SEND Information Report for Parents & Carers
Introduction & Aim:
The aim of this SEND Information Report is to explain how we implement our SEND policy. In other words, we want to show you how special educational needs support works in our school.
If you want to know more about our arrangements for SEND, read our SEND policy.
You can find the SEND Policy on the Oak Partnership Trust website: TOP SEND Policy
You can ask a member of staff to send you a copy of the policy.
Note: If there are any terms we’ve used in this information report that you’re unsure of, you can look them up in the Glossary at the end of the report.
What types of SEN does the school provide for?
Our school provides for pupils with the following needs:
Area of need: | Description: |
Cognition and Learning | This area relates to children who have learning difficulties, meaning they may find it harder to process and understand information. This can include conditions like dyslexia (difficulty reading and writing), dyscalculia (difficulty with numbers), or more general processing difficulties. |
Communication and Interaction | This includes children who have difficulties with speaking, understanding others, or socialising. They might find it hard to express themselves clearly, understand language, or interact with other children or adults in social settings. Conditions like Autism often fall under this category. |
Social, Emotional and Mental Health | Children with SEMH needs might experience emotional difficulties or behavioral challenges. They could struggle with regulating their emotions, dealing with stress, or managing relationships with others. This category includes conditions like anxiety or depression. |
Sensory and/or physical | This area includes children with physical disabilities or sensory impairments, such as difficulty seeing or hearing. It can also include children who have conditions that affect their movement, coordination, or require extra support to manage daily tasks. |
Which staff will support my child, and what training have they had?
Our special educational needs co-ordinator, or SENCO:
The SENCo at West Monkton Primary School is: Mrs. Kate Prinn (4 days per week).
Mrs. Prinn is a qualified Teacher. She has 9-years-experience as a SENCO and holds the National Award for SEND Coordination (NASEND). Before becoming a SENCo, Mrs. Prinn was a Primary School Teacher for 17 years.
Mrs. Prinn is supported by Mrs. Carly Anderson (2 days per week). Mrs. Anderson is a qualified teacher and SENCo and is currently SENCo at Stoke St. Gregory Primary School.
You can contact the SENCo at West Monkton Primary School by:
Tel: 01823 412582
Email: office@wm.oak.education
Class Teachers:
All our teachers hold degrees and ‘qualified teacher status’ (QTS) - or are working towards this qualification. Teachers receive SEND training and are supported by the SENCo, Senior Leaders, and a wide range of external agencies and professionals, to meet the needs of children who have SEND.
Teaching assistants (TAs) :
We have a team of 27 TAs (some full-time and some part-time), including 4 higher-level teaching assistants (HLTAs) who are trained to deliver provision for children with SEND.
The school employs teaching assistants who are trained to deliver interventions such as:
Teaching Assistants | Intervention Training |
Mrs. Roberts, Miss Taylor and Mrs. Gallagher | Individualised Literacy Intervention (ILI) |
Polly Skene, Mrs. Roberts, Mrs. Powell, Miss. Lunn | Lego Therapy |
Polly Skene, Vic Bimson, Mrs. Powell | Emotional Literacy Support Assistant (ELSA) |
Mrs. Enright | Emotional Literacy Support Assistant (ELSA) |
In the last academic year, the school have trained an additional: Emotional Literacy Support Assistant (ELSA). The school has also trained additional TAs to deliver: Lego Therapy.
External agencies and experts:
Sometimes we need extra help to offer the children at our school the support they need. Whenever necessary we will work with external support services to meet the needs of children with SEND and to support their families. These include:
Speech and language therapists
Educational psychologists
Assistant educational psychologists
Access to Inclusion: Advisory Teachers
Somerset Vision Team: Advisory Teachers
Somerset Hearing Team: Advisory Teachers
Occupational therapists
GPs or paediatricians
School nurses
Health Visitors
Taunton Deane Partnership College: Specialist Social, Emotional and Mental Health Support: Advisory Teachers, HLTAs,
Alternative Provision: Otterhead Forest School, Player Ready, Conquest Equestrian, Tubers
Selworthy Special School
Play Therapists
SASP: Mentor Scheme
Parent and Family Support Advisors (PFSAs)
Family Intervention Service (FIS)
Mental Health Support Team (MHST): Mental health support advisors
Child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS)
Education welfare officers
Social services and other local authority (LA)-provided support services
Physiotherapists
Specialist Nurses: Diabetes, Catheter Care and Gastrostomy Care
Josephine’s Star: Specialist bereavement support
Voluntary sector organisations
Safe Families
Link LDA: Somerset Key Worker Service
Route 1: Child Advocates
What should I do if I think my child has SEND?
If you think your child might have SEND, the first thing you should do is tell their class teacher (you can also contact the SENCo directly). You can contact your child’s class teacher, or the SENCo, by:
Tel: 01823 412582
Email: office@wm.oak.education
Step | Who it will involve: | What they will do: |
1. Assess Plan | Child Parent / Carer Class Teacher (SENCo) | Your child’s Class Teacher will arrange to meet with you to discuss your concerns and try to get a better understanding of what your child’s strengths and difficulties are. They will then work with you, and your child, to decide what outcomes to seek for your child and what the next steps should be. They will ask for help and support from the SENCo as necessary. Your child’s teacher will make a note of what’s been discussed in your child’s record. |
2. Do | Child Parent / Carer Class Teacher (SENCo) | Your child’s class teacher will then work with you to support your child to achieve the outcomes identified in the meeting. If needed, the class teacher can seek additional help / advice from the other teachers in the school, or the SENCo. |
3. Review | Child Parent / Carer Class Teacher (SENCo) | After this, in discussion with you and your child, your child’s class teacher will review progress towards achieveing the outcomes set. At this point, your child’s class teacher may recommend that they contact the SENCo for further advice and support. |
4. Assess Plan | Child Parent / Carer Class Teacher (SENCo) | The SENCo will then work with you, your child, and their Class Teacher to find out a little more about your child’s strengths and needs. Together, you will agree the next outcomes for your child and the provision necessary to meet those outcomes. The SENCo will make a note of what’s been discussed in your child’s record. |
5. Do | Child Parent / Carer Class Teacher (SENCo) | Your child’s class teacher will then work with you to support your child to achieve the outcomes identified in the meeting. If needed, the class teacher can seek additional help / advice from the other teachers in the school, or the SENCo. |
6. Review | Child Parent / Carer Class Teacher (SENCo) | After this, in discussion with you and your child, your child’s class teacher will review progress towards achieveing the outcomes set. |
If, together, we decide that your child needs ‘SEND Support’ we will ask your consent to add their name to the school’s SEND register.
SEND Support is the extra help and resources provided to children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) to help them succeed. This support is personalised to meet each child's needs. It can include things like:
Special teaching strategies or resources (like extra time on tasks or visual aids)
Intervention support from teaching assistants or external professionals / agencies (such as Speech Therapists or ELSAs)
Adjustments in the classroom, like quieter spaces or different ways of learning
The goal of SEND Support is to ensure that every child, regardless of their SEND needs, has the opportunity to learn, grow, and reach their full potential.
The SEND Register is a list that schools keep of all the children who have Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). It helps teachers, the SENCo, and Senior Leaders, keep track of which children need extra support or adjustments in their learning. It helps to make sure that children with specific needs get the right kind of help and support. The SEND register helps everyone involved in the child’s education stay organised and focused on giving the best support possible.
How will the school know if my child needs SEN support?
All our class teachers are aware of SEND and are on the lookout for any pupils who aren’t making the expected level of progress in their development in any of the four broad areas of need (see above). This might include: difficulties with learning, struggling with friendships or managing emotions, difficulties hearing / seeing, or difficulties with sensory processing.
If a teacher notices that a child is struggling to make progress, they try to find out if the child has any gaps in their learning or development. If they can find a gap, they will give the child extra support to try to fill it. Children who don’t have SEND usually make progress quickly once the gap in their learning or development has been filled.
If, after some extra support, the child is still struggling to make the expected progress, the teacher will talk to the SENCO. They will also contact you to discuss your child’s strengths and needs and how we can work together to support them to make progress.
The SENCo may do the following things to help them find out a little more about your child’s strengths and needs and how best to support them:
Talk to the child
Observe them in class or on the playground
Look at their work in class
Do some assessments
Look at your child’s progress and development over-time in relation to their peers and available national data
With your agreement, ask for advice from external agencies / professionals – e.g. occupational therapists / advisory teachers etc.
Based on all of this information, the SENCO, in discussion with you and your child’s class teacher, will decide whether your child needs SEND support (see above).
If your child does need SEND support, with your consent, their name will be added to the school’s SEND register (see above). Your child’s class teacher will work with you, your child, and the SENCo, to create an ‘Individual Education Plan,’ and ‘Adaptations Passport,’ to support your child at school.
How will the school measure my child’s progress?
We will follow the ‘graduated approach’ to meeting your child’s SEN needs. The graduated approach is a 4-part cycle of: Assess, Plan, Do, Review.
Assess
If your child is not making the expected level of progress, we will make an assessment to find out what strengths and difficulties your child has. We will ask for input from you and your child, as well as getting help from external professionals where necessary.
Plan
In discussion with you and your child, we will decide what outcomes we are hoping to achieve. We will make a plan of the support we will offer your child to help them meet those outcomes. We will make a record of this and share it with you and all relevant school staff.
Do
We will put our plan into practice. The class teacher, with the support of the SENCO, will be responsible for working with your child on a daily basis, and making sure the support we put in place is having the impact we intended.
Review
We will assess how well the support we put in place helped the child to meet the outcomes we set. We will use our improved understanding of your child’s needs to improve the support we offer.
The graduated approach starts with an assessment of your child’s strengths and needs. We can then use the assessment information to ‘plan’ next steps. We will work with you and your child to decide which outcomes we would like your child to work towards and how we will support them to achieve those outcomes.
Whenever we ‘do’ an intervention with your child, we will assess them at the start and end of the intervention. We do this so we can see how much impact the intervention has on your child’s progress. During the ‘do’ phase of the graduated response, we will track your child’s progress towards the outcomes we set over time. We will change, and improve, our support offer, as we learn what best supports your child to achieve the outcomes set at the ‘plan’ stage.
At the end of the ‘do’ phase, your child’s progress towards the outcomes set will be ‘reviewed’.
After the ‘review’ the graduated response (assess-plan-do-review) begins again. This process is continual. If the ‘review’ shows a pupil has made progress, they may no longer need the additional provision made through SEND support. For others, the cycle will continue and the outcomes, strategies and provisions will be revisited and refined over-time.
How will I be involved in decisions made about my child’s education?
We know that you’re the expert when it comes to your child’s strengths, needs and aspirations and how best to help them. The Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Code of Practice (DfE: 2014) sets out the central role that you, and your child, should have in making decisions about their education. We want to make sure you have a full understanding of how we’re trying to meet your child’s needs, and value your insight into the best ways to support your child at home and school.
We want to hear from you as much as possible, so that we can build a picture of how the SEND support we are providing is impacting your child outside of school. If your child’s strengths, needs, or aspirations, change at any time, please let us know right away so we can keep our provision as relevant as possible.
After any discussion we will make a record of any outcomes, actions and support that have been agreed. This record will be shared with all relevant staff.
If you have concerns that arise between contacts, please contact your child’s class teacher, or the SENCo:
Tel: 01823 412582
Email: office@wm.oak.education
Teachers will provide an annual report on your child’s progress. In addition, your child’s class teacher will meet with you at least twice a year, at parent / carer consultation evenings, to:
Set clear outcomes for your child’s progress
Review progress towards those outcomes
Discuss the support we will put in place to help your child make progress
Identify what we will do, what we will ask you to do, and what we will ask your child to do
This will be recorded in your child’s ‘Individual Education Plan’ (IEP) and ‘Adaptations Passport’.
In addition, you can arrange to speak to / meet with your child’s class teacher, and / or the SENCo, at any time:
Tel: 01823 412582
Email: office@wm.oak.education
How will my child be involved in decisions made about their education?
Your child’s views are a vital part of decisions made about their education. We will work with your child to help them communicate their views in a way that is appropriate for their age and their strengths and needs. This could include:
An observation of a child to explore their likes / dislikes at school.
A ‘sorting’ activity using symbols / pictures / objects to help them communicate their likes / dislikes.
A discussion with an adult they know well using their preferred method of communication - e.g. spoken language / sign / visuals / technological support.
Completing a survey / questionnaire.
Making a power point presentation to be shared at a meeting.
Drawing a picture to be shared at a meeting.
How will the school adapt its teaching for my child?
Your child’s teacher is responsible, and accountable, for the progress and development of all the children in their class.
High-quality first teaching is always our first step in responding to your child’s needs. We will make sure that your child has access to a broad and balanced curriculum that is ‘adapted’ and ‘differentiated’ to meet their needs. We will change how we teach to suit the way your child learns best. There is no '1-size-fits-all’ approach to adapting, or differentiating, the curriculum for children with SEND. Teachers work on a case-by-case basis to make sure the adaptations, and / or differentiations, they make are effective for your child.
Our school site is fully wheel-chair accessible. We have 2 accessible toilets, a changing bed, a therapy bed and a hoist.
Our Accessibility Plan sets out how we are continually working to improve access to all aspects of school life for children with SEND.
You can read the school’s Accessibility Plan here: Accessibility Policy and Plan
Adaptations may include:
Differentiating our curriculum to make sure all children are able to access it, for example, by grouping, 1-to-1 work, adapting the teaching style, content of the lesson, and / or resources etc.
Differentiating our teaching, for example, giving longer processing times, pre-teaching of key vocabulary, reading instructions aloud, providing visuals etc.
Adapting our resources and staffing
Using recommended resources, such as laptops, coloured overlays, visual timetables, larger font, etc.
Teaching assistants will support children 1:1, in small-groups, and as part of a whole class.
The school may also provide the following research-based interventions:
Name of Intervention | Purpose of Intervention |
Individualised Literacy Intervention (ILI) | ILI is designed to provide a high level of support for children who struggle with key skills in reading and spelling. |
Nessy Intervention: Nessy Reading and Spelling (Age: 6-11) | Individualised, highly-structured, sequential, cumulative and systematic, phonics-based learning program that progresses to fluency. |
Nessy Intervention: Nessy Hairy Reading (Ages: 4-6) | Individualised, structured phonics reading program with decodable books. |
Nessy Intervention: Nessy Number Sense (Ages: 4-8) | Teaches early maths skills using a structured and systematic learning development. |
Nessy Intervention: Nessy Fingers (Ages: 7-12) | Individualised approach to teaching touch typing and spelling. |
Nessy Intervention: Nessy Writing Beach (Ages: 7-14) | Individualised, and structured, approach to practicing sentence construction, conjunctions and punctuation. |
Colourful Semantics | This is a research-based, visual way to help children improve their language skills, especially when it comes to forming sentences and understanding how words work together. This can be especially helpful for children who have difficulty with speaking or understanding language. |
Lego Therapy | Lego Therapy is designed to support children to develop skills in social communication and interaction. |
Emotional Literacy Support Assistant (ELSA) | ELSAs work to help children recognise, and name, their emotions. They also help children to develop strategies to manage their emotions. |
Talkabout: Theory of Mind | This intervention helps children understand, and think about, other people's feelings, thoughts, and perspectives. It’s designed to support children who may find it difficult to recognise how others feel, or what they might be thinking, which is a key skill for getting along with others and building strong relationships. |
Friendship Terrace | Friendship Terrace is an intervention program designed to help children develop social skills and build positive relationships with their peers. It focuses on teaching children how to make friends, communicate effectively, and understand social cues, such as body language and facial expressions. |
Super Girls | This intervention program designed to help girls build confidence, improve their self-esteem, and develop positive social skills. It focuses on empowering girls by helping them recognise their strengths, manage emotions, and develop healthy relationships with others. |
Friendship Matters | Friendship Matters is an intervention program designed specifically to help girls improve their social skills and build strong, positive friendships. It focuses on teaching girls how to communicate effectively, manage conflicts, and understand each other's feelings. |
These interventions are part of our contribution to Somerset’s Local Offer. You can explore Somerset’s Local Offer for children with SEND here: Somerset's SEND Local Offer
How will the school evaluate whether the support in place is helping my child?
We will evaluate the effectiveness of provision for your child through:
- Reviewing their progress towards the outcomes set out on their IEP each term
- Reviewing the impact of interventions through ‘start’ and ‘end’ data
- Talking to you, and your child, about how effective you feel the support has been
- Using pupil questionnaires
- Monitoring by the SENCo / Senior Leaders
- Completing assessment / screening tests
- Use of standardised assessments.
- Observations by the SENCo / Senior Leaders / Class Teacher
- Feedback from TAs
- Feedback from external agencies and pro
- Holding an annual review (if they have an education, health and care plan (EHCP).
How will the school resources be secured for my child?
It may be that your child’s needs mean we need to secure:
Extra equipment or facilities
More teaching assistant hours
Further training for our staff
External specialist expertise
If that’s the case, we will consult with external agencies and professionals to get recommendations on what will best help your child access their learning.
If your child has an EHCP, the Local Authority will allocate additional ‘High Needs Funding’ to facilitate the provision set out in Section F of their EHCP.
How will the school make sure my child is included in activities alongside pupils who don’t have SEND?
All children are encouraged to take part in every aspect of school life. We will make every effort to make reasonable adjustments that are needed to enable all children to take part in any activity.
How does the school make sure the admissions process is fair for pupils with SEN or a disability?
We believe that the admissions criteria should not discriminate against children with SEND and no child will ever be refused admission to our school(s) because they have a Special Educational Need / Disability. Any child who has an Education and Health Care Plan (EHCP) can only be admitted with the consent of the Local Education Authority (LEA), where the school is named in the child’s EHCP.
The Admissions Authority for West Monkton Primary School is The Oak Partnership Trust. Information on our admissions arrangements, and oversubscription criteria, can be found here: Admissions
How does the school support pupils with disabilities?
We work continually to improve our support for children with disabilities. More information about this can be found in the school’s Accessibility Plan, here: Accessibility Policy and Plan
Our school site is fully wheelchair accessible. We have 2 accessible toilets, a changing bed and therapy bed, and 2 hoists. We have ‘sound clouds’ installed in the main school hall to improve access for children with hearing difficulties.
How will the school support my child’s mental health, and emotional and social development?
We recognise that children’s social, emotional and mental health and wellbeing is vital if they are going to achieve positive outcomes in education and into adulthood. We provide support for children to progress in their emotional and social development in the following ways:
Trauma-informed ‘Behaviour Policy’ that recognises that all behaviour is a form of communication.
Teachers and TAs are trained, and experienced in using emotion-coaching and a PACE approach to supporting children’s social, emotional and mental health and development.
‘The Nest’: This is the school’s Nurture Provision. This space is staffed, full time, by a member of staff with specialist training in supporting children’s social, emotional and mental health needs. This is a safe-space for children to express, and learn to understand and manage, their emotions.
Pastoral Support Lead: The school has a Pastoral Support lead who is able to support children to understand, and manage, their social, emotional and mental health needs.
Emotional Literacy Support Assistant (ELSA): The school has 3 members of staff who are qualified ELSAs. Our ELSAs provide research-based intervention for children to help them recognise, understand, and manage, their emotions. The ELSAs have regular supervision with the Somerset Educational Psychology Service.
Mental Health Support Team (MHST): The school is able to make referrals to the NHS Mental Health Support Team. This team supports children, and their families, with managing their mental health needs. Their mental health support workers provide low-level Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) and other research-based interventions. MHST also provide training for school staff to help them better support children when they are at school.
Children and Adolescents Mental Health Service (NHS): CAMHS: This service provides support and treatment for children who are experiencing mental health difficulties. These can include things like anxiety, depression, eating disorders, behavioural problems, and difficulties with emotions or relationships.
Somerset Activity and Sports Partnership (SASP): Mentoring Program: This initiative pairs young people with experienced mentors to help them grow in both their personal and academic lives. This program focuses on supporting children through regular one-on-one sessions with a mentor, who offers advice, encouragement, and guidance. The mentors help young people build confidence, improve their communication skills, and develop a positive mindset.
Josephine’s Star: This a program designed to help children, young people, and families cope with the loss of a loved one. It offers a safe and supportive space where children can express their feelings and begin to understand and process their grief. The program provides emotional support through one-on-one sessions with trained professionals who guide the child in talking about their feelings, memories, and the changes they’re experiencing.
We offer research-based interventions to support children’s social, emotional and mental health - see Interventions listed above.
We have a ‘zero tolerance’ approach to bullying. Our anti-bullying policy can be found here: Anti-Bullying Policy
What support will be available for my child as they transition between classes or settings, or in preparing for adulthood?
Between years
To help children with SEND successfully manage the transition between classes we:
Ask both the current teacher and the next year’s teacher to attend a final SEND Review meeting of the year. At this meeting the teachers discuss the children’s SEND needs and successful ways to support the children in class. A note of this discussion is recorded on each child’s record card.
All children attend transition session(s) with their new class teacher(s). This is an opportunity for the children to start to get to know their new teacher and see what their new classroom will be like.
Children with SEND, and their parent / carers, are invited to visit the school during the afternoon of the day before the start of the autumn term. This provides an opportunity for them to check in with their teacher and see their new classroom. They can find key resources – e.g. their tray / peg. The children can also find out what will be happening on their first day back in school.
For children who, as a result of their SEND needs, particularly struggle with transitions we will work with the child, and their parent / carer, to develop a ‘personalised transition plan’. This plan may include:
Additional visits to see their new teacher / classroom
Use of visuals (e.g. pictures of new teachers / TAs)
Use of visual timetables (e.g. to see when PE / Music etc will be)
Use of Social Stories
Opportunities to ask specific questions
ELSA support
Pastoral Support
Between Schools:
When your child is moving on from our school, we will ask you, and your child, what information you want us to share with the new setting. With your consent, we are happy to contact your child’s next school to share what we know about your child’s SEND needs and how they can be supported at school.
Between Phases: Starting Secondary School:
The SENCO of the secondary school will come into our school for a meeting with our SENCO and the Year 6 class teachers. They will discuss the needs of all the children who are receiving SEN support or have an EHCP.
We will share all the records we have regarding your child’s SEND needs with their secondary school.
The SENCo from the secondary school may also:
Attend meetings with you, school staff, and any external professionals / agencies involved, about your child’s needs when they are in Year 6.
If your child has an EHCP, the SENCo from their secondary school may attend their Annual Review Meeting.
Arrange to meet with you to discuss your child’s SEND needs and how they can be best supported at secondary school.
Work with you and your child to develop a ‘personalised transition plan’ to help your child with starting secondary school. This plan may include:
Additional visits to see their new teacher / classroom
Use of visuals (e.g. pictures of new teachers / TAs)
Use of visual timetables (e.g. to see when PE / Music etc will be)
Use of Social Stories
Opportunities to ask specific questions
ELSA support
Pastoral Support
Children will be prepared for the transition by:
Visiting their secondary school. This helps them to start to get to know their new teachers and the new school site. Children with SEND are often offered extra visits to help them manage the transition to secondary school successfully.
Visuals: The school will use visuals provided by the secondary school to talk to the children about starting a new school.
Mental Health Support Team (MHST): Transition Support: The school accesses additional transition support for children who may find this difficult from the Mental Health Support Team (see above).
Taunton Deane Partnership College (TDPC): Transition Support: The TDPC run a series of additional transition sessions for children with ‘internalised social, emotional and mental health needs’ to help them manage the transition to secondary school.
Emotional Literacy Support Assistant (ELSA) support: Some children receive specific intervention from our ELSAs to help them manage moving on to secondary school.
Pastoral Support: Our pastoral support coordinator offers additional pastoral support for children who are struggling to manage their feelings associated with the move to secondary school.
Where the secondary schools run additional provision to support for children with SEND with transition (e.g. ‘Summer School’), the school will work closely with the secondary schools to ensure that children are able to access the necessary support.
What support is in place for looked-after and previously looked-after children with SEN?
The school’s ‘designated teacher for looked-after children (LAC) / previously-looked-after children (PLAC)’ is: Mrs. Abbie Paling.
Mrs. Paling is a member of our Senior Leadership Team (SLT). You can contact Mrs. Paling by:
Tel: 01823 412582
Email: office@wm.oak.education
Mrs. Paling will work with Mrs. Prinn, our SENCo, to make sure that all teachers and TAs understand how a looked-after, or previously looked-after, child’s circumstances, and SEND, might interact, and what the implications are for teaching and learning.
Children who are looked-after, or previously looked-after, will be supported much in the same way as any other child who has SEND. However, looked-after pupils will also have a personal education plan (PEP). We will make sure that the PEP, and any SEND support plans or EHCPs, are consistent and complement one another.
What should I do if I have a complaint about my child’s SEN support?
The school’s complaints policy can be found here: TOP Complaints Policy
In the first instance, complaints about SEND provision in our school should be made to your child’s class teacher / the SENCo / the Head Teacher. They will then be referred to the school’s complaints policy – see link above.
To see a full explanation of suitable avenues for complaint, see pages 246 and 247 of the SEND Code of Practice
If you feel that our school has discriminated against your child because of their SEND, you have the right to make a discrimination claim to the first-tier SEND tribunal. To find out how to make such a claim, you should visit: Disability Discrimination
You can make a claim about alleged discrimination regarding:
Admission
Exclusion
Provision of education and associated services
Making reasonable adjustments, including the provision of auxiliary aids and services
Before going to a SEND tribunal, you can go through processes called disagreement resolution or mediation, where you try to resolve your disagreement before it reaches the tribunal. Information disagreement resolution or mediation in Somerset can be found here: Disagreement, Resolution and Mediation
What support is available for me and my family?
If you have questions about SEND, or are struggling to cope, please get in touch to let us know. We want to support you, your child and your family. You can get in touch by:
Tel: 01823 412582
Email: office@wm.oak.education
To see what support is available to you locally, have a look at Somerset’s ‘Local Offer’ here: Somerset's SEND Local Offer
Our local special educational needs and disabilities information, advice and support (SENDIAS) services are:
National charities that offer information and support to families of children with SEND are:
Glossary:
Access arrangements – special arrangements to allow pupils with SEND to access assessments or exams (e.g the Year 6 SATs assessments).
Annual review – an annual meeting to review the provision in a pupil’s EHCP.
Area of need – the 4 areas of need describe different types of needs a pupil with SEN can have. The 4 areas are: Communication and Interaction; Cognition and Learning; Physical and/or Sensory; and Social, Emotional and Mental Health needs
Differentiation – when teachers adapt how they teach in response to a child’s needs.
EHCP needs assessment – the needs assessment is the first step on the way to securing an EHCP. The local authority will do an assessment to decide whether a child needs an EHCP.
EHCP – an education, health and care plan (EHCP) is a legally-binding document that sets out a child’s SEND needs and the provision that will be put in place to meet their needs
First-tier tribunal / SEND tribunal – a court where you can appeal against the local authority’s decisions about EHCP needs assessments, or EHCPs, and against discrimination by a school or local authority due to SEND.
Graduated approach – an approach to providing SEND support in which the school provides support in successive cycles of assessing the child’s needs, planning the provision, implementing the plan, and reviewing the impact of the action on the child.
Intervention – a short-term, targeted approach to teaching a child with a specific outcome in mind.
Local offer – information provided by the local authority that explains what services and support are on offer for children with SEND in the local area.
Outcome – target for improvement for children with SEND. These targets could be linked to any of the four broad areas of SEND need (see above).
Reasonable adjustments – changes that the school must make to remove or reduce any disadvantages caused by a child’s disability.
SENCo – the special educational needs co-ordinator
SEND – special educational needs and disabilities
SEND Code of Practice – the statutory guidance that schools must follow to support children with SEND: SEND Code of Practice
SEN information report – a report that schools must publish on their website, that explains how the school supports pupils with SEND.
SEND support – special educational provision that meets the needs of pupils with SEND.
Transition – when a pupil moves between years, phases, schools or institutions or life stages.