SEND Information Report

Teachers help all pupils to succeed. This includes effective support and nurture for pupils

with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Skilled leadership of this

provision enables pupils to learn alongside their peers with confidence.

Learning activities are well matched to pupils’ needs. Leaders’ commitment to inclusivity means no-one

misses out on anything the school offers. Strong and trusting relationships are built with

parents. This is pivotal to the success of pupils with SEND in school. Ofsted 2022

Pupil Voice 2023

“School is fantastic.”

“Mrs F helps me with my counting.”

“I like going to the Learning Lab to play games with my friends.”

“My sensory box helps me.”

“Teachers help me by showing me what to do.”

“I get special things to help me be calm.”

“I like seeing Mrs D because I like to play and talk about my feelings. It helps me.”

Parent Survey 2024

The new Learning Lab has made a huge difference. I know my daughter loves it and it’s lovely that she is mixing with other SEND children as well as a more tailored curriculum. She has really thrived this year from all the support and I know has made lots of friends that she may not have made otherwise.

The SENCo is a great help and support to my child and myself.

100% of respondents feel their child feels happy and safe at school

100% of respondents think our school promotes inclusion well

89% of respondents feel their child accesses an appropriate curriculum and a range of opportunities

89% of respondents know how their child is supported in school

100% of respondents know how their child is progressing

100% of respondents feel part of the reviewing of their child’s progress

100% of respondents know who to contact within school for advice

66% of respondents feel concerns are dealt with in a timely manner

89% of respondents know how to access the school’s SEN policy and information report

‘Teachers help all pupils to succeed. This includes effective support and nurture for pupils
with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Skilled leadership of this
provision enables pupils to learn alongside their peers with confidence’

‘Leaders’ commitment to inclusivity means no-one
misses out on anything the school offers. Strong and trusting relationships are built with
parents/carers. This is pivotal to the success of pupils with SEND in school’

How We Support SEND
At Ouston Primary School, we pride ourselves on creating an inclusive environment for all and endeavour to support every child regardless of their level of need, disability or background.  All pupils follow the National Curriculum at a level and pace that is appropriate to their abilities. At times, when appropriate, modifications to the curriculum are implemented.
In supporting our pupils, we:-
• Regularly review policy and practice in order to achieve best practice.
• Ensure early identification of any special need to support pupils effectively.
• Work in partnership with parents/carers, pupils and relevant external agencies in order to provide for children’s special educational needs and disabilities.
• Make suitable provision for pupils with SEND to fully develop their abilities, interests and aptitudes and gain maximum access to the curriculum through modifying the curriculum and learning activities and adapting learning materials and equipment to suit each child’s needs
• Offer structured intervention programs to small groups of pupils or 1:1 as appropriate.
• Ensure that all children with SEND are fully included in all activities of the school in order to promote an inclusive ethos.
• Help all pupils achieve to the best of their abilities, despite any difficulty or disability they may have.
• Ensure that all 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 by using a variety of teaching styles and approaches.
• Support pupils in building their confidence and self-esteem.
• Promote self-worth, enthusiasm and resilience by encouraging independence at all age and ability levels.
• Give every child the entitlement to a sense of achievement.
Types of SEND
At Ouston Primary School, we have experience of supporting children and young people with a wide range of needs which fall into four specific areas:
Cognition & Learning
Communication & Interaction
Social, Emotional, Mental Health
Sensory and Physical
The school provides data on the levels and types of need to the Local Authority. This is collected through the school census.  

	Academic year 2022/23	Academic year 2023/24
Cognition & Learning	42.8%	44.4%
Communication and Language	31.4%	25.9%
Social, Emotional, Mental Health	20%	22.2%
Sensory and Physical	5.7%	7.4%

Teaching, Learning and the Curriculum

At Ouston Primary School, we believe that inclusive education means providing all pupils with appropriate education and support alongside their peers.

Our ‘Curriculum’ consists of all the planned activities that are organised in order to promote learning, personal growth and development.

This includes not only the formal requirements of the National Curriculum, but also the range of additional opportunities that the school organises in order to enrich the experiences of our children. Our curriculum also includes the social aspects that are essential for life-long learning.

For further information you can view the Teaching & Learning Policy in the School Policies section of our website.

How we identify and assess children with special educational needs

At Ouston Primary School, all staff work together to promote our ethos of an inclusive environment in which all pupils can achieve. In doing so, our staff are very supportive and quickly build relationships with all children. This is essential for the early identification of any special educational needs.
When concerns arise, staff have professional dialogue to identify areas of need and the appropriate course of action to support the pupil effectively. Concerns and support will be shared with parents/carers and progress monitored.
Likewise, if parents/carers have any concerns, we do encourage you to speak to your child’s class teacher and, if necessary, strategies will be put in place and concerns monitored and reviewed.

Step 1 – Quality First Teaching

When parents/carers or school staff have concerns about a child’s development, progress or experience of school life, a meeting is held to discuss the concerns, agree future actions and plan a review date. This support takes the form of Quality First Teaching (QFT). A QFT form is completed to document the meeting along with details of additional outcomes and the provision we will offer to support children in achieving the outcomes. This step involves the pupil, parents/carers and the child’s class teacher.

Quality First Teaching strategies may also be implemented for social, emotional and mental health outcomes.

Quality First Teaching provision for special educational needs may only be in the short term and may quickly allay any concerns. When concerns continue after a number of reviews, the SENCo will then become involved.

Step 2 – Quality First Teaching with a detailed Support Plan and SENCO involvement.

When concerns continue, despite the implementation of Quality First Teach strategies and support and guidance from the class teacher, the SENCo will become involved and a more detailed Support Plan written to detail additional outcomes and the provision offered to support children in achieving the outcomes. Parents and carers will be fully involved in this process.

At Ouston Primary School, we follow a graduated support approach which is called “Assess, Plan, Do, Review”.

This means that we will:

• Assess a child’s special educational needs
• Plan the provision to meet your child’s aspirations and agreed outcomes
• Do put the provision in place to meet those outcomes
• Review the support and progress

Support Plans include:

• Learning outcomes for the child which are linked to their needs
• A summary of the child’s strengths, interests, aspirations and areas of need.
• Details of the provision to support the child achieving the outcomes
• Details of termly reviews and future actions

Copies of our Quality First Teaching Short Note and SEN Support Plan can be found below:

Quality First Teaching Short Note
SEN Support Plan

Support plans will be reviewed termly to assess if outcomes have been achieved and plan next steps.

The special educational needs for most children will be met successfully through Support Plans and Quality First Teach strategies used within the classroom provision.

For some outcomes, children may need to be withdrawn for small group or individual intervention. Interventions are monitored and reviewed as part of the support plan reviews.

At times, it may be necessary to refer to outside agencies specialising in particular areas. The referrals involve parent/carer meetings, observations, assessments and feedback meetings. The feedback of findings informs the outcomes and provision detailed in the subsequent support plans.

Step 3 – Educational Health Care Plan

A small percentage of children and young people with significant learning difficulties may have needs that cannot be met through modified classroom practice as in Step 1 and Step 2. In such cases, when needs are very complex and/or severe we may ask the Local Authority to carry out a Statutory Assessment

This is a very detailed assessment of each child’s needs. Parents or carers, the school and a range of professionals will all be asked to provide written reports.

• At the end of the assessment phase the Local Authority will consider these reports to help decide whether or not to issue an Education, Health and Care Plan for the child.
• Parents/carers also have the right to ask the Local Authority to carry out this assessment although it is usually best if you can do this with the support of the school.
• Statutory Assessment is only appropriate for a small number of children. Your school SENCO or the Parent Partnership Service will be able to advise you about this.

Full details can be found on the Local Offer Website.

Staffing and any Specialist Qualifications/Expertise

At Ouston Primary School, our Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCO) is:

Mrs J. Wise      Batchelor of Arts (Hons) PGCE,
Master of Arts (Education – SEN)

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

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The Local Authority (LA) provides the school with a budget towards meeting pupils’ SEND. The school is also provided with additional funding through Pupil Premium, which was introduced by the Government in April 2011 to further support children’s achievement. The school also usually needs to allocate additional funding from the main school budget to SEND.

The school spends this money on:

• SENCO non contact time
• Teaching assistant/HLTA salaries
• Training for all teachers and teaching assistants so they can meet pupil’s needs more effectively
• Smaller group interventions
• The cost of referrals

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

The Local Offer

In the SEND Provision section we have added information about our Local Offer including how we support, identify and assess children with SEND at Ouston Primary School  Please access this information from the SEND Provision menu.

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

At Ouston Primary School we are committed to equality. 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.

Our school welcomes all children and values them as individuals, treating them equally and with respect. We believe that all children have the right to have their own particular needs recognised and addressed in order to achieve success. We believe that all teachers are teachers of children with special educational needs and it is therefore a whole school responsibility to ensure that these children’s needs are addressed. Through staff working together as a team, and in partnership with pupils and their parents and carers, we strive to ensure that the following aims are met:

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 disabilities, gender roles and diverse ethnic and cultural groups
• 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
• To follow the guidelines set out in the SEN Code of Practice
• To ensure that all pupils have equal access to a broad, balanced curriculum, which is differentiated to meet individual needs and abilities.
• To identify children with Special Educational Needs as early as possible and plan a programme of support and intervention to address their needs.
• To regularly monitor the progress of children with Special Educational Needs through review meetings, lesson observations, Support Plans and data analysis.
• To give regular feedback to children and their parents/carers and involve them in the SEND process
• To ensure we are fully informed with the most up to date information and procedures to support pupils with special educational needs.
• To ensure that all staff working with SEND children are clear about their role
• To provide regular up to date training for staff in relevant areas of Special Educational Needs.
• To evaluate the impact of staff training and provision/intervention programme.
• To ensure that the SEND budget is used appropriately to fund high quality resources for children with Special Educational Needs.
• To work effectively with a range of other agencies and organisations.
• To make good links with other mainstream and special needs primary schools, our feeder nurseries and local comprehensive schools.

Our Accessibility Plan outlines how we support SEND pupils and visitors in our school

Ouston Primary School Accessibility audit plan

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

Our SEND provision is not purely for academic progress. We provide support for pupils’ wellbeing as a whole. 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. We stay up to date with training on current thinking and practise for pastoral, medical and social support.

We also work closely with the school nurse.

Our pastoral interventions include:

One to one sessions with our School Counsellor
Access to specialist teachers
Small group intervention and support
Draw Therapy
Lego Therapy
Relax Kids
Time Out/Talk Time spaces with support

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

Consultation with Children and Young People with SEND

SEN procedures ensure that all stakeholders are involved in meetings and decision-making processes.

We consult with our SEND pupils in a range of ways:

• Daily consultations about lessons/activities
• Discussions about pupils views of their achievements/performances

The SENCo, teachers and support staff work with children and young people to identify the support needed to meet agreed outcomes. Our pupils take an active role in discussing and setting their targets and discussing resources and strategies they feel support them successfully.

Pupils review their progress and support regularly, helping school staff modify the support for maximum impact.

Pupils are included in the review meetings where they can set their new targets and say how they feel about school, their strengths and difficulties.

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 required 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 a review of a child’s SEND Support Plan or the Annual Review of their  EHC Plan.

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

Transition Arrangements

We recognise that transitions can be difficult for a child with SEND and take steps to ensure that any transition is as smooth as possible.

How we support children with SEND during transition:

Before your child joins us for Reception/EYFS, if your child is already identified with have special educational needs or disabilities, we would work closely with the nursery during the summer term, visiting and observing your child in the nursery setting. We will attend/arrange meetings with parents, nursery staff and any outside agencies involved.

The named contact (outside agencies) working with your child during nursery may change on entry into school. You will be kept informed of any changes and introduced to new people.

As pupils move through the school, transition meetings are held between class teachers to pass on and share information. Support plans are updated by the current teacher during the Summer Term and new outcomes set by the staff who know the child well. Successful strategies are also shared and any special resources passed on to ensure transition is as smooth as possible and provision is consistent for our pupils.

It is part of the SENCo’s role to ensure additional transition is offered, when necessary, and that staff have the relevant information before the new school year begins.

If a child with SEND transfers to us from another school we would ask their school to pass on all relevant information to ensure a smooth transition. Parents and carers would also attend a meeting with school staff to ensure school staff knew as much as possible about the pupil’s needs, strengths, interests and successful strategies.

Transition to KS3

We work closely with local secondary schools and many strategies are in place to enable the pupils’ transition being as smooth as possible. These include:

• A selection of visits and workshops at secondary schools during Year 5 and 6 so pupils become more familiar with the schools.
• Children attending transition sessions.
• Staff from secondary schools visit our school to introduce themselves and talk about the secondary school.
• Specialist SEN staff visit our school to begin to build relationships with pupils with SEN to ensure they have a point of contact at the secondary school.
• Additional visits can be arranged for pupils who need extra transition time in their new school.
• Discussions between ourselves and the receiving school prior to the pupil leaving.
• Information passed on to secondary schools regarding children’s needs.
• Visits/meetings can be arranged between pupils/parents/secondary school SENCO’s as needed.

If you would like to discuss your SEND requirements please contact the school and we will try our best to help you.

The school enjoys good working relationships with a wide range of people who provide services to children with SEND and their families, particularly when a child is demonstrating further cause for concern or their learning need is more complex and persistent. 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

Below we have listed some of the outside agencies that may be involved in supporting pupils with SEND at Ouston Primary School.

• Durham SEND Information, Advice and Support Service
• Central Durham Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAHMS)
• Parent Partnership Service
• Parent Support Worker
• One Point Chester-le-Street Hub
• Children and Families Act 2014

If you have any questions about SEND please contact the school and we will try our best to help you.

The following are the main contacts for Special Educational Needs and Disability at our school:

• Mrs L Lavelle is our Headteacher
• Mrs J. Wise is our designated Special Educational Needs Coordinator
• Mrs K Barrass is our designated SEND Governor

It is the SENCO’s job to:

1. Oversee the day-to-day operation of the school’s SEND policy
2. Liaise with the relevant Designated Teacher where a looked after pupil has SEND
3. Advise teachers on using a graduated approach to providing SEND support
4. Advise on the deployment of the school’s delegated budget and other resources to meet the pupil’s needs effectively
5. Liaise with parents/carers of pupils with SEND
6. Liaise with and be a key point of contact for external agencies
7. Ensure that the school keeps the records of all SEND pupils up to date
8. Work with the head teacher and school governors to ensure that the school meets its responsibilities with regard to reasonable adjustments and access arrangements

To contact a key member of staff about special education needs, you can:

• phone the school on 0191 410 2599
• send an email to: info@oustonprimary.org.uk

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

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 School Policies section of our website or by visiting the Durham County Council Local Offer website.

All of our school policies can be found on the website but the most important ones for parents of children with SEND are listed below:

• SEND Policy
• Equality Policy, Statement and Objectives
• Accessibility Plan
• Anti-Bullying Policy
• Behaviour Policy
• Medical Needs Policy
• Teaching and Learning Policy
• Complaints Policy

If you would like a paper copy of any of our documents on our website please speak to the school office, who will provide them to you free of charge.  If you would like to discuss your SEND requirements in detail please contact the school to arrange an appointment.