All class teachers regularly assess the progress of all children. Pupil Progress Meetings are held regularly with the class teacher and the senior leaders and the SENCo in order to discuss the children’s progress. Class teachers and SENCo apply what is called a ‘graduated approach’ to support pupils with SEN. This means that we identify and plan a graduated approach to support to ensure that your child gets effective support at the right time.

If your child is then identified as not making expected progress, or the teachers have concerns about your child’s speaking and listening skills, physical development, or any other areas of development, the school will set up a meeting to discuss this with you in more detail and to:

• listen to any concerns you may have
• plan any additional support your child may receive
• discuss with you any referrals to outside professionals for assessments to support your child’s learning
• with your agreement, place your child on the SEN register

Your child’s class teacher is always the first point of contact for any concerns. If you are worried that your child may have special educational needs and/or a disability (SEND), you may also want to speak to the Special Educational Needs Co-­­ordinator (SENCo).

Your first contact for any concerns will be the class teacher who then may decide to refer you to the Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCo). The school’s special educational needs coordinator is Lindsay Higgins

The SENCo is responsible for:

• coordinating all of the support for children with SEND and developing the school’s SEND Policy to make sure all children get a consistent, high-quality response to meeting their needs in school
• ensuring that you, as parents/ carers, are involved in supporting your child’s learning and kept informed about the support your child is getting
• liaising with external professionals who may be coming into school to help support your child’s learning e.g. Speech and Language Therapist, Educational Psychologists, occupational therapists etc. updating the school’s SEND register (a system for ensuring all the SEND needs of pupils in this school are known) and making sure that there are records of your child’s progress and needs
• maintaining the school Map of Provision which lists all types of support every child on the SEN register has
• providing specialist support for teachers and support staff in the school so they can help children with SEND in the school achieve the best progress possible
• reporting progress of children with SEND to the Senior Leaders
• running effective Professional Development sessions for teaching staff or organise high-quality INSET for staff to attend to increase skills and knowledge to meet a particular need

The class teachers review the progress of all their children with the SENCo and a senior leader regularly. At these meetings, any children who are not making expected progress will be discussed and any extra support that is necessary can be planned. We know that quality first teaching by the class teacher is the most important factor to ensure that children are achieving at school. For children with SEND this means

• the teacher has a strong knowledge of your child’s needs and learning style
• all teaching is based on building on what your child already knows, can do and can understand
• different ways of teaching are in place so that your child is fully involved in learning in class. This may involve things like using more practical learning
• the teachers and LSAs are utilised to add support and scaffold learning where it is needed most
• specific strategies (which may be suggested by the SENCo or outside staff) are in place to support your child to learn
• progress of your child is checked and reviewed regularly

Although it is desirable that most learning for pupils with SEN and disability takes place in the social context of the mainstream classroom, if specific needs or gaps in learning are identified which need to be addressed, your child may need to attend an effective and bespoke learning intervention away from the main classroom. These are usually in small groups or on a 1:1 basis and might be for a fixed period. Before starting any bespoke learning, it will be discussed with you by your child’s teacher or SENCo. There are a range of bespoke learning opportunities including:

• Bespoke phonics groups
• Bespoke maths support
• PiXL therapies
• Speech and language programmes
• Fine and Gross Motor skills groups
• THRIVE
• BEAT dyslexia
• Interventions suggested by outside professionals

At Limes Primary Academy we follow a graduated approach. If you have concerns regarding your child then the best thing to do is make an appointment to speak to your child’s class teacher. Following this appointment, an agreed best course of action will take place. Alternatively, you can book a SENCO Surgery appointment at the office and speak to the SENCO.

The school receives High Need Funding for SEND provision for those pupils with particularly high need. This funding is used to fund support staff, buy resources, run intervention programmes and access training. The allocation of funding is reviewed each year as the needs of the current SEND children are assessed. The allocation of this budget and the support that has been provided will be reviewed and evaluated yearly by the SENCo, the Head Teacher and the Governors. The school has a duty to inform Suffolk County Council how it is using the resources provided for these children.

At The Limes Primary Academy, we value the contribution that Parents and Carers make to the school and offer many opportunities to be involved. We hold regular parent-­­teacher meetings to discuss progress, attainment, learning plans and consistent behaviour management plans of children.

At The Limes, we encourage our Parents/Carers to come into school to discuss any concerns and thoughts with us at any time. We ensure that parents can contact us by phone or email and through informal discussions. Individual appointments for deeper discussions around the needs of the child can be booked via the office.

Parents and carers are also welcome to attend our regular coffee mornings, this is an informal opportunity to discuss your child/children at The Limes.

At The Limes Primary Academy, we ensure all pupil's voice are captured by taking a person-centred approach. We do this by teaching and discussing learning plans with pupils and leaders capturing pupils voice during monitoring. The SENCo also regularly meets with pupils to discuss their progress, learning and provision.

We have parent-­­teacher meetings in the autumn and spring to discuss progress and set targets. We also provide a written report in the summer term, as well as, providing a copy of learning plans.

The class teacher is regularly available to discuss your child’s progress or any concerns you may have and to share information about what is working well at home and school so similar strategies can be used. If you have been working with the SENCo, the SENCo will be available to meet with you to discuss your child’s progress or any concerns/worries you may have. He is available to parents when needed and is contactable through phone and email. He will meet you regularly to discuss your child’s progress and ensure their needs are being met. All information from outside professionals will be discussed with you and the external agency involved directly and you will be provided with a written report. The report will suggest strategies that we can use at school and at home to support your child.

All class teachers are expected to provide challenge matched to the pupils’ abilities and needs in all lessons so that all children receive the appropriate level of support to help them to make progress. This may be done through giving children slightly different tasks, giving them more resources to help them complete the task or giving them more adult support. Some children will need to work at a different level and/or pace to other children and the class teacher will be supported by the SENCo to plan for this.

In addition to the school SENCo, we also have:

• LSAs trained in delivering speech and language groups and other interventions
• A THRIVE-trained practitioner
• Pastoral support
• Key adults who support vulnerable children throughout the day, especially during unstructured parts of the day
• LSAs trained in delivering interventions such as WellComm, Language Link, Attention Autism etc.

The school works with a number of external agencies to seek advice and support when needed, to ensure that the needs of all children are fully met. We refer children for assessment and advice from a wide range of other professionals, including:

• Specialist Education Services (SES): Cognition and Learning, Communication and Interaction, SEMH and Sensory/Physical, Graduated Response Stage 3, Whole School Inclusion Service and The Alternative Tuition Service
• Support for learning services-­­ Hearing/ Visually Impaired
• Our School Nurse
• Occupational Therapy
• Physiotherapy
• Point 1 and CAMHS -­­ Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service
• Children’s Social Care
• Educational Psychologist

If the school think that a referral to one of these professionals is needed the SENCo will speak to you. If you feel your child needs extra support from one of these agencies please see the class teacher or the SENCo.

All staff have regular Safe­­guarding training and up to date training on the new SEN legislation. They are regularly updated and supported on how to identify children with special educational needs through training sessions or termly meetings with the SENCo. The school has a comprehensive programme of professional development which includes training from the SENCo and outside experts on many areas of SEND. Staff have regular staff meetings in which SEN updates are discussed. Staff are continually being supported to increase their awareness and knowledge of SEND. Support staff who work with children with SEND will access outside training specific to the children’s needs. They are constantly upskilling themselves to meet the needs of the children in their care.

We always aim to include everyone in trips and activities and will work with the family to make sure children with SEND can be included by making reasonable adjustments to travel arrangements, support arrangements etc as needed.

As part of our School Accessibility policy, we ensure that the school is assessable to all our children. Where necessary we will ensure that arrangements are made to cater for ongoing needs for all our children. This may be a habituation report for children with visual impairment or ensuring that all areas are able to be accessed for a child who uses a wheelchair for example. When needed we can access interpreters/advocates when necessary for meetings with families and other professionals for families for whom English is not their first language.

SEND assessments take place regularly during the school year. These assessments directly feed into your child’s learning plan targets and support progress reviews. Parents are invited to feed into the review of pupils’ assessments through parent meetings. The types of assessments that take place depend on each individual child’s needs.

Those pupils who are moving between key stages with an EHCP, hold the Annual Review in the Autumn Term before the transition in order to provide a formal opportunity to plan transition with parents and all other agencies involved. Pupils who are moving between year group have transitional support in the summer term dependent on their individual needs and circumstances.

At The Limes Primary Academy, Mental Health support is provided through a whole-school approach called THRIVE. THRIVE is an approach which promotes children’s social, emotional, and mental health and well-being. A Graduated Approach is applied to support SEMH by: -

• All class teachers completing a THRIVE assessment which identify whole class action plans.
• Daily check ins before, middle and end of every day to help children to communicate their feelings and identify their emotions.
• Restorative Practice conversations are used as a whole school approach to help develop pupils understanding. Comic Strip conversation and a visual script is used to provide additional support for those with SEN.

Pupils identified a higher level of mental health need can access mental health support through: -

• THRIVE practitioner 1:1 intervention
• Small THRIVE group work
• Social Skills groups
• Point 1 referral
• CAMHS referral
• SES teacher support

All children who join the school mid-­­year will be assessed to find out what support they may need, if any. For children who have already been identified as having SEND the SENCo will liaise with the previous school to see what support was in place and gather all the necessary information as well as meeting with the parent/carer to discuss the child’s needs. Transition between classes and key stages will be supported for all children. For children with SEND, who may find the change more difficult, a transition booklet may be used, extra visits or other planned activities will be implemented to aid the transition.

All complaints should follow the school complaint procedure.