SEND Information

Helsby-(LOGO)

SEND Information Report for 2024/2025

The following report has been updated July 24 by the school SENDCO, Lynda Thomas. It is both current and relevant for academic year 2024/2025.

The Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations require Helsby Hillside Primary School to publish certain information regarding our provision for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). At Helsby Hillside Primary School, we hope parents/carers of current and prospective pupils find the following information helpful. We encourage all interested parties to contact the school for more information.

The CWAC framework Live Well gives the local offer to provide parents/ carers with the information about how to access services in their local area, and what they can expect from those services. With regard to Education, it will let parents/ carers of young people know how schools and colleges will support them and what they can expect across the local setting. Please click on the link at the end of this report to access the CWAC Live Well (Local offer pages).

At Helsby Hillside Primary School we strive to support all children to enable them to achieve their potential. In order to do this many steps are taken to support them through their learning journey. Quality first teaching is vital; however for some children there are occasions when further positive support may be needed to help them to achieve their targets.

Below are some answers to questions that parents/carers might have about Helsby Hillside Primary School’s SEND provision/information

How does the school know if children/young people need extra help and what should I do if I think my child may have special educational needs?

All children’s progress, academic, social and emotional, is constantly monitored by teachers and the Senior Leadership Team within the school. Any concerns a teacher may have about a child would be discussed with parents at the earliest opportunity. Parents are able to discuss the progress of their child or any other concerns with the class teacher, SENDCO (Mrs Thomas) or the headteacher.

How will school staff support my child?
- All children are provided with 'Quality First Teaching', any additional needs are identified early to allow early effective intervention and support to be put into place to support an individual pupil.
- In Early Years /Reception following discussions between class teacher, parents and SENDCO, if concerns are raised with regards to development or progress, a child may be recorded as having ‘Early Concerns’. This is a step prior to individual learning programmes being written, with small-step targets being written and agreed by class-teacher and parents. The outcome of this may be that no further support or interventions are required or that the child needs further targeted support. They will then have Individual Education Plans with time-bound targets and intervention support written for them. At this stage the child would be recorded as being at SEN Support within school.
- Children with additional education needs have Individual Education Plans (IEPs) put in place, outlining targets and strategies to support your child.
- IEP’s are reviewed regularly with the child and shared with parents.
- The school SENDCO is in regular contact with an Educational Psychologist, Speech and Language Support, Woodview Child Development Centre, School Autism support service, Behaviour Support Consultants and the local authority inclusion officers (Sen team). Any child needing specialist support will be identified and referred to the relevant professionals and given any subsequent recommended support/adjustments necessary.
- If a child requires Speech and Language support, school will act upon advice given by therapists and support will be given by specially trained teaching assistants.
- Children identified as needing extra support will have interventions/support plans put in place.
- Some children may require further support and interventions as advised by outside agencies.
- Helsby Hillside follows the accepted ‘Graduated Response’ approach to SEND and follows the CWAC Graduated Response approach to accessing support and also uses the current CWAC Graduated response paperwork.

How will the curriculum be matched to my child’s needs?

Class Teachers plan lessons to meet the needs of all children in their class, and will ensure that your child’s needs are met.
All lessons offer the challenge, adjustments and support necessary for each child to learn to the best of their ability.
Specific resources and intervention strategies will be used when deemed appropriate to support individual children/groups of children.
Planning and teaching will be adapted on a daily basis if needed to meet your child’s learning needs.

What SEND types do we currently provide for ?

Currently at Hesby Hillside we provide additional support and provision for the following recognised forms of SEND:

Speech and Language difficulties
Social, emotional and mental health
Social and Communication/ASD
Additional Sensory Processing needs
Dyslexia
Cognition and Learning
Selective Mutism

What specialist equipment/facilities do we use/have at Hillside to provide SEND support?

Currently at Hillside apart from specialist 1:1 TA support and individual programmes/curriculums for specific pupils we use the following:

IDL dyslexia and dyscalculia IT support (this support is continued at Helsby High School.)
Two ELSA (Emotional Literacy Support Assistants)

How will I know how my child is doing and how will you help me to support my child’s learning?

Children’s progress is shared with parents throughout the year during parents’ evenings.

We have an open- door policy at Helsby Hillside and welcome parents to come in/meet virtually and discuss their child if they have any concerns, with the class teacher and/or the SENDCO.

If teachers have concerns they will contact parents to discuss them and listen to any concerns that you may have too.
Hillside has an antibullying policy and deals with any incidents seriously and effectively.
The class teacher or SENDCO will speak to you regarding any referrals to outside agencies to support your child’s learning.
Education plans are discussed and reviewed with parents.
All children are tracked using the school’s data tracking systems.
Annual reports are written for every child.
The voices and views of children at Hillside are valued. Children have class representatives on the school council. Also, pupil-voice is captured regularly as part of our subject monitoring cycle.
Hillside holds curriculum evenings to advise parents on how they can best support their child’s learning.

What support will there be for my child’s overall well-being?

We ensure that all children are supported socially and pastorally by teaching staff and teaching assistants who know the children well.
We offer a wide range of activities within school to support children’s social and emotional development such as school visits, educational trips, and links with the community and residential trips in Years 2,4 and 6.
Children have regular PSHE (Pesonal, Social and Health Education) lessons.This provides a framework and teaching social and emotional skills.
School has a medicine policy which supports parents/carers with the management of their child’s medication within school and staff regularly undergo training in key areas such as asthma, diabetes and the use of Epipens.
If a child comes into school with a specific need, the school nurse will provide the relevant staff with training. The school also has trained first aiders within school. Individual Health Care Plans are written with parents for children with specific medical needs.
School has a behaviour and relationships policy which is known, used and adhered to by all staff across the school.
Children who need specific support with their social and emotional needs will be identified and support offered. This support will range from extra support in the classroom, support sessions with one of the school ELSAs (Emotional Literacy Support Assistant) to interventions, referrals to CAMHS (see below) and support from a Behavioural Support Specialist if required.
We promote and celebrate excellent attendance.
Parents are supported and school will send texts or ring home to query a child’s non-attendance at school.
School has its own EWO (Educational Welfare Officer) who will support school and parents with ensuring children attend school regularly and on time.
School also has a Family Support Worker (FSW) who will work with school and families with a view to supporting any number of issues/difficulties.

Mental Health and Wellbeing

School can make referrals to CAMHS (Children and Adult Mental Health Service).

http://www.mymind.org.uk is an NHS website run by Cheshire and Wirral Partnership CAMHS. This site has been developed for everyone interested in the mental health and well- being of children and young people across Cheshire and Wirral.

Children take part in regular well-being lessons. Hillside also has regular wellbeing-days.

The SENDCO has completed emergency mental health first- aid training. SENDCO and Head Teacher are the Emotional and Mental Health Coordinators.

What specialist services and expertise are available at or accessed by the school?

School employs staff trained to educate and care for children throughout their primary years.
Staff are trained regularly in key areas of the curriculum and also in identifying and supporting children with specific difficulties around learning, child development and social and emotional problems children may experience.
School has direct access to a wide range of services all of which can support both parents/carers and children. These agencies include: speech and language, CAMHS, Educational Psychologist, Behaviour Support, School Autism Team support, Early Intervention, Social Services, Paediatricians and the School Nurse/School Wellbeing.

What training are the staff supporting children and young people with SEND had or are having?

All staff receive regular training if required from the health service around key medical issues which could arise for children.
Individual staff are trained in First Aid and are strategically placed around school.
The SENDCO attends half-termly Local Authority training and attends key regional training which is then disseminated and shared with all staff.
The SENDCO provides in-house training on developing IEPs and around specific requests from staff, with CPD being driven by the needs of a particular child or group of children identified in school.
Where necessary, specialist training is brought into the school. For example a Support Specialist can provide school with training around a range of social and emotional needs, ADHD training, Autism Awareness and Support and also support staff with Team-Teach training if appropriate.
Individual teachers and support staff attend training courses run by outside agencies that are relevant to the needs of specific children in their class.

Recent training undertaken by Hillside staff in the previous academic year:

Whole School Staff have had training on Trauma Informed Approaches and Supporting Children who have experienced personal/life traumas
Selective Mutism training delivered by Speech and Language Services for KS1 staff and SENDCO
Teaching assistants have qualified in emotional coaching
Training and qualification in Emotional Literacy Support (ELSA) with ongoing EP support (Hillside has x2 qualified ELSAs who support pupils)
School has two specially qualified ELKLAN support teaching assistants who support children with Speech and language difficulties. They can implement programmes of support written by Speech and Language therapists
Next Steps Emotional and Well being support programme
New to Autism support for Teaching Assistants
Including a child with Social Communication Difficulties In a mainstream Early Years Class
Promoting Quality First Strategies and Consistency in School Practice
Recognising and supporting different presentations of autism-including girls
Supporting Attendance, Engagement and Anxiety in Primary and Secondary Schools
CWAC Moderate Learning Difficulties
CWAC Transition Support including transition across phases within primary school for Teaching Assisstants

10. How will my child be included in activities outside the classroom including school trips?

We are fully-inclusive and all children attend all events and trips and are encouraged to take part in all activities both within and outside of school.
Where necessary, extra support will be provided to ensure full participation by all children and parents are fully-informed as to the trips and activities open to every child.
Risk assessments are carried out and procedures are put into place to enable all children to participate.

How accessible is the school environment?

We have wheelchair access.
There are facilities for disabled changing and toilets which can accommodate wheelchairs and support individuals with a disability.
A computer suite is accessible across school and the use of computers and ipads enable children to have access to new technologies to support their learning.

How will the school prepare and support my child to join the school or to transfer to a new school or the next stage of education and life?

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.

If your child is joining our school:

We encourage parents and children to visit the school and meet their new teacher prior to joining the school.
Reception staff also undertake nursery visits as well as home visits.
A member of the Senior Management Team will either show the child and parents around school or be available to answer any questions.

If your child is moving to another school:

We will contact the school SENDCO and ensure they know 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.
Your child will have transition visits to meet the class teacher and become familiar with their new classroom.

In Year 6:

The teacher and SENDCO will discuss the specific needs of your child with the SENDCO of their secondary school. For those children who will be attending Helsby High please see the link to Helsby High on our home page. The Helsby High SENDCO, Mrs Gemma Walker, will also be keen to discuss any concerns re the transition process to Helsby High with you.
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.
Helsby High run additional transition days during the summer term for SEND and vulnerable pupils as part of their transition to High School Programme.

How are the school’s resources allocated and matched to children’s special educational needs?

All classes currently have additional support staff, who are well trained to support children with SEND and who work on intervention programmes alongside a class teacher.
The SEND budget is allocated each financial year. The money is used to provide additional support or resources dependant on an individual’s needs.
The additional provision may be allocated after discussion with the class teacher at pupil progress meetings or if a concern has been raised by them at another time during the year.
Resources may include deployment of staff depending on individual circumstances.

How is the decision made about what type and how much support my child will receive?

These decisions are made in consultation with class teacher, SENDCO and head teacher.
Decisions are based upon the tracking of pupil progress and as a result of assessments by outside agencies.
During their school life, if further concerns are identified due to the pupil’s lack of progress or well-being then other interventions will be arranged.
Hillside does have a complaints procedure in place. Details of this can be obtained from the headteacher, or from the school website.

How do we evaluate the effectiveness of our provision?

The most recent OFSTED inspection in November 2021 commented that ‘Effective identification of the specific needs of pupils with SEND ensures that these pupils receive the support that they need’ also that ‘The curriculum meets the needs of all pupils including those with SEND’.

Throughout the school the progress of all children, including those with SEND is monitored, with intervention programmes put into place to support specific groups/individuals identified as requiring additional support.

Individual Support Plans are also evaluated regularly.

Who can I contact for further information?

If you wish to discuss your child’s educational needs or are unhappy about something regarding your child’s schooling please contact the school office to arrange a meeting with the Class teacher, The Headteacher, Mr Khan or SENDCO (Mrs Thomas).

Files to Download

FAVSP DDA and school accessibility plan.pdf 22-23 Ev of Impact of SEND Provision.pdf SEND Information Report 24-25.pdf SEND Budget 24-25.pdf SEND Policy Sept 24.pdf