Porters Grange Primary School and Nursery - Early years and education

Welcome to Porters Grange Primary School and Nursery. We are very proud of our school and we aim to ensure that all of our children achieve well in their academic and social development by providing the environment, the expertise and the resources to move learning on. We all work together to this end and we hope that the children enjoy a happy primary school career with us.

School Nursery

Sessions run Monday to Friday 8.40-11.10 and 12.10-15.10 during the school term only. We have upto three intakes per year and take children from the term following their 3rd birthday. All children qualify for the 15 hours Early Years Provision (formerly 3-4 year old funding). Please call for vacancy details. Ofsted inspection is related to the overall school grading, 

Breakfast Club

Open to all year groups and runs from 8.00am until 8.40.am Monday - Friday. Application Forms can be collected from the office, if you would like your child/children to attend. There is cereal, toast and fruit juice on offer.

office@portersgrange.southend.sch.uk

https://www.portersgrange.co.uk/

3 to 11

Information about support for special educational needs and disabilities.

Toni Quinn. Call 01702 440846. Email office@pgps.porticoacademytrust.co.uk

How does the setting/school/college know if children/young people need extra help and what should I do if I think my child/young person may have special educational needs?

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 is responsible for:

• Checking on the progress of your child and identifying, planning and delivering any additional help your child may need (this could be targeted work or additional support) and letting the Special Education Needs/Disabilities Co-ordinator (SENCo) know as necessary.
• Writing individual targets for children’s Pupil Passport and sharing and reviewing these with parents at least once each term and planning for the next term.
• Personalized teaching and learning for your child as identified on the school’s provision map.
• Ensuring that the school’s SEN Policy is followed in their classroom and for all the pupils they teach with any SEN.

The SENCo: Miss T. Quinnis responsible for:

• Ensuring that the school adheres to the Code of Practice.
• Developing and reviewing the school’s SEN policy.
• Co-ordinating all the support for children with special educational needs or disabilities (SEND), including co-ordinating the Inclusion team.
• Ensuring that you are:

1. involved in supporting your child’s learning
2. kept informed about the support your child is getting
3. involved in reviewing how they are doing.

• Liaising with all the other people who may be coming in to school to help support your child’s learning, e.g. Speech and Language Therapy, Educational Psychology.
• Updating the school’s SEN 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 Executive Head teacher: Mrs C. Woolf and Heads of School: Miss D. Henley and Mr C. McClay are responsible for:

• The day-to-day management of all aspects of the school; this includes the support for children with SEND.
• The Head teacher will give responsibility to the SENCo and class teachers, but is still responsible for ensuring that your child’s needs are met.
• The Head teacher must make sure that the Governing Body is kept up to date about issues relating to SEND.

The SEN Governor is responsible for:

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

How can I let the school know that 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 should make an appointment to speak to the Special Education Needs/Disabilities Coordinator (SENCo) Miss Quinn.

The school SEN Governor can also be contacted for support.

How will early years setting/school/college staff support my child/young person? 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.

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.

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

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.
• That all teaching is built on what your child already knows, can do and can understand.
• That 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.
• 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.
• That children are referred to the SENCo for more detailed assessments.
• That specific strategies (which may be suggested by the SENCo) are in place to support your child to learn.

Specific group work

Intervention which may be:

• Run in the classroom or a group room.
• Run by a teacher or a teaching assistant (TA).

Specialist groups run by outside agencies, e.g. Speech and Language therapy SEN Code of Practice 2015: School Support (SS)

This means a pupil has been identified by the SENCo/class teacher as needing some extra specialist support in school from a professional outside the school. This may be from

Services, such as the ASD Outreach Team, Behaviour Support Team or Sensory Services (for students with a hearing or visual need), 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. an Educational Psychologist. This will help the school and you to understand your child’s particular needs better and be able to support them more effectively 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.

Specified Individual support

This type of support is available for children whose learning needs are severe, complex and/ or lifelong. This has previously been provided via a Statement of Special Educational Needs and is now provided by an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP). There will be a transition period during which time all Statements will be converted to EHCPs. If your child has been given an EHCP or a Statement they will have been identified by professionals as needing a particularly high level of individual 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.

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

Services such as the ASD Outreach Team, Behaviour Support or Sensory Services (for students with a hearing or visual need), Speech and Language Therapy (SALT) Service.

For your child this would mean:

The school (or you) can request that the Local Authority 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 and your child), 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 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 Statement or EHC Plan will outline the support your child will receive from the LA and how the support should be used, and what strategies must be put in place. It will also have long- and short-term goals for your child.

Additional adult time may be used to support your child with whole class learning, run individual programmes or run small groups including your child.

How will the curriculum be matched to my child's/young persons needs? How is extra support allocated to children and how do they progress in their learning?

• The school budget includes money for supporting children with SEN.
• 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 SENCo 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 expected progress. From this information, they decide what resources/training and support is needed.
• The school identifies the needs of SEN pupils on a provision map. This identifies all support given within school and is reviewed regularly and changes made as needed, so that the needs of children are met, and resources are deployed as effectively as possible.

How will both you and I know how my child/young person is doing and how will you help me support my child's/young person's learning?

What support do we have for you as a parent of a child with 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 that similar strategies can be used.
• The SENCo is available to meet with you to discuss your child’s progress or any concerns/worries you may have. Please contact the school office to make an appointment.
• All information from outside professionals will be discussed with you and with the professional involved directly, or where this is not possible, in a report.
• Pupil Passports will be reviewed with your involvement regularly.
• Homework will be adjusted as needed to your child’s individual requirements.
• 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.

What support will there be for my child's/young person's overall wellbeing? How will we support your child’s social and emotional development?

Porters Grange is a nurturing school. We recognize that some children have extra emotional and social needs that need to be developed and nurtured. These needs can manifest themselves in a number of ways, including behavioural difficulties, anxiousness, and being uncommunicative.

All classes follow a structured PSHE (Personal, Social, Health end Economic education) curriculum to support this development. However, for those children who find aspects of this difficult we offer

• Emotional literacy and social development groups, run by the Behaviour Team.
• Lunchtime and playtime support through planned activities and groups.

If your child still needs extra support, with your co-operation the SENCo or other members of the Inclusion team will access further support through the Early Help Assessment (EHA) process.

How will we support your child when they are joining this school, leaving this school or moving classes?

We recognize that transitions can be difficult for a child with SEN, and we take steps to ensure that any transition is a smooth as possible.

If your child is joining us from another school:

The SENCo will visit pre-schools with the Foundation Stage Leader when appropriate.

If your child would be helped by a book/passport to support them in understanding moving on, then one will be made for them.

Your child will be able to visit our school and stay for a taster session, if this is appropriate.

If your child is moving to another school:

We will contact the school SENCo and ensure he/she knows about any special arrangements

or support that need to be made for your child. Where possible, a planning meeting will take

place with the SENCo from the new school, by phone or in person.

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

If your child would be helped by a book/passport to support them in understanding moving on, then one will be made for them.

When moving classes in school (i.e. for a new school year):

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. Pupil Passports will be shared with the new teacher.

If your child would be helped by a book/passport to support them in understand moving on, then one will be made for them.

In Year 6:

The SENCo will discuss the specific needs of your child with the SENCo of the child’s receiving secondary school. In most cases, a transition review meeting to which you will be invited will take place with the SENCo from the new school.

Your child will participate in focused learning relating to 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.

If your child would be helped by a book/passport to support them in understand moving on, then one will be made for them.