-
20 Mar
-
27 Mar
-
29 Mar
If you wish to discuss our SEND provision, please contact Mrs Hennessy, our Assistant Headteacher for Inclusion and SENCO on 0117 903 0077
The Council for Disabled Children have produced a guide to the Green Paper for parent carers which can be accessed at the following link. SEND and Alternative Provision Green Paper (councilfordisabledchildren.org.uk)
SEND Coffee Morning
If you were unable to come to our SEN Coffee Morning in November, you can find a copy of the slides below as well as other useful information
Send coffee morning 08.11.2023
Parent and Carer’s Guide to PACE
For more information about Bristol Parent Carer Forum who supported our most recent coffee morning in January, please click here: https://www.bristolparentcarers.org.uk/
Other Useful Information
How do we define special educational needs and disabilities?
Air Balloon Hill Primary School regards pupils as having a Special Educational Need if they:
(SEND Code of Practice 2015).
How does the education setting know if children need extra help and what should I do if I think my child may have special educational needs?
Children’s needs may be categorised into four different areas:
We believe that early identification of special educational needs, whether it is social, emotional, physical, communication or a specific learning difficulty, is crucial to the wellbeing of all of our children.
Special Educational Needs are identified in the following ways:
Concerns from class teacher relating to limited progress or curriculum access through raising a cause for concern form with the SENDCo
If parents / carers have any concerns about their child’s development or potential special educational needs, they should in the first instance arrange a meeting with the class teacher. The teacher will then be able to carry out assessments and observations and raise a ‘Cause for Concern’ with the Asssitant Headteacher for Inclusion SENDCo. Further meetings may then be arranged with the Assistant Headteacher for Inclusion Mrs Hennessy. Official parent’s / carer’s evenings are held three times a year. However, parents and carers should not wait until then but speak to the teacher as soon as they have concerns.
As an inclusive school, we do not seek to closely define the special educational needs for which we will make provision. Historically we have had success in providing for a wide range of different needs, when budget, resources and availability of expertise has allowed. This has included pupils with:
In admitting pupils with special educational needs, we would expect to have informative discussions with both the pupil’s family and the local authority to ascertain the suitability of our provision.
We understand that it is initially our responsibility to make provision for a pupil with special educational needs through the school’s devolved SEN budget. Thereafter, we are aware of the process of applying for High Needs Funding if the pupil’s and the school’s needs make that a necessity.
As a mainstream school, it would clearly be difficult for us to make provision for pupils whose needs and/or demands are significant, severe or profound – to the extent that it could be argued that they would be most appropriately placed in a special school. However, we do not rule this out and would make a careful assessment of the needs of each pupil in constructive conversation with other agencies.
How will Air Balloon Hill Primary support my child?
Most children with SEND will have their needs met through in class provision. At ABHPS, we use the Bristol Ordinarily Available Provision document. A link to this document is included below. Teachers use this document to map out reasonable adjustments they can make within class to suit the needs of pupils. When planning, teachers have the responsibility to make sure learning can be accessed by all members of their class. This could be through in class resources (e.g. equipment and lesson support materials), differentiated learning tasks or access to interventions to support what is happening in the classroom.
When a child requires specialised individual support on a medium or long term basis, an assessment of need will be carried out by the Assistant Headteacher for Inclusion and a plan of graduated support may be put in place. This will be recorded on a ‘Bristol Support Plan’ form and shared with parents / carers by the pupil’s teacher during parents evenings.
The assignment and co-ordination of all additional support lies with the Assistant Headteacher for Inclusion, however, the face-to-face (or virtual) meetings with parents / parents and regular updates will be, in general, carried out by the class teacher. If a child has an Education Health Care plan, additional information meetings will take place between the Assistant Headteacher for Inclusion and parents/carers. We have a member of the governing body assigned to monitor SEND provision. They meet with the Assistant Headteacher for Inclusion regularly to challenge and support the school. The Assistant Headteacher for Inclusion reports the progress made by children with SEND to the governing body three times a year. This report contains analysis of the effectiveness of provision for children with SEND.
How will my child be consulted and involved in their education?
Children who have a Bristol Support Plan contribute to the process by sharing their views on their strengths and needs, and strategies that they find helpful. Pupils with EHCPs or Top Up funding will contribute views on their progress and next steps as part of the annual review process. All pupils on the SEND register have opportunities to share their voice with staff who work with them through recording their thoughts on a ‘One Page Profile’. This is particularly useful as a quick reference for cover/supply teachers or transition between teachers.
How will both you and I know how my child is doing and how will you help me to support my child with their learning?
In the first instance, a pupil’s class teacher will be on hand to discuss their pupil’s progress. They are available before and after school for informal meetings and three times a year for more formal parent’s evenings. However, if you should require a meeting more urgently, please let the office know or send an email to school email address: airballoonhillp@bristol-schools.uk
Teachers will be able to share the adjustments they are making using Ordinarily Available Provision or for pupils with higher needs, a pupil’s Bristol Support Plan document is shared with parents / carers. These documents contain the information explaining the additional and different support a child is receiving, how often this is happening and the practitioners involved in delivering this support.
Air Balloon Hill Primary encourages good contact levels with staff. This happens outside of our normal reporting arrangements, which happen three times a year. If part of a child’s provision is a specific intervention, then parents / carers are provided with information on what this will entail before starting and ways of supporting their children at home are fully explained. Parents / carers can also speak with our Family Support Worker to look at ways of meeting additional needs at home.
What support will there be for my child’s overall wellbeing?
Our Assistant Headteacher for Pastoral and Safeguarding, Jenny Knight, is our Senior Mental Health Lead (SMHL). She oversees provision to support pupil mental health and wellbeing at Air Balloon and is supported by the Pastoral and Wellbeing Team. We are guided by Public Health England’s ‘principles to promote a whole school approach to mental health and wellbeing’ and have a range of universal and targeted support in place.
There is a dedicated Pastoral Leader in each phase of the school who advise teachers on supporting pupil’s gem powers, behaviour and wellbeing. Pastoral Leaders also work directly with children who may be experiencing social or emotional difficulties at school.
Miss James is our Children’s Support Worker. She works with pupils with a range of social, emotional and mental health needs, such as anxiety and emotional regulation difficulties. Parents can contact Miss James via the office if they have any concerns. Children can see Miss James in her office or write a message in the worry post box for her.
For children who need targeted mental health support, they may be allocated a block of therapy with our art therapist or counsellor. We can also seek advice from our link Primary Mental Health Specialist from CAMHS, who may advise us to make a referral to Community CAMHS. We also offer further opportunities for nurture both within our school curriculum and during educational visits.
Our Family Support Worker is Sarah Webb, who works Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Sarah provides a vital link between home and school, offering individual support to parents and signposting to external services.
To support pupils’ medical needs, we have a full-time welfare team of first aiders, who follow children’s individual care plans, coordinate medicine administration and personal care. They are also available by phone.
What specialist services and expertise are available at or accessed by the educational setting?
We access external specialist support for children as required these include:
Many of these services are called in by school, others are accessed via your child’s GP. The school can offer advice around accessing such support.
What training are the staff supporting children with SEND had or having?
Staff access training on a rolling programme depending on the children they are working with. Over the last few years support staff received training from Occupational Therapy (handwriting), Bristol Autism Team, Educational Psychology Service and the Hearing and Vision Impairment Services. We have an in-house performance management system for support staff, which identifies needs and targets support. Recently, this has included speech and language development, guidance on how to develop children’s independence, Metacognition- The Gem Project, attachment training, emotional regulation and sensory processing.
Staff review support plans and provision maps three times a year in consultation with the Assistant Headteacher for Inclusion SENDCo.
How will Air Balloon Hill Primary prepare and support my child to join their setting, transfer to a new setting or the next stage of education and life?
A change of school, class and staff can be an exciting, yet anxious time for all pupils. We recognise that this can be very challenging for some pupils with SEND. We endeavour to make sure these periods of change are carefully managed in a sensitive way to provide continuity of high quality provision and reassurance to pupils and families. Our school understands the need for good transition practice and this is especially important for a pupil with SEND.
If a child has an Education Health Care Plan (EHCP) or significant SEND, they will receive an enhanced package of support for transition. Parents / carers are encouraged to make contact with settings and produce a short list. The Assistant Headteacher for Inclusion then supports the decision making process by arranging additional visits and accompanying parents if required. The chosen school(s) is then invited to the pupils’ Annual Review meeting. There will be a thorough handover in order to ensure that the new school have a good understanding of the pupils’ needs and requirements.
When a placement has been agreed, a transition plan is formulated on an individual basis. This includes extra visits to the setting to meet with key staff. Children may be identified for group or individual sessions with our art therapist or nurture team to support transition. Occasionally, transition is support by outside professionals, such as the Bristol Autism Team.
How are Air Balloon Hill Primary’s resources allocated and matched to children’s special educational needs?
A provision map is produced each year to show how the school’s SEN budget is spread across the school. Interventions are implemented in response to need, however, as a mainstream school, we endeavour to include children wherever possible in the classroom. This is in line with current research from the Educational Endowment Foundation which specifies that teachers should use flexible grouping, cognitive and metacognitive strategies, explicit instruction, technology and adapted scaffolding to ensure all pupils have access to high quality teaching. The level of additional support in each class or year group is not uniform, as it is based upon the needs of our individual cohorts.
When a child needs a greater level of provision, then a request for additional funding may be applicable in order to meet their needs via the high needs funding TOPUP procedure.
How is the decision made about what type and how much support my child will receive?
The decision to give a child additional support may be made by measuring their distance away from age related expectations academically, emotionally and socially. This decision is made by the Assistant Headteacher for Inclusion in response to concerns raised at pupil progress meetings, parent’s meetings, Cause for Concern referrals or SEND review meetings. We have a wide-ranging package of interventions that have proven results to aid the acquisition of basic skills in both literacy and numeracy. These are time constrained and progress measured. Parents / carers will be informed their child is on such a programme by the class teacher or the practitioner running the intervention. Ways to support at home can also be discussed at this point. The impact of these interventions is measured and evaluated by the Assistant Headteacher for Inclusion. The measures of attainment and more importantly, progress are used to measure success and plan effectively.
If a child or group of children have additional learning support in class, it is because we believe they can’t effectively access the curriculum or mainstream classroom without this. Reasons for this could include communication and interaction difficulties, social and emotional difficulties or sensory and physical needs. We recognise the well-documented studies that show additional adults in class do not lead to accelerated outcomes and therefore, we only use this approach when it is the only way to keep a child included. Support staff have been trained to structure their support in such a way as to allow children to be as independent as they possibly can. They allow pupils time for self-scaffolding, then use prompting, clueing and modelling only the part of learning which the pupil is finding difficult.
If a child has regular support from a learning support assistant (LSA) they are available before and after school to meet with parents/carers to discuss learning and offer support.
How are parents / carers involved in the education setting? How can I be involved?
Teachers are available to speak to after school daily. The Assistant Headteacher for Inclusion, Pastoral Leaders, Achievement Leaders and Deputy Head are also on hand to discuss any concerns they may have. We encourage a close working relationship between parents and school as we believe they know their child best. We consult when forming care plans and meeting medical and physical needs. We understand that parenting can be a demanding job and encourage parents to access our Family Support Worker, Children’s Support Worker and Assistant Headteacher for Inclusion for support and advice.
How will my child be included in activities outside the classroom including trips?
We strive to make sure all trips and activities are accessible for all learners. Ratios of staff to children are adjusted to make this possible. Parents of children with specific disabilities or medical needs are consulted in the planning stages and an individual risk assessment is carried out if needed.
How accessible is the education setting?
Air Balloon Hill Primary is on a large sloping site. It is a mixture of buildings that are over 100 years old and a more modern section which consists of a 12 classroom block housing reception, year 1 and year 6. The classrooms are all accessible by wheelchair and there are disabled toilet facilities spaced around the school.
Acoustically, the new build is good for children with hearing impairments. The old build however, is not, as all rooms have high vaulted ceilings. We take advice form the Hearing Impairment Service regarding seating positions of the children and any other reasonable adjustments they suggest.
Equipment to support children is often purchased directly by the school. In the case of a large piece of equipment e.g. a hoist, needed for a particular length of time, we would look to hire or loan it.
Every caution is taken to make sure the site is secure, however, we cannot accommodate children with high levels of behavioural needs that present as climbing, escaping or hiding, as the site is too large and has many levels, making it difficult to guarantee their safety.
Accessibility Plan
In line with the Equality Act, 2010, Air Balloon Hill Primary School has an Accessibility Plan, which is reviewed and updated every two years. This Accessibility Plan is available on the policies page of our website.
The plan is in place in order to:
Who can I contact for further information?
If a parent / carer is worried about their child they should first contact their child’s teacher or the Assistant Headteacher for Inclusion Lucy Hennessy (ask at main office).
If a parent / carer of a child with SEND is considering joining Air Balloon Hill Primary they should speak to the Assistant Headteacher for Inclusion Lucy Hennessy, who will talk to them about their child’s specific needs and how we can meet them.
The Bristol Local Offer website had a range of advice and information for parents and carers and can be found here:
www.bristol.gov.uk/bristol-local-offer
Parents may also like to contact the SENDIAS / Supportive Parents for Special Children. More information can be found here:
http://www.supportiveparents.org.uk/services-in-bristol/
Bristol Ordinarily Available Provision
Ordinarily Available Provision, Bristol’s Local SEND Offer
Translation function of SEND information from the Local Authority:
https://www.bristol.gov.uk/bristol-local-offer/translate-the-send-local-offer-site
NHS Children’s Services
Children’s Services – Sirona care & health NHS services (sirona-cic.org.uk)
Working Collaboratively with a host of professionals, North Somerset Parent Carers has created a resource to support parent carers or professionals to care for a young person presenting with Sensory Processing Difficulties: https://cchp.nhs.uk/explore-cchp/leaflet-library
Support with Speech and Language for Early Years: https://sirona-cic.org.uk/children-services/services/early-years-speech-language-therapy/#toolkit
Referrals
Due to the increases in pressures and demands on the assessment and diagnosis process it has become clear that the referral system for Autism ( ASD) or to the Community Paediatrician for other learning difficulties was no longer able to meet demand. Following a consultation process with parents / carers, Sirona announced its needs-led assessment process. This means there is a new criterion for referrals. Below is a FAQ sheet supplied by Community Children’s Health Partnership for parents who are currently on the pathway for a referral