SEND

Early Years & Key Stage 1 Initiatives and Training

Early Years Interventions: Focused on promoting Personal, Social and Emotional Development (PSED), Communication and Language (CL), Physical Development (PD), and fostering high-quality staff-child interactions.

Improving Writing Outcomes: Dedicated training for EYFS and Year 1 staff to boost writing outcomes for all children. (Drawing club)

Writing Construction: All teaching staff were trained in 'Colour Coding' to support structured writing.

Launchpad for Literacy: Implemented to identify and close gaps in foundational literacy skills effectively.

The Story Project: A whole-school strategy introduced as our vibrant new approach to PSHE, and is accessible and engaging for all pupils.

Year 1 teachers received a training package for the LA to implement Year 1 in action, which supports SEND pupils' access to the curriculum and transition.

All teachers have access to training to meet the needs of children working out of their year group in reading.

Senior leader has begun train the trainer in adaptive teaching to meet the needs of all children, specifically for children working outside their programme of study.

Targeted Support and Interventions

We are proud to have a skilled team of Teaching Assistants, including a Higher Level Teaching Assistant (HLTA), who are fully trained to deliver specialist provisions. This includes tailored support for children with Communication and Interaction difficulties, Social, Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH) needs, and Autistic Spectrum Conditions (ASC).

Our team is certified to deliver a wide range of evidence-based interventions, including:

• Thrive Approach
• Positive Behaviour Handling
• Read Write Inc. (RWI) & Speed Up
• Sensory Circuits & Intensive Interactions
• Speech and Language Interventions

If you think your child might have SEN, the first person you should speak with is your child’s teacher.

Alternatively, you can book at an appointment at our weekly SEND drop in to discuss your concerns with Mrs Emsley (Inclusion Leader).

Please call the school office or message the teacher on ClassDojo, if you would like to arrange an appointment.

We identify children’s needs using a clear four step cycle called the graduated approach.

The graduated approach is a 4-part cycle of assess, plan, do, review.

The Assessment Process

Teacher Referral: If a pupil continues to struggle despite receiving targeted, personalised support to close learning gaps, the teacher will review their progress and consult the Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCO).

Collaborative Review: The SENCO will meet with the class teacher and consult you directly to gather your views and essential input regarding your child’s needs.

External Specialist Liaison: Where necessary, the school will liaise with external experts—such as speech and language therapists, educational psychologists, or pediatricians—to ensure your child receives the right support moving forward.

Following this process, the SENCO will meet with you to decide if SEN support is required. If it is, your child will be placed on the SEND register, and we will co-create a personalised support plan.

The 4-part cycle of assess, plan, do, review process is continual. If the review shows a pupil has made progress, they may no longer need the additional provision made through SEN support. For others, the cycle will continue and the school’s targets, strategies and provisions will be revisited and refined.

If a pupil is joining the school, and:

• Their previous setting has already identified that they have SEN
• They are known to external agencies
• They have an education, health and care plan (EHCP)

Then the school will work in a multi-agency way to make sure we get relevant information before the pupil starts at school, so support can be put in place as early as possible.

We will provide termly reports consisting of two face to face parent consultations and one formal school report on your child's progress.

Your child's class teacher or the SENCO will meet with you a minimum of three times a year to:

• Set clear outcomes for your child’s progress
• Review progress towards those outcomes
• Discuss the support we will put in place to help your child make that progress

The SENCO may also attend these meetings to provide extra support.

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.

The SENCO is also available to meet with you to discuss your child’s progress or any worries you may have.

All information from outside professionals will be discussed with you directly alongside the specialist involved, or where this is not possible, shared in a report.

We recognise that you are the expert when it comes to your child’s needs and aspirations. We want to ensure you have a full understanding of how we are supporting your child so that you can provide insight into what works best for them.

We also want to hear from you as much as possible so that we can build a clear picture of how our SEN support is impacting your child outside of school.

The level of involvement will depend on your child’s age and level of competence. We recognise that all children are different, so we will decide on a case-by-case basis, with your input.

We may seek your child’s views by asking them to:

• Attend meetings to discuss their progress and outcomes
• Complete Pupil Voice, Talking Mats, drawings.
• Discuss their views with a member of staff who can act as a representative during the meeting

We are strong advocates that all teachers are teachers for children with SEND. Teachers are responsible and accountable for the progress and development of all the pupils in their class.

High quality teaching is our first step in responding to pupils who have SEN. This will be adapted for individual pupils.

Our teaching, learning and planning procedures reflect this and are as follows:

• Adapted teaching and learning for example, by grouping, 1:1 work, teaching style, content of the lesson, giving longer processing times, pre-teaching of key vocabulary, chunking work, etc.
• Adapting our resources and staffing
• Using recommended aids, such as laptops, coloured overlays, visual timetables, larger fonts, etc.
• Multi-sensory activities
• Use of visual aids
• Resources to scaffold learning while supporting independence
• Neutral, well organised classrooms with resources that are accessible for all pupils

We can also provide the following interventions:

• Personal and group speech and language therapy programmes
• Precision Teaching
• Launch Pad for Literacy
• Speed up
• IDL
• Lego Therapy
• Zones of Regulation
• Black Sheep Emotion
• SLT check in
• Sensory Circuits
• Intensive Interaction approach
• Social Interaction groups
• Social Stories/Comic Strip conversations

Whenever we run an intervention with your child, we will assess them before the intervention begins. This is known as a ‘baseline assessment’. We do this so we can see how much impact the intervention has on your child’s progress.

We evaluate the effectiveness of provision for pupils with SEN by:

• Reviewing pupils’ individual progress towards their targets each term through pupil progress meetings, data tracking and SEN Plan reviews
• Regular intervention reviews to determine the impact of interventions.
• Using Pupil Voice
• Monitoring by the SENCO (classroom observations, learning walks, review meetings)
• Use of Provision Maps
• Holding termly review meetings with all stakeholders and annual EHCP reviews.

It may be that your child’s needs mean we need to secure:

• Extra equipment or facilities
• More teaching assistant hours
• Further training for our staff
• External specialist expertise

If that’s the case, we will consult with external agencies to get recommendations on what will best help your child access their learning.

If you feel your child requires additional support beyond what is currently in place, we are here to listen and help. Please arrange a meeting with our Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCO).

You can do this in two ways:

• Attend a SEND Drop-In: Come along to one of our scheduled SEND drop-in sessions for an informal chat.
• Contact the School Office: Get in touch with the main office via phone or email, and they will gladly arrange a formal meeting with the SENCO for you.

We welcome your input and look forward to working together to find the best path forward for your child.

If Bradford Council decides not to assess your child or decides not to issue an EHCP following an assessment, you have clear rights to challenge the decision:

Talk to your EHC Caseworker: You can contact the Bradford SEND Integrated Assessment Team directly to request an informal meeting to discuss why the panel declined the request and what further evidence may be needed.

Phone: 01274 435750

Bradford Families and Young Persons Directory:
SEND Specialist Assessment & Support

Email: SEN@bradford.gov.uk

Consider Mediation: Before you can appeal to a tribunal, you must contact an independent mediation adviser (details will be in your refusal letter). They will help you explore an informal agreement with the Local Authority or issue a certificate allowing you to appeal. You must contact them within 2 months of your refusal letter.

Appeal to the SEND Tribunal: If mediation does not resolve the issue, you can appeal to the independent First-Tier SEND Tribunal. This is a free service where an independent judge reviews the evidence. You must register your appeal within 2 months of the original refusal letter or within 30 days of your mediation certificate (whichever is later).

No child is left out. All school trips, before and after-school clubs, and physical activities are open to children with SEND. We carry out detailed risk assessments and provide 1:1 adult support when required to make sure trips are safe and inclusive.

Ingrow Primary School follows the Bradford Council admissions policy.

Admissions for children with an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) are managed by the Bradford SEND team (SEN@bradford.gov.uk).

When a child with SEN is allocated a place, we create a bespoke transition plan to ensure their move to our school is successful.

Bradford Fair Access Protocol (FAP)

Ingrow Primary School participates fully in the Bradford Fair Access Protocol (FAP). This is a local partnership designed to place vulnerable children or those out of school into a placement quickly. If a child meets the local authority's criteria for vulnerability, they may be placed with us through the Fair Access Panel even if a year group is technically full.

Facilities are provided in school to support access for those with disabilities, these include ramps and accessible toilet facilities.

• The school building is housed in a Victorian building, with all areas of the buildings accessible.
• Teachers in school adapt the classroom layouts to cater for children with special needs and/or disabilities.
• Alternative resources are available for pupils and staff with specific learning disabilities e.g. coloured overlays, writing slopes, pencil grips.
• For children who benefit from the use of electronic equipment to aid their learning, such equipment as lap-tops, iPads are available.
• We also have access to other specialised equipment as we require it e.g. Radio hearing equipment.

For further information, please see the school accessibility plan.

Supporting children in their social and emotional development is a key priority for Ingrow Primary School. We have a strong team of staff, including SLT, the SENCO, assistant SENCO, Family Liaison Officer and support assistant who support children with social, emotional and mental health needs.

Support is available for improving mental health and wellbeing for children with SEND via extra pastoral support, Thrive approach and building positive, trusting relationships.

We provide support for pupils to progress in their emotional and social development in the following ways:

• Pupils with SEN are encouraged to be part of the school council.
• Pupils with SEN are also encouraged to be part of after school clubs to promote teamwork/building friendships.
• We provide extra pastoral support for listening to the views of pupils with SEN by daily and weekly check-ins, pupil voice, and completing comic strip narratives.
• We run Thrive and Lunchtime Clubs for pupils who need extra support with social or emotional development.

We have a zero tolerance approach to bullying. For further information, please see our anti-bullying policy available on the school website: Link to bullying policy.

The Bee Rules provide a child friendly framework for anti bullying.

We support children carefully when they move between classes, year groups or settings.

This may include transition meetings, additional visits, sharing key information with new staff, personalised transition plans and support from familiar adults.

For in-year transfer, this may also include a home visit from our pastoral lead.

Our Inclusion Lead, Mrs Emsley, will ensure that all teachers understand how a looked-after or previously looked-after pupil’s circumstances and their SEN might interact, and what the implications are for teaching and learning.

Children who are looked-after or previously looked-after will be supported in much the same way as any other child who has SEND. However, looked-after pupils will also have a personal education plan (PEP). We will make sure that the PEP and any SEN support plans or EHC plans are consistent and complement one another.

If you have any concerns about your child’s SEND support, please speak first to your child’s class teacher or the SENCO. If you feel your concern has not been resolved, you may escalate it using our school’s Complaints Policy, which is available in the Policies section of this website.

To see a full explanation of suitable avenues for complaint, see pages 246 and 247 of the SEND Code of Practice.

If you feel that our school has discriminated against your child because of their SEN, you have the right to make a discrimination claim to the First-tier SEND Tribunal. To find out how to make such a claim, please visit:

https://www.gov.uk/complain-about-school/disability-discrimination

You can make a claim about alleged discrimination regarding:

• Admission
• Exclusion
• Provision of education and associated services
• Making reasonable adjustments, including the provision of auxiliary aids and services

Before going to a SEND tribunal, you can go through processes called disagreement resolution or mediation, where you try to resolve your disagreement before it reaches the tribunal.

If you have questions about SEND, or need help and support, please get in touch to let us know. We want to support you, your child and your family.

Helen Mawer is our pastoral lead.

Mrs Mawer works directly with families to offer support, both from school and external Early Help and Family Support Plans.

To find out what support is available locally, access the Bradford Local Offer Directory:

Bradford Local Offer Directory

National charities that offer information and support to families of children with SEND are:

• IPSEA
• SEND Family Support
• NSPCC
• Family Action
• Special Needs Jungle
• Bradford SENDIASS

Access arrangements

Special arrangements to allow pupils with SEN to access assessments or exams.

Annual review

An annual meeting to review the provision in a pupil’s EHC plan.

Area of need

The 4 areas of need describe different types of needs a pupil with SEN can have. The 4 areas are communication and interaction; cognition and learning; physical and/or sensory; and social, emotional and mental health needs.

CAMHS

Child and adolescent mental health services.

Differentiation

When teachers adapt how they teach in response to a pupil’s needs.

EHC needs assessment

The needs assessment is the first step on the way to securing an EHC plan. The local authority will do an assessment to decide whether a child needs an EHC plan.

EHC plan

An education, health and care (EHC) plan is a legally-binding document that sets out a child’s needs and the provision that will be put in place to meet their needs.

First-tier tribunal / SEND tribunal

A court where you can appeal against the local authority’s decisions about EHC needs assessments or plans and against discrimination by a school or local authority due to SEN.