At St. Andrew’s we believe in the right of all pupils to a broad and balanced curriculum and, to that end, all pupils have an entitlement to participate in the full range of the curriculum, including the National Curriculum and the Foundation Stage Framework.
We believe that all pupils can experience success in learning. We are aware that the right to a common curriculum does not automatically ensure access to it, nor progress within it. Therefore we believe that it is the role of teachers and support staff to eliminate barriers, as far as possible, which prevent pupils from participating fully.
OFSTED noted that:
“The curriculum meets all pupils’ needs. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) can access the curriculum well. This is because leaders adapt the teaching of the curriculum effectively for this group of pupils.”
“Leaders identify the needs of pupils with SEND effectively. They provide a variety of helpful support strategies, including programmes of extra learning.”
OFSTED, January 2022
We believe that participation in the curriculum by pupils with SEND is most likely to be achieved by encouraging good practice for all pupils and that maximum success and progress can only be achieved by the joint co-operation, understanding and planning of management, teachers, pastoral staff, parents, pupils, support services and governors.
At St. Andrew’s we believe that every teacher is a teacher of Special Needs.
Our Inclusion Manager is Mr P. Lynch
Our Assistant SENDCo is Miss C Morris
If you have any concerns about the progress your child is making you should first speak to the class teacher. However if you have any questions regarding our Special Educational Needs and Disability provision, please do not hesitate to contact us below or come along to our termly SEND Parent Forum,
Our SEND Provision
How do we identify individual special educational learning needs?
We apply a graduated approach to identifying special educational needs and disabilities. When pupils have identified SEND before they start here, we work with the people who already know them and use the information already available to identify what their SEND needs are and how they will be supported in our school setting.
Stage 1 – Universal Provision (Quality First Teaching)
This is what is available to every child within the classroom: High Quality teaching and learning (Quality First Teaching), Individual Learning Targets, Differentiated/Scaffolded tasks and outcomes, Reasonable adaptations to the learning environment. Provision that matches the needs and outcomes of all children and adults that know and respond to the child’s individual needs
Stage 2 – Monitoring (Usually for a term)
If you tell us you think your child has a SEND we will discuss this with you and put measures in place to monitor, assess and review – we will share with you what we find and agree with you what we will do next and what you can do to help your child.
If any of our staff think that your child may need extra support, for example they may not be making the same progress as other pupils; they may find it difficult to follow instructions or answer questions. We will observe them; we will assess their understanding of what we are doing in school and pinpoint what is causing difficulty. We will then discuss our findings with you and where appropriate the child or young person.
Stage 3: SEN Support
Where we continue to have concerns or see no improvement we will discuss with parents about putting together a package of support at SEND Level – This is known as SEN Support and a learning plan will be set up, smart targets agreed and targeted intervention applied. This will be discussed and agreed with parents. This formalises a lot of what we already know and do and with agreement will place your child on the SEND Register in school. Further involvement from external agencies may be recommended or needed.
Stage 4: EHC Assessment
Most children on the SEND register can be successfully and adequately managed at SEN Support. However where there are further concerns, limited or no progress or where there are complex needs we may complete a referral to the Local Authority EHC Assessment Team to look at assessment towards an Educational Health Care Plan (EHCP). For further information on the EHC Assessment Team and the EHCP Process please click here https://www.rochdale.gov.uk/specific-educational-needs/education-health-care-ehc-plans-assessments
Our SEND Information Report and SEND policies can be found in our centralised policies folder.
Meadow Room – Internal Inclusive Provision
At St. Andrew’s we have always had a vision of a specially designed room that would provide the calm and tranquil space our children need to support a range of needs.
We have seen the increasing numbers of children who are attending schools with more emotional, health and well-being needs, along with increasing numbers of children with a range of sensory needs. This is why we took the decision to invest in a space in school that would develop and support our Inclusive practice across school. A room that has been carefully designed to support a range of needs:
A room that provides sensory benefits
The Meadow room will be equipped with a range of sensory resources to support children who have a range of different sensory needs.
For many of our children who require sensory breaks or access to sensory provision, this will give them the perfect opportunity. We have ensured that it is appropriately equipped and resourced taking advice from our key partner agencies such as Occupational Therapy.
A room that supports social, emotional and mental health
A calming environment to support the emotional, health and well-being interventions run in school such as Talkabout, lego therapy and emotional literacy.
A place where children can develop key skills to equip them to become more resilient, more social and reduce anxieties that may present during the school day.
A place where children can use mindfulness strategies, resources and interventions.
A room that supports our morning and afternoon transitions
Many children are increasingly finding it difficult to manage the transitions between home and school in the mornings. A calm and safe space to come to in the morning where they can be supported with their emotional, health and well-being before they go to their classroom. A calm space to start the day in the best possible way. This will be the same for children who require a calm end to their school day. Parents will be able to drop off and collect under prior arrangement.
A room that offers a place to support therapies and interventions provided by our key partner agencies
The Meadow room provides the ideal space for some of our key partner agencies to come and work with our children in a calm and purposeful environment. Opportunity to work on the key skills that our children need as part of their carefully structured plans. Agencies such as Rochdale Additional Needs, Speech and Language and Occupational Therapy etc.
Special Educational Needs and Disabilities
The Inclusion Manager is Mr Lynch who is happy to discuss any concerns you may have on 01706 378991.
If you have any questions regarding our Special Educational Needs and Disability provision or any SEND and welfare concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Important Information
| Rochdale Local Offer and Local Authority SEND Report |
| Disabled Children’s Register |
| NHS Chat Health |
| Respect For All Counselling |
| Supporting Children Following Bereavement: A Guide For Parents |
Links for parents/carers …..
Primary Age Speech, Language and Communication support for Families