What is the Local Offer?

The LA Local Offer

The Children and Families Bill was enacted in September 2014. From this date Local Authorities (LA) and schools are required to publish and keep under review information about services they expect to be available for children and young people with special educational needs (SEN) aged 0-25. The LA refer to this as the 'Local Offer'.

The intention of the Local Offer is to improve choice and transparency for families. It will also be an important resource for parents in understanding the range of services and provision in the local area.

Derbyshire Local Offer- https://www.derbyshire.gov.uk/education/schools/special-educational-needs/send/the-local-offer/the-local-offer.aspx    

What is the Special Education Needs Information Report?

The Special Education Needs Information Report

Schools utilise the LA Local Offer to meet the needs of SEND pupils as determined by school policy and the provision that the school is able to provide. Schools refer to this as ‘The Special Education Needs Information Report’.

The Special Education Needs Information Report helps to answer questions you may have such as these below.

Question 1

Who are the best people to talk to in this school about my child’s difficulties with learning/ Special Educational Needs or disability (SEND)?

The Class teacher

Responsible for:

• Checking on the progress of your child and identifying, planning and delivering any additional help your child may need (this could be things like targeted work, additional support) and letting the Special Education Needs/Disabilities Coordinator (SENDCo) know as necessary

• Writing My SEND Learning Plans, and sharing and reviewing these with parents at least once each term and planning for the next term.

• Personalised teaching and learning for your child as identified on school’s provision map

• Ensuring that the school’s SEND Policy is followed in their classroom and for all the pupils they teach with any SEND.

The SENDCo – Mrs H Walters

Responsible for:

• Developing and reviewing the school’s SEND policy

• Coordinating all the support for children with special educational needs or disabilities (SEND)

• Ensuring that you are

i) involved in supporting your child’s learning

ii) kept informed about the support your child is getting

iii) involved in reviewing how they are doing.

• Liaising with all the other people who may be coming into to school to help support your child’s learning e.g. Speech and Language Therapy, Educational Psychology etc.

• Updating the school’s SEND register (a system for ensuring that all the SEND needs of pupils in this school are known) and making sure that records of your child’s progress and needs are kept.

• Providing specialist support for teachers and support staff in the school so that they can help children with SEND in the school to achieve the best progress possible.

The Headteacher

Responsible for:

• The day to day management of all aspects of the school, this includes the support for children with SEND.

• The Headteacher will give responsibility to the SENDCo and class teachers, but is still responsible for ensuring that your child’s needs are met.

• The Headteacher must make sure that the Governing Body is kept up to date about issues relating to SEND.

The SEND Governor – Claire Sanders

• Making sure that the necessary support is given for any child who attends the school, who has SEND.

School contact telephone number – 01283 703732

Question 2

What are the different types of support available for children with SEND in our school?

a) Class teacher input via excellent targeted classroom teaching (Quality First Teaching).

For your child this would mean that:

• The teacher has the highest possible expectations for your child and all pupils in their class

• All teaching is built 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

• Specific strategies (which may be suggested by the SENDCo) are in place to support your child to learn.

• Your child’s teacher will have carefully checked on your child’s progress and will have decided that your child has a gap or gaps in their understanding/learning and needs some extra support to help them make the best possible progress.

Specific group work

Intervention which may be:

• Run in the classroom or outside.

• Run by a teacher or a Teaching Assistant (TA).

b) Specialist groups run by outside agencies e.g .Speech and Language therapy: SEN Code of Practice 2014: School Support (SS)

This means they have been identified by the SENDCo and class teacher as needing some extra specialist support from a professional outside the school. This may be from:

• Local Authority central services such as the ASD Outreach Team or Sensory Service (for students with a hearing or visual need).

• Outside agencies such as the Education Psychology Service (EPS).

What could happen:

You may be asked to give your permission for the school to refer your child to a specialist professional e.g . a Speech and Language Therapist or Educational Psychologist. This will help the school and yourself understand your child’s particular needs better and be able to support them better in school.

The specialist professional will work with your child to understand their needs and make recommendations as to the ways your child is given support.

c) Specified Individual Support

This type of support is available for children whose learning needs are, severe, complex and lifelong.

This is usually provided via an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) – this document replaces the previous Statement of SEN. This means your child will have been identified by professionals as needing a particularly high level of individual support or small group teaching.

This type of support is available for children with specific barriers to learning that cannot be overcome through Quality First Teaching and intervention groups (“Including All Children” documentation from LA).

Your child may also need specialist support in school from a professional outside the school. This may be from:

Local Authority central services such as the ASD Outreach Team or Sensory Service (for students with a hearing or visual need)

Outside agencies such as the Speech and Language therapy (SALT) Service

For your child this could mean:

• The school can apply for the new Inclusion Panel Funding.  Derbyshire schools can apply to Inclusion Panel where they can demonstrate the implementation of a graduated response and how the notional SEND budget has been spent. The funding will be for pupils with significant Special Educational Needs. 

• The school (or you) can request that Local Authority Services carry out a statutory assessment of your child’s needs. This is a legal process which sets out the amount of support that will be provided for your child.

• After the request has been made to the ‘Panel of Professionals’ (with a lot of information about your child, including some from you), they will decide whether they think your child’s needs (as described in the paperwork provided) seem complex enough to need a statutory assessment. If this is the case they will ask you and all professionals involved with your child to write a report outlining your child’s needs. If they do not think your child needs this, they will ask the school to continue with the current support.

• After the reports have all been sent in, the ‘Panel of Professionals’ will decide if your child’s needs are severe, complex and lifelong. If this is the case they will write a Statement of Special Educational Needs or an Education Health Care Plan (EHCP). If this is not the case, they will ask the school to continue with the current level of support and also set up a meeting in school to ensure a plan is in place to ensure your child makes as much progress as possible.

• The EHC Plan will outline the additional support your child will receive from the LA, and how the support could be used and what strategies could be put in place. It will also have long and short term goals for your child.

• The additional support your child could include adult support with whole class learning,  individual programmes of support or small group support including your child.

Question 3

How can I let the school know I am concerned about my child’s progress in school?

If you have concerns about your child’s progress, you should speak to your child’s class teacher initially.

If you continue to be concerned that your child is not making progress, you may speak to the Special Education Needs/ Disabilities Coordinator (SENDCo).

The school SEND Governor can also be contacted for support.

Question 4

How will the school let me know if they have any concerns about my child’s learning in school?

If your child is identified as not making progress, 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 need

• Discuss with you any referrals to outside professionals to support your child’s learning.

Question 5

How is extra support allocated to children and how do they progress in their learning?

The school budget, received from Derbyshire LA, includes money for supporting children with SEND.

The Head Teacher decides on the deployment of resources for Special Educational Needs and Disabilities in consultation with the school governors, on the basis of needs in the school.

The Head Teacher and the SENDCo discuss all the information they have about SEND in the school, including:

• the children getting extra support already

• the children needing extra support

• the children who have been identified as not making as much progress as would be expected and decide what resources/training and support is needed.

• the child’s view will be sought informally and for review meetings; this may not always be possible with very young children / children with delayed development

• Schools identify the needs of their pupils on a school provision map which for SEND pupils identifies all resources/training and support are reviewed regularly and changes made as needed.

Question 6

Who are the other people providing services to children with SEND in this school?

School provision

• Teachers

• Teaching Assistants

• School clubs

Local Authority Provision delivered in school

• Autism Outreach Service

• Educational Psychology Service

• Sensory Service for children with visual or hearing needs

• Parent Partnership Service

• Behaviour Intervention Team

• Language and Learning Team

• SSSEN

Health Provision delivered in school

• Speech and Language Therapy

• Occupational Therapy

• Physiotherapy

• CAMHS

Question 7

How are the teachers in school helped to work with children a SEND and what training do they have?

The SENDCO’S job is to support the class teacher in planning for children with SEND.

The school provides training and support to enable all staff to improve the teaching and learning of children, including those with SEND.

Individual teachers and support staff attend training courses run by outside agencies and the LA that are relevant to the needs of specific children in their class e.g. from the Autism Outreach Team (AOT) service and SSSEN.

Question 8

How will the teaching be adapted for my child with SEND?

Class Teachers plan lessons according to the specific needs of all groups of children in their class, and will ensure that your child’s needs are met through 'Quality First Teaching'.

Support staff, under the direction of the class teacher, can adapt planning to support the needs of your child where necessary.

Specific resources and strategies will be used to support your child individually and in groups.

Planning and teaching will be adapted on a daily basis if needed to meet your child’s learning needs.

Question 9

How will we measure the progress of your child in school?

Your child’s progress is continually monitored by his/her class teacher.

His/her progress is reviewed formally every term in reading, writing and numeracy. At the end of each key stage (i.e. at the end of Year 2 and Year 6) all children are required to be formally assessed using Standard Assessment Tests (SATS). This is something the government requires all schools to do and are the results that are published nationally.

Children may have a My SEND Learning Plan with personal targets which will be monitored and reviewed regularly, and a future plan made.

Teachers meet with SENDCo on a regular basis as part of SEND pupil progress meetings.

The progress of children with an EHC Plan is formally reviewed at an Annual Review, with all adults involved with the child’s education.

The SENDCo will also check that your child is making good progress within any individual work and in any group that they take part in.

Question 10

What support do we have for you as a parent of a child with a SEND?

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 SENDCo is available to meet with you to discuss your child’s progress or any concerns/worries you may have.

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

Personal progress targets will be reviewed with your involvement. Homework will be adjusted as needed to your child’s individual needs.

A home/school contact book may be used to support communication with you, when this has been agreed to be useful for you and your child.

Question 11

How is Repton Primary accessible to children with SEND?

We ensure, wherever possible, that equipment used is accessible to all children regardless of their needs.

There is a disabled toilet.

Breakfast Club and After School Club are accessible to all children including those with SEND.

Extra curricular activities are accessible for children with SEND.

Question 12

How will we support your child when they are leaving this school? OR moving on to another class?

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

If your child is moving child to another school:

• We will contact the school SENDCO and ensure he/she knows about any special arrangements or support that need to be made for your child.

• We will make sure that all records about your child are passed on as soon as possible.

When moving classes in school:

• Information will be passed on to the new class teacher in advance and in most cases, a planning meeting will take place with the new teacher. My SEND Learning Plans will be shared with the new teacher.

• If your child would be helped by a book to support them understand moving on, then it will be made for them.

In Year 6:

• The SENDCo will discuss the specific needs of your child with the SENDCo of their secondary school.

• Your child will do focused learning about aspects of transition to support their understanding of the changes ahead.

• Where possible your child will visit their new school on several occasions and in some cases, staff from the new school will visit your child in this school.

Question 13

What Emotional and Social Development support do we have for a child with a SEND?

We recognise that pupils with SEND may well have Emotional and Social Development needs that will require support in school.

The Emotional Health and Wellbeing of all our pupils is very important to us.

We have a robust Child Protection Policy in place; we follow National & LA Guidelines. We have a robust Behaviour and Discipline Policy in place.

The Head teacher, SENDCo, SLT and all staff continually monitor the Emotional Health and Wellbeing of all our pupils.