SEND

We follow a continuous cycle of review and adaptation of provision for our children, using the Assess, Plan, Do, Review model.

However, we believe it is especially important to look at the whole child when doing this and spend time trying to find out the reasons behind their specific barrier to learning.  Where possible we aim to involve the children in this process as much as possible  – enabling them to take an active part in recognising their strengths and differences.

We don’t believe in the mindset of “I’m rubbish at spelling”.  We believe in exploring whether the child might have difficulties which are impacting on this skills eg working memory, visual discrimination or processing issues etc and targeting the development of those skills.

We are proud to have achieved the Inclusion Quality Mark – a recognition of our commitment to inclusion for our whole school community.

We know that being a parent or carer of child with additional needs can be challenging and exhausting at times and we work hard to try to build excellent relationships with families so that we can support them as best we can.  Miss S Joyce, our SENDCO is available to discuss via phone or email and we can arrange (safe) face to face meetings if this is necessary. 

To find out more about our SEN offer, please read our SEN information report.  As always, please contact us if you’d like anything explained further.

Sen information report 2021

Sensory Circuits

Every morning we have a Sensory Circuits Session.  Many children have differences in the way they process sensory information.  These can impact on learning.  Sensory Circuits activities help us to provide sensory feedback, to energise and settle children into the school day.  The Sensory circuit should include two alerting activities, two organising activities and a calming activity.

Ideas for alerting activities:

(Balance and sense of own space stimulation)

  • Bouncing on a trampoline.
  • Bunny hops/Frog jumps/squat jumps/crab walks.
  • Skipping
  • Action songs

Ideas for organising activities.

(Requiring motor sensory processing, balancing and timing.)

  • Balancing on cushion, piece of wood, straight line along the floor.
  • Log rolling
  • Push ups against the wall
  • Squats with lunges
  • Aiming at a target – blowing a ball onto a target/throwing onto a target
  • Skipping and jumping over a moving rope
  • Climbing

Ideas for calming activities:

(Providing input to calm the senses so you are ready to learn!)

  • A large ball rolled over the child’s back.
  • Massaging hands, feet, legs or arms.
  • Weighted blankets (or blankets if weighted ones are not available)
  • Being rolled up tightly in a blanket.

Try this session from the Oak National Academy.  If you don’t have all of the materials, you can use the same idea with whatever materials you have at home.

Attention Skills Activities

We love our Attention Skills sessions!  Our sessions are based on the Attention Autism programme by Gina Davies.

You can recreate the sessions at home using any household materials you have to hand.  The principle is that children learn to sit and attend to an activity for longer and to wait their turn for an activity.  There are four stages.  Some children will only be able to attend to Stage 1, but will develop skills over time to attend to more stages.  The stages are presented in order.

Stage 1: The Bucket to Focus Attention

A bucket is filled with visually engaging objects and toys, aiming to gain the shared attention of the group. The adult leader shows each item to the group and uses simple repetitive vocabulary to comment on the various objects.

Stage 2: The Attention Builder

Visually stimulating activities are shown to the group by the adult leader, aiming to sustain attention for a longer period. The activities are fun, visually engaging and can often involve delightful mess!

Stage 3: Turn taking & Re-engaging Attention

The adult leader demonstrates a simple activity, often modelled with another adult in the group. Some children are then invited to have a turn but only if they are comfortable to do so. Not every child in the group will get a turn, which then teaches important emotional regulation skills, as well as the essential skills of waiting, turn-taking and learning through modelling.

Stage 4: Shifting & Re-engaging Attention

Stage 4 aims to develop the skill of engaging and shifting attention. The adult leader demonstrates a simple creative task, and then gives each child an individual kit to copy the task. The children take their kits to a table, complete the task independently, and then everyone returns to the group to show their completed tasks.