SEND
Welcome to the SEND area of our website. We hope that the information we provide will give you an understanding of what we have in place at Elm Wood to support all of our pupils, including those with SEND.
We have a really strong team to support SEND at Elm Wood who work closely together to meet all of the needs of our children and their families and would like to introduce them to you.
Our SENDCo is Mrs Lindsay Rodgers who has been in post since January 2017. She has completed the National SENCo Award and has many years of experience working with children with additional needs. Mrs Rodgers is also one of our Assistant Headteachers (Currently Acting Deputy Head) here at Elm Wood and leads our Pastoral Team.
We have welcomed two a new member of our Pastoral Team this year - Victoria Goodall, Pastoral Officer who is in school to support both children and families. Together this team ensure all of the children at Elm Wood get the best support possible.
All of the SEND team attend regular and relevant training courses to ensure that we are up to date with current policies and provision to continue to meet the needs of all of our children and families.
If you have any questions regarding our Special Educational Needs and Disability provision, please do not hesitate to contact Mrs Rodgers by emailing the school office at office@elmwoodps.co.uk or phoning her on 0161 287 0607 or and she will be happy to help.
All of our Learning Environments are welcoming and engaging for all pupils. However, we recognise that for many reasons children may need to access other areas in the school to receive emotional support or to have some quiet time. There are number of safe areas around school that provide a calm and relaxing environment to allow children to have some time away from the classroom if they are finding things difficult
The Enchanted Forest
The Enchanted Forest is a warm and inviting space for children who need to work in small groups. This room is also used for timetabled individual support or small group sessions to improve emotional health and wellbeing. The emotional needs of the children are always a priority.
The Jungle
The Jungle is our brand new nurture provision. This provision provides children with smaller group sessions, focusing on their own individual needs supporting them to later access whole class environments. Mrs Rodgers runs our Nurture provision supported by a team of very experienced Teaching Assistants
We are a fully accessible school to ensure that we are able to meet the needs of any prospective pupils, parents or visitors with physical disabilities. All areas of school are accessible for wheelchair users and we have an accessible bathroom fully equipped with an electronic changing table and ceiling hoist.
We are committed to providing high quality education to ensure that we are meeting the individual needs of all our children. Here is an outline of some of the strategies we use and examples of good practice in school:
- Attendance certificates and prizes, punctuality teddies, breakfast club for identified children with attendance and punctuality concerns
- Southampton Emotional Literacy Assessments for KS2 children to identify those most in need of support
- SCARF is delivered from EYFS-KS2 (Personal, Social and Emotional development)
- Small group work and 1:1 sessions within the Enchanted Forest for therapeutic interventions.
- Wave 1 boxes for all children to have access to learning aids and sensory items to help them focus on their learning
- Learning animals are used within the classroom to recognise the characteristics of learning and celebrate success
- Some children take part in Lego Therapy activities
- 3 members of staff are trained to deliver Forest School activities.
- SEN register is updated termly - a section has been developed to show children who are being monitored solely for their mental health needs
- Children with SEN can have their own supply of Wave 1 items within their areas in the classroom
- Progress of children with SEND is monitored by the SENCo
- Parental links with the parents of children with SEN are being developed further
- Workstations are used by some individual children
- Visual timetables, now and next cards, feelings thermometers, reward charts, individual warning systems and personalised planning are among some of the strategies used to support children with SEN
- Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP) applications are made for those children in need
- Annual and Interim reviews take place with school staff, parents, the school SEN officer and any other relevant professionals for those children with an EHCP
- Regular updates with parents of children on the SEN register
- SENCo oversees the Pastoral Team to ensure consistency
- Individual Education Plans (IEP's are updated half termly along with the provision map - children who are on an EHCP have targets that are directly linked to the targets in their plan which are then annotated to aid the review process
- Targets on IEP's change each half term
- Professionals meetings are held in school to explore a way forward to support children and families in need
- Parental meetings are held with teachers, SENCo, Pastoral Team, and members of SLT as requested
- SEN Teaching Assistants (TAs) meetings are held to share best practice and discuss any concerns around the children's needs
- IDL CLoud has been introduced to develop literacy skills in children of all abilities
- Person Centred Planning is completed for all of the children with an EHCP and any other vulnerable pupils to aid transition and ensure that this is as smooth as possible for these children
- Referrals are made to appropriate services for children and their families to ensure that they access support in their area of need
- Early Help Assessments are completed with families who are identified with the need
- We facilitate outside services working with children in school to ensure their needs are being met, an example of this is #Thrive doing some early intervention work with a child
- Peer massage is used in classes after lunchtime to settle the children back into school and get them ready for their learning
- Children take part in mindfulness, relaxation and meditation sessions
- Where a need has been identified we will invite services to come into school to talk to the children, this may be in a classroom or as an assembly. For example we have invited the Sunrise Team in on a number of occasions to work with the children about online safety and appropriate mobile messaging
- The Family Room in school has a bank of resources available to be used with families in need of support from specific services
- Community events/provision are displayed on the notice board at the front of school to notify and encourage parents to access support
- The Enlightening Team have been in school to work with a group of children to develop calming strategies and therapeutic interventions.
- A Wellbeing Warrior is working with a group of children to develop their understanding of their own feelings and how to manage them in an appropriate way. This support comes from a lady with 15 years of experience within the NHS in child psychology
- We have close links with a wealth of services and endeavour to find appropriate professionals in order to meet a child/families needs
- We have close links with other schools within the Middleton area to share best practice
- Children take part in inter-school competitions in spelling, times tables and sports
- Healthy Week and Aspirations Day have been successful in school and allow the children to have a great experience
- There is an open door policy for both the children and the families with the Pastoral Team
We are constantly trying to ensure that we are providing our children and families with the best possible support and are always looking to improve what we offer.
All of the SEND team attend regular and relevant training courses to ensure that we are up-to-date with current policies and provision to continue to meet the needs of all of our children and families.
For further information visit:
Rochdale Local Offer Website:
http://www.ourrochdale.org.uk/localoffer
Our Rochdale Website:
Information about the Early Help process:
Click HERE for our SEND Tweets!