SEND at Our Lady of Sorrows

At Our Lady of Sorrows we firmly believe in giving all children the best possible start to their journey. We endeavour to ensure that the needs of all children at Our Lady's are met to ensure that they feel safe, happy and secure in their school environment, enabling them to achieve their full potential in both their personal and academic development.

As a school we promote an inclusive culture where all people are valued and supported. We aim to provide a broad and balanced curriculum designed to meet the individual needs of all pupils, providing differentiated materials and resources to ensure barriers to learning are removed.

We strive to work in partnership with families and professionals to ensure that children are supported through effective and efficient provision, tailored to each child's individual needs.

Here are two documents which provide some more detail about SEND support at Our Lady of Sorrows.

1. SEN support at OLOS

2. SEN support plans at OLOS

Mr Shepherd is the school SENCo. If you would like to discuss your child with Mr Shepherd please contact the school office.

INTENT

 At Our Lady’s our intent is:

• To enable children to achieve their potential, both inside and out of the classroom regardless of any additional needs
• To provide full access to a broad, balanced and inspiring curriculum for all pupils
• To ensure that the children’s needs are identified as early as possible
• To provide personalised and bespoke support for each child, planned around their individual needs
• To gain the views of the child and ensure they have a voice
• To ensure parents/carers are fully engaged in decision making, assessing progress and determining outcomes for their child
• To provide advice, support and relevant training for all staff working with children with SEND
• To identify and refer pupils to external professionals as part of the graduated approach, implementing their advice in school to best support children
• To identify and direct parents to support outside of school including the local offer
• To provide detailed information about the arrangements for identifying, assessing and making provision for children with SEND
• To support key transition points to allow them to be as smooth as possible
• To ensure pupils are equipped for life in the wider community.

We want our children to feel safe, happy and respected and to fulfil their potential in academic progress. Our long-term goal is to help equip our children with the knowledge and skills they need to live fulfilling and independent lives, achieving the goals and aspirations that our children set for themselves, with the support of those around them.

IMPLEMENTAION

Every teacher is a teacher of SEND, and, as such, inclusion runs through every area of our school life. This is supported by collaboration between senior leaders, teachers, support staff, external agencies, parents and, most importantly, the child. We provide good quality and relevant training for all staff members supporting children with SEND, and work closely with external agencies and other professionals to improve our provision. Our Lady’s follows the SEND Code of Practice to identify additional needs and follows the graduated approach (APDR) to help develop provision to support children, helping them to overcome barriers to their learning.

Through our high-quality planning, teaching and provision we

• pride ourselves on early identification and intervention for children with SEND to ensure progress and opportunities are maximised
• ensure all children can access a broad and balanced curriculum through focused support.

At Our Lady’s, pupils with SEND will:

• Be included in all aspects of the school life
• Receive quality first teaching
• Be respected and their contributions valued and acknowledged
• Learn in an accessible and inclusive environment
• Have their individual progress monitored and reviewed to ensure best learning
• Have pre-learning opportunities and same-day interventions as needed
• Have individual support plans with SMART outcomes linked to their individual needs
• Have regular interventions targeted to support these children in meeting their outcomes.

At Our Lady’s, pupils with SEND may:

• Take part in other class interventions to support Maths, Reading, SPaG or Writing
• Take part in social, emotional or nurture support interventions
• Receive additional support around speech and language
• Receive sessions with our nurture practitioner
• Receive support directed by educational psychologists, speech and language therapists, occupational therapists, behaviour outreach support officers, or other professionals.

At Our Lady’s, the SENC0 and SLT will:

• regularly review the SEND Policy, ensuring its implementation and effectiveness, adjusting it accordingly
• ensure the SEND Register is kept up to date and regularly reviewed
• make referrals to other services or applications for funding
• liaise with external agencies and help staff to implement their strategies and advice
• ensure all staff have the training and expertise to ensure the best outcomes for children with SEND
• enable the SENCo to attend courses to keep up to date with current issues, attend regular CPD, research key SEND areas and disseminate relevant information to staff
• ensure our children with SEND are well-supported and make good progress.

IMPACT

As a result, at Our Lady’s:

• Our Children with additional needs are happy, safe and have their needs met well
• We have a learning environment where difference and diversity are embraced
• All children are respected and respectful
• Children have a voice and feel heard
• Staff are empathetic, supportive and compassionate and create learning opportunities for all