SEND (Special Educational Needs/Disability)

NEW - please click here for further support and ideas from the Local offer - this will signpost you to support available in Manchester

Supporting your child in school

We are an inclusive school that welcomes and celebrates diversity.  All staff believe having high self-esteem is crucial to a child’s emotional well-being and academic progress.  We have a caring, understanding team who look after all of our children in school.

We recognise that you know your child best and you may feel that they need some additional help or support for some or all of their time at school.  Our SEND (Special Educational Needs/Disability) page is to inform you about the support we offer at Wilbraham Primary School and hopefully it will help you to understand who can help and how this support can be accessed.

Not all children will need extra support with their learning but the progress of all children at Wilbraham Primary School is monitored closely to ensure support is provided where necessary.  Support can be given for a variety of reasons.

For many children, a little additional support and support from other agencies enables them to overcome their difficulties. However, some children will continue to need more help throughout their time at school. If you would like to know more information, please contact Sarah Ikin (Inclusion Lead and SENCO) s.ikin@wilbrahamprimary.com 

The SEND Local Offer

The SEND Local Offer offers information for parents, in a single place. The Local Offer helps children, young people and their parents to understand what services and support they can expect from a range of local agencies - including their statutory entitlements.   On the Local Offer, you will find information about national and local services and organisations which can offer support to Manchester families. There are also details of clubs, groups and activities especially for children and young people with disabilities and special educational needs (SEND)

Local Offer drop-in events will be running across Manchester throughout the year.  Please see leaflet for further details. Local Offer drop-in events.

Local Offer Newsletter

The Local Offer and Engagement Team have launched a new Local Offer newsletter, with articles that will be of interest to pupils, parents and staff.  The newsletter will be published regularly and editions will appear on the carousel at the top of the Local Offer front page.  Please follow the link below to read this:
https://hsm.manchester.gov.uk/kb5/manchester/directory/advice.page?id=uptXtrEL9fg

Teaching and Learning

Children learn and develop in different ways. Teachers know and understand this and use different teaching styles to plan work at different levels in order to meet the needs of all pupils in their class. This is called Quality First Teaching. Our aim is to provide the highest quality learning environment for your child and for them to achieve their full potential. All our classes are supported by teaching assistants and pupils are offered additional support or catch up intervention programmes where needed.

Additional Support

If a child continues to have difficulty after intervention or has a high level of difficulty when they join our school, they may be considered to have Special Educational Needs/Disability (SEND).
At Wilbraham Primary School, we provide support for pupils across the 4 areas of need as laid out in the SEN Code of Practice 2014:

• Communication and interaction
• Cognition and learning
• Social, emotional and mental health difficulties
• Sensory and/or physical needs

Children with a Special Educational Need or Disability (SEND) have learning difficulties or disabilities that prevent them from making the same progress as other children of the same age. They will require different support or help e.g. modified tasks, extra time or breaks in formal assessments.

Our school and other agencies can help most children overcome their difficulties quickly and easily. A few children will need extra help for some or all of their time in school. The difficulties that children with SEND may present include:

• Some or all work in school
• Reading, writing and mathematics
• Understanding and processing information
• Expressing themselves
• Understanding others
• Organising themselves
• Sensory perception or physical mobility
• Managing their behaviour or emotions
• Making friends or relating to adults
• Understanding social skills
• Understanding how to deal with frustrations
• Developing good, fine and gross motor skills

At Wilbraham Primary School, teaching and learning opportunities are adapted and continually evaluated to ensure the needs of all our learners are met. Parents and carers should not feel unduly anxious about such additional support as it allows children to receive the specific help they need to make the next steps in their learning journey.

If a child continues to have difficulty or has a high level of difficulty when they join us or as they progress through school, they may be considered to have a Special Educational Need or Disability.
If your child is identified with a Special Educational Need or Disability, school will follow the Special Educational Needs Code of Practice 2014. It sets out a step by step approach. You should be consulted and involved at all stages. You will be informed and invited to discuss any concerns.

We believe that working closely with parents/carers is imperative. We have an open door policy and you are very welcome to make an appointment to discuss your concerns. We run termly coffee mornings for those parents/carers who have children with Autism. It is an opportunity to connect with others in a similar situation. Over the last few coffee mornings, we have invited a guest speaker. We have also looked at writing social stories to reduce anxiety, understanding behaviours and how parents/carers can support each other with sharing good practice.

We work closely with outside agencies who will only come in to see your child if you have given us the permission.
Other professionals that come into school are:

• Educational Psychologists
• Occupational Therapists
• Speech and Language Therapists
• Psychiatrists?

Staff at Wilbraham Primary

At Wilbraham Primary School, we have an experienced team of staff who work together and may be involved in supporting your child in school. These include:
Your child’s teacher who will make sure that learning is differentiated appropriately and that tasks set are accessible for your child. Your child’s teacher is available at the end of each day or a meeting can be scheduled either directly or via the school office. Please talk to your child’s teacher if you have any concerns regarding your child in school.
Teaching assistants support all pupils in class. At Wilbraham Primary we have several additional teaching assistants who help support groups and individual children with their learning.

Our school Inclusion Lead is Sarah Ikin. Sarah is responsible for coordinating SEND provision across the school, from Nursery to Year 6. If you have any questions please email here  s.ikin@wilbrahamprimary.com 

The school Inclusion Team work together to ensure the best possible support for the children at Wilbraham.  The Inclusion Team consists of Sarah Ikin (Inclusion Lead), Kylie Toft (Behaviour Lead) and Carrie Godwin and Ann-Marie Nelson (Educational Caseworkers) 

The SEND team who work daily with the children to give additional support and help the SEND children to succeed their potential.
Educational Caseworkers, Carrie Godwin and Ann-Marie Nelson, who coordinate EHA (Early Help) meetings across the school and provide additional support to the SEND team.

SEN Policy

Wilbraham Primary School has a robust policy in place for the provision of SEND.  This policy details our practice and values shared by every member of staff in our school.  Please see the policy below in the files to download section.

Further Advice or Support

If you would like advice from professionals outside school, you may find the following numbers and websites useful:
Children and Families Statutory Assessment Team – 0161 245 7449
Advice and Support (IAS) Manchester – 0161 209 8356
Mediation Service – 0161 219 6748
SEN Families Support Group – 0161 755 3482
Your own doctor or health visitor
Manchester Families Service Directory – https://manchester.fsd.org.uk/kb5/manchester/directory/home.page

SEND Internet safety -saferinternet.org.uk/send 

Useful SEN Downloads

Below you will find some useful downloads which give explanations about processes and tools used in school in relation to helping children with SEN.  Click on the relevant link below to download the documents:

Other pages