Our SENCO is Mrs Jenny Kane Tel: 01388 816078 email: kingstreet@durhamlearning.net
In our school, the Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENDCo):
- manages the day-to-day operation of the policy;
- co-ordinates the provision for and manages the responses to children’s special needs;
- supports and advises colleagues;
- maintains the school’s SEND register;
- contributes to and manages the records of all children with special educational needs;
- monitor the SEN Support Plans and impact of provisions that are currently in place
- manages the school-based assessment and completes the documentation required by outside agencies and the LA;
- liaises with parents/carers
- maintains resources and a range of teaching materials to enable appropriate provision to be made;
- acts as link with external agencies and other support agencies;
- monitors and evaluates the special educational needs provision and reports to the governing body;
- manages a range of resources, human and material, linked to children with special educational needs
Class Teachers
Class teachers have the following responsibility to:
- Focus on outcomes for the child: Be clear about the outcome wanted from any SEND support.
- Be responsible for meeting special educational needs: Use the SENDCO strategically to support the quality of teaching, evaluate the quality of support and contribute to school improvement.
- Have high aspirations for every pupil: Set clear progress targets for pupils and be clear about how the full range of resources are going to help them reach their targets.
- Involve parents and pupils in planning and reviewing progress: Seek their views and provide regular updates on progress.
Teaching Assistants / Support Staff
Class teachers work with SEND support staff to plan effective provision for pupils with SEND. Effective liaison between support staff and class teachers is essential to ensure planned activities are linked to targets set out in support plans.
- Teaching Assistants (TAs) and SEN TAs are part of the whole school approach to SEND working in partnership with the class teacher and the SENDCO to deliver high quality provision which will narrow the gaps in performance.
- The support they give should be focused on the achievement of specific outcomes within the graduated approach to SEND support agreed with parents in the context of high-quality teaching overall.
- TAs and SEN TAs can be part of a package of support for the individual child but are never a substitute for the teacher’s involvement with that child.
More details of these roles can be found in the SEN Policy which you can find in the School Policies section of our website.
Staffing and any Specialist Qualifications/Expertise:
Mrs Jenny Kane is our SENCO. She has received training and holds the National Award for SEND Coordination (NASENCO). She attends termly SENCo Network Meetings organised by the Local Authority.
Mrs Naomi Livesley is our Social, Emotional and Mental Health Leader in school and she has a wealth of knowledge following training from CAMHS. She has also received Elsa Support training.
Staff at King Street have a wide range of expertise across the 4 broad areas of need which they share as part of our team approach.
Staff have received training on:
- Autism Spectrum Disorder including the Pathological Demand Avoidance Profile
- Literacy Difficulties
- Speech and Language
- Team Teach
- Motor skills (gross and fine motor skills) (from Future Steps)
- Sensory processing and regulation programmes (from Future Steps)
Staff are also committed to developing their knowledge in relation to the needs of the children they are supporting and the SENCo will ensure they receive the training that they require throughout the year.
External Specialists and Other Bodies
The school enjoys good working relationships with a wide range of people who provide services to children with SEND and their families.
The external specialists may:
- Act in an advisory capacity
- Extend expertise of school staff
- Provide additional assessment
- Support a child directly
- Suggest statutory assessment is advisable
- Consult with all parties involved with the child
These include:
- Durham County Council Local Offer
- Durham SEND Information, Advice and Support Service
- Special Educational Needs – Inclusion Team
- One Point Children’s Service – Ferryhill Hub
- Health agencies, particularly School Nurse Service, Health Visitors and Family Workers
- CAMHS Assessment Team
- Speech and Language Therapist, Speech and Language Technician
- Autistic Spectrum Disorder
- Behaviour Support Services
- EMTAS
- Durham Movement Difficulties Service
- Counselling Service
- Future Steps Occupational Therapy
- The Service for Hearing Impaired
- The Service for the Visually Impaired
- Emma Harrison Speech and Language Therapy
How We Secure Specialist Expertise
Our school receives an Additional Needs Budget which is used to support children and young people with SEN. The school is responsible for personalising how expenditure is monitored.
This is used to support children and young people with SEND by:
- Specialist training for all staff
- Specialist training for SENDCo
- Enabling the school to employ members of staff to support children and run programmes of intervention
- Resources to enable children to meet outcomes
- Buy in the services of specialists, through SLAs
- Buy into support packages
- Purchase assessment and intervention tools
If a child has complex special educational needs, we could also receive additional funding from the Local Authority to meet the agreed outcomes. The additional needs funding is monitored by the Senior Leadership Team and Governing Body to ensure support is secured to meet needs and has a positive impact on outcomes for children with SEND.
