SEND

Our SENDCo is Mrs Kelly. If you should need to contact her, please do this via the School Office or call on 01684 292198.

Queen Margaret Primary Academy values the contribution that every child can make and is supported by the local authority to ensure all pupils, regardless of their specific needs, make the best possible progress. The school seeks to raise the achievement, remove barriers to learning and increase physical and curricular access to all. All children and young people with special educational needs or disabilities (SEND) are valued, respected and considered equal members of the school. As such, provision for pupils with SEND is a matter for the school as a whole. All teachers are teachers of pupils with SEND. The Academy Council , Principal, SENDCo and all other members of staff are responsible for ensuring good teaching of children with SEND. This local offer is in line with the school SEND policy which can be accessed below or by contacting the school office.

Our school offer

Queen Margaret Primary Academy encourages children of all abilities to reach their full potential. We are totally inclusive and we welcome all children. Where a child has a recognised special need or disability we will make reasonable adjustments to meet those needs to ensure your child thrives in our mainstream setting. Our school is fully accessible and while supporting our children, we will also encourage independence skills.

Monitoring

Each child’s progress is closely tracked. If, despite all the extra support, your child is still struggling to meet their expected targets, it is possible your child has special education-al needs.

Identification/assessment/support?

Learning difficulties

Assessments by the teacher will quickly identify if your child is having difficulty in a particular area of learning and lessons will be adapted to meet your child’s needs. Our SENDCo will suggest appropriate additional targeted support to help your child make better progress. This could be extra small group work or 1:1 support using specialist published materials.

Behaviour

All children benefit from our carefully designed Behaviour Policy. However, if your child is struggling with their behaviour, the teacher will discuss this with our SENDCo, Family Support Worker and Principal who will arrange appropriate support, such as:

  • Individual reward charts
  • Make reasonable adjustments
  • An individual behaviour plan
  • Additional adult support
  • A pastoral support plan
  • Involve other professionals

How?

If we think your child could possibly have special education needs, the class teacher will meet with you and the SENDCo to identify your child’s difficulties to create a ‘My Plan’ and be placed on the SEND list. This will ensure your child is monitored closely and receives appropriate ongoing additional support. We will:

  1. Talk to you and listen to you
  2. Involve your child
  3. Assess your child
  4. Provide appropriate support
  5. Monitor your child
  6. Involve other professionals
  7. Communicate regularly with you.

Who?

Your child’s class teacher and the school’s SENDCo are your key points of contact to discuss your child’s difficulties.

Pastoral care

Our SENDCo and Family Support Worker are both on hand to listen and offer advice to families and children in all areas or signpost to the relevant professionals.

Children with emotional needs

Our Family Support Worker  can provide 1:1 time with your child. The school will also draw on the support of outside support services where needed.

Training

Our SENDCo ensures that all staff are trained and are kept updated to support children with specific needs.

Next Steps

Through good communication between you as carers, the teachers, TP’s and SENDCo, most children with SEND will make progress in their learning or behaviour. We endeavour to achieve this through the use of targeted support. We have a number of interventions on offer that are chosen specifically to suit you child’s needs. However,  there are a few children, who despite a lot of extra support, make little progress in their learning or struggle to modify their behaviour. Our SENDCo will then request advice and support from outside agencies.

Other support services

Through referral we can seek advice from:

  • Advisory Teaching Service
  • Educational Psychologist
  • Behaviour Support Service
  • Families First
  • Speech and language therapist
  • School nurse
  • Paediatrician
  • Child’s Mental Health Service.

Physical & sensory or medical needs

Some of these children will benefit from an individual risk assessment and/or Education, Health and Care Plan.

What is an Education Health and Care Plan (EHC)?

A minority of children will have complex SEND needing significantly higher levels of support. Should your child continue to make little or no progress and the support, advice and guidance from outside agencies has been implemented it may be necessary for SENDCo to make a request to the local authority to undertake a My Plan Plus assessment of your child’s needs following discussion with you as parents and all the agencies involved. The local authority will then draw up an EHC Plan for the child which will provide a personal budget which could fund additional support in school. The EHC Plan will ensure long-term support for your child and will be reviewed annually. Please refer to SENCOSPOT for further information or please do speak to our SENDCo.

Alternative educational placements

A tiny minority of children with an EHC Plan may still struggle significantly to access the mainstream school day. On this rare occasion the school will work with the County SEND Casework Team to assess whether our school can continue to meet the needs of the child and discuss with parents and outside agencies whether a special school should be considered as a more appropriate setting.

Moving from school to school can be worrying. How do you manage this?

We work closely with other schools, secondary and pre-schools to ensure a careful transition plan is arranged when your child moves schools. Parents are always involved at every step. If you would like to speak to our SENDCo about what we can offer you and your child in terms of support, please contact our School Office.

 

Contact Us

Queen Margaret Primary Academy
York Road
Tewkesbury
Gloucestershire
GL20 5HU
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Queen Margaret Primary Academy is proud to be part of the Cabot Learning Federation. 
Registered Company: Cabot Learning Federation
Company No: 06207590