SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disability) Information

The SEN Code of Practice 0-25 years is our legal ‘guidebook’ for provision within school. It states that a child has a Special Educational Need or disability if they require provision that is different from or additional to that normally available to pupils of the same age.

A Special Educational Need falls into one or multiple of the following broad categories:

• Communication and Interaction
• Cognition and Learning
• Social, Emotional, and Mental Health difficulties
• Sensory and Physical Needs

At Melbourn Primary School, we provide provision for all the above areas of need. Where a child is receiving provision that is different from or additional to that of the whole class, the child is recorded as being on the ‘SEN register’. This enables the information about that provision to be recorded and passed on as the child grows.

We have many skilled teachers and teaching assistants who have been trained in different areas of expertise. Click on each area of need to find out more. Where a child’s need falls outside of our knowledge and skills, we are keen to seek external advice and to work with other professionals to provide the best possible education for every individual.

Communication and Interaction

Communication and interaction is all about how children learn to talk and play with others.
For children who have additional needs in this are this is how it might look:

Talking and Understanding:

• Some children might find it tricky to say what they mean, or they might need extra time to understand what you’re saying.
• They might have a hard time following stories or understanding jokes.

Playing with Friends:

• Making friends and playing games with other kids might be a bit difficult.
• They might find it hard to take turns or understand how to share.
• They might find it hard to understand how other children are feeling.

Understanding Social Rules:

• Sometimes there are unspoken rules about how we’re supposed to act, and some kids might not understand them.
• They might find it hard to understand why other kids are upset or confused.

Expressing Feelings:

• Some children may find it hard to express their feelings and may become easily frustrated.

If a child needs support with any of these areas, they will receive support through our Ordinarily Available Provision.

Cognition and Learning

Cognition and Learning is all about how children think and understand new learning.’

For children who have additional needs in this area this is how it might look:

Learning is Tricky:

• Some children find it harder to learn new things, remember information, or understand what they’re being taught.
• It’s like trying to solve a puzzle, but some of the pieces don’t quite fit.
• Some children find it hard to read or write or understand numbers

Different Ways of Learning:

• Everyone learns in their own way, but some children might need different tools or strategies to help them learn.
• This could mean they need extra time, different kinds of lessons, or special help from a teacher.

Thinking and Understanding:

• Cognition means how your brain thinks and understands things.
• Some children might find it hard to pay attention, solve problems, or understand instructions.

If a child needs support with any of these areas, they will receive support through our Ordinarily Available Provision.

Social, Emotional and Mental Health difficulties

Social, emotional, and Mental Health Difficulties affect people of all ages, including children.

For children who have additional needs in this area, this is how it might look:

Feelings Can Be Tricky:

• Everyone has feelings, like happiness, sadness, or anger. Sometimes, those feelings can feel really big and hard to handle.
• Some children might find it extra tough to manage their feelings, or they might feel angry, worried or sad a lot.

Getting Along With Others:

• Making friends and getting along with people can be challenging for some children and they need extra help to learn how to do this
• Some children might find it hard to understand how other people feel, or they might have trouble making and keeping friends.

Feeling Good Inside:

• Sometimes, children might feel angry, worried, scared, or sad for a long time, and that can make it hard to learn and have fun.
• For some children, anxiety can be overwhelming, and they need help to learn how to manage this big feeling.
• Others have a low self-esteem and may not feel good about themselves or they may struggle to pay attention in class.

If a child needs support with any of these areas they will receive support through our Ordinarily Available Provision.

Sensory and Physical Needs

Sensory Needs affect one or more of the nine senses (Vision, Hearing, Smell, Taste, Touch, Proprioception (body awareness in space), Interoception (internal senses ie temperature, pain, hunger etc). This may look like:

• Children with a hearing or vision impairment (in all forms including those who may be blind or deaf) needing extra support to access the classroom environment.
• Some children might be very sensitive to loud noises, bright lights, or certain textures.
• Others might need extra sensory input, like rocking or fidgeting, to feel comfortable.

Physical Needs are when your body might need some extra help to move around or do things. This may look like:

• some children might use a wheelchair to get around, or they might need help with writing or holding things.
• It also could mean that someone has a medical condition that affects their strength, coordination, or energy levels.

If a child needs support with any of these areas they will receive support through our Ordinarily Available Provision.

At our school all children are continually assessed in a variety of ways and this information is used at termly Pupil Progress Meetings.
At these meetings the SENCo will discuss the progress of the children in the class with the teachers comparing against both age related expectations and also prior attainment. They also discuss the children’s general development and social and emotional wellbeing as well as any concerns shared by parents.

We use this information to plan support for the children and monitor the impact of the support that has previously been given. Children are added to the ‘SEN register’ when they require ongoing support strategies to enable them to fulfil their potential. We believe in a child centred approach and seek the views, wishes and feelings of the child and the child’s parents/carers. We encourage parents/carers to participate as fully as possible in decisions and make sure that we share the information and support necessary to enable us to work together. The vast majority of children who have a Special Educational Need can have their needs met in school within our ordinarily available provision without the need for more specialist input.

As a school, support is given on the basis of the presentation of a need within the setting. There is no need for a child to have a formal diagnosis in order to access support in an area of need and no priority is given on the basis of a diagnosis. Our aim is to provide the support that every child needs to enable them to thrive.

Where a child has more complex needs then the school will seek support for outside agencies to provide advice on how the school can best meet the needs of that child.

If you think your child might have special educational needs then please talk to us about it. We are a very open and friendly school and do our best to ensure all parents feel well supported. We all want the same thing for your child – the very best – and we aim to work together to give them the best possible chance we can.

We recognise that many children mask their emotional and sensory needs within the school setting and will aim to work with parents to provide support in school that reduces the impact of this on a child’s home life. We also partner with many organisations and have our own Family Support Worker who can help parents with strategies for the home as well.

The first port of call is always your child’s class teacher, who may direct you to the SENCo or there may be a joint meeting arranged so that we can work together.

Every child with additional needs will need different things to support them. We focus on providing support on the basis of the presentation of a need within the setting.

Teachers work alongside the SENCo to assess what needs a pupil may have and select elements from our Ordinarily Available Provision which may support them. These are put together into a learning plan and pupil passport.

We use an assess, plan, do, review cycle where targets are set for each pupil on their learning plans and the progress towards these is monitored each term.

Examples of the OAP available in our setting is in the links below.

• Ordinarily available provision for children with communication and interaction needs
• Ordinarily available provision for children with cognition and learning needs
• Ordinarily available provision for children with social, emotional and mental health needs
• Ordinarily available provision for children with physical and sensory needs

For a very small number of children who need a lot of different elements of OAP (totalling over £6000 in cost to the school) or whose needs are complex and need provision outside that of our OAP offer an ECHP (Education, Health and Care Plan) maybe required.

We work hard to promote independence, including for those with significant needs, and every child works with multiple adults across the week to reduce the likelihood of learned helplessness (and over reliance on one person).

Further information about EHCPs can be found below:

Ordinarily available provision for children with communication and interaction needs

This is the ordinarily available provision at our school for this area of need, designed to support students consistently and inclusively.

• Visual timetables (including personalised ones)
• Use of checklists and memory mapping
• Use of Makaton
• Use of visual supports and core boards
• Scaffolding (e.g. story maps, planning frames)
• Pre-teaching vocabulary and concepts
• Speech and Language Therapist interventions
• WELLCOMM speech and language programme
• Social Stories (personalised)
• Use of scripts and limited choices to support communication
• Lego Therapy Club (develops cooperative communication)
• Structured success criteria to aid understanding
• Individual quiet workstations to reduce distraction

Ordinarily available provision for children with cognition and learning needs

This is the ordinarily available provision at our school for this area of need, designed to support students consistently and inclusively.

• Quality First Teaching’ with scaffolded learning and step-in, step-out support
• Personalised learning toolkits
• Individualised timetables and chunked learning
• Personalised success criteria
• Pupil Passports and Assess-Plan-Do-Review cycles
• Dyslexia-friendly classroom practices
• Read Write Inc. programme (+ boosters if needed)
• Fast Lane reading for KS2
• Expanded Rehearsal Technique (ERT) (phonics, spellings, maths)
• First Class @ Number 1 and 2
• Numicon, Power of Two, One Plus One
• Support during assessments (extra time, readers, scribes, etc.)
• Use of laptops, coloured overlays, writing slopes, pencil grips

Ordinarily available provision for children with social, emotional and mental health needs

This is the ordinarily available provision at our school for this area of need, designed to support students consistently and inclusively.

• Emotions for Learning PSHE curriculum (whole school and small groups)
• ELSA-style support including Zones of Regulation and Incredible 5-point scale
• Daily pastoral care
• Drawing and Talking sessions
• Boxall Profile to assess social/emotional needs
• Social Stories to support behaviour and understanding
• ‘What to do when you worry too much’ resource
• Worry Monsters
• Individual Risk Management or Predict and Prevent plans (where needed)
• Home-school diaries and regular meetings
• Restorative conversations (embedded in behaviour policy)
• Play leaders and supported play at break/lunch
• Support at unstructured times via TAs and midday staf

Ordinarily available provision for children with physical and sensory needs

This is the ordinarily available provision at our school for this area of need, designed to support students consistently and inclusively.

• Sensory-managed classrooms (low sensory load)
• Access to wobble cushions, writing wedges, pencil grips, coloured overlays
• Movement breaks, proprioceptive timetables
• Use of technology (laptops/iPads) for access
• Disabled toilet facilities and wheelchair-accessible classrooms
• Sensory Circuits
• OT and Physiotherapy input where applicable
• Medical interventions including first aid, medication administration, and care plans
• Staff training in medical needs (e.g. epilepsy, asthma, epipens)
• Adjusted test conditions (rest breaks, scribes, exemptions)

Teaching is tailored through reasonable adjustments in the classroom employing strategies like scaffolding, task planning, specialist equipment and differentiation.

Support is guided by individual ‘Pupil Passports’ and ‘Assess-Plan-Do-Review’ plans.

Where needed, we implement specific interventions in and outside of the classroom to support progress.

This ensures that each child’s learning experience is personalised, with regular reviews to adapt provision as necessary.

We offer a range of support to promote your child’s mental health and wellbeing.

Our PSHE curriculum, Emotions for Learning, helps children understand and manage their feelings.

In addition, we provide ELSA (Emotional Literacy Support Assistant) sessions, Drawing and Talking therapy, and small group work focused on emotional literacy and social skills.

We also offer Forest School and nurture-based interventions to support self-esteem, resilience, and positive relationships.

These approaches help children feel safe, supported, and ready to learn.

If you are concerned about your child’s mental health or wellbeing please discuss this with your child’s class teacher so that we can step in to help.

We believe in following the very best practise in SEND and invest in accredited courses for many staff members. We have staff who either
already have or are studying for the following qualifications:

In addition we believe in training our staff to meet the needs of the children attending our school and both teachers and TAs regularly attend professional development training related to SEND. In the past 3 Years staff have attended the following courses:

The school has access to support from the local authority specialist teacher team. The amount of support available to each school is directed by the Local Authority.

We also have weekly visits from our link Speech and Language Therapist who works with individual children and their support staff for short iPOS (individual programme of support) after a referral has been completed.

We refer to Peadiatrics and YOUnited where necessary.

We access support from (and provide it to) local schools through informal networks. Our SENCo has recently visited Selwyn Hall (SEMH specialist school), Gretton (ASD specialist school), Melbourn Village College and ASD Cabin, Bassingbourn Primary School, Gamlingay Village Primary and ASD Cabin and Comberton Village College and ASD Cabin to share expertise.

At our school, we regularly monitor and review the support your child receives through a shared planning document known as an ‘Assess-Plan-Do-Review’ (APDR) plan which is shared with you termly.

If your child has SEND, they will also have a ‘Pupil Passport’ which outlines their strengths, interests, barriers to learning, and what helps them succeed.

You will be kept informed about your child’s progress at key points in the school year, including longer appointments during the Autumn and Spring parents’ evenings, in their end-of-year report, and at annual review meetings if they have an EHCP.

The SENDCo is available to meet and discuss your child’s support. We welcome your views and want to work with you to tailor support to your child’s needs.

We aim to build strong, positive partnerships with families through open and regular communication.

Class teachers are the first point of contact and work closely with parents to support each child’s needs.

Communication books are used where helpful to maintain daily contact.

Parents can request meetings with the SENCo to discuss any concerns or progress.

We also offer extended parent consultations and opportunities to speak directly with the SENCo during parents’ evenings, ensuring families feel informed and involved in their child’s education.

At Melbourn Primary School, we believe all learners are entitled to the same access to extra-curricular activities, and are committed to making reasonable adjustments to ensure participation for all. Any additional support or necessary adjustments are recorded on the risk assessment for that activity. Please contact us if your child has any specific requirements for extra-curricular activities. We really appreciate the support of parents and carers in helping us ensure all children have access to extra-curricular activities.

We have a large school site that is all on one level. Current facilities include a disabled parking bay at the front of the school, wheelchair access to the whole school site, and two disabled toilets.

Our school is an inclusive school, where differences are acknowledged and valued. When children have a disability, which might affect their access to the curriculum, we will always strive to adapt the classroom and work to enable access for all. For example, this may include the use of equipment such as pencil grips, writing slopes, wedge cushions, or the use of technology; or having staff trained in the use of Makaton and access to symbols to reinforce communication and literacy learning.

We have an accessibility plan where we plan to make sure that our school continues to develop its accessibility for everyone. This can be found on our school website: Equality & Accessibility | Melbourn Primary School

Transitions

We recognise that change can be challenging for many children, especially those with SEND. We do our best to support all children with transitions, whether it’s starting a new class, moving between schools, or preparing for secondary education. We work closely with families and staff to plan and manage transitions carefully, ensuring each child feels safe, supported, and ready for the next step. Click on each box to see how we support children at different points in their journey with us.

Joining Melbourn Primary School at the start of Foundation

School staff will ensure strong communication links with pre-schools and parents so that transition visits and information-sharing ensure a smooth move to primary school. Where possible, support will be put into place before a child arrives at school. We would strongly encourage any parent of a pre-school child with a special educational need who is considering sending their child to our school to come in well in advance for a visit – and to chat to us – so that we can ensure that we fully prepare for a smooth transition. In addition, we would be happy to arrange for you to speak to a parent who has a child with a special educational need at our school.

Transitions between year groups

Class teachers routinely meet at the end of the summer term to exchange information about all pupils, and the children themselves have ‘move up’ sessions in their new class. A child’s pupil passport and learning toolkit will travel with them to help their new teacher to get to know them quickly. If there are concerns about how a child will manage transferring to another class, a plan will be drawn up for that child, which may include extra orientation opportunities, making a photo book of the changes to read over the holidays, a social story or creating ‘stability factors’ where there are some things which stay the same despite the move.

Joining or leaving Melbourn Primary School from another primary school

• Documentation passed from the previous school will be carefully read, shared and filed. Where helpful, the SENDCo will contact the previous SENDCo for further clarification of needs. School staff will work to quickly assess need and barriers and to put support in place, as required.
• When a child moves on to another school, all paperwork will be securely forwarded to that school, including a child’s pupil passport, outlining their strengths and barriers and things/ strategies that help.

Leaving Melbourn Primary School for secondary school

The SENDCo and class teachers will meet with the receiving SENDCo to pass on important information and strategies prior to transition. Extra visits can be arranged with the college to ensure familiarity. All paperwork will be passed on to the secondary school in a timely fashion. Children will take their learning toolkits with them to college to give reassurance and consistency of support.

The school budget is given to the school by Cambridgeshire Local Authority, and it includes money for supporting children with SEND.
The Headteacher and Strategic Leadership Team (SLT) collaboratively decide on the deployment of resources for Special Educational Needs and Disabilities.

This collaborative decision involves discussion of all the information that the SLT has about SEND in the school, including:

• The children are already receiving extra support.
• the children needing extra support,
• The children who have been identified as not making as much progress as would be expected, or from previous attainment.

From this information, they decide how best to deploy the resources within the school and plan for continuous professional development for staff.

The current educational climate for children with additional needs is challenging nationally, and there is a lot of pressure on school budgets.

This means that decisions need to be made strategically on the basis of the presentation of need within the setting for each pupil and there may be a short delay between a child having a need identified and when they are able to access specific interventions such as ELSA or nurture groups

Cambridgeshire Local Offer

Please click on the picture to be taken to the website

If you are considering requesting an assessment by a paediatrician for a neurodiversity such as Autism or ADHD, the process that will need to be followed depends on which NHS Integrated Care Board (ICB) the GP surgery your child is registered with is covered by. Unfortunately, this is not as easy as determining which county it is in. Please click on the box below containing your child’s GP surgery for information about the process for you.

Hertfordshire ICB

Bassingbourn GP Surgery
Ashwell GP Surgery
The Baldock Surgery

The process in Hertfordshire and West Essex ICB

All referrals for Autism and ADHD assessment need to come from your GP and we are unable to do the referral for you.

We can however provide you with information to take to the GP with you to explain any difficulties your child is experiencing in the school environment.

We would ask that you let us know if a referral has been made for your child and keep us updated if you are offered any appointments. We are more than happy to support you through the process.

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough ICB

Orchard GP Surgery, Melbourn Granta Medical Practices:
Sawston Medical Centre Barley Surgery
Shelford Medical Practice, Linton Health Centre, Market Hill Surgery
Bourn Surgery
Comberton and Little Eversden Surgery, Harston Surgery
Roysia Surgery
The Heath Centre Practice, Royston

The process in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough ICB

All referrals must come from the school, and a GP cannot refer for an Autism or ADHD assessment. There is a strict process that we must follow in order to make a referral, including parents attending a parenting course. Ms Hawkins (our family support worker) delivers an appropriate course regularly. The process is not something that we have control over.

As part of the process, both you as parents and the school complete a form detailing the things that you child is currently finding tricky. They also ask questions about the family background and if there is a history of any trauma (such as separation, adoption or domestic violence) we send of additional information as we have found in the past that they are reluctant to diagnose in these cases as trauma can share many symptoms with autism. We complete the ‘Coventry grid’ to send off with the referral as this is designed to distinguish between the two.

Once the referral has been sent off we will not be notified of the appointment and ask that you keep us updated. If you would like support to attend the appointment, we are more than happy to attend with you.

An Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) is a legal document for children and young people aged 0–25 who have significant and long-term special educational needs or disabilities (SEND). It describes the child’s needs, the support required to meet those needs, and the outcomes expected.

Most children with SEND have their needs met through SEN support in school. However, if a child needs more support than the school can provide through its usual resources, an EHCP may be needed.

An EHCP can provide access to additional funding or equipment or a specialist placement for example.

If the school feels that your child may need an EHCP, the SENCO will speak to you to discuss your child’s needs and the next steps. You or the school can then request an Education, Health and Care needs assessment from the local authority.

Further information can be found in our ECHP guide, which is also on our website.