Gillingham Primary School

 Getting in touch with us about Special Educational Needs

After reading this page, if you have questions for us, the first person to contact would be your child's class teacher.

You are also very welcome to contact our SENDCO, Tamar Shanks and you can contact her on senco@gillinghamprimary.dorset.sch.uk OR via your child’s teacher OR phone the school office on 01747 823245. She is also often on the gate in the mornings so you can speak to her when dropping your child to school.

 

What are Special Educational Needs and Disabilities?

Under the SEND Code of Practice (DfE, 2014), a child is considered to have Special Educational Needs or Disabilities, or SEND, if he or she has ‘significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others of the same age’, or his or her disability ‘prevents or hinders him or her from making use of facilities of a kind generally provided for others of the same age in a mainstream school’. Special educational provision is needed for him or her, over and above that which can be met through high quality classroom teaching and differentiation.

The broad areas of need are identified as:

       

A child may have additional needs for a short period or throughout their educational life. Additional needs may be identified before a child has even entered school or they may come to be recognised at a specific point in their education.

 

What is the SEND Code of Practice?

The SEND Code of Practice sets out statutory guidance for schools.  A revised SEND Code of Practice was implemented in September 2014, with the main aim of developing better partnerships between children, parents/carers, educational settings, health professionals and social care.

The revised SEND code of practice can be downloaded here: SEND code of practice: 0 to 25 years - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

 

 

Universal Provision Every teacher, all schools, all classrooms, and every child A broad and balanced curriculum adapted for individual pupils High quality teaching The first step in responding to pupils or have, or may have, SEN

Targeted Provision Every teacher, all schools, all classrooms, and some children Universal provision plus School based Assess, Plan, Do, Review cycle that identifies need and specifies support that is additional to and different from the universal provision Children are likely to have barriers to learning – school staff will work with parents and carers to remove or overcome these barriers Additional professional advice may be sought for some children

Specialist Provision Every teacher, all schools, some classrooms and a few children Universal provision plus Targeted provision plus More specialist advice and/or intervention may be sought Children may have long term complex needs and/or disabilities The child may be supported through an Education, Health and Care Plan

 

A guide for parents about SEN support in Dorset can be found here: The Dorset parent guide to support your child's Special Educational Needs (SEN) - Dorset Council

 

 

Who might be involved in supporting my child with SEND at Gillingham Primary School?

All teachers are teachers of SEND and your child’s class teacher is primarily responsible for your child’s progress and support. They are supported by a dedicated and experienced staff team. This includes: 

• Class teachers
• SENDCO Mrs Shanks
• Parent Support Advisor Mrs Cosh
• Members of the Senior Leadership team
• Teaching Assistants (TAs and HLTAs) 
• Teaching Assistants with a specialism, for example, Emotional Literacy or Speech and Language
• Midday Supervisory Assistants (MDSAs) 

We also collaborate closely with the SEND Provision Lead Workers at the Local Authority and other professional agencies such as speech and language, specialist teachers, occupational therapists and educational psychologists. For most children at our school our Local Authority Provision Lead is Jane Frost.

 

We want to work in close partnership with families because we recognise that children’s needs are most effectively met by working in collaboration with parents to secure the best outcomes for their child.  

 

 

Please click the link below to find more websites that can offer useful information: