENDCO: Miss S. Hussain Telephone:01582 591386 Email: admin@wardenhilljuniors.co.uk Warden Hill Junior School has taken a positive approach to improving the life chances of children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and works in line with the requirements of the Disability Discrimination Act and the Special Educational Needs Code of Practice 2014. At Warden Hill Junior School we believe in achievement, ambition and progress for all children. We aim to meet the needs of individual children through highly effective Quality First Teaching, learning and pastoral care, as mentioned in the SEND Code of Practice. There is an emphasis on early identification of needs through supportive and preventative strategies that reduce learning barriers. To read a copy of the SEND Code of Practice please click here. We strongly believe in a school/home teamwork approach. To ensure that the school meets a broad range of special educational needs, we build effective partnerships with pupils, parents/carers, relevant external professionals, and outside agencies. We have a rigorous system for monitoring children’s progress and for supporting academic and personal achievement. We use a wide range of strategies to foster a culture of lifelong learning, independent living skills for all children, and a sense of self and place. To read a copy of our SEND Policy please click here. |
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How does Warden Hill Junior School identify, assess and organise support for pupils with special educational needs?
The identification process is critical in ensuring both accurate and specific support is put in place. The various methods of effective and individualised identification of SEND include:
Vigorous tracking and monitoring of the progress of all students through:
- Data entry analysis for example reading age and Information received from the previous school
- Support staff monitoring
- Feedback and monitoring from class teachers
- SEND assessments by a SEND specialist Teacher or external agency
- Transition meetings with feeder schools and especially close links with Warden Hill Infant School
- Bespoke transition for children with high special educational needs
- Attendance at Year 2 summer term school liaison meeting at Warden Hill Infant School
- Monitoring progress through close tracking and termly meetings between class teachers and SENDCo
- Pupils may be referred to the school SENDCo at any time by class teacher or parent/carer to discuss any concerns, these will then be assessed by a specialist learning support teacher
- Transitions and visits with high schools for children in Year 6.
- Learning walks and book looks
- SEND referral forms
Student observations including assessments through:
- SEND pupil monitoring
- Specialist teachers
- Speech and Language Therapy (SALT Team)
- Occupational Therapy
- Educational psychology services
- New Horizons (SEMH Provision)
- Youth Partnership
- In School SEND assessment
Effective communication between the:
Individual child
- Pupil voice
Parents
- Parent workshops/coffee mornings
- Parents evening and meetings with SENDCO
- Contact via telephone, Parentmail and email
- Meet and greet during morning and after school handover
Other stakeholders through:
- Governor visits
- Governor reports & Presentations
- Annual reports
Skilled teachers and support staff who are trained to identify students with SEND.
Training includes:
- An SEMH specialist
- Support staff who have regular training in the key areas of need such as ASD/ADHD, SEMH etc.
- Emotional, Literacy, Support Assistant (ELSA)
- Medical Training (Epilepsy, Diabetes, Hypermobility, Epi-Pen)
- SEND specialist teacher who works with SEND children
Who are the key people at Warden Hill Junior School available to discuss concerns about pupil’s difficulties?
- Class Teacher - contact via the school office
- Miss Hussain - Assistant Head/Inclusion Manager and school SENDCo - contact via the school office
- Mrs Hughes - Family Worker and pastoral support - contact via the school office
- Mrs Nicholls- Pastoral/behaviour Lead- Contact via the school office
- Miss Waversek- Social, Emotional and mental health (SEMH) lead- Contact via the school office
How will parents/carers be informed about their child’s progress within school?
- Parent/Teacher consultation meetings
- SENDCO consultation meetings
- Termly meetings to discuss individual targets for children with special educational needs
- Termly progress report
- Annual written report to parents
- Annual review meetings for children who have Educational Health Care Plans
- Meetings with parents and external professionals when appropriate
How will progress be measured?
- Half termly assessments
- Regular reviews of individual targets
- Individual assessments with a specialist SEND teacher
What support will parents/carers receive if their child has been identified as having special educational needs?
- Support from SENDCo, Family Worker, SEMH Lead or Welfare Assistant
- Referrals to external agencies such as Edwin Lobo Pediatric Services, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMH), Youth Partnership, Speech and Language services.
- Information about local support groups such as IPS (Independent Parent Support group), FLAG (Families in Luton Autism Group), DADS (Autism group for Dads), CALM Children with Autism in Luton meetings), CHUMS (Bereavement Service for Children),
- Meetings with external professionals to discuss any reports written by them (Educational Psychology Service/ Autistic Spectrum Team etc)
- Discussion with class teacher
- Support from Social Care as required
What support is offered to ensure the well-being of pupils with special educational needs?
- Support with key staff
- Ongoing CPD for support staff
- Trained staff to administer medication
- Social skills groups and support with friendships
- Access to lunchtime clubs
- Wellbeing club
- Therapeutic Interventions
- School Council representation
- Teaching children how to stay safe
- Regular safeguarding meetings and vulnerable children’s meetings with key staff in school
- Clear procedures to address bullying, unkindness and discrimination
- Lunchtime adult support for vulnerable children
- Support from relevant external agencies
- ELSA- Emotional Literacy Support Assistant
- Access to the Nurture room, The Harbour, for therapeutic intervention.
How will teaching be adapted to support pupils with special educational needs?
- Class teachers will provide pupils with a relevant and suitable curriculum which is adapted to meet the needs of all children, including those with an EHC plan
- Targets for special needs children will build on previous learning
- Parents/carers will be involved in setting and reviewing individual targets through termly meetings
- Children will have individual support or small group support as appropriate
- Advice given by external professionals will inform targets and classroom practice
- We ensure great focus on improving phonics, reading, writing, communication, maths and Independent skills.
What different types of support can pupils receive in school
- Evidence-based interventions for:
- Maths, English, social communication, Emotional Literacy Support Assistant (ELSA)
- Children with Educational Health Care Plans will receive personalised support for the required hours
- Emotional Literacy support Assistant
- Zones of regulation
- Anger/self-esteem workshops
- Small group support for English and maths in class
- Read Write Inc phonics intervention
- Intervention groups for children not achieving their targets/potential
- Social skills groups
- 1:1 Pastoral support
- Lego therapy
- Talking Partners intervention
- Magic Words -(SALT)
- Regular home school liaison
- Key workers are allocated for children who need access to 1:1 emotional support
- Specialist equipment following advice from external professional
- Emotional, behavioural and social support from the wellbeing Team.
- Intervention or assessment may be carried out by:
- SENDCo/Mental Health Lead - Miss Hussain
- Specialist teaching staff – Mrs Taylor (BA QTS, Diploma in Specific Learning Difficulties)
- Clinical Psychologist – Dr Caroline Goldstein
- Family Worker – Mrs Hughes (NVQ 2, Diploma in Communication Studies for the Deaf, Level 2 Sign Language, Certificate in Counselling Studies)
- Teaching Assistants (NVQ Level 1, 2 or 3)
- SEMH Lead- Miss Waversek
How will pupils be supported in unstructured times such as lunchtimes and playtimes and enable access to after school clubs and school trips?
- Trained midday supervisors who set up games and activities
- Allocated Teaching assistants for vulnerable/high SEND need/EHCP children
- A range of play equipment provided
- Access for some pupils to lunchtime clubs
- A designated quiet area on the school playground
- Children are supported on school trips as necessary either 1:1 or in small groups
- Risk assessments are carefully carried out when planning school trips
- Adaptations to the arrangements for school trips can be made based on the needs of individual pupils and through discussion with parents when appropriate
How does Warden Hill Junior School involve pupils in decisions that affect them?
The child is kept at the heart of everything we do; we will obtain the views of a child when we discuss their education and provision through:
- Seeking pupil’s views before Annual Reviews of Education Health Care Plans and inviting them to attend a part of the meeting
- Sharing individual education plan targets with pupils
- Capturing pupil voice as part of their Pupil Passport formation
- Capturing pupil voice as part of our monitoring process
- Pupils complete an annual pupil survey
- Representation on the School Council and other leadership roles
- Pupil progress meetings
- SEND pupil surveys
How does Warden Hill Junior School allocate resources to support pupils with special educational needs?
- The school receives funding from the Local Authority for children with special educational needs
- Extra funding is provided if a child has an Education, Health Care Plan
- Specialist equipment and resources are purchased as necessary
- Specialist services are bought in, E.g., from the Local Authority (such as Educational Psychology) and private providers
- Teaching Assistant time is allocated to support children with special educational needs
- SENDCo manages and monitors the special needs provision within school and reports to Governors termly
What external services do we use to support our work with children who have special educational needs?
- Educational Psychology Service
- Speech and Language Therapists
- Behaviour Support Service
- Social and Communication Difficulties Team
- Child and Adult Mental Health Service
- Edwin Lobo Child Development Centre
- Hearing Impaired outreach team
- Visually Impaired outreach team
- Lady Zia Wernher outreach team
- School Nursing Service and Specialist nursing team
- Behaviour support via alternative provision at “New Horizons” at Chantry Primary School
- Other alternative learning provisions as required
Parents are always consulted before a child is referred to any of the above services.
How are staff at Warden Hill Junior School trained and supported to work with pupils who have special educational needs?
- Staff receive training from relevant education and health care professionals to meet pupils’ physical and medical needs
- Whole staff training is regularly delivered to support specific aspects of special needs as required by the SENDCo or an external professional
- All staff have annual safeguarding training
- There is regular specific training for support staff, e.g., phonics, ASD/ADHD, zones of regulation, social stories, epilepsy, de-escalation training, adaptive teaching strategies delivered by specialist staff/curriculum leads.
- Outreach work with external agencies supports the expertise that children access the curriculum.
- ECT teachers or those new to teaching receive training and support from the school SENDCo or SEND specialist support.
How will Warden Hill Junior School support pupils moving to another school?
- Transition meetings with high school colleagues
- Good systems for passing on relevant information to the next school
- Transition plans for the most vulnerable pupils
- Arranging and accompanying pupils on extra transition visits
- Supporting SENAT for the transition of EHCP children
How accessible is Warden Hill Junior School?
- People using wheelchairs can access most of the school building, apart from upstairs classrooms and the ICT suite
- There is one toilet for people with physical disabilities, including shower facilities, close to reception
- Adaptations can be made for pupils who are visually or hearing impaired
- We have a range of staff who can translate for parents /carers when English is not their first language
To read a copy of our Accessibility Plan please click here.
Who can parents/carers contact for further information?
If parents of children with Special Education Needs and Disability (SEND) have a complaint about the support the school provided, they should contact Miss Hussain (Inclusion and Special Needs and Disability Lead) via the school office.
- Class Teacher - contact via the school office
- Inclusion Manager/SENDCo - Miss Hussain - contact via the school office
- Family Worker - Mrs Hughes - contact via the school office
- Office Staff (01582 591386)
- Local Authority Admissions Team
- Local Authority Special Needs Assessment Team (SENAT)
- The Luton Local Authority Offer for children with special educational needs can be accessed by clicking on this link.
- SENDIAS - Luton's Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Information Advice Service - a free, confidential and impartial service that can be accessed by
- clicking on this link.
Where is the school's contribution to the Local Offer and where is it published?
- Local authority website Luton’s Local Offer SEND information hub | Luton Directory
- Liaison between school & Special Educational Needs Assessment Team at Luton Borough Council.
Further external advice and support
Below are links where you can find more information and support on the different areas of need. Click on the links.
Speech and Language Bedfordshire
Children & Young Peoples Mental Health
Luton and Bedfordshire Community Pediatrics
Occupational Therapy Service- Children's Social Care
Mental Health and emotional wellbeing
Behaviour and emotional wellbeing CHUMS
English as an additional need guidance for parents- The Bell Foundation