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 interim SENDco is Miss Jess Williams.
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 Sherburn Church of England 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 Williams 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 William is our Interim Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCO) and can be contacted through the school office
Important Information
- Click to view this academic years SEND policy-
- Click to view this academic years SEND Information Report – SEN information report November 2024.docx
Zones of Regulation
To support children’s social, emotional and mental health in school, we will be using Zones of Regulations. Zones of Regulation is an internationally renowned programme. Self-regulation can go by many names, such as self-control, self management, and impulse control. It is defined as the best state of alertness of both the body and emotions for the specific situation. For example, when a student plays on the playground or in a competitive game, it is beneficial to have a higher state of alertness. In addition to addressing self-regulation, the students will gain an increased vocabulary of emotional terms, skills in reading other people’s facial expressions, perspective about how others see and react to their behaviour, insight into events that trigger their behaviour, calming and alerting strategies, and problem solving skills.
We aim to help children to:
- Recognise when they are in the different zones and learn strategies to change or remain in the Zones they are in
- Increase their emotional vocabulary so they can explain how they are feeling
- Recognise when other people are in different zones- developing empathy
- Develop resilience
- Identify a range of calming and alerting strategies to support them. This is known ast their toolkit.
For further information, see link below.
My Happy Mind
We have introduced a program to all year groups at school called myHappymind. myHappymind is all based around helping children to understand how their brain works and to support them in developing positive skills and habits to be their very best selves!
myHappymind is delivered in schools by class teachers through a series of interactive lessons and then the children apply these learnings throughout the day.
To further embed this learning, myHappymind has developed a Parent App. These resources can be accessed online on your computer, or through an app on your phone. The Parent App will support you as a parent in understanding what your child is learning, activities for you to do together at home and also a Kids Zone featuring myHappymind Games plus much more!
To access these materials just go to https://myhappymind.org/parent-resources to create your free account. You will need to enter your name, email, and authentication code.
If you would like the authentication code, please contact school on 01944 710282
Once you have created your account, you will receive an email with the next steps on downloading the app.
We really encourage you to make use of this free content so that you can support your child in getting the best out of the curriculum.
If you have any questions about myHappymind, please contact your class teacher.
If you have any technical questions about accessing the resources, please contact hello@myHappymind.org
Useful Links/ Resources
Be U North Yorkshire
Here are some useful resources surrounding all things SEND and Autism for your child, the family and working professionals. This includes signposting to external support for the family, wellbeing resources, online support groups, local charities and resources to support children in understanding their additional needs. Click the link below to see more.
Place 2 Be
Place2Be is a children and young people’s mental health charity providing counselling, mental health support, and training in UK schools. Follow the link to explore the website: https://www.place2be.org.uk/
The following links will take you to some articles you may find helpful.
- Building a resilient child
- My child keeps getting angry and lashing out
- How to help your child if they are self-harming
- Building listening skills for parents
- My child doesn’t want to go to school
Scarborough Autism UK
Signposting groups, organisations and services that might be of particular interest to autistic adults, and autistic children and young people in Scarborough, North Yorkshire
Parent Carer Voice
We are the recognised Parent Carer Forum for North Yorkshire, supporting families with children and young people (0-25 years old) with Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities (SEND).
Our vision is to inform, empower and represent the collective voice of families with SEND in the region.
https://www.parentcarervoiceuk.org/
Harrogate District Foundation Trust Children’s Health Service App
Please find information about an app designed both for professionals and families, by Harrogate District Foundation Trust who deliver the Healthy Child programme. It has a map of services/groups etc for families to access in their area, including contact details and opening hours etc, as well as child development info for parents, referral forms for wellbeing advice for older CYP etc .
Let’s Make Sense Together
Let’s Make Sense Together is a free resource that anyone can use. It provides information and support to children and young people with sensory processing differences.
Here you can find a series of videos to help parents, carers, teachers, and others who support children with sensory processing differences. You’ll also find helpful advice sheets and links to other support and information.
The information has been created by local therapists.
This information and resource has been created by healthcare professionals from York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals Foundation Trust.
Recovery College
Providing a range of co-created, online educational courses and resources to people who might be struggling with their mental health, families, friends, mental health workers and anyone else who might be interested.
Young Minds
Supporting children, young people and adults with their emotional wellbeing
The Sleep Charity
We are one of the leading, independent expert voices on sleep issues in the UK and we are here to help everyone get a better night’s sleep. Whether it’s advice, education or support for children, teenagers, adults, workplaces or professionals, we are on hand with expert knowledge, resources and accredited training.
