Our SENCos are: Corina Antcliff & Laura Sims
This information is reviewed annually in the summer term through the Inclusion Governors Sub-Committee.
Which members of staff would you need to contact if you have concerns and what are their roles?
Special Educational Needs Co-ordinators (SENCo)
Email: senco@watercliffe.sheffield.sch.uk
Assistant Head of Inclusion
Learning Mentor Team
Attendance Officer
What kinds of special educational needs do we provide for?
We are a mainstream inclusive school and aim to meet the needs of all children and put provision in place to reduce their barriers to learning.
Currently these are some of the range of needs we are providing for:
1. Communication and Interaction – speech and language, ASD, Social communication difficulties
2. Cognition and Learning – General Learning Difficulties, Specific Learning Difficulties
3. Social, Emotional and Mental Health – Emotional and Behavioural difficulties, AHDH, ADD
4. Sensory and/ or Physical – Physical disabilities, Hearing impairment, Visual impairment, Medical needs
What support do we provide for improving emotional and social development?
Every child in school has a Boxall profile completed twice a year. From these the Inclusion team identify individual and groups of children that would benefit from interventions. These interventions may include anger management, bereavement, social skills, turn taking, raising self-esteem, Mighty Minds, Friendships. The Boxall Profile is also used for identifying areas of work which needs covering in a whole class setting e.g. circle time.
4 members of the Senior Leadership Team have completed a 10 day diploma programme run by Trauma Informed schools UK. All staff have had Trauma Informed training for 1 day. 2 members of the Senior Leadership Team attended Nurturing schools programme and the school was presented with an award. 2 members of the Senior Leadership Team have completed Healthy Minds training. This training has been implemented into the classroom.
How do we know if your child is making progress towards their targets? How do we ensure that you and your child are involved in this?
All children with SEN have 3 reviews per year where staff discuss with parents the progress their child has made against previous targets and together set new targets.
For children who are on an APDR (Assess, Plan, Do Review) these discussions are held with class teachers during parents evenings.
For children who are on a Support Plan, My Plan, EHC Plan these discussions are held with the SENCo, class teacher, parents and outside agencies if needed. Children’s views are collected prior to the meetings. A one page profile is produced for each child.
How do we secure additional services and expertise to work with us?
We currently buy in extra speech and language services. Our speech and language therapist works in school every Wednesday. Working alongside our therapist is a speech and language therapy assistant who works half a day every Wednesday in the Early Years.
We access and work alongside outside agencies including MAST, Educational Psychology, Autism Team, Early Years Service, Vision impaired, Hearing impaired.
We also regularly support families with Ryegate and other assessment appointments.
Watercliffe Meadow ensures that all staff have access to appropriate training. This training is planned around the changing needs of the children. In school, the annual Appraisal systems identify areas of training needs for any staff which is then accessed by outside agencies/ providers or staff with expertise in school.
How will we ensure that your child has a successful transition from one school to another?
We recognise transition to Secondary School can be a very stressful time for our children and families so we work hard to ensure it is as smooth as possible. Our Learning Mentor Team have regular meetings with the Pastoral Support Teams at Secondary Schools and the Y6 team do a detailed handover of every child’s needs and levels with the Y7 Coordinator. If you have any questions around transition to Secondary School please don’t hesitate to contact a member of the team.
Children entering F1 or F2 receive a home visit from our F1/F2 staff and the Early Years SENCo. If appropriate the SENCo will attend any meetings and hold discussions with outside agencies that are involved with your child.
All children that transition to Watercliffe Meadow in year receive a home visit from a senior member of staff and a learning mentor.
How do we evaluate the effectiveness of provision?
As well as the additional support that is on offer in all classrooms, Watercliffe Meadow also offers a range of interventions: