Updated January 2024

Our Local Offer and Information Report for Special Educational Needs and / or Disabilities

All North Tyneside schools, under the Children and Families Act 2014, are obliged to share information about their provision for children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND).

Our Local Offer for children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities

St. Bartholomew's, with our clear Christian world view, is fully inclusive ensuring that all children achieve their potential academically, socially, emotionally, physically and spiritually.

Our Local Offer is designed to help you understand how we support our pupils with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities.

We consult with pupils and their families on our local offer by:

• Having regular meetings with parents and carers
• SEND support plans
• Review meetings
• Parents' evenings and annual questionnaires

---

Supporting SEND pupils and their families

SENDCOs:

Lower School - Mrs Lisle

Upper School - Miss Davison

SENDCO@stbartscofeschool.org.uk

0191 625 0870 

Responsible for:

The coordination of all the support for children with special educational needs or disabilities (SEND) and developing the school’s SEND policy to ensure all children get a consistent, high quality response to meeting their needs in school.

Ensuring that you are:

• Involved in supporting your child’s learning
• Kept informed about the support your child is getting
• Involved in reviewing your child’s progress

Liaising with outside agencies who may be involved in supporting your child’s learning e.g. Speech and Language Therapy, Educational Psychology.

Updating the school’s list of SEND pupils and making sure there are effective records of your child’s progress and needs.

Providing specialist support for teachers and support staff in school so they can help children with SEND make the best progress possible.

Class Teacher

Responsible for:

Monitoring the progress of your child and identifying and planning for any additional help your child may need e.g. targeted group work or addressing any gaps in knowledge.

Writing SEND support plans and sharing and sharing and reviewing these with you at least once a term and planning for the next term.

Ensuring that the school’s SEND policy is followed in their classroom and for any pupils they teach with SEND

Our SENCO and class teachers coordinate Special Needs identification and assessment.

We will let families know of any concerns about their child's learning and achievement as soon as possible, initially in a face-to-face discussion regarding additional teaching that may be necessary or an education plan.

When a pupil is identified as having special educational needs, the SENCO and class teacher will provide learning strategies to accommodate for the needs of all children.  When children present with needs that are different to that of their peers, the class teacher will meet with parents and discuss an appropriate action plan. If no improvement occurs despite a sustained period of intervention, or the class teacher and SENCO have additional concerns extra support is provided through external agencies. The other people, agencies and teams providing services to children with  SEND in school include:

• Educational Psychologists
• Speech and Language Therapists
• Occupational Therapists and technicians
• Educational Welfare Officers
• Public Health Nurses

We will work in partnership with other education providers to ensure that pupils make a successful transition to the next stages of their learning, through careful and coordinated planning.  We support our pupils when they are leaving school through carefully chosen transition activities and we remain in regular contact with their next school.

Support staff are deployed where they are needed the most, to maximise the progress pupils can make, develop their independence and provide best value for money.

---

Support

Staff Training

All staff have completed, and will continue to receive, ongoing SEND training.

Our Special Educational Needs Lead provides advice and guidance to all staff.

Supporting Families

Our school aims to work in partnership with families to help them support their children’s learning outside of school.

Families are also signposted to services and organisations through our Local Offer.

---

Further Information

Our Behaviour policy is regularly reviewed with a focus on how it may affect SEND pupils.

Other useful documents, such as our Special Educational Needs and Inclusion Policies, are also available.  

The school’s self-evaluation process considers the impact of our teaching and learning on all vulnerable groups of pupils, especially those SEND.

All school-related activities are evaluated in terms of their benefit to the learning and inclusion of SEND pupils.

If you would like further information about what we can offer, please contact our Special Educational Needs Lead or the Headteacher.

School entitlement offer to pupils with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities	Support Available Within School
Communication and Interaction Needs: e.g. Autistic Spectrum Disorders Speech, Language and Communication Needs Social communication difficulties	Visual timetables Areas of low distraction Support / supervision at unstructured times of the day Social skills programme / support Small group work to improve skills.   IT is used to support learning where appropriate Strategies / programmes to support speech and language development  Strategies to reduce anxiety / promote emotional wellbeing Where appropriate we will use support and advice from other partners to meet the needs of pupils Planning, assessment and review Work with pupils, parents, carers and staff to develop and review plans based on the needs of each pupil Teaching resources are routinely evaluated to ensure they are accessible to all pupils Differentiated curriculum and resources
Cognition and Learning Needs: e.g. Moderate Learning Difficulties	Strategies to promote/develop speaking and listening, reading, writing and mathematics Provision to support access to the curriculum and to develop independent learning Small group targeted intervention programmes are delivered to pupils to improve skills in a variety of areas e.g. reading skills groups IT is used to reduce barriers to learning where possible Support and advice is sought from outside agencies to ensure any barriers to success are fully identified and responded to Planning, assessment and review Access to teaching and learning for pupils with special educational needs is monitored through the schools self-evaluation process Teaching resources are routinely evaluated to ensure they are accessible to all pupils Work with pupils, parents, carers and staff to develop and review plans based on the need of the pupil Differentiated curriculum and resources
Social, Mental and Emotional health e.g. Behavioural needs Social need Mental health needs Emotional Health and Wellbeing	The school ethos values all pupils.  Behaviour management systems encourage pupils to make positive decisions about behavioural choices. The schools behaviour policy identifies where reasonable changes can be made to minimise the need for exclusions Risk assessments are used and action is taken to increase the safety and inclusion of all pupils in all activities The school provides effective pastoral care for all pupils Support and advice is sought from outside agencies to support pupils, where appropriate Small group programmes are used to improve social skills and help them deal more effectively with stressful situations Outdoor learning is used to offer a rich and varied approach to the curriculum.   Information and support is available within school for behavioural, emotional and social needs
Sensory and Physical Needs: e.g. Hearing/Visual Impairment Multi-sensory impairment Physical and Medical Needs	Support and advice is sought from outside agencies to support pupils, where appropriate T is used to increase access to the curriculum Support to access the curriculum and to develop independent learning Advice and guidance is sought and acted upon to meet the needs of pupils who have significant medical needs Access to Medical Interventions Access to programmes to support Occupational Therapy / Physiotherapy. Support with personal care if and when needed Staff receive training to ensure they understand the impact of a sensory need upon teaching and learning Staff understand and apply the medicine administration policy The Special Educational Needs Lead completes any necessary training in order to offer advice and guidance to staff about the needs of pupils All entrances to the school have ramps fitted to allow wheelchair access The school has disabled toilets / facilities

If you have any concerns about your child’s Special Educational Needs or Disability, their progress or the support you receive, we would ask that you to come into school and discuss matters further with your child’s class teacher or our Special Educational Needs Lead.

Although school complaints procedures are in place and can be accessed through our website we would always hope to resolve any issues or concerns informally by working in partnership with parents.

Note

Parents can contact SENDIASS (The Special Educational Needs and Disability Information, Advice and Support Service)

0191 6434160 

SENDIASS@northtyneside.gov.uk

• North Tyneside Council's Local Offer: The Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Local Offer sets out the support and services that are available for children and young people aged 0-25 years across North Tyneside.