Special Educational Needs and Disabilities at Thorpe Lea

 

SEND stands for Special Educational Needs and Disabilities. It refers to children and young people who have learning difficulties or disabilities that make it harder for them to learn than most children of the same age, potentially requiring additional support to access education effectively. 

The Graduated approach

The Graduated Approach refers to the system of SEND support within mainstream settings. It is the system by which schools should assess the needs of children and young people and then provide appropriate support.

The system should follow four stages, often referred to as a ‘cycle’: Assess, Plan, Do, Review.

This cycle should not be considered a single process.  It provides a continuous cycle of assessment as children’s strengths and needs develop and change.

The four-stage approach is as follows:

• Assess: The class teacher or subject teacher (working with the SENCO) is responsible for carrying out a clear analysis of a pupil’s needs, drawing on teacher assessments and experience of the pupil.
• Plan: Where it is decided to provide a pupil with SEN Support, the parents must be notified. All teachers and support staff who work with a pupil should be made aware of their needs, the outcomes sought, the support provided and any teaching strategies that are required.
• Do: The planned interventions should then be put into place. The class or subject teacher should work closely with any teaching assistants or specialist staff involved and the SENCO should support the class or subject teacher.
• Review: Reviews should take place and inform feed back into the analysis of the child’s needs. The Code of Practice suggests schools should meet with parents three times a year. Good practice would indicate that such reviews will be at least termly. The decision to involve specialists can be taken at any time and should always involve parents.

Who can support?

For most enquiries and/or to discuss any concerns or questions you may have, please contact your child's class teacher in the first instance. Usually, this is the best way to find out about your child on a day-to-day basis. Following this, Miss Mazzaschi, our SENDCo can be contacted by arranging a meeting at the office, or by sending an email to SENCO@thorpe-lea.surrey.sch.uk.

SENDCo (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Co-Ordinator)

If your child needs additional support outside of Quality First Teaching, they will be referred to the school SENCO: Miss S Mazzaschi.

SEND Admin Support

At Thorpe Lea Primary School and Nursery we are really lucky in having Mrs Green supporting with our SEND admin and paperwork. Mrs Green is a fantastic asset in supporting with a variety of assessments, communication and paperwork regarding SEND Support.

Surrey Local Offer

The Surrey Local Offer is an extremely useful resource which can be used by children, parents and professionals in supporting children with SEND and can be accessed here.

Collaborative Working

We work closely with a number of different agencies within both the Local Authority and also the NHS. Some are outlined in more detail below.

Parent Partnership - Surrey

A free service available to all parents aiming to promote partnership between parents and any service that supports their children. Please contact them through their website or by giving them a call on 01737 737 300.

STIPS- Specialist Teachers for Inclusive Practice

The specialist teachers for inclusive practice work with schools, families and other agencies to support the inclusion and achievement of children and young people, particularly the most vulnerable. The SENDCo can refer a child for support from STIPS.

They offer advice and training on whole school approaches to inclusive practice. They also provide assessments and provision planning for individual children and young people with learning, communication, social, emotional and behavioural needs.

Their aim is to identify need early and support schools to put in place proactive interventions to enable progress and positive outcomes.

CAMHS-Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services

The CAMHS Community Teams are multi-disciplinary teams that provide assessment and treatment for children and young people up to the age of 18 who are presenting with a mental health disorder. The SENCo or your GP can refer a child to CAMHS for additional mental health support.

They focus on assessing and treating children and young people presenting with moderate to severe and complex concerns and where these are having a significant impact on the child’s development and cause distress to the child and/or their carers.

Speech and Language Service

Surrey provides a school-based speech and language therapy service.

The school's link therapist liaises and discusses the needs of the school and its pupils with the school SENDCo on a regular basis. Support for children and young people is provided using the universal, targeted and specialist delivery model. The SENDCo can refer your child to the speech and language service should they require additional support.

EHCPs

An education, health and care (EHC) plan is for children and young people aged up to 25 who need more support than is available through special educational needs support.

EHC plans identify educational, health and social needs and set out the additional support to meet those needs.

A request to the local authority for an EHCP needs assessment can be made by parents or the SENDCo. Please contact the SENDCo if you would like to discuss an EHCP needs assessment.

The local authority will tell you within 16 weeks whether an EHC plan is going to be made for your child.

Below are some links to various support agencies, apps, teaching resources etc, which we hope you will find useful:

• SEND Advice Surrey provides free, impartial, confidential, advice, support and options around educational issues for parent/carers who have children with special educational needs or disabilities (0-25). It aims to ensure that parents and carers are empowered and can play an informed role in planning provision to meet their child’s special educational needs. SEND Advice Surrey aims to build partnerships between parents and carers, the local authority and schools. The service also encourages parents and carers to be involved in the development of local SEND policy and practice.  

For more information please see their website: https://www.sendadvicesurrey.org.uk/

They can be contacted on the following number:   01737 737300

 Or email address: sendadvice@surreycc.gov.uk

Information on where the Local Authority’s Local Offer can be found at:  

https://www.surreylocaloffer.org.uk/

Surrey’s Local Offer is a single point of information and advice for children and young people from 0 -25 with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and their families.