Accessibility Plan 2018 – Click here

SEN Policy October 2017 – Click here

Pilgrims Way Primary School

SEND Information Report

What is SEND?

Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) is the full name for Special Educational Needs (SEN)

Special Educational Needs and / or a Disability can affect many children throughout their school career and beyond. Whilst disabilities generally affect children long term, not all SEN difficulties should be seen as ‘Life Long’. SEND is seen by our school as the child requiring provision that is additional to, or different from the rest of the class.

For example they may have additional needs due to dyslexia, coordination problems, number understanding, significant sight problems – the list is endless and every child is unique – however a carefully planned approach is needed, additional to high quality class teaching in order for these children to achieve as well as they can.

This report explains how we help children with special educational needs and disabilities at Pilgrims’ Way.

Our school has a variety of key policies which directly impact upon our provision for children with SEND, which are all available as part of our school website, which include:

Our SEN policy. Click here

Our Admissions policy

Our Behaviour Policy

Our Anti- bullying Policy

Our Accessibility Plan

All schools must provide this information and publish it on their website.

If you need help with this information, please ask at the school office.

If you have more questions, ask to speak to Judith Evans (SENCO)

Southwark have a website explaining their local offer which outlines all services available to support children with SEND.

Southwark Local Offer – Click here    

Here at Pilgrims’ Way we want every child to be the very best they can be.

This includes helping children who find it harder to make progress or succeed at school.

What kinds of Special Needs are provided for at Pilgrims’ Way?

We provide for all kinds of need.

The Code of Practice for Special Educational Needs groups need into 4 categories:

• Communication and Interaction,
• Cognition (thinking) and Learning,
• Physical and Sensory,
• Social, Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH)

Communication and Interaction

This includes speech and language difficulties, language processing difficulties and autistic spectrum conditions including autism and Asperger’s syndrome.

It does not cover pupils who are just beginning to learn English because they speak another language at home.

Provision at Pilgrims’ Way:

Childrens’ language is best supported by lots of talking and listening, at home or in the class. Our teachers and support staff provide lots of opportunities for children to talk and explain their ideas.

When children need more help we access Speech and Language Therapists from the local Health Trust. Children over 5 receive support through this service, regardless of address.

A Speech and Language Therapist visits the school: Dominic Pittman

He assesses children, design programmes and train staff to implement these programmes. Dominic can also talk to parents about supporting their child’s speech and language needs at home.

They also write reports if we need them for any purposes.

Children under 5, who live in Southwark, and are registered with a GP in Southwark, receive Speech and Language Therapy from the team at Sunshine House.

Children under 5, who live in Lewisham, registered with a Lewisham GP, are supported by Kaleidoscope.

Children with Autism are supported by the Autism Support Team, or the Early Years Autism Support Team. They will visit if we request help and may be able to give advice for you at home.

The specialist teachers give advice and help us support children.

Advice Sessions are provided at Sunshine House for parents – if you would like information about future programmes, ask at the office.

Cognition and Learning.

This includes all kind of learning difficulty, as well as difficulties in one area such as dyslexia or dyscalculia.

Provision at Pilgrims’ Way:

Skilful teaching from our teachers who are dedicated and skilled in adapting lessons to help children make progress. Ms Horton and Ms Malone lead on Maths and Literacy and they advise teachers on the best ways to do this.

Our teaching assistants also help children in small groups, in lessons or as extra groups.

We can refer children to be assessed by an educational psychologist who can give advice.

Southwark also has a dyslexia specialist teacher who can give advice.

Physical and Sensory

This is a big area, it includes children with impaired vision or those who are deaf, or partially deaf. It also includes children who have a physical difficulty and those who have a medical condition that affects their learning.

Provision at Pilgrims’ Way:

Southwark offers support from specialist teachers for the deaf or visually impaired. These teachers advise on use of technology, (iPads, magnifiers, hearing aid support), the size and kind of print we use, the best position for each individual pupil with these needs. We are able to access the Royal National Institute for the Blind resources for reading and talking books.

Children with physical or medical needs are supported by their specialist teams and their physiotherapists and occupational therapists advise school as necessary. Our school is a single storey building and there are few steps, although entries into the building include ledges and our doorways are narrow. Often children require daily practice of physiotherapy tasks and we have TAs who learn to help them do these.

The school nursing service helps us meet the medical needs of children and will draw up care plans to ensure that they are kept safe and well. You will always be involved in a care plan if your child needs one. However, we do not have a named School Nurse

Social, Emotional and Mental Health

This includes children with anxiety, or phobias or problems with eating or sleeping. It also includes children who struggle to manage their feelings and emotions and those who have overwhelming anger or distress.

Provision at Pilgrims’ way

All staff are sensitive and supportive and we aim to ensure that every child has at least one adult they feel confident in talking to. For most children this is the class teacher or TA.

Our skilled play leaders support children on the playground, helping them participate and develop friendships.

We offer regular Personal Health and Social Education for all children, and some children have extra sessions with trained teaching assistants.

We also have an experienced play-therapist Corinna Rolf – she works with children weekly and enables them to learn to express and manage feelings.

If a child’s needs are more severe we can refer to the more specialist services at CAMHS – children do have to be taken to regular appointments and these are often in school time.

Some children cannot manage their feelings well enough to be safely in school all the time. Summer House offers 4 days a week or 2 days a week placements to help.

Who decides if my child has a SEND?

Often, children may join our school, with parents having a clear picture of their child’s needs – parents know their children best – and as a school we see parents as full partners in their child’s education. Sometimes, however, it is school staff who may initially identify a concern. If this were to be the case, we would talk to you at the earliest opportunity to discuss such concerns and agree a way forwards. We may decide that your child should be included on our register of special needs.

We have explained above the different services who may give advice. Sometimes we are not sure and ask you to agree to visit specialists at Sunshine House. If you have concerns you can ask us to make a referral, your GP is also able to do this.

It is important to understand, however, that the purpose of such involvement of professionals is not always to seek a ‘label’ or ‘diagnosis’ – but more often in order for advice to be offered to help the child learn as well as they possibly can.

For example, certain programmes may be advised, teaching strategies, resources or services in order to address the needs as best as possible.

As previously mentioned, if these needs are addressed, we are confident in the outcomes of such support, and the issue has been resolved, your child will no longer be placed on our SEND register.

Additional assessments relevant to your child’s needs

Your child’s school achievements may be assessed against the levels expected for children who are working on the National Curriculum (i.e. the same as the majority of other children in their year group), or they may be assessed against other measures for children who are not ready to work on National Curriculum Levels (i.e. the steps before the National Curriculum).

We can share these with you if we are using them with your child.

What involvement can we have as parents/carers at Pilgrims’ Way  Primary School?

We very much value the contribution that parents can make to their child’s education. When your child joins the school in Nursery or Reception we have a detailed 1:1 meeting with you, this may be on a phone call, or a zoom call.

Before Covid-19 we visited your homes, now that is not possible, but we would hope to resume these visits when allowed.

We have 2 parents’ evenings every year and you get a written report every Summer.

But you do not need to wait for these opportunities – if you have concerns please talk to your child’s teacher, they may suggest you talk to Mrs Evans.

It is really important you share with us information that will help us to help your child. We keep all your information secure and will only share it with other professionals if you agree. The only exception is for safeguarding purposes.

If your child has an Education Health Care Plan, then you will be invited to an annual review. This is an opportunity to share progress and to agree targets for the year ahead. We try to bring children into these meetings if possible, and always share examples of their learning at school.