SEN Information Report

The Local Authority (LA) local offer for City of York Council The local offer provides useful information for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and their families. It provides help to families, individuals, groups and organisations to find information so they have more choice and control over what support is right.

The local offer covers services available within:

• education, such as nurseries, playgroups, schools and colleges as well as support services like educational psychologists, early years and early intervention workers;
• health, such as local doctors, paediatricians, school nurses and therapists;
• social care, such as respite services and children's disability services; and
• support and services in the voluntary and private sector across North Yorkshire.
  
  

The local offer is intended to help you make informed choices about things that are important to you, such as:

• where to live;
• transport;
• social activities;
• options after school, such as continuing your education, apprenticeships and supported employment; and
• making the transition from services provided for children to those for adults.

Park Grove Primary Academy is able to provide for any child with special educational needs where a mainstream primary school is considered appropriate. We pride ourselves on being an inclusive school which values every child as an individual. We offer a broad and balanced curriculum which is accessible to all. The school is able to support dual placements, where a child will spend some time in an enhanced resource unit or a special school and the remainder at Park Grove.

We have a dedicated staff team who appreciate that children learn in different ways and therefore our classrooms provide the following:

• Wheelchair access
• Autism-friendly strategies (such as visual timetables, prompt cards)
• Dyslexia friendly strategies (such as coloured overlays, dyslexia friendly texts)
• Sensory processing strategies (such as move and sit cushions, fiddle toys)
• Differentiated learning
• Fine motor skills support (such as chunky pencils, triangular pens)
• IT support (Nessy, Google add ons such as Read&Write)
• Appropriate staffing ratios for the level of need

The staff at Park Grove work to enable the achievement of all children through high quality first teaching, known as our universal offer. Children who experience difficulties with or face barriers to their learning are identified through a graduated approach. If a child, parent or teacher raises concerns about learning the SEN team will be consulted and appropriate strategies or interventions put in place. This targeted support will be monitored to see if it is effective. If, despite additional strategies/interventions being put in place, there are continuing concerns about a child's progress or well-being, their needs may require more specialist support. The child, parents, class teacher and SEN team will work together to plan support for the child. Specialist advice may be sought from external agencies such as the educational psychology service, CAMHS or speech and language support service. If a child receives SEN support at this level they will have a plan known as a My Support Plan or Pupil Passport to document their support and monitor its effectiveness. This will be reviewed at least annually with the child, teaching staff, parents and external agencies where appropriate. For children who require further or complex support an application may be made to the local authority for an Education, Health and Care Plan. Applications would be written in conjunction with the educational psychology service and a decision regarding an EHCP would be made by the local authority. There are usually only a small number of children for whom this is applicable.

The new SEN code of practice (2014) defines children as having special educational needs (SEN) if:
• 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
• A child of compulsory school age or a young person has a learning difficulty or disability if he or she:
• has a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others of the same age, or
• has a disability which prevents or hinders him or her from making use of facilities of a kind generally provided for others of the same age in mainstream schools or mainstream post-16 institutions

 

At Park Grove the Pupil Support Team over-see the provision we make for our children. Alongside the senior leadership team, they monitor children’s progress through our regular and rigorous data analysis and make changes where necessary. Park Grove provides a range of extra-curricular activities, which are open to all children with and without SEND. Where a child wishes to attend an activity, but adjustments may be required, parents are welcome to discuss this with school staff.

We work with a range of other agencies to support children’s needs, including:
• The educational psychology service
• The speech and language support service
• City of York council specialist teaching teams
• Our wellbeing worker
• CAMHS (child and adolescent mental health service)
• The local area team
• Physiotherapists
• Occupational therapists

The SEN code of practice (2014) identifies four broad areas of need. You can click on each link below to find out more about how these needs are supported at Park Grove.

SEN code of practice (2014) definition

• Children and young people with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN) have difficulty in communicating with others. This may be because they have difficulty saying what they want to, understanding what is being said to them or they do not understand or use social rules of communication. The profile for every child with SLCN is different and their needs may change over time. They may have difficulty with one, some or all of the different aspects of speech, language or social communication at different times of their lives.
• Children and young people with ASD, including Asperger’s Syndrome and Autism, are likely to have particular difficulties with social interaction. They may also experience difficulties with language, communication and imagination, which can how they relate to others.

  Support at Park Grove for communication and interaction:

• Individual speech and language programmes
• Emotion Coaching
• Pre-teaching vocabulary
• WellComm 0-5 years

SEN code of practice (2014) definition

• Support for learning difficulties may be required when children and young people learn at a slower pace than their peers, even with appropriate differentiation. Learning difficulties cover a wide range of needs, including moderate learning difficulties (MLD), severe learning difficulties (SLD), where children are likely to need support in all areas of the curriculum and associated difficulties with mobility and communication, through to profound and multiple learning difficulties (PMLD), where children are likely to have severe and complex learning difficulties as well as a physical disability or sensory impairment.
•  Specific learning difficulties (SpLD), affect one or more specific aspects of learning. This encompasses a range of conditions such as dyslexia, dyscalculia and dyspraxia.

Support at Park Grove for cognition and learning:

• Read, Write, Inc.
• Rapid phonics
• Phonics boosters
• 1:1 reading
• Reciprocal reading
• Handwriting interventions
• Numicon
• Small nurture group teaching approach for maths
• Use of specialist equipment – pencil grips, writing slopes, coloured overlays etc

SEN code of practice (2014) definition

Social, emotional and mental health difficulties

• Children and young people may experience a wide range of social and emotional difficulties which manifest themselves in many ways. These may include becoming withdrawn or isolated, as well as displaying challenging, disruptive or disturbing behaviour. These behaviours may reflect underlying mental health difficulties such as anxiety or depression, self-harming, substance misuse, eating disorders or physical symptoms that are medically unexplained. Other children and young people may have disorders such as attention deficit disorder, attention deficit hyperactive disorder or attachment disorder.
• Schools and colleges should have clear processes to support children and young people, including how they will manage the effect of any disruptive behaviour so it does not adversely affect other pupils.

  Support at Park Grove for social, emotional and mental health difficulties:

• ELSA (emotional literacy support assistant) bespoke support and group work for self-esteem, anger management, self-regulation, friendship and bereavement
• Playground buddies
• Worry box
• Wellbeing worker
• Referrals for mentoring
• Referrals for young carers
• Pupil support team support for individual emotional support

SEN code of practice (2014) definition

• Some children and young people require special educational provision because they have a disability which prevents or hinders them from making use of the educational facilities generally provided. These difficulties can be age related and may fluctuate over time. Many children and young people with vision impairment (VI), hearing impairment (HI) or a multi-sensory impairment (MSI) will require specialist support and/or equipment to access their learning, or habilitation support. Children and young people with an MSI have a combination of vision and hearing difficulties. Information on how to provide services for deafblind children and young people is available through the Social Care for Deafblind Children and Adults guidance published by the Department of Health.
• Some children and young people with a physical disability (PD) require additional ongoing support and equipment to access all the opportunities available to their peers.

Support at Park Grove for Sensory and/or physical needs:

• Wheelchair accessible
• Adapted toileting facilities
• Adapted PE sessions
• Adapted seating positions
• Specialist classroom equipment – chairs, writing slopes

Park Grove has a strong ethos of involving parents in all aspects of their child's education. Parents are encouraged to address any concerns with their child's teacher or the pupil support team as soon as they arise. Day to day concerns are communicated by methods appropriate to the child. For some children this will involve a home-school communication book, while others may need a brief daily handover between parents and teacher. All parents are invited to a parents' evening appointment at least annually. Children who have a MSP will have reviews and children with an EHCP will have a formal annual review as well as interim reviews. Where it is appropriate, children will be involved in contributing to their reviews.

As part of Ebor Academy Trust, we are committed to providing high-quality training and support to all our staff. We have an experienced academy specialist for SEN who has dedicated time to work with our schools and our workforce.

Examples of training courses attended recently are:

• ELSA training
• Bereavement training
• Safeguarding training
• Visit to the dyslexia ERP
• SEN training
• HLTA training
• Autism Awareness

All members of the pupil support team are ELSA trained. We have several TAs who are experienced in working with children with a physical disability, dyslexia, Down syndrome and Autism. The pupil support team also oversee the safeguarding work of the school and ensure that pupils are kept safe and families are supported when necessary. Together with the senior leadership team, the pupil support team strive to achieve academic and social success for our children.

We recognise that any transition time can be difficult for children and families, and especially for children with SEN who may find change more difficult to cope with.

Children are informed of their new teacher in advance and spend time with them during the summer term. Information is shared between outgoing and incoming class staff so that the new staff are fully aware of the child’s needs. Where children need extra time for transition this can also be arranged. If necessary, staff will use social stories, photos and buddying systems to support children who are struggling with transition.

We work closely with our secondary school colleagues when children move on. Staff from the relevant secondary school will usually visit Park Grove to discuss the child's needs during Year 6.  For children with an EHCP, this process will begin in Year 5. Additional visits to secondary school will be arranged for children with SEN who are likely to find the transition more difficult.

We also have strong links with Phoenix Under 5s and can therefore make sure provision is in place for any SEN needs when children join us in the reception year.