SEND and Inclusion

Please click on the links below to access information about how we support children with special educational needs at St Nicholas C of E Primary School.

Send and Inclusion - Annual information report - 2025-2026

SEN Parent Information

What is SEN?
SEN stands for Special Educational Needs, and it is the legal term describing the needs of a
child with a learning difficulty or disability that makes school more challenging for them than
their peers.

Special Educational Needs are categorised broadly into four main areas:

Cognition and Learning
Communication and Interaction
Social, Emotional and Mental Health
Physical or Sensory Difficulties

Who is our SENCo and what is her role?
All schools are required by law to have a SENCo (Special Educational Needs Co-Ordinator),
and their job is to co-ordinate all of the provision in school for the pupils who have Special
Educational Needs.
Our SENCo is Mrs Anna Merryweather. She is a qualified teacher and has experience of
teaching across all primary year groups. Mrs Merryweather holds a Postgraduate Certificate
in SEN Co-Ordination, and works alongside class teachers, parents, teaching assistants, the
Headteacher and outside agencies to ensure that all of our pupils are enabled to achieve
their potential.

Who will support my child with their learning in the classroom?
Your child’s class teacher is responsible for their learning in the classroom, supported by the
teaching assistants.

What support is available for my child at school?
We use the Graduated Approach to manage all the support we give in school. This means
we follow graduated steps of support when we identify that a child might need some more
help.

First of all, we do our very best to use teaching strategies that support all of the different
needs in the class – this is called universal provision (offered to everyone). This means
that even if your child finds something tricky, the teacher works hard to make sure the way
they teach meets everybody’s needs. There is lots of research to show that the best way to
support children with SEN is by keeping them in the classroom with their teacher. Our
teachers use proven strategies to help children to learn through universal provision.

These include:

Clear explanations supported by visuals
Modelling
Guided practice
Frequent checks of understanding
Opportunities for planning, practicing, revisiting and evaluating
Scaffolding (for example, the use of a writing frame or partially completed example)
Flexible grouping – the teacher assesses your child’s needs ‘live’ in the lesson and decides how much help they need based on this, instead of always using fixed groups.
The use of technology to support learning.

If your child needs help with something specific, then we might need to put in place some
additional support. This is the next step of the Graduated Approach and is called individual
adjustments.

Some examples of individual adjustments are:

Extra resources on your child’s table
More frequent check ins with the teacher
Behaviour support (e.g. a reward chart)
Sensory support (e.g. extra movement breaks or a fiddle toy / wobble cushion)
Working with the teacher in a group.

Sometimes, children might need a bit more support than what can be provided through
universal provision or individual adjustments. This is when we look at ways in which we can
provide targeted support.

Examples of targeted support are:

A sequence of intervention sessions with a Teaching Assistant.
Working with an external agency (like the Speech and Language Therapist)
1:1 work with the teacher.

How do we know what support is needed?
Teachers, utilising advice from the SENCo, carry out a continuous cycle of assessment and
action. This is known as the ‘Assess, Plan, Do, Review’ cycle.

Assess: An analysis of the child’s needs. Ways of gathering this vary, e.g. during group work, written assessments, observations, or in some cases, using outside agencies for support.
Plan: Once we understand the child’s needs, we plan provision appropriate to this.
Do: We implement the planned provision.
Review: We work together to review progress and use assessment information to plan the next step in provision.

This cycle enables us to critically evaluate what is in place, based on how much progress
your child is making. We can then adapt provision to better suit their needs.

What if my child needs more help?
If we identify that your child needs more help than we can offer, then there are a number of
things the SENCo may be able to do.

Next steps may include:

Seeking advice from professionals such as, the Communication & Interaction Advisory Teacher, or our Educational Psychologist.
Making a referral to services such as the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) or the Speech and Language Therapy Team.
Advising parents to seek advice from the GP.
Completing a Strengths and Needs Assessment (this is for specific emotional, social and family needs).
For younger children, making a referral to the Early Years SEN Inclusion Team (EYSENIT), or to Community Paediatrics via the GP.
Applying for an Education, Health and Care Needs Assessment (EHCNA), with the view to the child receiving additional funding through an Education, Health and Care
Plan (EHCP).

Any of the above actions will only happen in collaboration with parents, and after a thorough
analysis of needs and engagement in the Assess, Plan, Do, Review cycle.

What is a Pupil Profile?
A Pupil Profile is a summary of your child’s needs. It provides detail about what helps your
child to learn; gives a chronology of any additional support from outside agencies (if
applicable); provides a snapshot academic attainment; gives details of the extra provision in
place for your child; and outlines the long and short-term targets they are working on in
relation to their SEN profile.
The purpose of the profile is to keep a clear log of what is in place for your child in school,
and to enable this to be shared easily between professionals working with your child. It also
provides you with an opportunity to have input into what is in place for your child during
review meetings.
We take a child centered approach to the support that is put in place for your child. Each
year, your child is given the opportunity to tell us what is important to them in relation to their
needs as a learner. This is recorded and stored alongside the pupil profile, so that everybody
who works with your child understands their views.
We also value your input as parents on your child’s learning and ask that you contribute to
their profile through target setting and review meetings, as well as by completing our ‘Parent
Views’ form.

Who do I speak to with regard to my child’s needs?
Your child’s class teacher is the first port of call when it comes to learning and provision. Our
teachers are skilled in meeting a vast range of needs, and have the best understanding of
your child.
Mrs Merryweather is available in school three days per week, and welcomes contact from
parents. If you would like to arrange a meeting, please do so via the school office.