This section provides information for Parents and Carers on how we support pupils with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities within the Mainstream school provision. For information about our Autism Resource Base please visit the section of the website titled ‘Woodlarks Autism Resource Base’.
All schools are required to publish this information as part of the SEND Code of Practice.
This report complies with section 69(2) of the Children and Families Act 2014 and regulation 51 and schedule 1 of the Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014.
Further information can be obtained by contacting the school’s special educational needs coordinator (SENDCo).
The Local Authority also publishes a Local Offer of SEND services available on it’s website. Lambeth Local Offer can be found at:
Special Needs Team
Ceinwen Adeusi – Assistant Headteacher and SENDCo – cadeusi@gary
Amna Dagoy – Class Teacher with SENDCo support responsibilities
Cat Andrew – Speech and Language Therapist
People to contact if I have concerns that my child may have Special Educational Needs and / or a Disability and how to talk to them.
Class Teacher | Your child’s class teacher is your first point of contact if you have any concerns and are fully involved in any support offered. They make decisions, in conjunction with the parents and SENCo (if necessary), on the type of support and interventions your child may require. Responsible for: Ensuring that all children have access to good/outstanding teaching and that the curriculum is adapted to meet your child’s individual needs.Checking on the progress of your child and identifying, planning and delivering any additional help your child may need (this could be things like targeted work, additional support, adapting resources etc.) and discussing amendments with the SENCO as necessary.Making sure that all members of staff working with your child in school are aware of your child’s individual needs and/or conditions and what specific adjustments need to be made to enable them to be included and make progress.Making sure that the school’s SEND Policy is followed in their classroom and for all the pupils they teach with any SEND. You can contact your child’s class teacher using Class Dojo to arrange a further meeting. |
SENDCo | Coordinating all the support for children with Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities (SEND), and developing the school’s SEND Policy to make sure all children get a consistent, high quality response to meeting their needs in school. Working with the class teacher to ensure that you are:Fully involved in supporting your child’s learningKept informed about the support your child is receivingFully involved in reviewing how they are progressingFully involved in planning your child’s support. Liaising with all the other people who may be coming into school to help support your child’s learning, for example: Speech and Language Therapist or Educational Psychologist.Updating the school’s SEND provision map (a system for ensuring all the special educational, physical and sensory needs of pupils in this school are known, understood and met) and ensuring that there are records of your child’s needs and progress.Providing support and organising training for teachers and support staff in the school so they are aware and confident about how to meet the needs of pupils with SEND and help them achieve their potential.Working with your child’s class teacher to write Personal Passports when needed, that specify the targets set for your child to achieve.Preparing and reviewing an Education, Health and Care Plan in line with statutory guidance. |
Headteacher | If you are concerned that the needs are not being met through the channels above please call the school office to arrange a meeting with the Headteacher to discuss your concerns. |
What should I do if I think my child may have a Special Educational Need or Disability?
In the first instance you should arrange a meeting with your child’s class teacher in order to discuss your concerns. This meeting will help everyone to gain an understanding of your child’s needs and how to help them. If your child requires additional services outside of what can be offered in the classroom they will involve the SENCo in organising this, with your consent and will keep you informed of what is happening. The SENCo may also get in touch with you directly.
The SENDCo can also be contacted directly either by calling the school or through Class Dojo.
What does the school do if we have concerns regarding SEND?
When a teacher or you have raised concerns about your child’s progress, and high quality personalised teaching has not met your child’s needs, the teacher will raise this with the SENCO. If you have raised the concern the school will invite you in to discuss it and plan a way forward.
The teacher will discuss your child’s needs and progress with you at our parents’ evenings when you will be informed of your child’s progress and any additional support being given.
Schools also have regular meetings between each class teacher and a senior staff member in the school to ensure all children are making good progress.
If your child is then identified as not making progress the school will make a decision about whether to monitor this or set up an intervention. These may take place for a short period or over a longer period of time.
- If your child is still not making expected progress the school will discuss with you:
- Any concerns you may have
- Any further interventions or referrals to outside professionals to support your child’s learning
- How we could work together, to support your child at home/school.
The school budget, received from Lambeth LA, includes money for supporting children with SEND. The Head Teacher decides on the budget for Special Educational Needs and Disabilities in consultation with the school governors, on the basis of needs in the school.
The Head Teacher and the SENCO discuss all the information they have about SEND in the school, including:
- children getting extra support already
- children needing extra support
- children who have been identified as not making as much progress as would be expected and decide what resources/training and support is needed
The types of support available to support pupils at our school.
Once a child has been identified as having special educational needs the school will implement a Personal Passport which details Strengths, Difficulties and Strategies for supporting your child. It may be required that we implement a graduated approach to support them, known as Assess, Plan, Do, Review (see 2014 Code of Practice for guidance). This will involve the SENCo, Class Teacher and Parents meeting regularly to review your child’s Personal Passport, their learning and involvement in school life. There are termly provision meetings held between the SENCo and Class teacher to review each child’s progress, review targets and through this the progress and attainment of children with SEND is closely monitored and provision for them reviewed in order to ensure continued progress.
Where a child with SEND demonstrates the need for significant additional support which is beyond the scope of SEND Support the SENCo will initiate an application for an EHCP should children meet this threshold. Parents will be involved in each stage of this process.
In addition to quality first teaching provided by all class teachers at Lark Hall, children may also be supported through:
Type of Support: | Description: |
Support from the SENCo | This involves the SENCo working with class teachers to develop their classroom environments and teaching strategies to meet the specific need of children with SEN. |
Support from an Additional Teacher | This involves in-class, paired or small group support from an additional teacher within the year group. |
Support from the Intervention Coordinator | This involves children receiving in-class or small group support from a higher level member of support staff with training in SEN support strategies. |
Additional support from Teaching Assistants | This involves one to one, paired and small group support in class. |
Direct therapy from the Speech and Language therapist | This involves one to one, paired and small group sessions run by the Speech and Language Therapist. |
Indirect therapy from the Speech and Language therapist | This involves Language groups run by Intervention Coordinators or TA’s and monitored by the Speech and Language Therapist. |
Educational Psychologist Support | This can involve: Assessment and advice. |
Learning Mentor Support | This involves one to one, paired or group mentoring to support social and emotional development. |
Dramatherapy | One to one or group therapy to support social and emotional development and well-being. |
Music Therapy | One to one or group therapy to support social and emotional development and well-being. |
Mental Health School’s Team | Opportunity for the SENCo to consult with an Educational & Clinical Psychologist to plan and refine internal provision for children with mild to moderate mental health or behavioural difficulties. There is some scope for direct work to take place with parents and / or children from the Mental Health School Support Worker. |
Supporting pupils starting at our school with SEND.
If your child has been allocated a place in our school by the local authority and they have a SEND, please contact us as soon as you receive the offer as we may not have details of their needs at this stage.
We will invite you to visit the school with your child to look around and meet staff.
If other professionals are involved, a meeting may be held to discuss your child’s needs, share strategies used, and ensure provision is put in place before your child starts.
The SENCO and/or the Assistant Headteacher responsible for the EYFS may make a home visit and also visit your child if they are attending another provision or school; this will automatically happen if your child is starting in the school at Nursery or Reception.
We may suggest adaptations to the settling in period to help your child to settle more easily, but these will be agreed with you.
Following the settling in period, the class teacher will arrange a meeting with you to review your child’s learning and progress.
Other services who support children with SEND in our School
- School funded services (delivered at school):
- Speech and Language therapy
- Educational Psychology Service
- Learning Mentor / Emotional Literacy Support Assistant
- Dramatherapy
- Music Therapy
- 1:1, paired or small group support from Intervention Coordinators or TAs
- Centrally funded services (delivered at school):
- Educational Psychology Service for statutory services
- Sensory Service for children with visual or hearing needs
- CENMAC
- Mental Health Schools Team services
- School Nurse
- Health care funded services (delivered externally by the health service):
- Community Paediatricians
- CAMHS
- Occupational Therapy
- Speech and Language Therapy
The Lambeth Local Offer Web site contains full information, including contact details, of the services available to children, young people and their families under the Lambeth Local Offer.
- Advice and resources for children with literacy or numeracy difficulties including Dyslexia)
- Speech and Language Therapy (provided by Health but paid for by the Local Authority).
Lambeth Parent Partnership Service is available to Lambeth parents who need support through SEN processes and procedures.
How are staff supported to work with children with SEND and what training is provided?
The SENCO’s job is to support the class teacher in planning for children with SEN and to coordinate and liaise with all parties to ensure that interventions tailored to your child needs are in place.
The school has a school development plan, including identified training needs for all staff to improve the teaching and learning of children including those with SEND. This may include whole school training on SEND issues or to support identified groups of learners in school, such as ASD, dyslexia etc. and includes:
- Whole staff training to disseminate knowledge, strategies and experience, to ensure consistency of the school’s approach for children with a SEND.
- Individual teachers and support staff attending training courses run by outside agencies that are relevant to the needs of specific children in their class e.g. from the ASD Outreach service, Sensory service or medical /health training to support staff in implementing care plans.
- Individual training for an identified staff member linked with the needs of a child with special educational needs and/or disabilities or identified through the school’s performance management process.
How teaching is adapted to meet the needs of learners with SEND.
Class Teachers plan lessons according to the specific needs of all groups of children in their class, and will ensure that learning tasks are adapted to enable your child to access their learning as independently as possible.
- Support staff can implement the teachers modified/adapted planning to support the needs of your child where necessary.
- Specific resources and strategies will be used to support your child individually, and in groups and in the classroom so that they can learn most effectively, and where necessary to be included in the full life of the school.
- Planning and teaching will be adapted on a daily basis if needed to meet your child’s learning needs and increase your child’s access to what is on offer.
Support for parents of children with SEND.
The class teacher is regularly available to discuss your child’s progress or any concerns you may have and to share information about what is working well at home and school so similar strategies can be used. Please use Class Dojo to make an appointment.
The SENCO is available to meet with you to discuss your child’s progress or any concerns/worries you may have.
All information from outside professionals will be discussed with you by the person involved directly, or where this is not possible, in a report.
If we are carrying out the cycles of Plan, Do, Review on your child’s Personal Passport, it will be reviewed with your involvement at regular intervals.
A home/school contact book may be used to support communication with you, when this has been agreed to be useful for you and your child.
In addition:
- We regularly hold workshops for parents of all children in the school, for example in relation to reading, phonics or maths. We will be happy to discuss any necessary adaptations for your child.
- Special workshops are often held by our Speech and Language Therapist and Mental Health Schools Team.
- The Personal Passports may include ideas for how you can support your child at home, following the discussion with you.
- The external professionals involved with your child will be happy to meet with you on request.
- Our termly newsletter includes ideas of ways in which you can support your child with learning; these are often practical ideas and can be easily adapted to suit the needs of children with special educational needs and/or disabilities.
- We will be happy to meet with you and discuss how to best support your child to enable them to reach their potential.
Transition
We recognise that ‘moving on’ can be difficult for a child with SEND and take steps to ensure that any transition is as smooth as possible. If your child is moving to another school:
- We will talk with your child to identify how they are feeling about the move and discuss with them how to make it as positive an experience as possible.
- We will contact the new school’s SENCO and ensure s/he knows about any special arrangements or support that needs to be made for your child.
- We will make sure that all records about your child are passed on as soon as possible.
When moving classes in school:
- You will be invited to meet with the new teacher during parent welcome meetings.
- Information will be passed on to the new class teacher and a planning meeting will take place with the new teacher. All relevant SEN documentation for your child will be shared with the new teacher.
- If your child would be helped by a transition book to support them then it will be provided.
In Year 6:
- Our SENCO will liaise with the SENCO of your child’s secondary school to discuss the specific needs of your child.
- Focused learning about aspects of transition takes place in year 6 to support understanding of the changes ahead.
- As part of the transition process, your child will usually be invited by their new school to visit on several occasions and in many cases staff from the new school will visit your child in this school. The SENCO and class teacher will support this process.
Accessibility
We will work with families and professionals to make environmental adaptations in order to support children with SEND.
Children with SEND are able to attend extra-curricular activities and wrap around care (where this is appropriate).
Larkhall Primary Campus has an accessibility plan as part of our SEND policy. If you would like to see this please send an email to
and address your request to the Headteacher.
Download a copy of this Policy: