Here at Anthony Bek, we are a big, happy family. Recently, we have introduced Makaton signing across school, as a way of being more inclusive so that we can communicate with our friends who don't yet have words. 

In assembly, we now all learn a 'sign of the week'. The children love to learn Makaton signs and I am so pleased that I have seen them being used around school.

Below are some great resources which can help you and your children to communicate using Makaton.

https://singinghands.co.uk/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9aWjVNdykw

https://makaton.org/TMC/TMC/Membership/Membership.aspx?hkey=b759c330-f716-4b4f-82f3-60d1a7a65dc3

The Neuro Hub in Chesterfield are running a series of parent workshops in May, June and July, delivered by the Educational Psychology Service.

The Graduated Approach

All pupils at Anthony Bek Community Primary school will be provided with high quality teaching that is differentiated to meet the diverse needs of all learners. There are 3 stages of support that outline the provision that we provide for our pupils.

Universal Support is the effective inclusion of all pupils in high-quality everyday personalised teaching. Such teaching will, for example, be based on clear objectives that are shared with the pupils and returned to at the end of the lesson; carefully explained new vocabulary; use of lively, interactive teaching styles that make maximum use of visual and kinaesthetic as well as auditory/verbal learning. Approaches like these are the best way to reduce, from the start, the number of pupils who need extra help with their learning or behaviour.

Targeted Support is a specific, additional and time limited intervention provided for some pupils who need help to accelerate their progress to enable them to work at or above age-related expectations. Universal interventions are often targeted at a group of pupils with similar needs.

Specialist Support is targeted provision for a minority of pupils where it is necessary to provide highly tailored intervention to accelerate progress or enable pupils to achieve their potential. This may include one to one or specialist interventions.

Each wave is broken down into four further categories of provision

SEND Information Report

Anthony Bek Community Primary and Nursery School strives to be an inclusive and supportive environment that ensures every pupil, regardless of their unique needs, can access a high-quality education and reach their full potential. Anthony Bek Community Primary and Nursery School endeavours to ensure that children with SEND are fully integrated into the school community. We consistently aim to promote a culture of respect, empathy, and understanding within the school community, where differences are celebrated, and discrimination is not tolerated.

We aim to implement effective assessment and monitoring systems to track the progress of pupils with SEND and adjust support as needed. We strive to identify and address, SEND needs as early as possible to provide well-timed and effective support. Collaboration is key at Anthony Bek Community Primary and Nursery School and we encourage collaboration among teachers, support staff, parents, and external specialists to create a cohesive support system for children with SEND. By involving parents and caregivers in the educational journey of their children, we can seek their input and collaboration in decision-making. We continually aim to invest in professional development for staff to equip them with the knowledge and skills needed to support children with SEND effectively. Anthony Bek Community Primary and Nursery School commits to ongoing evaluation and improvement of SEND provision to adapt to changing needs and educational best practices. 

Our SENDCo is Charlotte Barnes, she can be contacted at:

c.barnes@anthonybek.derbyshire.sch.uk 

Mrs Barnes works closely with children, teachers, teaching assistants and parent/carers alongside other agencies that may need to be involved. She guides and supports colleagues to ensure high quality teaching for children with SEND and also supports families to guide them through their child’s education and give them any support they may need. Our Head Teacher, Mrs Donna-Marie Johnson has overarching responsibility for overseeing the provision for children with SEND and works closely with the SENDCo. Our SEND governor is Mr Mick Gamble; it is his role to keep the governors informed about Special Educational Needs provision at Anthony Bek Community Primary and Nursery School. Governors are also responsible for making sure any new requirements set out by the Local Education Authority or the Government are followed and implemented and that all SEND children are making progress and being supported.

What is the definition of SEND?

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 him or her. A child of compulsory school age or a young person has a learning difficulty or disability if he or she: a) has a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others of the same age; or b) has 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. For children aged two or more, special educational provision is educational or training provision that is additional to or different from that made generally for other children or young people of the same age by mainstream schools, maintained nursery schools, mainstream post-16 institutions or by relevant early years providers.

 (Definitions of special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) taken from section 20 of the Children and Families Act, 2014.)

How do we ensure that children with SEND access the curriculum?

Pupils with SEND will be given access to the curriculum through the specialist SEND provision provided by the school as is necessary, as far as possible, taking into account the wishes of parents and the needs of the individual. Every effort will be made to educate pupils with SEND alongside their peers in a mainstream classroom setting. Where this is not possible, the SENDCo will consult with the child’s parents for other flexible arrangements to be made.

Our Accessibility Plan details how we:

Increases the extent to which pupils with disabilities can participate in the curriculum.

Improves the school's physical environment to enable pupils with disabilities to participate fully.

Improves the delivery of information to pupils with disabilities so that it is readily available. 

Regular training and learning opportunities for staff on the subject of SEND and SEND teaching are provided in school. Staff members are kept up to date with teaching methods which will aid the progress of all pupils including those with SEND through continual professional development. Provision and support are deployed effectively to ensure the curriculum is differentiated where necessary. We make sure that individual or group tuition is available where it is felt pupils would benefit from this provision. We set appropriate individual targets that motivate pupils to do their best and celebrate achievements at all levels. SEND provision and interventions are monitored and updated every half term. These are updated by the class teacher and are monitored by the SENDCo. These reflect information passed on by the SENDCo and previous class teachers at the beginning of an academic year and are adapted following assessments. These interventions are monitored and evaluated half termly by the class teacher and information is fed back to the SENDCo. This helps to identify whether provision is effective.

Meeting the needs of all pupils

At Anthony Bek Community Primary and Nursery School, we make appropriate provision to overcome all barriers to learning and ensure pupils with SEND have full access to the National Curriculum. This will be coordinated by the SENDCo and Headteacher and will be carefully monitored and regularly reviewed in order to ensure that individual targets are being met and all pupils’ needs are catered for. We work with, and in support of, outside agencies when the pupils’ needs cannot be met by the school alone. Some of these services include Sensory and Physical Support Service, Educational Psychology Service, Speech and Language Therapy (SaLT), Children and Adult Mental Health Service (CAMHS).

At Anthony Bek Community Primary and Nursery School, we are confident that our classrooms are inclusive and use a Quality First Teaching Approach to meet the needs of all learners. However, there may be some children with SEND who still need more targeted or specialist support. Any pupils who are falling significantly outside of the range of expected academic achievement in line with predicted performance indicators and grade boundaries will be monitored. Once a pupil has been identified as possibly having SEND they will be closely monitored by staff in order to gauge their level of learning and possible difficulties. The child’s class teacher will take steps to provide differentiated learning opportunities that will aid the pupil’s academic progression and enable the teacher to better understand the provision and teaching style that needs to be applied. The SENDCo will be consulted as needed for support and advice and may wish to observe the pupil in class. It can then be determined which level of provision the child will need going forward. If a pupil has recently been removed from the SEND register they may also fall into this category as continued monitoring will be necessary. Parents will be informed at every stage of their child’s development and the circumstances under which they are being monitored will be shared. Parents are encouraged to share information and knowledge with the school. The child is recorded by the school as being under observation due to concern by parent or teacher but this does not automatically place the child on the school’s SEND register. Any concerns will be discussed with parents informally or during parents’ evenings. Parents’ evenings are used to monitor and assess the progress being made by children. If your child is placed on the SEND register you will be invited for additional parent consultations 3 times per year.

What is the process once a child is placed on the SEND register?

Where it is determined that a pupil does have SEND, parents will be formally advised of this and the decision will be added to the SEND register. The aim of formally identifying a pupil with SEND is to help school ensure that effective provision is put in place and so remove barriers to learning. The support provided consists of a four-part process: Assess, Plan, Do, Review. This is an ongoing cycle to enable the provision to be refined and revised as the understanding of the needs of the pupil grows. This cycle enables the identification of those interventions which are the most effective in supporting the pupil to achieve good progress and outcomes.

Assess: This involves clearly analysing the pupil’s needs using the class teacher’s assessment and experience of working with the pupil, details of previous progress and attainment, comparisons with peers and national data, as well as the views and experience of parents. The pupil’s views and where relevant, advice from external support services will also be considered. Any parental concerns will be noted and compared with the school’s information and assessment data on how the pupil is progressing. This analysis will require regular review to ensure that support and intervention is matched to need, that barriers to learning are clearly identified and being overcome and that the interventions being used are developing and evolving as required. Where external support staff are already involved, their work will help inform the assessment of need. Where they are not involved, they may be contacted, if this is felt to be appropriate, following discussion and agreement from parents.

Plan: Planning will involve consultation between the teacher, SENDCo and parents to agree the adjustments, interventions and support that are required; the impact on progress, development and or behaviour that is expected and a clear date for review. Parental involvement may be sought, where appropriate, to reinforce or contribute to progress at home. All those working with the pupil, including support staff, will be informed of their individual needs, the support that is being provided, any particular teaching strategies/approaches that are being employed and the outcomes that are being sought.

Do: The class teacher remains responsible for working with the child on a day-to-day basis. They will retain responsibility even where the interventions may involve group or one-to-one teaching away from the main class teacher. They will work closely with teaching assistants and to plan and assess the impact of support and interventions and links with classroom teaching. Support with further assessment of the pupil’s strengths and weaknesses, problem solving and advising of the implementation of effective support will be provided by the SENDCo.

Review: Reviews of a child’s progress will be made regularly. The SENDCo will meet with all teachers termly. The review process will evaluate the impact and quality of the support and interventions. It will also take account of the views of the pupil and where necessary their parents. The class teacher, in conjunction with the SENDCo, will revise the support and outcomes based on the pupil’s progress and development making any necessary amendments going forward, in consultation with parents and the pupil.

What is an EHCP and what is the process?

If a child has lifelong or significant difficulties, they may undergo a Statutory Assessment Process which is usually requested by the school but can be requested by a parent. This will occur where the complexity of need or a lack of clarity around the needs of the child are such that a multi-agency approach to assessing that need, to planning provision and identifying resources, is required. The decision to make a referral for an Education, Health and Care Plan will be taken at a progress review. The application for an Education, Health and Care Plan will combine information from a variety of sources including parents, teachers, SENDCo, Social Care (if applicable) and health professionals. Information will be gathered relating to the current provision provided, action points that have been taken, and the preliminary outcomes of targets set. A decision will be made by a group of people from education, health and social care about whether or the child is eligible for an EHC Plan. Parents have the right to appeal against a decision not to initiate a statutory assessment leading to an EHC Plan. Further information about EHC Plans can found via the SEND Local Offer http://www.derbyshiresendlocaloffer.org/ Special Educational Needs and Disabilities, by contacting the Parent Partnership Service on 01629 533660 or https://www.derbyshireiass.co.uk/home.aspx

What is the Local Offer?

The SEND Local Offer is a resource which is designed to support children and young people with special educational needs and/or disabilities and their families. It describes the services and provision that are available both to those families in Derbyshire that have an Education, Health and Care Plan and those who do not have a plan, but still experience some form of special educational need. The SEND Local Offer includes information about public services across education, health and social care, as well as those provided by the private, voluntary and community sectors. Derbyshire’s Local Offer is available at: https://www.localoffer.derbyshire.gov.uk/home.aspx

What training is available to staff at Anthony Bek Community Primary and Nursery School?

We aim to keep all school staff up to date with relevant training and developments in teaching practice in relation to the needs of pupils with SEND. The SENDCo attends relevant SEND courses and facilitates/signposts relevant SEND focused external training opportunities for all staff. We recognise the need to train all our staff on SEND. The SENDCo, with the Senior Leadership Team, ensures that training opportunities are matched to school development priorities and those identified through the use of provision management.

Links to Support Services

The school continues to build strong working relationships and links with external support services in order to support our SEND pupils and aid school inclusion. Sharing knowledge and information with our support services is key to the effective and successful SEND provision within our school. Support services work cohesively with school staff. Support services can also provide relevant and regular CPD for staff. Some of the support services that we see regularly in school both to support individual children and to provide training and advice are; SSSEN, Speech and Language Therapists, Educational Psychology, The Derbyshire Sensory and Physical Support Service, Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy and Early Help. 

Further information can be found on the Derbyshire Information Advice and Support Service for SEND website at:

https://www.derbyshireiass.co.uk/home.aspx 

Complaints Procedure

If a parent or carer has any concerns or complaints regarding the care or welfare of their child, an appointment can be made by them to speak to the Headteacher or SENDCo, who will be able to advise on formal procedures for complaint. The school’s SEND Governor may be contacted at any time in relation to SEND matters.