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Special Educational Needs and Disabilities

Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) at Corsham Primary School

What are Special Educational Needs and Disabilities?

Under the SEND Code of Practice (DfE, 2014), a child is deemed to have Special Educational Needs or Disabilities, or SEND, if he or she has ‘significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others of the same age’, or his or her disability ‘prevents or hinders him or her from making use of facilities of a kind generally provided for others of the same age in a mainstream school’. Special educational provision is needed for him or her, over and above that which can be met through high quality classroom teaching and differentiation.

Broad areas of need are identified as:

  • Communication and interaction

  • Cognition and learning

  • Social, emotional and mental health difficulties

  • Sensory and/or physical needs

They may be for a short period or throughout a child’s educational life. They may be identified before a child has even entered school or they may come to be recognised at a specific point in their education.

What is the SEND Code of Practice?

The SEND Code of Practice sets out statutory guidance for schools.  A revised SEND Code of Practice was implemented in September 2014, with the main aim of developing better partnerships between children, parents/carers, educational settings, health professionals and social care.

The revised SEND Code of Practice can be downloaded here:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Who might be involved in supporting my child with SEND at Corsham Primary School?

At Corsham Primary School, we have a large team of dedicated and experienced staff who support children with Special Educational Needs. This includes:

  • Inclusion Managers (SENCOs)
  • Family Support Officer / Family Support Assistant
  • Members of the Senior Leadership team
  • Class teachers
  • Teaching Assistants
  • Lunchtime Playworkers

Our staff, across the school, have a wealth of experience and work collaboratively to support the needs of children with Special Educational Needs.

We recognise that quality first teaching is of paramount importance to ensuring the best possible outcomes for pupils with SEND. We also have a range of specific interventions designed to meet the differing needs of pupils. Pupil progress is tracked and evaluated regularly as part of an ‘assess, plan, do review’ cycle.

At Corsham Primary School, we recognise that children’s needs are most effectively met by working in collaboration with parents to secure the best outcomes for their child. This takes many forms for example individual review meetings, My Support Plan meetings, multi-agency meetings, parent support from our Family Support Worker, home-school liaison books or simply a quick telephone call or email.

If you have any questions, the first person to contact would be their class teacher. You are also very welcome to contact our Inclusion Managers; Jo Smalley at Pound Pill (01249 712387) or Jenny Metcalfe at Broadwood (01225 811997) or via email admin@corsham-pri.wilts.sch.uk

We are also fortunate to have excellent relationships with the local authority SEN Specialist Service (SENSS), the Educational Psychologist, Speech and Language Therapists (SALTS), Occupational Therapists (OT) and the Sensory Impairment Service who work in partnership with us to support our pupils with SEND.  We also collaborate closely with the SEND Lead Workers at the Local Authority.

Where can I find support as a parent of a child with SEND?

All Together Wiltshire

This is the new one-stop shop website from Wiltshire Council with signposting for all family/child support services.

Wiltshire Council

Wiltshire Council’s Local Offer - An overview of the range of provision for children with SEND in the local area.

NHS

Where to get autism support

Friends and family

Telling people close to you about your or your child's autism diagnosis can help them understand how to support you.

They may be able to help with:

  • everyday things so you have more time to focus on yourself or your child.
  • emotional support.

Wiltshire Parent Carer Council

The Wiltshire Parent Carer Council is an independent, voluntary organisation which is managed and run by parent carers, for parent carers.  They have a membership in excess of 1600 parent carers across Wiltshire whose children range in age (0-25yrs) and in the type of special educational needs and/or disabilities they have. These include mental health, physical, sensory, learning, communication, challenging behaviour, autistic spectrum disorders and health conditions that require complex care.

 

I Can

The children’s communication charity website.

Afasic

Support for parents/carers of children and young people with speech, language and communication needs website.

Wiltshire SENDIASS

Wiltshire SEND Information and Advice and Support Service.

IPSEA

Independent Provider of Special Education Advice.

HCRG- Wiltshire Children’s Services

The new Single Point of Access (also known as SPA) – a single website, telephone number, email and postal address for all referrals and questions about the services HCRG run on behalf of the local authority and the NHS. The SPA will be the first point of contact for children, young people, families, GPs and health and social care professionals to reach and access child health guidance and support from Wiltshire Children’s Community Services.

 

Listening Books

Audiobook charity for KS2.

Useful documents for SEND

Click on the links below to view the Corsham Primary School SEN information Report (an overview of what we offer for children with SEND at Corsham Primary School) and Corsham Primary School SEN Policy as well as other useful documents which may be of interest.

https://www.autismlevelup.com/

Since sharing his own autism diagnosis with the world, naturalist and presenter Chris Packham has been flooded with letters and emails from other autistic people, frustrated that their friends, families and co-workers don’t understand them. And in this series, Chris wants to bridge the gap.  By teaming up with top film-makers, graphic designers, animators and musicians, Chris helps a group of autistic people create short films to reveal to their family and friends how they’re truly feeling inside – what’s really going on in their autistic minds.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0bbnjvx

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/autism/support/

https://www.ambitiousaboutautism.org.uk/information-about-autism/early-years/parent-toolkit

Wonderfully Wired Brains: An Introduction to the World of Neurodiversity – by Louise Gooding (Author), Ruth Burrows (Illustrator)  -

Kate Turner, schools' Educational and Child Psychologist, has recommended this wonderful book introducing neurodivergence in general and then focusing on specific areas. 

It is aimed at 7-9 year olds, but may be useful for other ages too.

It's positive, up to date and balanced in the language that is used.