SENCO and SEN Staff
Our SENCO is Mrs Leanne Nesbitt.
In our school the Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENDCO):
- manages the day-to-day operation of the policy;
- co-ordinates the provision for and manages the responses to children’s special needs;
- supports and advises colleagues;
- maintains the school’s SEN register;
- contributes to and manages the records of all children with special educational needs;
- manages the school-based assessment and completes the documentation required by outside agencies and the LA;
- acts as the link with parents;
- maintains resources and a range of teaching materials to enable appropriate provision to be made;
- acts as link with external agencies and other support agencies;
- monitors and evaluates the special educational needs provision and reports to the governing body;
- manages a range of resources, human and material, linked to children with special educational needs.
More details of the SENDCO’s role can be found in the SEN Policy which you can find in the [School Policies] section of our website.
We have teaching and support staff specially trained in:
- Elklan Speech and Language Therapy (Level3)
- ASC (including writing Social Stories and Talkabout – Social Communication and Interaction Intervention)
- Supporting pupils with Specific Reading & Spelling Difficulties
- Supporting pupils with Specific Maths difficulties
- Supporting pupils with Visual Perception difficulties
- Gross and Fine Motor Development
- Drawing and Talking Therapy
- The use of Accessible Technology
- Team Teach
- Bereavement Support
- Supporting pupils with anxiety or anger issues
- Communicate in Print
- Emotional Literacy Support Assistant (ELSA)
Staff are also committed to research to develop their knowledge and understanding of how to meet a child’s SEN as the need arises.
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
- SENDIASS
- Local Authority Special Educational Needs Inclusion Team
- Educational Psychology Service
- Bishop Auckland One Point Hub
- Health Agencies, particularly School Nurse Service and Health Visitors
- Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS)
- Speech and Language Therapists
- Behaviour Intervention / Crisis Response
- Durham Movement Difficulties Service
- Tree Tops Occupational Therapy Service for Children
- Virtual School for Looked After Children
- Learning Difficulties and Disability Support Service (LDDIS)
- Autism Spectrum Condition advisory team
- Specialist therapists – Occupational Therapy and Physiotherapy
- Other specialist health services as required, e.g. hearing, speech, vision, diabetes
- Medical Practitioners – GPs, Paediatricians, Clinical Psychologists
- Family workers and One Point Children Centre staff
- Parent Partnership
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:
- Specialist training for all staff
- Specialist training for SENCO
- Enabling the school to employ members of staff to support children and run programmes of intervention
- Resources to enable children to meet outcomes
- Buy in the services of specialists
- Buy into support packages
- Purchase assessment and intervention tools
If a child has complex special educational needs, we could also receive additional funding from the Local Authority to meet the agreed outcomes. The additional needs funding is monitored by the Senior Leadership Team and Governing Body to ensure support is secured to meet needs and has a positive impact on outcomes for children with SEND.
Community of Learning (COL)
Our school is a member of a Community of Learning, within the Local Authority, which is a variety of local schools working together to strive to achieve the best outcomes for our pupils with SEND. It provides us with link advisory teachers, a link Educational Psychologist and the opportunity to share effective working methods, provide advice and support between schools. It also enables us to access resources and additional funding where we can secure additional support for our pupils.