The Special Needs Co-ordinator is:

Mainstream SENCO: Lauren Cleaves (lcleaves@courtwood.org.uk)
ELP SENCO: Clare Cook (ccook@courtwood.org.uk)

  • Who are the best people to talk to here about my child’s difficulties with learning/Special Educational Needs or Disability (SEND)?

    SENCO/Inclusion Manager

    • Coordinating all the support for children with special educational needs or disabilities (SEND) and developing the school’s SEND Policy to make sure all children get a consistent, high quality response to meeting their needs in school.
    • Ensuring that you are:
      • involved in supporting your child’s learning
      • kept informed about the support your child is getting
      • involved in reviewing how they are doing
    • Liaising with all the other people who may be coming into school to help support your child’s learning e.g. Speech and Language Therapy, Educational Psychology etc…
    • Updating the school’s SEND register (a system for ensuring all the SEND needs of pupils in this school are known) and making sure that there are excellent records of your child’s progress and needs.
    • Providing specialist support for teachers and support staff in the school so they can help children with SEND in the school achieve the best progress possible.

    Class Teacher

    • Checking on the progress of your child and identifying, planning and delivering any additional help your child may need (this could be things like targeted work, additional support) and letting the AHT Inclusion know as necessary.
    • Writing Individual Education Plans (IEP), and sharing and reviewing these with parents at least once each term and planning for the next term.
    • Ensuring that all staff working with your child in school are helped to deliver the planned work/ programme for your child, so they can achieve the best possible progress. This may involve the use of additional adults, outside specialist help and specially planned work and resources.
    • Ensuring that the school’s SEND Policy is followed in their classroom and for all the pupils they teach with any SEND.

    Head Teacher

    • Overall progress of all children including those with SEN
    • Performance management and ongoing professional development of all teachers
    • Employment and allocation of all teaching and support staff throughout the school
    • Ensuring the Governing Body is kept up to date about all inclusion issues within the school

    SEND Governor

    • Ensuring that the necessary support, when possible, is given to all children attending the school.
  • What are the different types of support available at Courtwood Primary?

    Class Teacher

    Targeted input for your child known as Quality First Teaching – this means:

    • Maintaining high expectations
    • Teaching based on what your child already knows, can do and can understand
    • Approaching teaching in a variety of ways to maintain and cultivate interest for different learning styles and abilities
    • Using specific strategies that may have been outlined by other professionals such as the SENCO, Occupational Therapy, Speech and Language Therapists etc to support your child’s development
    • Regular evaluation of your child’s progress in order to adapt, repeat or change an approach to learning to ensure their needs are fully met
    • Planning and reviewing Individual Education Plans, along side you, to ensure specific targets are met to facilitate your child’s development
    • Planning for, supervising and monitoring Teaching Assistants within their classroom to ensure quality intervention.

    Specific Group Work

    These are intervention programmes with specific targets for children making less than expected progress in a particular area of the curriculum. Most often these targets are for writing, reading or numeracy and are:

    • Run in the classroom or outside the classroom.
    • Run by a teacher or most often a Teaching Assistant who has had additional training or support to run these groups.

    For your child this would mean:

    • He/ She will engage in group sessions with specific targets to help him/her to make more progress.
    • A Learning Support Assistant/teacher or outside professional (like a Speech and Language Therapist) will run these small group sessions using the teacher’s plan or an outside professional care plan.

    Specialist groups run by outside agencies e.g Speech and Language therapy OR Occupational therapy groups

    Children receiving this level of support will have been identified by the class teacher/SENCO/parent as needing some extra specialist support in school from a professional outside the school. This may be from:

    • Local Authority central services such as the Behavioural Support Team or the NHS.
    • Outside agencies such as the Speech and Language therapy (SALT) Service.

    For your child this would mean:

    • You will be asked to come to a meeting to discuss your child’s progress and help plan possible ways forward.
    • You may be asked to give your permission for the school to refer your child to a specialist professional e.g. a Speech and Language Therapist or Educational Psychologist. This will help the school and yourself understand your child’s particular needs better and be able to support them better in school.
    • The specialist professional will work with your child to understand their needs and make recommendations, which may include:
      • Making changes to the way your child is supported in class e.g. some individual support or changing some aspects of teaching to support them better
      • Support to set targets which will include their specific expertise
      • A group run by school staff under the guidance of the outside professional e.g. Partners in Talk
      • A group or individual work with an outside professional
    • The school may suggest that your child needs some individual support in school. They will tell you how the support will be used and what strategies will be put in place.

    This type of support is available for children with specific barriers to learning that cannot be overcome through Quality First Teaching and intervention groups.

    Specified Individual support

    This is usually provided via a Statement of Special Educational Needs or an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP).

    This means your child will have been identified by the class teacher/SENCO as needing a particularly high level of individual or small group teaching (more than 12 hours a week), which cannot be provided from the budget available to the school.

    Usually your child will also need specialist support in school from a professional outside the school. This may be from:

    • Local Authority central services such as the CAMHS or Joint Clinic
    • Outside agencies such as the Speech and Language therapy (SALT) Service.

    For your child this would mean:

    • The school/parent/carer can apply to the Local Authority to carry out a statutory assessment of the child’s needs. This is a legal process which sets out the amount of support that will be provided for your child.
    • After the application has been sent in to the Local Authority (with a lot of information about your child, some from you), they will decide whether they think your child’s needs (as described in the paperwork provided), seem complex enough to need a statutory assessment. If this is the case they will ask you and all professionals involved with your child to write a report outlining your child’s needs. If they do not think your child meets the requirements the school will then discuss the next steps.
    • The Statement or EHC Plan will outline the number of hours of individual/small group support your child will receive from the LA and the targets they should be working toward. The school will decide how best to allocate this time to maximise learning opportunities for your child. This will be fully explained and your input will be valued.
    • If an additional adult is to be used to support your child this may be with whole class learning, run individual programmes or run small groups including your child.

    This type of support is available for children whose learning needs are:

    • Severe, complex and lifelong
    • Need more than 12 hours of support in school
  • How can I let the school know I am concerned about my child’s progress?

    • All progress concerns should begin with a discussion with your child’s class teacher – you may find that they too have identified an area of concern and are already working towards addressing this concern
    • If you are not happy that your concern has been addressed you should then consult with either the SENCO (ccook@courtwood.org.uk) or the Head Teacher via email at admin@courtwood.croydon.sch.uk or appointment.
    • If you are still unhappy with the way your concerns are being addressed you should contact the SEND Governor in writing to:

      The Chair of Governors
      Courtwood Primary School
      Courtwood Lane
      Addington
      Croydon, CR0 9HX

     

    If the school has a concern we will inform you by:

    If your child is identified as not making progress initially your child’s teacher may set up an informal meeting to discuss this.

    Should this not improve the Class Teacher and the SENCO will set up a meeting to discuss this with you in more detail and to:

    • listen to any concerns you may have too
    • plan any additional support your child may receive
    • discuss with you any referrals to outside professionals to support your child’s learning
  • How is extra support allocated to children?

    • The school budget, received from Croydon LA, includes money for supporting children with registered SEND.
    • The Head Teacher decides on the budget for Special Educational Needs and Disabilities in consultation with the school governors, on the basis of needs in the school.
    • The Head Teacher, in view of the reports from the SENCO, will consider all the information they have about SEND in the school, including:
      • the children getting extra support already
      • the children needing extra support
      • the children who have been identified as not making as much progress as expected and decide what resources/training and support is needed.
    • All resources/training and support are reviewed regularly and changes made as needed.
  • Who are the other people providing services to children with SEN in Courtwood Primary?

    Directly funded by the school:

    • Two Learning Support Mentors
    • Partners in Talk and Emotional Literacy Support Assistant
    • Dyslexia Learning Support Specialist
    • Two Talking and Drawing Emotional Literacy Support Assistants
    • LEXIA
    • Additional Reading Support
    • Access to Croydon Literacy Centre
    • SENCO

    Paid for centrally by the Local Authority but delivered in school:

    • Educational Psychology Service
    • Behaviour Support Team

    Provided and paid for by the Health Service (Croydon NHS Trust) but delivered in school:

    • Speech and Language Therapy
    • Occupational Therapy
  • How are the teachers at Courtwood helped to work with children with SEND and what training do they have?

    Courtwood Primary is committed to Continued Professional Development specifically in the are of SEND. All qualified teachers are teachers of children with special educational needs.

    All staff have received training in Autism gaining a recognised award from the Autism Education Trust via Ambitious About Autism support by the Department for Education. Currently within the school staff hold a range of qualifications and additional training such as, but not limited to:

    • ADHD
    • Dyslexia
    • ELKAN Speech and Language
    • MA National Special Education Award
    • Emotional Literacy Support
    • Talking and Drawing Learning Assistant

    We encourage and provide additional time for our staff to share their expertise and discuss new strategies to support all student especially those with additional needs. We also send our staff to other schools and the Local Authority to help with tasks such as moderation.

  • How is the teaching adapted to suit my child’s needs at Courtwood?

    • Class Teachers plan lessons according to the specific needs of all groups of children in their class, and will ensure that your child’s needs are met. This is monitored by the Head Teacher in termly appraisals.
    • Specially trained support staff can adapt the teachers planning to support the needs of your child where necessary.
    • Guidance from the SENCO throughout the school.
    • Specific resources and strategies will be used to support your child individually and in groups.
    • Planning and teaching will be adapted on a daily basis if needed to meet your child’s learning needs.
  • How is my child’s progress measured at Courtwood Primary School?

    • Your child’s progress is continually monitored by his/her class teacher.
    • His/her progress is reviewed formally every term and a National Curriculum judgement given in reading, writing, numeracy and science.
    • At the end of each key stage (i.e. at the end of year 2 and year 6) all children are required to be formally assessed using Standard Assessment Tests (SATS). This is something the government requires all schools to do and are the results that are published nationally.
    • Year one pupils sit a phonics assessment test.
    • All children who have an IEP will be reviewed, with your involvement,every term and the plan for the next term made.
    • The progress of children with a statement of SEND/ EHC Plan is formally reviewed at an Annual Review with all adults involved with the child’s education.
    • This progress is continually monitored by the SENCO and the Head Teacher throughout the year.
  • What support does Courtwood offer for parents with children with SEND?

    • The class teacher is regularly available to discuss your child’s progress or any concerns you may have and to share information about what is working well at home and school so similar strategies can be used.
    • The SENCO is available to meet with you to discuss your child’s progress or any concerns/worries you may have.
    • All information from outside professionals will be discussed with you with the person involved directly, or where this is not possible, in a report.
    • IEP’s will be reviewed with your involvement each term.
    • Homework will be adjusted as needed to your child’s individual needs.
    • A home/school contact book may be used to support communication with you, if this has been agreed as useful for you and your child.
  • How is Courtwood accessible to children with SEND?

    • We ensure that equipment and resources used are accessible to all children regardless of their needs.
    • Extra curricular activities are accessible for children with SEND.
    • We work with parents to ensure that out of school learning opportunities are accessible to all.
    • We adapt the learning environment to suit the needs of our pupils based on experience, external advice and training.
  • How does Courtwood support the children when they are moving on to a new educational setting or transitioning between year groups?

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

    If your child is moving child to another school:

    • We will contact the school SENCO and ensure he/she knows about any special arrangements or support that need to be made for your child.
    • We will make sure that all records about your child are passed on as soon as possible.

    When moving classes in school:

    • Information will be passed on to the new class teacher IN ADVANCE and in all cases, a planning meeting will take place with the new teacher. All IEPs will be shared with the new teacher and the previous teacher will set all targets ahead of time as they already have a comprehensive understanding of your child’s needs.
    • If your child would be helped by a book to support them understand moving on then it will be made for them.

    In Year 6:

    • The SENCO will attend the Secondary Transition Day to discuss the specific needs of your child with the SENCO of their secondary school.
    • Your child will do focused learning about aspects of transition to support their understanding of the changes ahead.
    • Where possible your child will visit their new school on several occasions and in some cases staff from the new school will visit your child in this school.
  • What other support is available?

    This is a selection of the support available to parents in the London Borough of Croydon.

    These are not attached to the school but may be able to support you and your child:

    Woodland Children Centre – They run a range of activities and courses open to all parents, they have a crèche facility available and specialist members of staff they may be able to provide support and assistance
    http://www.woodlandscc.info/contact%20us.html

    The Croydon Parent Partnership Service offers advice on local SEN issues, the statutory process relating to SEN and national organisations. They can provide you with an advocate to help discuss with the school. They also provide drop-in advice sessions for parents. –http://www.iassnetwork.org.uk/find-your-iass/london/croydon/

  • What do I if I think my child is being bullied?

    • In the first incidence please discuss this with your child’s class teacher.
    • Information available in this book may help you.
    • Contact the SENCO or Head Teacher if youremain concerned.
  • Are there any organisations out there where parents of a child with SEND can go to for support?

    Croydon’s Local Offer of Special Educational Needs
    https://www.croydon.gov.uk/education/special-educational-needs

    SEN Code of Practice
    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/send-code-of-practice-0-to-25

    Early Help and staged Information
    https://www.croydon.gov.uk/healthsocial/families/ccfpartnership/early-help

    Family Lives
    http://www.familylives.org.uk/

    National Autistic Society
    http://www.autism.org.uk/

    Croydon Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Information Advice and Support Service or SENDIASS
    https://www.kids.org.uk/croydon-sendiass

    Parents in Partnership
    http://www.pipcroydon.com/

  • How can I get a Statement of Special Educational Needs or Education Health Care Plan?

    Specific Group Work

    These are intervention programmes with specific targets for children making less than expected progress in a particular area of the curriculum. Most often these targets are for writing, reading or numeracy and are:

    • Run in the classroom or outside the classroom.
    • Run by a teacher or most often a Teaching Assistant who has had additional training or support to run these groups.

    For your child this would mean:

    • He/ She will engage in group sessions with specific targets to help him/her to make more progress.
    • A Learning Support Assistant/teacher or outside professional (like a Speech and Language Therapist) will run these small group sessions using the teacher’s plan or an outside professional care plan.

    Specialist groups run by outside agencies e.g Speech and Language therapy OR Occupational therapy groups

    Children receiving this level of support will have been identified by the class teacher/SENCO/parent as needing some extra specialist support in school from a professional outside the school. This may be from:

    • Local Authority central services such as the Behavioural Support Team or the NHS.
    • Outside agencies such as the Speech and Language therapy (SALT) Service.

    For your child this would mean:

    • You will be asked to come to a meeting to discuss your child’s progress and help plan possible ways forward.
    • You may be asked to give your permission for the school to refer your child to a specialist professional e.g. a Speech and Language Therapist or Educational Psychologist. This will help the school and yourself understand your child’s particular needs better and be able to support them better in school.
    • The specialist professional will work with your child to understand their needs and make recommendations, which may include:
      • Making changes to the way your child is supported in class e.g. some individual support or changing some aspects of teaching to support them better
      • Support to set targets which will include their specific expertise
      • A group run by school staff under the guidance of the outside professional e.g. Partners in Talk
      • A group or individual work with an outside professional
    • The school may suggest that your child needs some individual support in school. They will tell you how the support will be used and what strategies will be put in place.

    This type of support is available for children with specific barriers to learning that cannot be overcome through Quality First Teaching and intervention groups.

    Specified Individual support

    This is usually provided via a Statement of Special Educational Needs or an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP).

    This means your child will have been identified by the class teacher/SENCO as needing a particularly high level of individual or small group teaching (more than 12 hours a week), which cannot be provided from the budget available to the school.

    Usually your child will also need specialist support in school from a professional outside the school. This may be from:

    • Local Authority central services such as the CAMHS or Joint Clinic
    • Outside agencies such as the Speech and Language therapy (SALT) Service.

    For your child this would mean:

    • The school/parent/carer can apply to the Local Authority to carry out a statutory assessment of the child’s needs. This is a legal process which sets out the amount of support that will be provided for your child.
    • After the application has been sent in to the Local Authority (with a lot of information about your child, some from you), they will decide whether they think your child’s needs (as described in the paperwork provided), seem complex enough to need a statutory assessment. If this is the case they will ask you and all professionals involved with your child to write a report outlining your child’s needs. If they do not think your child meets the requirements the school will then discuss the next steps.
    • The Statement or EHC Plan will outline the number of hours of individual/small group support your child will receive from the LA and the targets they should be working toward. The school will decide how best to allocate this time to maximise learning opportunities for your child. This will be fully explained and your input will be valued.
    • If an additional adult is to be used to support your child this may be with whole class learning, run individual programmes or run small groups including your child.

    This type of support is available for children whose learning needs are:

    • Severe, complex and lifelong
    • Need more than 12 hours of support in school
  • I’m worried the school is not meeting my child’s needs; who do I talk to?

    • All progress concerns should begin with a discussion with your child’s class teacher – you may find that they too have identified an area of concern and are already working towards addressing this concern
    • If you are not happy that your concern has been addressed you should then consult with either the SENCO (ccook@courtwood.org.uk) or the Head Teacher via email at admin@courtwood.croydon.sch.uk or appointment.
    • If you are still unhappy with the way your concerns are being addressed you should contact the SEND Governor in writing to:

      The Chair of Governors
      Courtwood Primary School
      Courtwood Lane
      Addington
      Croydon, CR0 9HX

     

    If the school has a concern we will inform you by:

    If your child is identified as not making progress initially your child’s teacher may set up an informal meeting to discuss this.

    Should this not improve the Class Teacher and the SENCO will set up a meeting to discuss this with you in more detail and to:

    • listen to any concerns you may have too
    • plan any additional support your child may receive
    • discuss with you any referrals to outside professionals to support your child’s learning
  • What do all these letters and abbreviations mean?

    • ADD/ADHD Attention Deficit Disorder /Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
    • ASD Autistic Spectrum Disorder
    • BSS Behaviour Support Service
    • EP Educational psychologist
    • EWO Education Welfare Officer
    • FSM Free School Meals
    • G&T Gifted & Talented
    • HI Hearing Impaired
    • IEP Individual Education Plan
    • LA Local Authority
    • LD Learning Difficulties
    • LSA Learning Support Assistant
    • MLD Moderate Learning Difficulties
    • NC National Curriculum
    • ODD Oppositional Defiant Disorder
    • OT Occupational Therapy
    • PRU Pupil Referral Unit
    • SAL/SLT Speech and Language Therapy
    • SAT’s Standard Assessment Tests
    • SEN Special Educational Needs
    • SENCo Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator
    • SLD Severe Learning Difficulties
    • SpLD Specific Learning Difficulties
    • SPM Sensory, Physical, Medical
    • TA Teaching Assistant
    • VI Visually Impaired
    • EHCP Education Health Care Plan
  • I am struggling to support my child with their work and/ or additional needs. Who else can help me?

    This is a selection of the support available to parents in the London Borough of Croydon.

    These are not attached to the school but may be able to support you and your child:

    Woodland Children Centre – They run a range of activities and courses open to all parents, they have a crèche facility available and specialist members of staff they may be able to provide support and assistance
    http://www.woodlandscc.info/contact%20us.html

    The Croydon Parent Partnership Service offers advice on local SEN issues, the statutory process relating to SEN and national organisations. They can provide you with an advocate to help discuss with the school. They also provide drop-in advice sessions for parents. –http://www.iassnetwork.org.uk/find-your-iass/london/croydon/

  • How do I know that the teacher understands/is qualified to meet my child’s special educational needs?

    Courtwood Primary is committed to Continued Professional Development specifically in the are of SEND. All qualified teachers are teachers of children with special educational needs.

    All staff have received training in Autism gaining a recognised award from the Autism Education Trust via Ambitious About Autism support by the Department for Education. Currently within the school staff hold a range of qualifications and additional training such as, but not limited to:

    • ADHD
    • Dyslexia
    • ELKAN Speech and Language
    • MA National Special Education Award
    • Emotional Literacy Support
    • Talking and Drawing Learning Assistant

    We encourage and provide additional time for our staff to share their expertise and discuss new strategies to support all student especially those with additional needs. We also send our staff to other schools and the Local Authority to help with tasks such as moderation.