Introduction

Our SEN Information Report – which is part of Durham County Council’s Local Offer – provides details about how we support children and young people with Special Educational Needs in our school.

The SEN Information Report is reviewed annually and was reviewed and updated in September 2024.

At Evenwood C of E Primary, we are committed to the equal inclusion of all pupils in all areas of school life. We recognise the diverse and individual needs of all of our pupils and take into account the additional support required by those children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND).

Our vision:

“Life in all its fullness”

Our vision guides us in all that we hope to be, enabling every part of our community to grow and develop. This means growing in body, mind and spirit in order to flourish and experience the joy and hope of, ‘life in all its fullness’ (John 10.10).

At Evenwood C of E Primary School we are committed to equality. We are committed to the academic and personal development of all children, regardless of ability. We aim for every pupil to fulfil their potential no matter what their needs. Our School is committed to anti-discriminatory practice to promote equality of opportunity and valuing diversity for all children and families. We aim to:

Provide a secure and accessible environment in which all our children can flourish and in which all contributions are considered and valued.
Include and value the contribution of all families to our understanding of equality and diversity.
Provide positive non-stereotyping information about gender roles, diverse ethnic and cultural groups and disabled people.
Improve our knowledge and understanding of issues of anti-discriminatory practice, promoting equality and valuing diversity.
Make inclusion a thread that runs through all of the activities of the school

This SEND Information Report should be read alongside the school’s SEND Policy, the Equalities Information and Objectives and the Accessibility Plan.

Key Contacts

Mrs B. Dawson is the Executive Headteacher and can be contacted on 01388 832047 or by emailing: DEWoffice@oneexcellence.co.uk
Mr J. Dent is the Deputy Headteacher and can be contacted on 01388 832047 or by emailing: DEWoffice@oneexcellence.co.uk
Mr T. Cunningham is our designated SEND Governor and can be contacted on 01388 832047 or by emailing: DEWoffice@oneexcellence.co.uk
Mrs H. Edney is our designated Special Educational Needs Coordinator and can be contacted on 01388 832047 or by emailing: DEWoffice@oneexcellence.co.uk

SEND Admissions

For information on the admission of pupils with a disability, please visit the School Admissions section of our website and view the Accessibility Plan in our School Policies section.

If you would like to discuss your child’s SEN in more detail please contact the school to arrange an appointment.

Our SEND Provision

There are four broad areas of special educational need, these are:

Communication and Interaction
This area of need includes children with Autism Spectrum Condition and those with Speech, Language and Communication Needs

Cognition and Learning
This includes children with Specific Learning Difficulties, Moderate Learning Difficulties, Severe Learning Difficulties and Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulties

Social, Emotional and Mental Health Difficulties
This includes any pupils who have an emotional, social or mental health need that is impacting on their ability to learn

Sensory and/or Physical Difficulties
This area includes children with hearing impairment, visual impairment, multi-sensory impairment and physical difficulties.

The kinds of SEND that are provided for:

At Evenwood C of E Primary School, we have experience of supporting children and young people with a wide range of need including:

Autism Spectrum Condition
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
Speech and Language Difficulties
Specific and Moderate learning needs
Emotional Well Being Difficulties
Sensory Difficulties
Gross/Fine Motor Difficulties
Processing Disorders

The school provides data on the levels and types of need to the Local Authority. This is collected through the school census.

Our approach to teaching children & young people with SEND

Inclusive education means supporting all pupils to learn, contribute and participate in all aspects of school life alongside their peers. Our curriculum includes, not only the formal requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum / National Curriculum, but also a range of additional opportunities to enrich the experiences of all pupils.

The Curriculum also included the social aspects that are essential for lifelong learning, personal growth and development of independence.

Special educational provision which meets the needs of children and young people with SEND includes:

High quality teaching that is differentiated and personalized to meet the individual needs of the majority of children and young people. Some children and young people need educational provision that is additional to or different from this. This is special provision under Section 21 of the Children and Families Act 2014.

Evenwood prides itself in being inclusive and will endeavour to support every child regardless of their level of need. All pupils follow the National Curriculum at a level and a pace that is appropriate to their abilities. At times and when it is felt appropriate, modifications to the curriculum may be implemented. We are dedicated to narrowing the attainment gap between pupils with identified Special Educational Needs and/or a Disability [SEND] and non-SEND pupils. We aim to help all learners reach their full potential and we are strongly committed to our responsibility towards the identification and assessment of SEND.

To successfully match pupil ability to the curriculum there are some actions we may take to achieve this:

Ensure that all pupils have access to the school curriculum and all school activities.
Help all pupils achieve to the best of their abilities, despite any difficulty or disability they may have.
Ensure that teaching staff are aware of and sensitive to the needs of all pupils, teaching pupils in a way that is more appropriate to their needs.
Pupils to gain in confidence and improve their self-esteem.
To work in partnership with parents/ carers, pupils and relevant external agencies in order to provide for children’s special educational needs and disabilities.
To identify at the earliest opportunity, all children that need special consideration to support their needs (whether these are educational, social, physical or emotional)
To make suitable provision for children with SEND to fully develop their abilities, interests and aptitudes and gain maximum access to the curriculum.
Ensure that all children with SEND are fully included in all activities of the school in order to promote the highest levels of achievement.
To promote self-worth and enthusiasm by encouraging independence at all age and ability levels.
To give every child the entitlement to a sense of achievement.
To regularly review the policy and practice in order to achieve best practice.

Evenwood C of E Primary School is an inclusive Primary School which ensures that all people are treated equally.

How we adapt the curriculum and learning environment for children & young people with SEND

We adapt the curriculum and learning environment for pupils with SEN:

The school supports children with SEND in a number of ways by:

deploying additional support staff to help children with SEND;
screening each class to identify children with SEND and reviewing their needs and programmes of learning.
setting targets and discussing them with the SENCO so that individual progress is monitored;
providing specialist resources where possible and appropriate;
bringing in specialist support from the Local Authority, from Special Schools and/or specialist agencies for individual children as appropriate;
involving other agencies such as health services and voluntary organisations as appropriate;
the use of the Speech and Language Service;
involving parents of children identified as having SEND as much as possible including inviting them to attend regular reviews;
providing in-service training for school staff to ensure good support for pupils with SEND;
using the Positive Behaviour Policy to support and encourage good behaviour in school;
ensuring the designated governor for Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) has regular contact with the teacher responsible for co-ordinating SEND provision at the school and thereby ensuring the monitoring and evaluation processes that are undertaken take place on an annual basis.

The school adapts the curriculum and learning environment for children with SEND in a number of ways.

For example:

buying resources appropriate to the children’s individual needs
group or one to one intervention where appropriate.
Prompts including Makaton

We make a concerted effort to ensure that the building and facilities assist access for all.

For example –

We have accessible toilets
Disabled parking is available
Door width meets accessibility requirements
Ramped access to all facilities is in place

We are a school of equal opportunities and children are treated equally at the same time as we try to meet every individuals needs. Any disabled pupils who are identified as having Special Educational Needs would also have their needs met through provisions in our SEND policy.

Staff have undertaken considerable training to equip them to meet the varying learning styles and needs of pupils. We respond to the specific needs of children in our school.

More details on how we adapt information, our environment and curriculum can be found in the Accessibility Plan which you ca find in the School Policies section of our website.

How we identify, assess and review children with special educational needs

Most children and young people in mainstream schools will have their special educational needs met through good classroom practice. This is called Quality First Teaching.

Early Identification of Need

In deciding whether to make special education provision to support educational, social, physical or emotional needs, we:

At Evenwood we identify children with SEN through ongoing and rigorous assessment and quality first teaching. The use of early intervention under quality first teaching will be used before placing a child on the SEN register. We use a number of different techniques to identify the gaps such as the EYFS profile, KS1 and KS2 SATs, quality first teaching, ongoing feedback and discussions with children, parents and carers, other professionals and many more. The use of intervention and additional support will be used to narrow the gap before placing a child on the SEN register.

If it seems that your child may have special educational needs, your child’s class teacher or the Special Needs Co-ordinator (SENCO) will assess:

What your child is good at and what they need help with
What your child would benefit from learning
How best to help your child learn

At this point a child may be given a short note and parents and teachers will discuss concerns and children will be closely monitored and receive intervention for a time. This is reviewed promptly and a decision is made to either place the child on the special educational needs register or that the intervention received has been successful and child can be taken off the short note. After this children thought to have special educational needs will be placed on the school’s special educational needs register and receive support:

SEN Support Plan
EHCP

The level of support received may change throughout their time at school. School staff will speak to you if they think this should happen and will ask you for your opinion about this.

What is a SEN Support Plan?

A SEN Support Plan says what the school, the class teacher and the SENCO plan to do to help your child learn. All teachers should be aware that children learn in different ways. Some need to work at a slower pace to ensure they fully understand one thing before they move onto something new.

A SEN Support Plan will be written in collaboration with the child, parent and teacher and will be child centric. It should:

Include short term targets for your child which are linked to their needs
Detail any extra support your child will get
Identify who will give your child help
Say how often your child will get help
State how and when the school will look at your child’s progress again (usually at least three times a year)
Involve the child

It is good practice for schools to share copies of a SEN Support Plan with parents / carers.

Evenwood C of E assess the effectiveness of the provision by:

Talking to the child
Talking to the parent
Talking to the teacher
Monitoring the child’s progress
Measuring improvement against objectives in SEN Support Plan

SEN Support

In line with the Special Educational Needs Code of Practice, the school uses a graduated approach to the identification and assessment of special educational need. This is a continuous systematic cycle of planning, intervention and review within the school to enable pupils with SEND to learn and progress. Parents are consulted and kept informed at all stages.

In deciding whether to make special education provision to support educational, social, physical or emotional needs, we:

Work in close partnership with parents/carers, pupils
Consult with relevant external agencies
Use assessment tools & materials
Use observations and work scrutiny
Use Short Notes and early interventions
Observe, identify, recognise, record and monitor poor academic progress, physical and sensory difficulties, delayed development, weak attention and focus skills, sensory difficulties and physical difficulties, emotional difficulties and poor independent learning skills.

Where a pupil is identified as having a special educational need we follow a graduated approach which takes the form of cycles of “Assess, Plan, Do, Review”.

This means that we will:

Discuss any concerns with parents, carers and other teachers
Assess and identify a child’s level of special educational needs – decide on course of action – short note/support plan
Request assessment/advice form an outside agency if deemed necessary E.G. Speech & Language, OT, CAMHS, Educational Psychology
Plan the provision (Support Plan) to meet your child’s aspirations and agreed outcomes
Put the provision in place to meet those outcomes
Review the support and progress – set new outcomes – termly reviews
Gather evidence and document progress and if necessary apply for top up funding if the school feel that more resources need to be put in place to meet the pupil’s needs.
For children with significant and complex needs, a request will be made to DCC SEND Provision for an EHCP (Education Health Care Plan) assessment.

At Evenwood C of E assessment is carried out by staff who work together to moderate children’s work. This moderation is supported by other schools and the Local Authority on a regular basis. The school uses a tracking system to analyse data and to identify gaps in children’s learning and to plan appropriate intervention when required. Different children require different levels of support to diminish the difference and to achieve age related expectations.

Children/young people may join the school with parents having a clear understanding of their child’s needs and as a school we see parents as partners in their child’s educational journey. In this case we work together with parents/carers and young children/person and education, health and social care professionals to design an individualised SEN Support Plan that describes the child’s needs, outcomes & provision to meet those needs. Parents/carers and child/young person views are integral to this process.

School staff may initially identify a concern and the class teacher alongside the SENCO will discuss the child’s needs and a meeting with parents/carers and/or the child/young person would be arranged at the earliest opportunity. During (or just following) this meeting a Short Note would be completed with agreed outcomes for the child/young person and next steps. The plan would be actioned, assessed and reviewed. Depending on how the outcomes have been achieved, the plan may cease, or may continue to the next round of Plan, Do, Review or if there is still significant concern, next steps may require the involvement of specialist support or advice for example, Educational Psychology, SENDIASS (Parents Advice and Support Service), Cognition and Learning Team Occupational Therapy or another education health and social care professional.

It is important to understand that the involvement of professionals does not always seek to ‘label’ or ‘diagnose’ children but to seek advice or strategies to help them to reach their full potential. As part of this approach every child with SEN will have an individualised SEN Support Plan that describes the child’s needs, outcomes and provision to meet those needs. Parents/carers and child/young person views are integral to this process.

A small percentage of children and young people with significant and/or complex needs may require an assessment that could lead to an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP).

The purpose of an EHCP is to make special educational provision to meet special educational needs of the child or young person, to secure the best possible outcomes for them across education (SEND Code of Practice p.142). It is a legal document that describes a child or young person’s special educational, health and social care needs.

How children with SEND engage in all activities?

We enable all children to engage fully in all aspects of school life.

We do our best to ensure that all children can access all things as best as we can. We do not see SEND as a barrier to accessing the full curriculum and ensure that children with SEND are fully included in all activities in order to promote the highest levels of achievement.

For example, if a child had a physical disability, they can always be incorporated in to a PE lesson with adaptation and effort; we ensure that we make that effort. We are prepared to seek advice, resources, equipment and training when needed in order to provide quality-learning experiences for our children. Over the last 24 months, our training has featured on autism (ASC) and sensory difficulties, and prevalent aspects of SEND, which we are currently supporting children with.

How we evaluate the effectiveness of SEND Provision?

We continuously ensure the provision has a positive impact on the outcomes for all of our children/young people. We do this in a variety of ways, including:

Robust evaluation of policy and practice
Book scrutiny
SENCO/SLT/Governor monitoring/reporting
Learning walks
Performance management
Robust systems for tracking all SEND pupils.
Regular reviews and monitoring of outcomes/SEN support plans
Regular focussed staff meetings

Support for Emotional & Social Development

Evenwood C of E Primary School is an inclusive school. We consult with a wide range of agencies and partnerships to ensure the Emotional and Social Development needs of SEN children are met. We believe that a positive, supporting, and caring ethos is pivotal to a strong personal education which provides the opportunity for pupils to develop high self-esteem. It is crucial to support and promote the emotional wellbeing of all children. On a daily basis the class teacher is responsible for the pastoral and social care of every child in their class, therefore this would be the parents’ first point of contact should further advice or support be required.

Evenwood C of E Primary School has and maintains close links with External Partnerships; In order to access the best professional advice, we also link with Local Authority and Private Providers of additional services, such as Occupational Therapy, CAHMS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service) School Nursing Service, Social Services and Medical Professionals.

As a school we have a very positive approach to all types of behaviour with a clear reward system that is followed by all staff and pupils. We have a variety of groups in school including ‘buddies’ where a group of children in both Key Stages are trained to act as a buddy on our playgrounds. They organise and play with the children and help them to establish friendships and keep play going. In addition to this we have a group of Key Stage 2 children who act as mediators. When there are disagreements between children they have the opportunity to talk to our mediators who will try to resolve situations responsibly. The children also receive awards for displaying behaviour which falls in line with our Christian Values weekly in whole school assemblies. We ensure that British Values are embedded across our school days and events.

SEN Transition

Transition refers to children moving from one class to another usually at the start of the academic year in September. It can also refer to children moving from Year 6 to a Secondary School.

At Evenwood C of E Primary School we recognise how important a successful transition is to our pupils with additional needs.

How we support children/young people with SEN starting at our school

Transition into Nursery or Reception Class is a big step for both our children and their parents. We aim to support our families through this important stage in a number of ways. At Evenwood C of E we operate with a EYFS unit which includes both nursery and Reception children sharing all areas of provision. This ensures that all of our children are familiar with their setting and staff members and has enabled our transition arrangements to be very effective.

New starters for Reception and Nursery children are provided with the following opportunities:

A personal individual tour of our school by a member of staff. This provides an opportunity to verbally share any information you wish to.
A school information pack which gives further details of our school.

Parent Open Information Event led by EYFS lead and classroom assistants. They will receive information, guidance and advice relating to school uniform, school meals, school routines, outdoor visits and how best to support their children in the run up to starting school and during their first year.

Children attend transition sessions in Reception class in the Summer Term.
Bespoke transition arrangements can be discussed depending on need.

If your child joins our school during a Key Stage or mid-way through the academic year, systems are in place to aid their transition from their previous school. When you visit our school, the Executive Headteacher, Mrs Dawson, will give you a tour and your child will have opportunities to see their new classroom and meet their teacher. If your child has SEND, our SENCO will liaise with the SENCO from your child’s previous school to ensure that we have the required information to enable us to support your child fully. It would be beneficial if you could discuss your child’s needs with us and share any information you have when you visit.

How we support children/young people with SEN moving between classes in our school

At Evenwood C of E Primary, we work closely within each milestone so children become familiar with each staff team Transition from each year group is supported so that the children have met with their new teachers and are familiar with the new classroom environment and organisation. Transition visits take place during the Summer Term and additional visits and enhanced transition arrangements are put in place for children with additional needs. In addition to this, staff meet to share information and for those children who require provision that is additional to or different from quality first teaching we make additional arrangements to support these children through the transition. This can include spending additional time in their new classroom, visiting their new classroom with their current member of support staff, beginning transition arrangements earlier in the summer term or photographs of their new classroom to take home and talk about with parents and carers during the summer holidays. The support provided is tailored to the needs of individual children and will be discussed with parents and carers and the child.

How we support children/young people with SEN leaving our school

We have excellent links with a number of local secondary schools and academies. We support children at every stage of their school career and we plan for the transition to secondary/other schools to be as smooth and as worry free as possible.

The period of transition depends on the individual needs of the pupil. If it is felt appropriate secondary school colleagues will attend Annual Reviews or EHCP meetings to meet the current class teacher, parents and most importantly the pupil. We have found this strategy particularly useful in easing any worries or concerns parents and pupils may have. We are particularly keen to involve parents/carers as much as possible in their child’s transition to secondary school. School staff will take opportunities to work alongside parents/carers to visit secondary schools in advance of secondary placement applications being submitted to the local Authority.

This ensures parents/carers can make the most informed placement decision for their child. When a secondary school has been allocated to the child, parents are fully involved and consulted at all stages of the transition process.

If your child leaves Evenwood C of E Primary School, the SENCO will ensure that all SEND information is passed onto the next school to ensure that they are fully aware of any additional needs your child may have and that the support your child receives continues into the next phase of their education.

If you would like to discuss your SEND requirements in detail please contact the school to arrange an appointment.

Looked After Children with SEND

Our Executive Headteacher, Mrs B. Dawson is the designated person for Looked after Children. She works closely with the SENCO to ensure all teachers in school understand the implications for those children who are looked after and have SEN.

Looked After Children (LAC) with SEND are supported in the same way as all children in school with SEND through the Graduated Response, the Assess, Plan, Do, Review cycle. The process will start with a Short Note and following the identification of need a Support Plan or EHCP to meet the requirements of the pupil and the addition of a PEP (Personal Education Plan).

When a child becomes looked after his/her social worker must ensure that the child’s needs and the services to meet these are documented in the Care Plan. The Care Plan – of which the PEP is an integral part – is made before the child becomes looked after or in the case of an emergency placement within 10 working days. The PEP is a record of what needs to happen for looked after children to enable them to fulfil their potential and reflects any existing education plans, such as an EHCP, SEN Support Plan or Provision Mapping. The PEP should reflect the importance of a personalised approach to learning which secures good basic skills, stretches aspirations and builds life chances. The PEP is the joint responsibility of the local authority and the school.

SEND Specialist Expertise

Our SENCO is Mrs H. Edney, National Award for SEN Coordination – Postgraduate Certificate in SEN Coordination

It is the SENCO’s job to:

Oversee the day-to-day operation of the school’s SEN policy
Liaise with the relevant Designated Teacher where a looked after pupil has SEN
Advise teachers on using a graduated approach to providing SEN support as well as supporting them in the preparation of effective support plans which are reviewed within set time scales in order to ensure pupil progress.
Liaise with the HT and SEND Governor on the deployment of the school’s delegated budget and other resources to meet the pupil’s needs effectively
Liaise with parents/carers of pupils with SEN
Liaise with and be a key point of contact for external agencies
Liaise with the senior management team in relation to keeping the records of all SEN pupils up to date
Work with the head teacher and school governors to ensure that the school meets its responsibilities with regard to reasonable adjustments and access arrangements by phoning the school on 01388 832047 or sending an email.

More details of the SENCO’s role can be found in the SEN Policy which you can find in the School Policies section of our website.

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:

How We Secure Specialist Expertise

Our Additional Needs Budget is used to support children and young people with SEN.

This is used to support children and young people with SEND by:

Funding additional support staff in order to provide for the identified needs of SEND children – small group support, one to one support (where necessary) and specific interventions
Funding additional resources and equipment
Funding for staff training
Funding referrals to SEND for specific assessment E.G Cognition and Learning

If a child has complex special educational needs, the school could also gain additional funding from the Local Authority to meet the agreed outcomes by way of Top Up Funding request.

Consulting with our SEN Pupils, Parents & Carers

Consultation with Children and Young People with SEND

Teachers/SENCO and Support Staff will work with children and young people to identify the support needed to meet agreed outcomes. The provision is planned and interventions are allocated to individual needs. The children take an active role with setting their outcomes and discussing them with the class teacher/SENCO. The children have regular meetings with staff to discuss their progress and support. The school takes a person centred approach and it is imperative that pupils and parents feel actively involved in the process.

Consultation with parents and carers of children and young people with SEND

We are committed to working with parents and carers to identify their child’s needs and support. Parents and carers will be involved throughout the process.

There is a range of ways this can be done, for example:

Termly parents/ carers evenings;
Ongoing discussions with a class teacher and/or SENCO;
An ‘open-door’ policy, where parents and carers are welcome to come into school to discuss any concerns they may have;
Through regular reviews of their child’s SEN Support Plan/ EHC Plan.
Annual parental surveys are undertaken to gather views on current practice and are used to develop future provision, processes and support for children with SEN.

Compliments, Complaints & Feedback

We are always seeking to improve on the quality of education we provide for children with SEN and are keen to hear from parents about their child’s experience.

We would also like your views about the content of our SEN Information Report. If you would like to comment please complete the online form in the Contact Us section of our website.

Compliments are always greatly received and can be passed on either directly to staff and the SENCO, or formally recorded via our regular questionnaires to parents or in the form of a letter to the Head Teacher. These positive comments will be published on this area of our school website.

We hope that complaints about our SEND provision will be rare, however, if there should be a concern the process outlined in the school Complaints Policy should be followed.

Further information can be found in the Complaints Policy in the Policies section of your website or by visiting the Durham County Council Local Offer website.

If you would like to discuss your SEND requirements in detail please contact the school to arrange an appointment.

The full range of local support available for children/ young people with SEND and their families within and outside of school can be found in the County Durham Local Offer