SEND & Inclusion

SEND & Inclusion Team

Inclusive practice at Longmoor:

A pupil has SEND (Special Educational Needs or Disability) if they have a learning difficulty or disability that calls for special educational provision to be made for them.

Special Educational provision is educational or training provision that is additional to, or different from, that made generally available for other children or young people of the same age by mainstream schools.

Longmoor Community Primary School is a mainstream primary school in Aintree, Liverpool. We are a large, two-form entry school. We aim to offer each individual the opportunities they need to succeed and pride ourselves on providing an inclusive learning environment for all children, where all children feel happy, safe and ready to learn.

Our school SEND Team consists of three Special Educational Needs and Disability Co-ordinators (SENCos):

Mrs L. Astell

Mrs H. Gough

Miss L. Monaghan

School Telephone Number: 0151 521 5511

Our SEND Governor: Mrs E. Barr-Jones 

As a school, we believe that parents are an integral part of their child’s education and we will always involve you in the decision-making process.

How we identify children who may have SEND within our school:

At Longmoor, we monitor children’s progress through ongoing assessment and tracking to ensure we identify any needs as early as possible.

Children may have difficulty with some or a combination of the following:

• Cognition and Learning – this means the child may have specific difficulties with their learning e.g. reading, writing and maths.
• Communication and Interaction – this means that a child may have difficulties with spoken language, understanding language, interaction and communicating with others.
• Social, Emotional and Mental Health – this means that a child may have difficulties with their focus, attention and recognising and regulating their emotions.
• Physical and Sensory – this means that a child has a disability or impairment that could be a barrier to learning and may need specialist input. This may include visual impairments, hearing impairment and processing difficulties.

If you feel that your child is experiencing significant difficulties with any of the above, please raise your concerns with the class teacher in the first instance.

At Longmoor, we believe that teaching pupils with SEND is a whole-school responsibility. The core of the teachers’ work involves a continuous cycle of planning, teaching, and assessing, considering the differences in pupils’ abilities, aptitudes, and interests. Some pupils may need increased levels of provision and support; the school will intervene by referring to our school’s Graduated Approach Chart.

When a member of staff has a concern over a child’s learning or behaviour, s/he will monitor the child’s progress while implementing Quality First Teaching techniques and class-based interventions. If, after that, there are still concerns, the class teacher will discuss the child with both parents and the SEN Team and complete an initial concerns form.

The Graduated Approach

SEND identification and support takes the form of a four-part cycle through which earlier decisions and actions are revisited, refined and revised. This helps all those involved in achieving a growing understanding of the pupil’s needs, what supports the pupil in making good progress and securing good outcomes. This approach is reviewed 3 times a year and will include parent/carers and any external specialist involved.

This process is known as the graduated approach.

There are four stages to the cycle:

• Assess
• Plan
• Do
• Review

The Graduated Approach starts at the whole school level, as all teachers are continually assessing, planning, implementing and reviewing their approach to teaching for all children, however, for pupils with SEND, this approach is increasingly personalised depending on the needs of the child.

More details of the Assess, Plan, Do, Review process can be found in the Liverpool Graduated Approach document.

SEND Support:

If, after recommendations have been put in place, the child is still making little or no progress, the SEND Team will meet with parents to discuss further intervention (including possible referrals to outside agencies), and the child may be added to our Special Educational Needs Register. The Class Teacher will complete a Flight Plan for the child, which will be reviewed and updated regularly. This will enable the teacher to set targets for the child to work towards across the year.

Education, Health and Care Plans

A very small minority of children need an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP). If this is the case, the SEND Team will work closely with the pupil’s family and any other relevant professionals to put together evidence for an application to the Local Authority.

Request for Statutory Assessment/EHCP

The school will request a Statutory Assessment from the Local Authority when, despite an individualised programme of sustained intervention while at SEND Support level, it is clear that the child will have ongoing difficulties requiring additional support. A Statutory Assessment may also be requested by a parent or outside agency. In order to make a request for an EHCP, the SEN Team will need to provide a range of evidence. This process of obtaining an EHCP can take approximately 6 months and there is no guarantee that all applications will be successful.

EHCP Review

Education, Health and Care Plans are reviewed annually.  The SEN Team will organise the review and invite the relevant parties.

These may include:

Parents/carers, SEND caseworker, professionals involved with the child’s care including external agencies, a member of the SEND Team, representative from health if appropriate and the child if appropriate.

All paperwork from the review will be shared with relevant parties.

Consulting the young person:

All pupils are consulted at each stage of the identification and review process:

– Pupils may attend review meetings if they want to and it is appropriate. If not, their views will be sought prior to the meeting.

– Involvement in the setting and reviewing of outcomes on their Flight Plans.

Transition

We recognise that transitions may be difficult for any child and take steps to ensure that any transition is as smooth as possible.

• Moving classes: Information will be passed on to the new class teacher in advance. A ‘meet the teacher’ session is offered to all parents at our school within the first half term. Every child has time to meet their new teacher in their new classroom. Some children may need a personalised approach for this process, which may include extra meetings with the new teacher.

• Moving to a new school: We make contact with the SEND Team to make sure they know about any special arrangements or support that needs to be put in place for your child.

• Year 6: A member of the SEN Team will attend meetings with your child’s chosen high school. Your child will have focussed transition lessons in school to support their understanding of the changes ahead. This may include some group activities. Where possible, they will visit the new school in advance and secondary schools may offer to visit your child.

• Reviews for pupils in Year 5 and 6 with EHCPs will focus on setting outcomes for KS3 and discussing aspirations for the future i.e. higher education/employment.

Approach to teaching children with SEND

Longmoor Community Primary School strives to be an inclusive school, encompassing a sense of community and belonging. There are a range approaches we take to this:

• Inclusive ethos
• Broad and balanced curriculum for all pupils
• Systems for early identification of barriers to learning and participation
• High expectations and suitable targets for all children

At Longmoor, we have adopted a whole-school approach to SEND policy and practice, which promotes inclusion.

Pupils identified as having SEND are, as far as is effective for the child, fully integrated into mainstream classes. Every effort is made to ensure that they have full access to the National Curriculum and are integrated into all aspects of the school. Where pupils are unable to access the curriculum, a personalised approach to learning will be provided and if needed, extra support offered.

The SEND Team and class teachers also work alongside the LAC Lead (Mrs. A. Haynes) to ensure that there is a holistic approach to meeting the needs of every looked after child with SEND.

Admission Arrangements

The Governing Body ensures that the admissions criteria does not discriminate against pupils with SEND and has due regard for Section 69 of the Children and Families Act 2014.

Adaptations

We endeavour to include all children in all activities making reasonable adjustments so they can take part in school, visits and residential trips. Appropriate plans will be made for the provision of their personal care, dietary needs or medication. For further details please also see the school Managing Medicines Policy and Accessibility Plan.

All lessons are carefully planned and adapted to meet the needs of all pupils.

Longmoor CPS is a barrier-free environment. This means that the corridors are wheelchair accessible, there is a lift to move up and down the school and accessible toilets located in each phase. Every child has equal physical access to all parts of school.

Reasonable adjustments will always be made to ensure that pupils with disabilities can participate in all aspects of the curriculum and access all information that those who do not have disabilities are able to access.

See Accessibility Plan document: Accessibility Plan (2023)

The school website can be translated into a number of different languages to enable access for families with English as an Additional Language.

For parents and pupils who speak English as an additional language, school will seek support from EMTAS (Ethnic Minority and Traveller Achievement Service). This service can help to meet the needs of additional support for pupils (1:1 support, training and advice on best practice, assessment and tracking, resources, supporting Flight Plans, interpreters for new arrivals and admissions, liaison with parents and other agencies). Translators may be sourced for meetings with parents of children with SEND where appropriate.

 Training

Staff access regular training appropriate for their needs in order to support children. This can be through in-house training, peer support, 1:1 training, groups or courses, dependent upon the needs of the child.

The SEND Team and teachers work alongside professionals (e.g. Speech & Language Therapists/Occupational Therapists/Together Trust/Chatter Bug/OSSME/ADHD Foundation/Physiotherapists/Educational Psychologists) where needed to ensure that provision is delivered effectively to each child.

Health professionals deliver specific training regularly, either to all staff or those who work directly with identified children.

The SEND Team attend various types of training and will feedback initiatives and strategies to all staff as needed.

Evaluating the success of our SEND provision:

The success of the school’s SEND Policy and provision is evaluated through:

• Monitoring of classroom practice by the SEND Team and subject co-ordinator
• Analysis of pupil tracking data, in collaboration with the Assessment Lead
• Analysis of test results, both for individuals and cohorts, in collaboration with the Assessment Lead
• Value-added data for pupils on the SEND Register
• Consideration of each pupil’s progress in meeting outcomes
• The SEND Team report to Governors 3 times per year and meet with the SEND Governor regularly
• School self-evaluation
• The School Improvement Plan
• The SEND Action Plan

The SEND Team regularly monitor SEND provision within school. This is done through Learning Walks, looking at planning and books, monitoring of Flight Plans and interventions and speaking with staff and pupils.