SEND
We are an inclusive school and are always reflecting on our practice to ensure the very best for all of our pupils. We see every child as an individual and strive to help every learner be the very best they can through accessing high quality teaching and appropriately adapted learning activities and approaches.
At St Mary's Junior Academy we have an established Graduated Approach: The Assess, Plan, Do, Review Cycle each term. We use the 7 Cs Learning Portfolio to help identify pupil strengths and barriers to learning. This provides a language of assessment and helps us consider 'why' a learner is having difficulties with the curriculum. This deeper, holistic approach to understanding each individual child, providing us with an effective tool to drill beneath the surface and identify underlying barriers to learning. The 7 Cs approach enables our staff team to plan a combination of adjustments, support and intervention which enable learners to overcome or remove identified barriers to learning.
We know it is important that parents are listened to, as well as the children themselves, which is why at the end of every term, both parents and children meet with their class teacher and SENDCo to review SEN Support Plans together. Because we prioritise SEND in our school, we now hold termly SEND specific parent/ teacher/ pupil meetings, providing protected time together to review SEN support in place. Please see below a link to an example SEN Support Plan and further information about our 7 Cs approach.
We now commission a wide range of external specialist services to ensure that we accurately identify SEN needs and difficulties and additional support. This includes Willow Tree Educational Psychologist, Respectrum Advisory Service, Dyslexia Outreach Service, Communicate Speech and Language Therapy, SEMH Outreach Service, Autism Outreach Service, Access Through Technology (ATT), Benjamin Foundation Time For You, Virtual School of Sensory Support and the SEND and Inclusion Team.
Our SENDCo works passionately to continue improving and further developing our SEN provision. We are excited to introduce Lego Therapy sessions this term, which will provide targeted (and fun!) intervention to support children's social and communication skills. We are also excited about introducing a pilot PATHS approach in Year 3, which will promote social, emotional and mental health wellbeing and awareness. We have recently introduced the 'School and Community Teams', and more recently the 'Mental Health Support Team' (MHST) to boost our capacity to deliver targeted interventions to promote children's and families' wellbeing.
As part of the Local Offer, all schools and county council’s must publish on their website information about what support there is for children with SEND in the school. Please click on the link below to read St Mary's SEND Information Report, which is a parent friendly guide to SEND provision available at our academy.
Miss Laurie is our SENDCo and is available and welcomes you to discuss any worries you might have. To contact her directly please email slaurie@stmarys.stbenets.org or call the school office on 01508 530459.
