SEND

SEND at Westfields Junior School

Inclusion at Westfields Junior School

At Westfields Junior School, we believe that all children, regardless of race, faith, gender, age or disability, are entitled to an education that enables them to achieve their best and become confident, happy individuals living fulfilling lives who make a successful transition into adulthood. During their time at our school, we believe that everyone should be treated equally and fairly which we capture in our school’s Respect Charter. Everybody should be able to benefit from all of the varied opportunities offered at school.  

We are an inclusive school who secures opportunities for our children with additional needs to learn alongside their peers and participate fully and actively as part of our school community. Children with additional needs are supported with the resources we have to enable them to fulfil their educational and personal potential.

Miss Kathryn Parsons is our Inclusion Manager; this role also encompasses the responsibility of SENCo (Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator) so she plans the provision and support children with SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) require, and she organises our professionally trained and highly valued Learning Support Team. Mrs Parsons is a member of the School Leadership Team who works full-time. 

The SEND Register

Children who need significant planned support ‘additional to and different from’ their peers are included onto our SEND Register. Prior to arriving at Westfields Junior School, Miss Parsons will liaise with staff from our feeder schools and discuss with them the children already identified on the SEND register so that appropriate provision can be put into place in Year 3 and support their transition into Westfields. Upon arrival to our school, we will also assess individual pupils, and if support is required and children need to be added onto the SEND Register, Miss Parsons will discuss with parents the provision their child will receive.

 We track the progress of all pupils on a half termly basis. If a child has not made age appropriate progress from our high quality inclusive teaching, differentiated and varied teaching materials and in-class resources, targeted support by way of interventions and in class support is put into place. If this support needs to continue in order for a child to make sustained progress, then we would inform parents that their child was to be entered on the SEND Register.

 Throughout their time at school, children who may not be on the SEND Register may receive a medical diagnosis or an external agency report. It is important for this information to be shared with Miss Parsons and the child’s class teacher however, it does not necessarily mean that they have special educational needs and need to be put on to the SEND register.  In conjunction with the reports received, we will review all information we have regarding progress and achievement and share this with parents.

ELSA Support

We recognise that some children will need support to be able to do to achieve their full potential, we recognise that children learn best and are happy and when their well-being and emotional needs are also addressed. As a school, we identify the children who we believe would benefit from additional support with emotional literacy and are fortunate to have a trained ELSA (Emotional Literacy Support Assistants) who plans and runs weekly sessions with children (on a one-to-one and small group basis). ELSA is not usually part of a pupil’s permanent support structure, rather a short term intervention to support the children at a time of need and/or to develop specific skills e.g. friendship, resilience or communication skills, which can then be used more confidently within wider school and home situations. Parents will be consulted before their children participate in ELSA sessions. To find out more about ELSA in schools, the ELSA Network website has more information: www.elsanetwork.org/about/support

SEND Information Report and Policy