A-A child or young person has a special educational need if they have a learning difficulty or disability which calls for special educational provision to be made for them. A child or young person is considered to have a learning difficulty or disability if they:

• Have a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others of the same age or
• Have a disability which prevents or hinders them from making use of educational facilities of a kind generally provided for others of the same age

(Code of Practice 2014)

A-Teachers are responsible for the progress that all children make in their class. All members of staff contribute to identifying SEND and supporting those with SEND. The SENCO, Mr Anthony Jones, has the responsibility of the day to day management of SEND. The Assistant SENCOs, Mrs Claire Boyland and Mrs Jo Blackhall, have some responsibility for the day to day management of SEND. The department is line managed by Mr Alex Greenhalgh, who also is the Designated Safeguarding lead. The SENCo assists class teachers and parents in developing inclusive practice, designing further adaptations and accessing specialist resources if they are needed. The school also has a Link Governor, who has responsibility for SEND.

A-Identifying SEND needs early is crucial and parents know their children best so we have regular meetings with parents and use the information they provide us in helping us to identify if a child or young person has SEND. In our school we believe that inclusive teaching is the first step in responding to any possible special educational need and we carry out checks on teaching to make sure that practice is inclusive. The SENCo is part of the whole school lesson monitoring process. All subject teachers have information on a wide range of SEN and access to training. Teaching Assistants supporting pupils in classes give regular feedback to teachers and the SEN team are able to suggest further strategies class teachers can use to include pupils with SEN and make sure they make good progress.  We will also consider whether a further, more specialist, assessment for SEND is needed for example from another service provider, eg from Health.

If a child is falling behind, or not responding to inclusive teaching, we will bring together all the information we have about the child’s needs and difficulties and share this with parents. The school uses Oxfordshire County Council’s ‘Identifying and Supporting Educational Needs’ handbook (2014) as way of identifying if there is a SEND and what levels of support should be offered. The handbook helps us to make sure we are offering the provision expected from all schools in Oxfordshire. There are four broad areas of SEND:

• Communication and Interaction Needs
• Cognition and Learning Needs
• Social, Emotional and Mental Health Needs
• Sensory and/or physical needs

Following further consultation with parents, and if a child meets the descriptor in the handbook, and after all the checks on teaching and learning have been carried out, then the child will be placed on the schools Inclusion Profile. 

A-For pupils with SEND the school offers a ‘graduated’ approach; from a little support to a lot dependent on a child’s needs. Once a child is placed on the Inclusion Profile, appropriate plans are put in place to support them. All children are unique, regardless of the category of SEND they have, so it is important that we respond to their individual need. Some children will respond well to seemingly minor adaptations to our inclusive teaching offer, others will need more specialist support and input. We work closely with outside agencies to help us to design the most appropriate package of support for children on our register. Adaptations can include;

• Use of individual, pair or small group teaching
• Individualised or small group interventions for specific skills and learning needs
• Visual aids and multisensory resources to support understanding and participation
• Adaptations to the physical environment to help with accessing learning

• A range of support is available, here are some examples:

Cognition and Learning

Literacy:

-Read, Write Inc Phonics-individual and small group

-Intensive literacy programmes-individual and small group

-Fast Track- literacy small group work in place of MFL in year 8

-Handwriting interventions –tutor time

-Foundation groups in English

-Withdrawal from MFL to focus on basic skills and an alternative to GCSE option; ASDAN Bronze and Cope awards.  

-Pre-Teaching Vocabulary-individual vocabulary, speaking and listening focus

-Comprehension groups- small group

-Study Skills- small group KS4

-‘Acceleread’ – a computer based intervention in library lessons.

Maths:

-Basic skills -individual and small group place value and concept development

-Foundation groups for maths

-First class at Maths – small gourp withdrawl intervention KS3

-Hegarty maths- tutor time programme

Social, Emotional and Mental Health:

-Student Support Service- 1-1 work ( CBT, nurture, listening) 

-Anxiety intervention- small group

-Engagement mentor- 1-1 work / observations / behaviour planning

-Engagement mentor- work with parents

-Attendance interventions including ‘Meet and Greet’-individual, for when coming to school is hard

- School Counsellor- referral via Student Support Services

- Volunteer mentors- 1-1 intervention

-Study Zone- alternative venue for learning for pupils who cannot manage mainstream lessons

- personalised timetables for including more 1-1 support, alternative provision, vocational courses at college, work experience, time in study zone.

-Intervention Department- staffed by fully time non- teaching staff who are available to support behaviour throughout the school day. ID staff carry out ‘Restorative Justice’ interventions, run behaviour plans, mentor and coach pupils and run anti- bullying interventions.

Communication and Interaction:

-Visual Support- timetables and prompt cards to help structure the day

-Specialist input for pupils with ASD- 1-1 support

-1-1 speech and language programmes

-Speaking Frames- vocabulary building intervention- run as part of Fast Track

- ASD social group- lunchtimes

-Social Language and Communication skills intervention- small group

Sensory and Physical:

-Medical room and accessible toilet with shower facilities

-Alternatives to written formats-ICT and Scribe

-Keyworkers-individual support for pupils with complex medical needs, appropriate training is given based on need

-sensory programmes/ diets

-adapted PE curriculum – based on need.

In addition, there is a nurture class in KS3 which delivers a differentiated humanities curriculum in a smaller group with an experienced nurture teacher. This class is for children who need a more practical, accessible curriculum and for pupils who need a nurturing environment for part of their timetable. 

 A qualified SENCo with over 10 years SENB experience,who can assess literacy difficulties and who has a particular interest in dyslexia.

A primary trained SEN Maths teacher.

Two Assistant SENCos who also deliver alternative curriculum options.

Two specialist SEN unqualified teachers for English and Humanities.

An experienced Engagement Mentor to work with pupils and parents.

A specified keyworker for children who are in public care or adopted.

A team of teaching assistants, student support services staff and pastoral staff ( ID)      many whom have specific areas of expertise and with further qualifications. A number of staff with direct specialist experience of SEND. The school also has access to external specialist support services;

• Educational Psychology-Mr Mark Corness
• Language and Communication Advisory Support- Michael Parker
• Communication and Interaction Base-on the Warriner site*
• Special Educational Needs Support Service (SENSS); Physical Disability Team, Visual, Hearing Impairment Team,.
• School Health Nurse-Tracey Willetts
• PCAMHs consultation and referral
• LCSS- Locality Community Support Service
• Strong links with ‘The Warriner Partnership and MAT,  SENCo Network and local special schools.

Further services can be accessed through Oxfordshire County Council’s Local Offer, accessible to parents via the website.

A-We monitor our provision through reviews with parents, data analysis, work scrutiny and lesson observations. The SEN team do a yearly audit of provision and adjust the offer according to both the need of the pupils currently on role and the result showing the most effective interventions. Warriner is part of the Oxfordshire Teaching Schools Alliance’s initiative to support schools in self-evaluation of SEND provision. Rachel Cosgrove has been trained to carry out school wide SEND reviews. We monitor pupil progress through year groups and subjects and regularly evaluate the success of interventions and provision through analysing outcomes.  The school is committed to providing high quality professional development for staff and this is the best way of making sure our teachers can offer inclusive practice. The Warriner SEN team runs a range of training courses for support staff which is accessed by schools throughout Oxfordshire.  Teaching staff have access to CPD through regular INSET provided by Warriner SEN staff and external agencies. 

A-There are lots of ways you can help. The best way to help is to talk to the teachers and ask questions if you have them. Don’t be afraid to share information that might be useful to the school, for example, share any worries your child may have. If you need to, ask your child’s tutor for their advice and support, they can arm you with lots of ideas and tips. There are many opportunities to meet with either the SEN team or your child’s subject teachers or tutors so use the website, and any other  information that the schools sends out to help keep you up to date with reviews, parents evenings and other events that can help you support your child’s experience at school. It helps if your child comes to school ready to face the day, and if you have concerns be quick to bring them to the schools attention, that way they can be dealt with more swiftly. 

A-Having a child with SEND can be worrying and exhausting and the school recognises this and we want to help parents by working closely together. All our pupils with significant needs have a key worker who can help parents and pupils directly.  The Warriner SEN team run a programme of parent events throughout the year where you can come along informally to participate in an activity with your child or learn about specific topics. We also access to other specialists. There are also lots of local and national support groups listed  under ‘Useful Contacts’ who have parent groups and networks and lots of useful tips. The SENCo and Assistant SENcos are always happy to talk to you to help you identify which direction to go in to access more help. 

A-A parent’s first point of contact is always the tutor or in some cases the key worker; most concerns are easily addressed this way. If you would prefer, you can talk to the SENCo or Assistant SENCos  or a member of the Student Support Services team.  The school encourages parents to share their concerns quickly. If you need more support in meetings at school we can put you in touch with the Parent Partnership who are happy to help. All contact details are on the school website.

A-We offer extra transition support to help children cope with changes like moving year group or school. Year 6’s with SEND can come on extra transition visits before they start in year 7. We have strong links with all the schools in the Warriner Partnership and MAT and have links in the primary and secondary schools in Banbury and surrounding areas as well. We collect detailed information from the schools but we will also liaise with schools or colleges pupils are transferring to, in order make sure all SEN information is shared.

A-Statements of Special Educational Needs have been replaced by Education, Health and Care plans (EHC) for children and young people with the most complex needs. The creation and delivery of these plans will be led by the local authority with schools developing and reviewing these with parents. The Code of Practice states that the majority of pupils can be supported within the schools’ SEN provision at SEN Support and only a small minority of pupils will need an EHCP. An EHCP is needed if a pupil needs a special school placement. 

A-There is now only a single category of SEN in addition to the Education and Health Care Plan.  This single category is nationally called ‘SEN Support’. At The Warriner we are calling this category ‘School Support’. Subject teachers will be trained in the recognition of SEN and the delivery of in class strategies to meet the needs of all pupils. There will be a small number of these pupils who have specific areas of need that staff need to be made aware of but who may not need to be categorised as having SEN. AT Warriner we are calling this category ‘School Watch’. These pupils will not be on the Inclusion Profile but will still be monitored by the SEN team and additional information will be shared with staff. There may be movement of pupils from this category to the School Support category and vice versa.  Both parents and staff can consult with the SENCo and Assistant SENCO if they think a pupil needs to be assessed further to explore any unidentified need.

We want to work closely with parents and seek to develop close and positive relationships with parents. We aim to be open and transparent and we advise parents to get in touch sooner rather than later if you have any concerns or feedback at all. 

Useful Contacts

Please contact the SENCo via the school office.

Oxfordshire County Council Website details the Local Offer and signposts lots of useful support for parents-

https://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/cms/public-site/support-parents-children-special-educational-needs

If the link does not work find it on:

www.oxfordshire.gov.uk

For independent parent support see SENDIASS –previously parent partnership.

https://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/cms/public-site/sendiass-oxfordshire-formerly-parent-partnership

Websites linked to SENDIASS below

ACE - the Advisory Centre for Education - gives good information and advice about Admissions, Attendance, Bullying, Exclusions and Special Educational Needs.

ACT Foundation – offers grants to enhance the quality of life of people in need, for example grants for equipment or adaptations where the Local Authority cannot help.

Ace centre - Augmentative and Alternative Communication - find out more about the excellent and very specialised service provided to children and young people who have difficulty speaking, because of physical problems, from the base at the Nuffield Orthopaedic Hospital in Oxford

Anti-bullying Alliance – gives useful information and advice about how to deal with bullying and the impact that bullying can have.

Association of Young People with ME -  a chance for young people confined to home by ME to have online friends and discussions and to find out about their condition.

autismoxford.org.uk - Spreading awareness of autism . Frequent conferences and talks

British Dyslexia Association - a useful website with information about dyslexia, assessment and identification, exam concessions etc.

Bullying UK - offers on line advice and support to try to prevent or deal with bullying including information for children.

Cambian Education - The largest provider of specialist residential education and care for young people with Autism and Aspergers Syndrome in UK.

Childrens Legal Centre – provides legal advice, information and representation for children and young people.

Contact a Family (CaF) – are an excellent organisation providing information and support to parents of children with many different sorts of disability, including parent-parent support. They also provide comprehensive well written booklets written in a clear concise manner for parents, teachers and young people

www.cafamily.org.uk/media/388418/bullying.pdf - CaF have produced a guide for dealing with bullying.

Cerebra - help to support parents/carers with children who have sleep issues. They also have a stress helpline.

www.gov.uk/civil-legal-advice - Civil Legal Advice (Legal Aid) - Free legal advice on education law matters paid for by legal aid. SEN, discrimination and judicial review (e.g. for children not receiving education/unlawful exclusions etc.) For anyone financially eligible to legal aid 

www.downs-syndrome.org.uk/ - Down's Syndrome Association - The aim of the DSA is to help people with Down’s syndrome to live full and rewarding lives. 

Dyslexia research trust - for diagnosis service contact anna.pitt@dpag.ox.ac.uk or call 01865 282260. For an assessment or for help and support, phone the clinic helpline on 01189 585950.

Dyspraxia Foundation - offers information and supports individuals and families affected by developmental dyspraxia through books, suggestions, a teen newsletter, and an adult support group.

Education Otherwise - a UK based membership organisation which provides support and information for families who choose to educate their children at home.

http://familylives.org.uk- A national charity offering information support and advice about parenting,including challenging behaviour , emotional wellbeing ,teenagers etc, details about specialist advice, parenting groups in your area.

Family Planning Association - has books specifically for parents of children with disabilities, including workbooks about growing up.

http://www.healthline.com/health/bipolar-disorder

Healthtalkonline – a useful website which can give you information about particular issues facing parents of children and young people with autism such as getting a diagnosis to dealing with puberty.

Council for disabled children - Information, Advice and Support Services - IAS Services have a duty to provide information, advice and support to disabled children and young people, and those with SEN, and their parents. They are statutory services and are free, impartial and confidential.

www.ipsea.org.uk - IPSEA - Independent Parental Special Education Advice, a charity which offers legal advice, support and training to ensure children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) access the right education.

Jungle memory - Online memory training for youngsters aged 6-16. Requires a subscription.

KEEN Oxford - Social and recreational activities  for young people with SEN in the Oxford area

www.lucid-research.com - Memory boosters for children aged 4-11, especially those with special educational needs

www.mentalhealth.org.uk - Mental Health Foundation has on-line information about anxiety, depression, ADHD etc.

www.masteringmemory.co.uk - Boosting working memory programs for children 2-11 or 11-adult.

www.mylifemychoice.org.uk - My life my choice - helping people speak up and develop their skills

www.myworldautismsupport.co.uk - MY WORLD offers bespoke day opportunities for people aged 16 and above on the autistic spectrum.

www.autism.org.uk/directory.aspx - The National Autistic Society give useful advice to parents of autistic children, including an online directory which will pull together information according to your child’s age diagnosis and where they live.

www.natspec.org.uk - National Association of Specialist Colleges provides information and training to meet the inclusive learning needs of students with learning difficulties/disabilities.

www.ndcs.org.uk - National Deaf Children’s Society – have an informative website including information about a new software reader for spoken text on the web.

www.oasisonline.org.uk - an Oxfordshire support group for parents of children with Autism and Asperger Syndrome hold monthly support meetings often with interesting speakers.

fisd.oxfordshire.gov.uk/‎ Oxfordshire Family Information Service (OxonFIS) provide information and support for children, young people and families in Oxfordshire on childcare, play and leisure, family and parenting support and the schools admission process

www.oxfsn.org.uk - OXFSN – Oxfordshire Family Support Network - supporting and mentoring parents of people with learning disabilities.

www.oxdys.org.uk - Oxfordshire Dyslexia Association – information about meetings and lectures, identification and assessment of dyslexia including access to  an on-line assessment tool.

omegaoxon.org - Oxfordshire ME Group for Action (Omega). OMEGA is the support group for people with ME or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and their carers. Members can benefit from contact with other people who recognise and understand the illness. Members give each other friendship and support, exchange information about treatments and learn from each other about the management of this long-term illness.

Oxsrad - Integrated support and leisure centre. Recreational and leisure activities accessible to all. Members entitled to use facilities at a small cost. Gym, Sensory room, Trampolining Contact 01865 741336 or info@oxsrad.org

www.ofm.org.uk - Oxfordshire Family Mediation-  information and advice for separated parents and support for children affected by family separation. All sessions are free. To arrange an informal meeting with a trained volunteer email admin@ofm.org.uk admin@ofm.org.uk.

www.parents-talking-aspergers.co.uk Banbury based group of parents of children with Aspergers Syndrome. New website and Facebook page. Regular meetings and social events.

www.raisinghorizons.com/disability- eLearning CD-Roms for young people with a learning disability/Autism Courses currently available are: Your school day (5-10 years), Travel with me (12+ years), The teenage years (13-19 years). An evaluation copy can be downloaded from the Raising Horizons website.

www.rnib.org.uk - There are around two million people in the UK with sight problems and RNIB (Royal National Institute of Blind People) is the leading charity offering practical support, advice and information to anyone with a sight problem. Their pioneering work helps not just with braille, Talking Books and computer training, but with imaginative and practical solutions to everyday challenges.

www.shipsproject.org.uk - Supporting head injured pupils in school - SHIPS supports pupils who have sustained a head injury, by observing the subtle differences in their way of learning due to the injury they have sustained, and advising teachers on appropriate ways of managing their learning.

www.singinghands.co.uk - Singing Hands – have produced a video with 25 songs for children who are learning signing before their speech has developed or have hearing or communication difficulties.

https://www.sense.org.uk/content/advice-and-support - Sense - Give advice and assistance to deaf blind individuals or their family members and supporters.

SOS SEN - A national charity aiming to empower parents and carers of children and young people with SEN and disabilities to access the help they are entitled to, particularly in the education system.

www.soundabout.org.uk - Soundabout – information about special music making workshops for children, young people and adults with disabilities.

http://supportfinder.oxfordshire.gov.uk - A single point of access for information and advice for all types of adult social care and related services.

www.talkingpoint.org.uk - Speech and Language Services – Talking Point provides a guide to speech and language services and useful links to other associated websites.

www.thomleyactivitycentre.org - Thomley Hall Activity Centre - a specialist activity centre for children and young people with disabilities and their families, particularly those on the Autistic Spectrum. This safe resource has a program of activities both in and outdoors. See the website for details.

www.youngminds.org.uk - Young Minds – a national charity committed to improving the mental health of all children, advice about depression, eating disorders, and other mental health issues affecting children, see website for details.

www.kids.org.uk - Young Peoples Inclusion Network – YP -in provides online guidance about both strategy and putting Inclusion into Practice covering issues such as Leisure and Sports Services , Youth Provision, Transport and Independent Living

There are lots of national and local groups if your child has a diagnosis or a disability:

Autism- www.autism.org.uk

Parents Talking Asperger’s- www.parents-talking-aspergers.co.uk

Downs Syndrome - www.downs-syndrome.org.uk  

The Dyslexia Association-- www.bdadyslexia.org.uk

Dyslexia Action- www.dyslexiaaction.org.uk

A PDF version of these FAQs is available below.