Gravenhurst is a mainstream academy for children aged 4-9.

At Gravenhurst, we believe that every pupil, regardless of gender, race or disability, has a right of equal access to a broad and balanced curriculum. We strive to ensure that the curriculum is presented in a supportive and stimulating atmosphere, which is child-centred and encourages them to achieve their full potential.

The four main areas of SEND that we provide for are:

• Communication and interaction
• Cognition and learning
• Social, mental and emotional health difficulties
• Sensory and /or physical needs

Pupils will be identified through ongoing assessments by the child’s class teacher, and brought to the attention of the SENDCo if they are making less than expected progress, in spite of good quality differentiated classroom teaching that has targeted the child’s area/s of weakness.

 

Limited progress and low attainment do not necessarily indicate that a child has SEND and should not automatically lead to a pupil being recorded as having SEND.

 

The SENDCo will then investigate further with other staff and parents, to assess the needs and next stages, which may include the use of external agencies, such as the Child Development centres or Educational psychologists.

Some pupils have an Educational Health Care Plan (EHC), which clearly set out the needs of the child.

Our SENDCo is Rachel Siswick and can be contacted by phone on 01462 711257 or by email  Gravenhurst-info@bestacademies.org.uk

Special educational provision is educational provision that is additional to or different from that made generally for other children of the same age.

Teachers are responsible and accountable for the progress and development of the pupils in

their class, including where pupils access support from teaching assistants or specialist staff.

 

High quality teaching, differentiated for individual pupils, is the first step in responding to pupils who have or may have SEND.

We will take a graduated approach to supporting children with SEND and this is very specifically defined by the local authority’s two documents applicable to our age

range:

• Draft Guidance on SEND in the Early Years: A Graduated Approach 2014
• Draft Guidance on SEND 5-16: A Graduated Approach (Revised January 2016)

Both of these documents can be found on Central Bedfordshire’s website.

 

The special educational provision in place should follow the four part cycle:

 

1. Assess. This could involve a range of methods including, but not limited to, teachers’

assessment of pupil progress, attainment and behaviour, results of standardised tests

screening and profiling tests, questionnaires of parents and children and observations.

 

2. Plan. This is likely to involve the SENDCo, working with teachers to plan appropriate

provision, which is clearly communicated with all concerned. This may be in class support

or more targeted provision. Any planning will have a clear focus on expected outcomes for

the child or young person.

 

3. Do. The SEND Code of Practice places the teacher at the centre of the day-to-day

responsibility for working with all pupils, it is imperative that teachers work closely with

any teaching assistants or specialist staff involved to plan and assess the impact of

targeted interventions.

 

4. Review. The progress of pupils who are receiving SEND Support should be reviewed termly

and teachers should meet with parents three times a year. This may form part of Gravenhurst Academy’s regular tracking processes.

We offer a varied curriculum for all pupils and those with SEND can have a very bespoke, personalised timetable that meets their needs and allows access to the curriculum. For some children with SEND, this will mean broken down objectives from the national curriculum so that progress can be made and measured in smaller steps.

 

The site is fully accessible for the pupils currently at this academy and meets all the requirements of the Equalities Act 2010.

We encourage pupils with to take part in the life of the school fully. Support is considered for all activities including trips, sporting events, workshops, clubs and after school care. The support may be the use of teaching assistants or the simplification of tasks or activities to enable access.

Parents get annual reports from the school regarding pupils’ attainment and progress.

 

There are two opportunities through the year at parents’ evenings to meet with class teachers.

 

Those who are receiving specific SEND Support (as categorised by the Code of Practice 2014) will be met with by the school at least three times per year to discuss progress and support.

 

Support Plans will be shared so that parents can see, and contribute to, the support in place.

 

Parents are free to contact the school at any time to arrange an appointment to have a conversation about their child’s progress in school.

Targets and strategies are always shared with the children.

We ask pupils for their views on their needs and record this on their Support Plans.

Students with SEND have access to extra time if appropriate during assessments.

We also survey the children on what they think about their learning experience at school and share this as staff.

Class teachers will be regularly assessing pupil progress as part of their normal practice.

We use Target Tracker to monitor and record progress and attainment of all children.

 

The data generated by these reports will be scrutinised by the SENDCO after each reporting cycle so that less than expected progress can be highlighted and support put in place.

 

Those pupils receiving specific SEND support will have their progress tracked and monitored, and this information will be fed back to the pupil and parent.

 

We will try to use our normal school assessment processes as much as possible so as not to overburden our children with too many assessments.

 

There may be times though when we need to conduct more specialised assessments in order to obtain standardised scores so that we can see if a pupil needs specific access arrangements for example. We will always let parents know the outcomes of these assessments.

There is a well-planned programme of transition activities for those moving from year 4 into year 5 and we work closely with the receiving middle school to discuss specific needs.

 

As part of transition, pupils are invited to attend an afternoon at the middle school to meet the SENCo and staff who will be supporting them when joining Year 5.

 

For those with a EHC, the Local Authority advises parents and pupils to help them make the transition from lower to middle as appropriate.

We have support groups that are designed to nurture and develop the confidence of pupils. This is made available to children from services personnel as well as children with SEND.

The SENDCo has completed the mandatory training and qualification for the National Award for Special Needs Co-ordination (2019).

Teaching and support staff have regular meetings each term to update information about pupils.

We have regular training on SEND issues and attend special training as necessary, for example, speech and language training (ELKLAN), ASD, social and emotional well-being workshops, behavioural approaches and as part of our BEST liaison meetings we run training for all staff on different aspects of SEND Practice. Two staff are trained to deliver Sounds Write reading and writing intervention.

As part of the normal school development and self-review cycle we will carefully examine the data from assessments, pupil views and teacher observations to evaluate the effectiveness of the provision.

Staff hold termly meetings to review all children with SEND and pupil progress is monitored at the beginning of each term.

Governors have data available at each meeting to monitor progress and effectiveness of the provision. There is governor for SEND.

Are you a parent or carer of a child or young person identified with special educational needs or disabilities (SEND) in Central Bedfordshire, or do you know someone who is?

If the answer is yes, then did you know that the Council’s Children’s Services team has a suite of resources to support people in Central Bedfordshire, called the Local Offer? A Local Offer gives children and young people with SEND and their families a wide range of information about the support services that are available in their local area.

The information covers education, health and social care support and services for people aged between 0 and 25 years. The Central Bedfordshire Local Offer describes the provision offered in the area but also includes services outside of Central Bedfordshire which are provided jointly by neighbouring local authorities.

We would like to hear your feedback on the content to help us make it clearer, more comprehensive, more accessible and up to date. If you have any feedback, then please email local.offer@centralbedfordshire.gov.uk 

You can also follow the Local Offer on Facebook and Sign up to our SEND news email service to receive fortnightly SEND news updates.

Michele Geddes School Improvement Advisor 

Tel-03003006867

Email-michele.geddes@centralbedfordshire.gov.uk