William Tyndale’s SEND Information Report

At William Tyndale our mission is to provide ‘an exceptional education for all’. This mission underpins everything we do and ensures inclusion of all children is our highest priority.

The type of SEND support we provide

  • Speech, language and communication support

We employ a speech and language therapist (SLT), two days a week, who works with pupils individually and in small groups. Our SLT also works closely with staff who are able to support SLT interventions consistently with targeted pupils in class. She also works in collaboration with our allocated NHS speech and language therapist.

  • Dyslexia support

One member of staff is accredited for diagnosing and supporting dyslexic children. All staff have received dyslexia training and the school invests in appropriate resources to support language difficulties.

We are currently working towards our Dyslexia friendly school quality mark.

  • Autistic Spectrum Condition (ASC)

All staff have received training on ASC from various sources. We are experienced in supporting children with high functioning autism. We receive excellent outreach support from the Bridge school.

  • Visual and Hearing impairment

We have experience of supporting children with visual and hearing impairments and have worked closely with outside agencies who are experts in these fields.

  • Social, emotional and mental health difficulties (SEMH)

We have a designated Pastoral Leader and also have weekly support from the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS). Both these members of staff can support with difficulties such as attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD), depression, eating disorders and attachment disorder. We also have a play therapist working in the school one day a week currently.

  • Medical needs support

We have experience of supporting children with a number of different medical needs. We have worked with parents and other professionals to create medical needs care plans. We also work closely with our link school nurse to support children’s medical needs.

 

How the school identifies and assesses children with SEND

The school operates using the ‘assess, plan, do review’ cycle, where we are regularly assessing what pupils needs are and making plans to support them. We then carry out these plans and review them to check their effectiveness. This then leads to further assessment. All staff are highly trained in identifying and supporting children with special educational needs. Information sharing and team work are a strong focus in the school.

  • Pupil profile meetings

Every term teachers and teaching assistants meet with the Senior Leadership Team, the SENDco and Pastoral Lead to discuss every child in the school, their progress and next steps.

  • Regular assessment

We regularly assess the effectiveness of teaching and interventions in the school. This is through our assessment and monitoring schedule.

  • SEND parent conferences

Any parents whose children have extra educational needs will have a termly 30 minute parent conference with their child’s teacher, the SENDco and any other professionals working with the child. At the meeting we:

  • discuss what is working well and not working well
  • find out if the SEN provision has been delivered as planned
  • review the pupil’s progress towards their goals and longer term outcomes
  • discuss and agree on clear outcomes for the future
  • discuss and agree the support needed
  • share advice and information on the things that parents can do at home  to reinforce or contribute to their child’s progress

 

  • Specialist assessment

If necessary we refer children onto specialists for assessment. These include Educational Psychology, Occupational Therapy, Neurodevelopmental and Social Communication Team assessments.

 

How the school ensures SEND pupils are included in all lessons

The school is inclusive. All children are encouraged and supported to take part in all activities on offer.  

We provide:

  • High quality teaching

The school provides excellent first wave inclusive teaching. Teachers consistently use Assessment for Learning strategies which cater for the needs of their class. Teachers have access to computer programs such as Communicate in Print, which allows them to create inclusive resources.

  • Inclusive classrooms

All classrooms are arranged in order to be inclusive for all children. For example, teachers use visual representations of timetables and behavioural expectations, etc.

  • Training

All staff receive continuing SEN professional development and have received training on a variety of topics:

 

Details of training / expertise

School staff

Accredited SENCO (National Award)

SENCO

Introduction to SEND

All staff

Accredited Teacher for assessing and diagnosing dyslexia

1 member of staff

How to support pupils on the autistic spectrum

All staff

How to support pupils with Dyspraxia

All staff

Learning mentoring

1 member of staff

How to support pupils with emotional needs including LAC

All teaching staff

Epipen training

All staff

Makaton training

5 members of staff

Dyscalculia and dyslexia training

All teaching staff

First aid

15 members of staff

Social story training

All KS1 and FS staff

 
  • Resources

We ensure we have suitable resources to support children with a wide range of needs. These include laptops, auditory receivers, kindles, dictaphones, enlarged print texts, dyslexia resources, resources to support Makaton, sensory resources and slanted work stations. We also have a lift the children with mobility issues can use to move around the school.

 

Additional support provided for SEND children

We provide a wide range of intervention and support. Our focus is on ensuring the interventions are led by the child’s needs. The following are a selection of what we offer:

  • Reading Recovery teaching;
  • Maths and literacy boosters;
  • Speech and language interventions including attention autism, lego therapy and the smile program.
  • Before school small group support in every year group; and
  • Tailored interventions including handwriting, inference, vocabulary, maths, phonological awareness and 5 minute phonics.
  • Groups supporting children in preparing for secondary transition.
  • Play therapy for children with emotional issues.

 

How we monitor and evaluate our provision

  • Governors

There is a link SEND governor who works closely with the SENDco and oversees SEND provision.

  • Pupil profile meetings

As mentioned above, we termly talk about each child and evaluate the provision they are receiving.

  • Monitoring and Evaluating

We have a clear and thorough monitoring and evaluating schedule that assesses the effectiveness of all teaching.

  • Pupil conferencing

Children meet every term with their teachers, one-to-one, to discuss their targets and are given the opportunity to give their own feedback.

  • Feedback

As a school, we regularly seek feedback from parents and outside agencies that we work with.

 

How we support children’s emotional, mental and social needs

  • Peer mentors

Older children are trained to work with and support their younger peers during play times.

  • PSHE teaching

We recognise the importance of actively teaching social skills and have a strong PSHE curriculum.

  • Links with outside agencies

We have worked with outside agencies to ensure all our children have an understanding of SEND and are able to support their ideas. For example groups of children have visited The Bridge School to learn more about autism.

  • CAMHS support

We have weekly support from the child and adolescent mental health service.

  • Pastoral Lead

We employ a dedicated Pastoral Lead who focuses on children’s wellbeing.

  • Play therapy

We have a play therapist working one on one with vulnerable children once a week.

  • Information sharing

There is a focus on information sharing across the school including a central database for all vulnerable children.

  • iTIPS

The school is taking part in the iTIPS program supporting children who have experienced childhood trauma.

 

How we communicate with parents of SEN children

  • We schedule termly 30 minute SEN parent conferences with involved agencies, teacher and SENDco;
  • Detailed notes are taken in all SEN parent conferences. These notes are recorded in the child’s SEND record which is shared with parents.
  • Termly reports are given to parents;
  • Information sessions and workshops for parents are held on a variety of different issues;
  • Parents are invited into class to observe; and
  • Parents and school staff meet regularly with outside professionals.
  • Parents of children with EHCP’s will have a support plan created with them that is reviewed and updated termly.

Transition arrangements

 

Additional arrangements for children with SEND

Into Nursery / Reception

 

·         Swift transfer of records

·         Home visit to all children joining the Foundation Stage

·         Work with Islington’s Early Years Inclusion Team

·         Transition meeting with the previous setting

·         Transition plan drawn up with main carer and your child (could include managed visits, pictures or transition book or video, social stories about ‘moving on’)

·         Stay and play morning for child to visit school

 

When moving to another school

 

·         We will contact the School SENCO and share information about the special arrangements and support that has been made to help your child achieve their learning goals. 

·         Swift transfer of records

·         Transition meeting with the new setting

·         Transition plan which will include a social story

 

When moving groups/ classes in school

 

·         Transition meetings are held within school with the new class teacher.

·         Work with the child to prepare for the next class through: transition books, transition programme, visual supports and visits to the next setting. This will be shared with parents and transition books that can be taken home over the holidays.

·         Speech and language therapist will also help prepare children they work with for transition.

 

Primary to Secondary transition

 

·         Swift transfer of records

·         Year 5 annual reviews planning meeting

·         During Year 6 the SENCO will attend the Secondary Transfer Conference to discuss the specific needs of your child, and the nature and level of support which has had the most impact, with the secondary school they will be transferring to

·         Additional multi-agency meetings will be arranged to create a more detailed “transition” plan which may include more visits to the new school and/or additional visits from the new school for the children where these changes are more complex. It may also include social stories.

·         For a group of around 10 vulnerable children, our Pastoral Lead and our link CAMHS clinician will run a weekly term long transition group to prepare them for the move to secondary school.

SENDco contact details

Name: Olivia Ayers   Email: olivia.ayers@williamtyndale.islington.sch.uk role: Assistant Head Teacher.

For further SEND information please see our SEND Policy.

Other useful contacts

  • Information about local support in Islington is called The Local Offer and is located here: www.islington.gov.uk/localoffer
  • The Family Information Service - 020 7527 5959Gives free impartial information, advice and guidance about services for children, young people and families. email fis@islington.gov.ukWebsite: www.islington.gov.uk/fis
  • ADHD Family Support Group (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) Tel: 01373 826045
  • British Dyslexia Association.  Helpline 0845 251 9002 www.bdadyslexia.org.uk
  • British Stammering Association. Helpline 0845 603 2001 www.stammering.org
  • Childline Tel: 0800 1111 www.childline.org.uk
  • Council for Disabled Children. Tel: 0207 843 1900 www.ncb.org.uk/cdc/home 
  • Dyspraxia Foundation. Tel: 01462 455016. www.dyspraxiafoundation.org.uk
  • Islington Dyslexia Support Group Parents’ Helpline 0207 272 7064 
  • Centre 404 (support group for Islington parents of children with SEN) Tel: 0207 607 8762 www.centre404.org.uk
  • Michael Palin Centre for Stammering Children Tel: 020 7530 4238 www.stammeringcentre.org/
  • National Autistic Society Tel. 0845 070 4004 www.nas.org.uk
  • NSPCC Child Protection helpline (good for bullying problems) Tel: 0808 800 5000 www.nspcc.org.uk
  • Parent-line (for Parents under stress) Helpline 0808 800 2222 www.parentlineplus.org.uk
  • Islington's ADHD Support Group (advice for parents and carers of children with ADHD and co-existing conditions. 'Drop-in’ on the first Wednesday of each month from 7.30 - 9.30pm). Tel: 0207 688 0113 and 0207 686 0208.