SEND Specialist Expertise
SENDco and staff
Our SENDCO is Mrs Shannon, she is working towards the National Award for Special Educational Needs Co-ordinators. She can be contacted on 01740 651363 or by emailing c.shannon@broomcottagesprimary.net
It is the SENDCO’s job to:
- Oversee the day-to-day operation of the school’s SEND policy
- Advise other teachers on using a graduated approach to ensure the right support is put in place for each child
- Liaise with the relevant Designated Teacher where a looked after pupil has SEND
- Advise 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 SEND
- Liaise with and be a key point of contact for external agencies
- Arrange training for staff so they understand your child’s needs
Learning support assistants deliver support and interventions to meet individual’s needs. These staff are partly funded from our additional needs budget. The budget is allocated on a needs basis and the children who have the most complex needs are given targeted support. All children, regardless of need receive daily Quality First Teaching. We aim to keep children with SEND within the class as much as possible. Support may be given in the form of a classroom assistant working within the class to support children. Interventions are carried out throughout the day. If a child has complex special educational needs, we could also apply for additional funding from the Local Authority to meet the agreed outcomes.
Members of staff have First Aid and Safeguarding training. In addition, our SEND support staff have a wide breath of expertise and training has included Speech and Language, developing visual perception skills, ASD, fine motor programmes, emotional well-being to name but a few.
More details of the SENDCO’s role can be found in the SEND 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:
Durham SEND Information, Advice and Support Service
How we secure specialist expertise
Our Additional Needs Budget is used to support children and young people with SEND. The notional SEN amount is £149,533 for the 2023-2024 financial year. In addition we receive a sum of money to meet the individual needs of pupils with an Educational Health Care Plan or through top up funding. Schools receive funding based on a formula and this ‘notional budget’ is used to help provide appropriate support for children. Schools are expected to show a commitment of £6000 per child before additional funding may be sought.
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:
- Training staff
- Supporting children directly in school
- Sourcing external specialists
- Specific SEND resources
If a child has complex special educational needs, we could also receive additional funding from the Local Authority to meet the agreed outcomes.
The school makes an audit of training needs for all staff taking into account school priorities as well as personal professional development. Special Needs is included within all school training. In addition staff attend training organised by the LA and other agencies. We currently have staff in school who have attended training on:
- Speech and Language Development;
- Autistic Spectrum Disorder;
- Movement Difficulties;
- Specific Learning Difficulties, including dyslexia
If a child has complex special educational needs, we could also receive additional funding from the Local Authority to meet the agreed outcomes.
We have a qualified HLTA who works closely with the SENDCO and liaises with SALT and O.T.
SEND Information Report
- Our SEND Provision
- The kinds of SEND that are provided for:
- Our approach to teaching children and young people with SEND
- How we adapt the curriculum and learning environment for children and young people with SEND
- How we identify, assess and review children with special educational needs
- How children with SEND engage in all activities?
- How we evaluate the effectiveness of SEND Provision