SEND Information Report

2022-2023

Contents

1. What we offer to support the learning and additional needs of children with SEND
2. How we identify SEND
3. Who you speak to at the academy if you think your child might have SEND
4. How we consult with young people with SEND and involve them in their education
5. How we help you to support your children’s learning
6. How we know what progress your children are making and how we keep you and them informed
7. How we adapt the curriculum and modify teaching approaches so that we meet SEND
8. How do we support children with SEND
9. How are staff in the academy supported to work with young people with special educational needs and what training do they receive
10. How do we monitor how well we are doing in meeting the needs of students with SEND
11. How we ensure that your children are included in activities outside the classroom, including physical activities and academy trips
12. How we provide for your children’s overall wellbeing 
13. How accessible is our school both indoors and outdoors for young people with special educational needs and/or disabilities
14. What are our admission arrangements for pupils who are disabled and how do we prepare and support your children when joining the school and moving on from the school?
15. Where can you find the academy’s SEND Policy and who can you contact for further information?
16. What are our arrangements for handling complaints from parents of children with SEND about our provision
17. Useful Links for SEND
18. Glossary of Terms
19. Appendix

1. What we offer to support the learning and additional needs of children with SEND

Co-op Academy Broadhurst we strongly believe in inclusion and have high ambitions for all our children. We pride ourselves on high quality teaching and providing support to individual children and not teaching to a diagnosis as we are aware that each child is unique and their individual needs are therefore also unique.

The SEND Department provides support for students 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

We are currently supporting children with a variety of needs such as; specific learning needs (in both English and Maths), Autism, sensory processing, social and emotional needs, mental health and physical needs.

We are a supportive school that sets high targets for all our children. At Co-op Academy Broadhurst we ensure our children are fully at the heart of the decision making process, we involve our children wherever possible so they have ownership of their targets and are fully included in the evaluation and impact these have had.

We follow a ‘needs driven’ approach to SEND provision and we listen to and work with both children and parents to evaluate what children need and we aim to provide this. We aim to support parents as the primary educators of their children and know that parents are our key partners in how we meet the additional needs of our pupils. We work in partnership with our parents to ensure that they are fully involved and informed about the provision made for their child and the impact this may be having. This will include regular planning meetings with school staff and, where appropriate, outside agencies.

When we assess SEND we will discuss with you if your child’s understanding and behaviour are the same at school and home; we take this into account and work with you so that we are all helping your child in the same way and helping them make progress. Where appropriate we will write and review Individual Support Plans and targets with pupils and parents/carers on a termly basis. Where your child’s needs are more complex a Pupil Centred Review is carried out where we assess all aspects of your child’s learning and development and indeed the impact upon your whole family.

Students are only put on the register if their needs require something different or additional to the quality teaching taking place in the classroom. The register is reviewed during the year and students may be added or taken off if their needs can be met with the universal provision that exists for all students.

2. How we identify SEND

When pupils have identified with SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) before they start at Co-op Academy Broadhurst, we will work with the people who already know them and use the information already available to identify what their SEND will be in our school setting.

Our class teachers closely monitor the progress and attainment of all pupils, including those who have or may have SEND. Through this continuous monitoring of pupils, we are able to further identify students with a special educational need. This identification may come from teachers, teaching assistants, outside agencies, parents/carers or the children themselves. To help identify particular areas of need, the academy uses a variety of additional assessment tools such as non-verbal screening tests (these test the ability to solve problems with visual clues), a literacy screening programme to highlight specific reading difficulties, a strengths and difficulties questionnaire and maths tests. Where there are particular concerns with a student’s progress, a parent may be asked for consent for an Educational Psychologist or Speech and Language Therapist to carry out an assessment in order to look more deeply into the reasons for the student’s difficulties. If it is thought a family needs support, we have good working relationships with outside agencies and a referral can be made to them.

If our teachers think your child is not making the same progress as their peer group, they will follow our bespoke SEND Journey (Appendix A). If you have any concerns or you think your child has a SEND, we will discuss this with you. We will share with you what we find and agree with you what the next actions will be and what you can do to help your child. If you have any concerns, please feel free to make an appointment to see either your child’s class teacher or Mrs Bardsley (SENCO).

We follow a graduated approach to providing SEND support that follows this structure:

1. Class teacher and SENCO discuss the child through our SEND Support request forms and develop a strategy/ plan for the child and after an agreed timescale the class teacher reviews the progress made.
2. Class teacher and SENCO agree on a programme of extra provision or an intervention and share this extra provision with parents.
3. SENCO liaises with parents and works with outside agencies to seek further assessment for the child.
4. Extensive evidence is collated for assessment with a view to apply for additional funding in the form of an Education, Health and Care Plan in order to meet the needs of the child fully in our mainstream setting and further on into adulthood. This is overseen by the SENCO and Local Authority.

All students with SEND are on the SEND register which is accessible to all staff. Staff use this information to inform their lesson planning, teaching and student learning activities.

Parents are kept informed of the results of specialist assessments and of any particular intervention that may be offered.

3. Who you speak to at the academy if you think your child might have SEND

If you would like to talk about any special educational needs you think your child may have then please contact the SENCO.

              SENCO: Clare Bardsley           Email: clare.bardsley@coopacademies.co.uk 

              Telephone: 0161 681 4288 (School) or 07503364116 (Work Mobile)

An appointment will then be made and any other relevant members of staff such as your child’s class teams will also be invited to attend if you wish.

4. How we consult with young people with SEND and involve them in their education

Students are encouraged to take part in Pupil Voice activities; regularly evaluate their work in lessons; attend review meetings; contribute to target setting and reviewing and reflect on their learning and achievements by completing ‘Views of the Child/Young Person' documents prior to reviews.

In any meeting to discuss a student’s progress or behaviour the young person is invited to attend so their voice can be heard. TAs gather the views of students on how best they learn through the Pupil Passport.

We need you to support us and your child by encouraging them to fully engage with their learning and any interventions offered.

5. How we help you to support your children’s learning

All parents and carers of children receiving SEND support are involved in discussing the provision for their child and are kept updated on their progress through reviews and daily contact with the class team.

If you think that your child needs more support in school and wish to discuss a possible application for an Education Health Plan, the SENCO will happily guide you through the process. You will also have the opportunity to talk to the Educational Psychologist who will provide reports as part of the assessment.

Parents can make a request for an EHCP at any time to the local authority by emailing sen@manchester.gov.uk outlining their concerns and why their child needs an EHCP.

In addition, you can seek independent advice from the SEND Information and Support Service (SENDIASS) 0161 209 8356 weekdays from 10am – 3pm or email: parents@manchester.gov.uk.

In some cases, the Local Authority will offer a Caseworker to give additional support. We will support you by having regular communication and a named key worker for your child who will contact you on a regular basis. Parents / Carers will also be asked to complete a ` Views of the Parent/Carer` document.

If your child already has an EHC Plan, you will be invited to an annual review every year to discuss their progress. Last year many students’ targets were amended to reflect their current needs. You can email or phone the SENCO at any time should you wish to discuss any concerns as they arise.

6. How we know what progress your children are making and how we keep you and them informed

Teachers track each child’s assessment results to check how much progress they are making. If despite the teacher’s differentiation (matching the work to the children’s ability) the child is still not making expected progress, then there will be further investigation to assess what the barriers to learning are. The child may then be given an intervention to address a particular need.

If a child receives a particular intervention outside the class, then baseline (starting point) and exit data are used to judge progress and the impact of the intervention such as an improvement in reading ages or a softer measure such as increased confidence is used.

Signs that a student’s confidence has improved might be that the student contributes more answers in lessons or is happy to be a lead learner. If a student has difficulty seeing situations from another person’s point of view, the intervention might focus on using different scenarios and seeing how the student over time learns how to respond more appropriately in different social situations. This might be measured using student and teacher feedback, or by a reduction in behaviour logs.

All parents are invited to Parents Evening and receive a report documenting your child’s progress. If your child is on the SEND register, there will be a minimum of three opportunities a year to discuss your child’s progress (in the form of Individual Support Plan meetings. If your child has an Education Health Care Plan, then you will also be invited to a review of your child’s progress annually. Parents can phone or email the SENCO to make an appointment whenever they have concerns.

7. How we adapt the curriculum and modify teaching approaches so that we meet SEND

All staff provide high quality teaching so that they make learning accessible or more challenging so that every child is able to learn at their level.

We are supported by Manchester’s Local SEND offer, Co-op Academy Trust staff and seek advice from other professionals in order to provide effective provision for children with a SEND need. Our staff are trained in a variety of approaches and use a range of strategies which means we are able to adapt to a range of SEND and adjust teaching approaches to the way a particular child may learn.

We use additional schemes/resources so that we have something at the right level for pupils with SEND. We use school based programmes alongside purchased programmes such as Time to talk, Wellcomm, SHINE and a range of Speech and Language interventions to support learning.

8. How do we support children with SEND

Every child is unique and every child with SEND has their own unique needs. The provision at Co-op Academy Broadhurst is aimed to meet those individual needs wherever possible. The teachers are informed of the pupil’s needs and for many pupils with SEND the teachers’ high quality teaching, adapted provision and adaptive teaching (where the work is matched to the pupils abilities) of tasks and awareness of individual needs is sufficient to allow the student to thrive in their lessons.

Some children have had support from a teaching assistant (TA) throughout the course of the school day. These TAs work closely with teachers in lessons and work with children to develop their resourcefulness, their responsibility and their resilience through modelling good practice and developing each student’s self-belief. The TAs have had regular contact with the parents and provide updates on their progress and well-being.

Targeted interventions are planned and delivered where appropriate. This may include 1:1 work or small group across. Interventions are either short term or long term dependent on the specific needs of the child and their progress. A number of interventions have been provided to meet the range of needs of the SEND students as listed below:

For Cognition and Learning Needs:

• Literacy and Numeracy Boosters

• Precision Teach
• Academic Mentoring
• Guided Reading
• Specific literacy support to develop phonological skills with resources such phonemic agents and spelling other programmes.

For Communication and Interaction Needs:

• Social stories
• Emotional literacy
• Time to talk
• Listening Agents
• Recall Agents
• Mr Good-guess
• See, Think, Wonder

Social, Emotional and Mental Health Needs:

• Key adult
• Therapeutic Relationships
• Therapeutic creative play
• Meet and Greet
• Circle of Friends
• Counselling
• Social Skills
• Drawing and Talking
• Emotional Check-ins
• Zones of Regulation

Sensory/Physical Needs:

• Training and support from Lancasterian Outreach; including moving and handling training
• Manchester Sensory Support Service input
• Inclusion Service for hearing impairment
• Advice disseminated to all staff.
• Risk assessment to ensure a student with a physical need can access all parts of the academy and use its facilities with ease, support in PE if required.
• Dyspraxia: intervention to develop coordination skills, gross and fine motor skills.

External Support

• Educational Psychologist: The academy has had regular support from an Educational Psychologist who has carried out many assessments that have helped pinpoint the difficulties students have. The assessment process involves observations of the student in class, discussions with parents and the SEND Team staff. The recommendations in the reports on strategies to support the students have been disseminated to all the staff and parents.
• Speech and Language Therapist (NHS)
• Speech and Language Therapist (The Speech Bubble): Provides assessments / support and training.
• CAMHS: This service assesses and treats children and young people with emotional or mental health difficulties.
• Rodney House Outreach Support Early Years (RHOSEY): Provides support and advice for children in our Early Years Foundation stage.
• Social Services when there have been child protection concerns for SEND students.
• Early Help Hub when families have required multi-agency support
• Lancasterian Outreach and Inclusion Service for advice on supporting students with hearing difficulties and physical disabilities.
• School Health Service (School Nurse) to ensure the health needs of the students are met.

Referrals to these services can be made by the SENCO, the Inclusion Team or school nurse and in consultation with parents and carers.

Whenever the academy receives specialist advice from external agencies, or has an Education Health Care Plan, we do our best to make the recommended changes.

9. How are staff in the academy supported to work with young people with special educational needs and what training do they receive?

All staff have received training from specialists (including inhouse training from our SENCO and Specialist TA) in supporting students with a variety of SEND including autism, we are always striving to continue to improve our provision for students as we learn from the students, their parents and from specialist services.

Before the start of a new academic year the SENCO, current teacher and new teacher have handovers to pass over specific information regarding children with EHCPs and other students with SEND needs. This information is then shared with the class team. All new staff receive the appropriate training to support the children they are working with. Teachers and Teaching Assistants seek advice from a specialist SEND TA and SENCO on a regular basis.

The SENCO and Specialist SEND TA have expertise in cognition and learning needs, communication and interaction needs, SpLD difficulties including dyslexia & dyspraxia and social & emotional needs. The SENCO has the National Award for SEN Coordination.

The TAs have received a variety of training such as:

• Training on understanding and supporting Autistic Spectrum Disorder
• Lego Therapy
• Bereavement
• Supporting communication and interaction needs within the curriculum.
• Self-esteem and mental health training
• Mental Health First Aid
• Team Teach
• Precision Teaching
• First Aid Training
• Behind the Behaviour
• ACEs/Trauma Informed Practice

10. How do we monitor how well we are doing in meeting the needs of students with SEND

All students are assessed in each subject every half term and subject leads track this data closely so any underachievement is picked up quickly.

We make use of pupil voice, book looks and lesson observations to look at the engagement and progress of students.

Learning walks are used to observe good practice which is shared with staff and following this the teachers are given advice on how to improve the provision for all pupils.

Interventions are reviewed to see what impact they are having- if there is little or no progress, the student will stop the intervention and other types of support will be discussed.

There is a SEND Report for governors every year.

11. How we ensure that your children are included in activities outside the classroom, including physical activities and academy trips

All students are included in all academy activities and no student has missed out because of their SEND, everyone is fully included. For children with SEND a risk assessment may need to be carried out to see if any adjustments need to be made. We run a fully inclusive Breakfast and After School Care.

12. How we provide for your children’s overall wellbeing 

At Co-op Academy Broadhurst we take our pastoral responsibilities seriously. We pride ourselves on providing a high level of student support and guidance.

At certain times, a child may need a particular adult in the academy to talk to. This may be one of their teachers, TA or a member of the Inclusion Team. In some cases, we may decide that a child needs additional support where they see a counsellor. In addition, the SENCO has been trained in Drawing and Talking Therapy, to further extend our mental health provision for children. The Inclusion Team have designed a ‘vulnerability tool’ to rate a child’s vulnerability, taking into account a number of factors, which then enables the team to look at the appropriate strategies to use to support the child’s specific needs.

All students can use the ‘TalkBox’ where they can place a ‘I need to talk’ slip in one of the talk boxes stationed in their classrooms or outside the Inclusion Teams room. Bullying is not tolerated in the academy and is dealt with promptly.

Children with medical conditions have a Care Plan drawn up by the parent, child, school nurse and the designated member of staff for Care Plans (Mrs Clare Bardsley).  All medication is stored securely and administered appropriately. All staff are made aware of children’s medical conditions and if any trips are planned, there is always a risk assessment undertaken to ensure any child with a medical need can participate safely.

There are 16 members of staff trained as First Aiders.

The academy has a school health service on hand to support the academy. The school nurse will work with staff, children and parents where there are health / wellbeing concerns or if referrals to CAMHs need to be made.

Students are well supported by:

• Safeguarding and Child Protection policy
• Anti-Bullying Policy
• Mental Health Policy
• Beacon Counsellor
• Social, Emotional and Mental Health Leads
• Therapeutic Pastoral Care Teaching Assistant
• Specialist SEND Teaching Assistant
• Targeted support for individual pupils.

For further information, please see our Mental Health Policy

13. How accessible is our school both indoors and outdoors for young people with special educational needs and/or disabilities

We strive to be a very inclusive academy. There are no restrictions to access around the academy. For further detail please refer to the Accessibility Plan, which states our strategies for improving access to our buildings, grounds, curriculum and communications.

We strive to make all our communication with parents/carers in clear, straightforward language. Whenever parents/carers request face-to-face meetings to discuss written communication this is always provided. The information on our website is available in a range of languages through a Google translation tool. We use ClassDojo which has a translation tool to enable parents and carers to translate important letters into the necessary languages for parents whose first language is not English.

14. What are our admission arrangements for pupils who are disabled and how do we prepare and support your children when joining the school and moving on from the school?

The academy works to the same policy as Manchester Admissions Policy. Please refer to http://www.manchester.gov.uk/admissions 

If a parent of a child with SEN /disabilities chooses Co-op Academy Broadhurst then special arrangements will be put in place. The parent and child will meet with the SENCO, teacher and teaching assistant to discuss the child’s needs, any previous support the child has received and how the academy can support the child to realise their potential.

Children in Year 6 moving onto secondary education receive additional transition days to their new school with the support of a familiar member of staff from the academy. The class teacher and key teaching assistants complete in-depth handovers with the key Year 7 staff and the school's SENCO. We ensure that all relevant information, such as assessments, is passed on to the child’s next place of study.

15. Where can you find the academy’s SEND Policy and who can you contact for further information

The academy’s SEND Policy, Accessibility Policy and other relevant policies can be found on our Policies page. For any further information on SEND issues please contact the SENCO.

For information about national and local services and organisations which can offer support to Manchester families go to http://manchester.fsd.org.uk.  There are also details of clubs, groups and activities especially for children and young people with disabilities and special educational needs.

16. What are our arrangements for handling complaints from parents of children with SEND about our provision?

If you have any worries or concerns, or you wish to make a complaint, then please contact the SENCO Clare Bardsley or the Head teacher Jan Gough in the first instance.

Please refer to the Trust’s Complaints Policy, for further details.

17. Useful Links for SEND:

Manchester Local Authority’s Local Offer: https://hsm.manchester.gov.uk/kb5/manchester/directory/localoffer.page?localofferchannel=0 

Information, Advice and Support (IAS) Manchester

For free confidential and impartial information, advice and support about any matters relating to Special Educational Needs and Disabilities of children and young people up to the age of 25 years.

Website: https://www.iasmanchester.org/ 

Telephone: 0161 209 8356

Email: parents@manchester.gov.uk 

Statutory Assessment Team

Enquiries about requests for Education, Health and Care Plans including conversions of SEN Statements.

Telephone: 0161 245 7439

Email: sen@manchester.gov.uk 

Home To School Transport Team

Enquiries about home to school transport for children with EHC plans. Please note that telephone enquiries are answered by Environment On Call.

Telephone: 0161 219 6400

Email: hometoschool@manchester.gov.uk 

Specialist Resource Team

Enquiries about short breaks for children and young people with SEND. New referrals for short Breaks. If your child has never been in receipt of a Short Break, you can call our Contact Centre on 0161 234 5001.

Telephone: 0161 219 2125

Email: shortbreaks@manchester.gov.uk 

Engagement Team

For enquiries about promoting or demonstrating the Local Offer, and for information about how to get involved.

Telephone: 0161 234 1946

Email: localoffer@manchester.gov.uk 

Early Help Hub

North: 0161 234 1973

Manchester Local Offer Newsletter

Manchester SEND newsletter 

https://hsm.manchester.gov.uk/kb5/manchester/directory/advice.page?id=uptXtrEL9fg 

Manchester Parent and Carer Forum

Manchester Parent Carer Forum works to represent the ‘voice’ of parents and carers of children and young people aged 0-25 with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND).

http://manchesterparentcarerforum.org.uk/

The Birches Specialist Support Primary School

The Birches is a 143 place school that supports pupils with diagnosis of ASC, SLD and PMLD. Maintained by Manchester Local Authority, facilities include a hydrotherapy pool, a range of outdoor play areas, a sensory garden, two multisensory rooms and two soft play areas.

They hold Parent/Carer Drop-in and Support Sessions every Thursday 10:00-11:30am, organised by Peggy, the school’s Parent Support Advisor.

Website: http://www.thebirchesschool.org/ 

Talbot House

Talbot House supports parents and carers of people who have learning disabilities in Manchester. They are a one stop shop where carers can pop in for a cup of tea and a chat with others in the same boat.

Website: http://www.talbot-house.org.uk/ 

Afasic- A Voice for life

Supporting parents and children to overcome speech and language difficulties:

https://www.afasic.org.uk 

Talking Point 

The first stop for information on children’s communication:

https://ican.org.uk/i-cans-talking-point/ 

Mencap

https://www.mencap.org.uk/homepage 

British Dyslexia Association:

https://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk

18. Glossary of Terms

Appendix A: