Our SEND Provision

There are four broad areas of special educational need, these are: 

• Communication and Interaction
  This area of need includes children with Autism Spectrum Condition and those with Speech, Language and Communication Needs
• Cognition and Learning
  This includes children with Specific Learning Difficulties, Moderate Learning Difficulties, Severe Learning Difficulties and Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulties
• Social, Emotional and Mental Health Difficulties
  This includes any pupils who have an emotional, social or mental health need that is impacting on their ability to learn
• Sensory and/or Physical Difficulties
  This area includes children with hearing impairment, visual impairment, multi-sensory impairment and physical difficulties.

At Bowburn Primary School, we ensure that all pupils, regardless of their specific needs make the best possible progress.

Our approach to teaching children & young people with SEN

Bowburn Primary School prides itself in being very inclusive and will endeavour to support every child regardless of their level of need.  All pupils follow the National Curriculum at a level and a pace that is appropriate to their abilities. At times and when it is felt appropriate, modifications to the curriculum may be implemented.

To successfully match pupil ability to the curriculum there are some actions we may take to achieve this:

• Ensure that all pupils have access to the school curriculum and all school activities.
• Help all pupils achieve to the best of their abilities, despite any difficulty or disability they may have.
• Ensure that teaching staff are aware of and sensitive to the needs of all pupils, teaching pupils in a way that is more appropriate to their needs.
• Pupils to gain in confidence and improve their self-esteem.
• To work in partnership with parents/ carers, pupils and relevant external agencies in order to provide for children’s special educational needs and disabilities.
• To identify at the earliest opportunity, all children that need special consideration to support their needs (whether these are educational, social, physical or emotional)
• To make suitable provision for children with SEND to fully develop their abilities, interests and aptitudes and gain maximum access to the curriculum.
• Ensure that all children with SEND are fully included in all activities of the school in order to promote the highest levels of achievement.
• To promote self worth and enthusiasm by encouraging independence at all age and ability levels.
• To give every child the entitlement to a sense of achievement.
• To regularly review the policy and practice in order to achieve best practice.

How we adapt the curriculum and learning environment for children & young people with SEN

At Bowburn Primary School, we believe that inclusive education means providing all pupils with appropriate education and support alongside their peers. The Curriculum consist of all the planned activities that the school organises in order to promote learning, personal growth and development.

It includes not only the formal requirements of the National Curriculum, but also the range of additional opportunities that the school organises in order to enrich the experiences of our children. Our curriculum also includes the social aspects that are essential for life-long learning.

Each class teacher follows the school’s long term plans to ensure that all elements of the National Curriculum are covered. This is used to create termly and then weekly/daily plans to ensure that he curriculum is covered using a range of teaching and learning strategies. By using a range of targeted or adapted teaching and learning strategies, we strive to ensure that every child’s needs will be met.

At times and when it is felt appropriate, modifications to the curriculum may be implemented. To successfully match pupil ability to the curriculum Bowburn Primary School remain committed to:

• A range of teaching and learning styles
• Adapted learning materials
• Access to ICT and Technology
• Additional in-class support such as phonics or fine motor skills group work
• Additional out-of-class support (e.g. Speech and Language Therapy)
• Specific individual support in dedicated areas within school
• Many Enrichment and Enjoyment opportunities to stimulate and motivate learning
• Flexible groupings – including small group support work
• An innovative and supportive curriculum
• The appropriate use of rewards and sanctions
• A broad range of extra-curricular activities including booster/homework clubs
• Mentoring and counselling
• Assessment procedures that emphasise pupils’ strengths and achievements
• Applications during national testing at Key Stage 2 to obtain access arrangements as appropriate
• Adapted materials and activities

For further information you can view the Teaching & Learning Policy in the School Policies section of our website. More details on how we adapt information, our environment and curriculum can be found in the Accessibility Plan which you can find in the School Policies section of our website.

How we identify, assess and review children with special educational needs

We believe in early and continuous assessment to identify the needs of all pupils. Within the classroom there will always be a range of need and the class teacher will plan to meet the needs of all pupils. They will also identify and allocate resources, including additional support from a teaching assistant or other adults (when available), as appropriate to ensure that all children make maximum progress.

If a teacher feels that a child may need additional support other than that which can be normally provided by Quality First teaching in the classroom, they will discuss these needs with the child’s parents, as well as colleagues (including the SENCO). Sometimes this may lead to a referral to a specialist provider e.g. Learning Support Service; Speech Therapist; Educational Psychologist; Dietician; Occupational therapists or Physiotherapists.

If a parent has concerns about their child’s needs then we would encourage them to speak to their child’s class teacher or the SENCO (Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator – Mrs Clark).

We believe that all children can be helped by Quality First teaching in the classroom and on occasions via additional help in small groups or one to one support. This will be provided by the class teacher, teaching assistant or on occasions a specialist teacher or health professional. Where a child is working significantly below their ARE (age related expectations) parents will be advised and they will be placed on a ‘short note’. Other occasions where a child may have a short note would be where a child requires some support for social, mental and emotional health or where an aspect of a child’s development needs closer monitoring.

Short notes are early discussions with parents/carers where interventions will be noted and these will be monitored and reviewed on a regular basis in partnership with parents/carers.

When reviewing a short note it may be decided that further support is required.  At this point, in agreement with parents/carers, a child would be placed on the SEN register and would move on to a SEN Support Plan.  This plan identifies outcomes and resources allocated to help each child move forward in their learning. Support plans are reviewed with parents/cares in termly review meetings.

SEN Support Cycle

Where it is determined that a pupil does have SEND, parents will be formally advised that their child is receiving SEND support. At this point the child’s name will be added to the SEND register. The aim of formally identifying a pupil with SEND is to help school ensure that effective provision is put in place and so remove barriers to learning. The support provided consists of the following process:

“Assess, Plan, Do, Review”.

This means that we will:

• Assess a child’s special educational needs
• Plan the provision to meet your child’s aspirations and agreed outcomes
• Do put the provision in place to meet those outcomes
• Review the support and progress

As part of this approach every child with SEN will have an individualised SEN Support Plan that describes the child’s needs, outcomes & provision to meet those needs.  Parents/carers and child/YP (where appropriate) views are integral to the this process.

Education, Health and Care Plans

The SEND Code of Practice (2014) 6:63  states – ‘where, despite the school having taken relevant and purposeful action to identify, assess and meet the SEND of the child or young person, the child or young person has not made expected progress, the school or parents should consider requesting an Education, Health and Care needs assessment. To inform its decision the LEA will expect to see evidence of the action taken by the school as part of SEND support.’

Referral for an Education, Health and Care Plan

This Statutory Assessment process is usually requested by the school but can be requested by a parent. This will occur where the complexity of need or a lack of clarity around the needs of the child are such that a multi-agency approach to assessing that need, to planning provision and identifying resources, is required.

The decision to make a referral for an Education, Health and Care Plan will be taken at a Progress review meeting for the child. The subsequent application for an Education, Health and Care Plan will combine information from a variety of sources including:

• Parents
• Teachers
• SENCO
• Social Care
• Health professionals

Information will be gathered relating to the current provision provided, action points that have been taken, and the preliminary results of outcomes set. A decision will be made by a group of people from education, health and social care about whether or not the child is eligible for an EHC Plan. Parents have the right to appeal against a decision not to initiate a statutory assessment leading to an EHC Plan.

Following Statutory Assessment, an EHC Plan will be provided by Durham County Council, if it is decided that the child’s needs are not being met by the support that is ordinarily available. The school and the child’s parents will be involved developing and producing the plan.

Parents have the right to appeal against the content of the EHC Plan. They may also appeal against the school named in the Plan if it differs from their preferred choice.

Once the EHC Plan has been completed and agreed, it will be kept as part of the pupil’s formal record and reviewed at least annually by staff, parents and the pupil. The annual review enables provision for the pupil to be evaluated and, where appropriate, for changes to be put in place, for example, reducing or increasing levels of support.

It will usually take 20 weeks until the process of referring and assessing a pupil for an EHC plan is complete and a decision about the application made.

A small percentage of children and young people with significant and/or complex needs may require an assessment that could lead to an Education, Health and Care Plan.

For more detailed information see the Local Offer.

How we ensure children with SEN engage in all activities

Support for Literacy:

• Every year group:
• Flexible small group support – meaning your child will have more time with the teacher.
• Individual support – on a one-to-one basis for high support levels.
• Adapted activities and materials, enabling learning objectives to be met by all.
• Adapted questioning, in order to make activities accessible with vocabulary simplified where necessary.
• Use of different learning approaches (visual/auditory/kinaesthetic)
• Resources and displays which support independence, such as a visual timetable, reminders and lesson cues.
• Routine feedback to pupils so they know what aspects of their work they are doing right and which they need to improve on.
• Pre-teaching of key vocabulary, so they are familiar with words used in subsequent lessons.
• Homework club, allowing a greater amount of teacher-pupil time.
• Literacy/maths Booster clubs (for Year 6 pupils) which enable key information to be repeated/approached and consolidated.
• Reciprocal Reading/guided reading groups to cover key skills of reading; how to find information in a text and skills involved in inferring details.
• Little Wandle ‘Catch Up’ programmes for phonics

Support for Numeracy:

• All Year groups;
• Individual support
• Flexible small group support
• Adaptation of activities and materials
• Adapted questioning
• Use of different learning approaches (visual/auditory/kinaesthetic)
• Resources and displays which support independence
• Routine feedback to pupils
• Use of ‘concrete’  resources to support maths learning
• Pre-teaching and post teaching methods and strategies

Extra-Curricular Activities

Where possible, provision will be made for all pupils to access all areas of the curriculum including extra-curricular activities. We will always contact you before a planned activity if we think your child may require additional support to meet required health and safety standards. This may involve a specific risk assessment to identify any additional support needs your child may have to ensure full participation.

Support for children with significant learning difficulties:

• Flexible small group support
• Adaptation of activities and materials
• Adapted questioning
• Use of different learning approaches (visual/auditory/kinaesthetic)Resources and displays which support independence (eg. Visual timetables, laptop use)
• Routine feedback to pupils
• Environmental factors such as classroom layout, seating position etc

Support for children with physical needs:

• Flexible small group support
• Some differentiation of activities and materials
• Use of different learning approaches (visual/auditory/kinaesthetic)
• Resources and displays which support independence
• Routine feedback to pupils
• Environmental factors such as classroom layout, seating position etc
• Awareness that some tasks may require extra time or be undertaken differently
• Rest breaks and opportunities to sit down
• A range of alternative equipment (chunky pencils/adapted scissors etc)

Support for children with speech, language and communication needs: 

• Flexible small group support
• Some differentiation of activities and materials
• Use of different learning approaches (visual/auditory/kinaesthetic)
• Resources and displays which support independence
• Routine feedback to pupils
• Environmental factors such as classroom layout, seating position etc
• Awareness that some tasks may require extra time or be undertaken differently
• Rest breaks and opportunities to sit down/rest joints etc
• A range of alternative equipment (chunky pencils/adapted scissors etc)
• Weekly movement and balance group to work on core stability and control over movement, reflexes etc.
• Motor skills and co-ordination group, focusing on control over equipment, including games.

Support for children with a hearing, visual or multi-sensory impairment: 

• Flexible small group support
• Some differentiation of activities and materials
• Use of different learning approaches (visual/auditory/kinaesthetic)
• Use of different appropriate responses
• Resources and displays which support independence
• Routine feedback to pupils particularly with verbal and communication skills
• Understanding that needs of the child may have a wider impact on their overall wellbeing
• Providing visual support such as story sacks and pictures
• Increased time to offer verbal responses
• Interaction strategies that support SLC such as pausing, scribing etc
• Awareness that some tasks may require extra time or be undertaken differently

Support for children with social, emotional and mental health difficulties:

• Flexible grouping arrangements
• Established routines and secure and explicit boundaries
• Some differentiation of activities and resources
• Awareness that some tasks may require extra time or be undertaken differently
• Understanding that outcomes of lessons may differ vastly when compared to others
• Resources and displays which support independence
• Routine feedback to pupils
• Clear rules and expectations across staff
• Classroom organisation – seating and group dynamics
• Nurturing classroom approaches
• Offering pupils to take on responsibilities
• A well-informed understanding of which teaching/learning approaches are successful with children needing support.
• 1-1 support from School Counsellors
• 1-1 support from Parent Support Advisor

Support with children with Medical Needs:

To view the support offered , please view the DCC policy:

Supporting Children with Medical Needs (DCC 2017)

Support for children with English as an Additional Language:

• Vocabulary lists
• Visual timetables
• Multi-lingual timetables available
• 1:1 weekly support to focus on verbal language and grammar skills.
• Support from EAL team at DCC when appropriate.
• Support for Looked after Children with SEND:
• Assigned adult for pupils to go to with curriculum issues (homework, understanding of concepts etc)

How we evaluate the effectiveness of SEN Provision

The provision for our children with SEND is closely monitored and evaluated.  Termly meetings between teaching staff, parents/carers and the SENCo ensure SEN Support plans are reviewed and the progress made by children is evaluated.  Where interventions have not been successful, further support or alternative approaches are put in place.  This may also include seeking further advice  and recommendations from professionals for staff to build into future support plans.

Teaching and Learning is monitored through lesson observations, learning walks and book scrutinies.  In addition to this, our SENCo monitors the effectiveness of interventions through collecting evaluations and assessments completed by staff working directly with the child. The deployment of staff is monitored and reviewed regularly to ensure skills and areas of expertise are matched to areas of need.

Ongoing assessment of pupils with SEND is monitored by the Senior Leadership Team at termly Pupil Progress Review Meetings.  The progress of children with SEN is considered in the context of the whole school, and assessed against national averages.  Where necessary, further interventions will be put into place for children who are not deemed to be making adequate progress.