At Christ Church C of E Primary School we aim to support all children to enable them to achieve at school. To do this, many steps are taken to support them through their learning journey. High-quality first teaching is vital; however, for some children, there are occasions when additional support may be needed to help them achieve their full potential.

Parents/carers:  

If you have any concerns about your child’s learning, firstly, you should talk to the class teacher. You may also contact the Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCo). 

The Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCo) is the
Inclusion Leader Ms. W Baverstock

Phone: 0207 624 4967

E-mail: admin@cchurch.brent.sch.uk

Ms. Baverstock is a qualified teacher and also holds the Postgraduate National Award for Special Educational Needs Coordination (NASENCO) qualification. She is also the designated teacher for looked-after and previously looked-after children. Ms. Baverstock works at the school on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday only.

What does SEND mean?  
SEND stands for ‘Special Education Needs and Disability’. If your child has SEND, they may be experiencing difficulties in one or more of these areas;  
 

• Learning (reading, writing or maths)  
• Communication and interaction (speech and language difficulties, autism) 
• Sensory (hearing, visual or multisensory impairment)  
• Behaviour (inability to focus in class, emotional and other mental health difficulties)  
• Physical (gross and fine motor skills) 

There are many children with SEND who make expected progress and do well at school but may still need help to achieve their full potential.

What help will be available for my child?  

The first step in responding to your child’s individual needs is through high-quality teaching by a qualified teacher, which has proven to be the most effective way to support children to make the best progress possible. Most children with SEND can be supported within the classroom, by a fully qualified teacher. The teacher will make adjustments to their teaching to help support your child. For example, adapting the way your child is taught, e.g., giving instructions in a different way, visual timetable, different reading books, multisensory resources etc.  
 
Further support depends on your child’s needs or difficulties, and how well they are progressing. At Christ Church, we identify a pupil as having SEN if they have a learning difficulty or disability that calls for special educational provision to be made for them. This is called Special Educational Needs Support (SEN Support). If your child needs extra support, this may include:  
 

• For a short time, a small booster group to address your child’s specific needs or gaps in learning (this is reviewed regularly) 

• Attending an intervention to help them (for a short period), such as Language for Thinking. 

• Additional support from a teaching assistant or higher level teaching assistant

• Further assessment carried out by external professionals such as a speech and language therapist or an occupational therapist  

If you child has special educational needs or a learning difficulty or disability which calls for special educational provision, we will discuss with you about placing them on our SEN Register. Special educational provision means educational or training provision that is additional to, or different from, that made generally for other children of the same age. 

If your child is on the SEN Register, you will be invited to help write a personal learning plan for your child with the class teacher. The plan will have targets and strategies (ideas) about how we are helping your child and how to help your child at home. These are reviewed termly. 

For more information about our SEND provision, see our Provision Map. 

How do we monitor the support your child receives? 

You will be involved in an ongoing process of assessment, which is called ‘The Graduated Approach’. This is a cycle of ASSESS -formal and informal testing and observation, PLAN -what support they need and deciding the outcome, DO – intervention, and REVIEW -the impact of the support and decide the next steps.

Who will be involved with my child?  
If your child has SEND, the class teacher and other staff at school will all work together to support them. Other professionals might be involved if a child’s needs are complicated.

In a small number of cases, the Local Authority become involved if your child needs an Educational Health Care Plan or EHCP. An EHCP is for any child or young person with significant and complex Special Educational Needs or Disabilities. An EHCP is needed when a child's needs cannot be met by the usual support, including any extra interventions that have been put in place. 

The school and/or parents can make an application for an EHC Needs Assessment. Click on this link to view the pages with details. Please talk to your child's teacher and the SENCo before making an application.

Further support for parents in Brent 

Brent has a single place to go for information and advice for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) aged 0-25, and their families. This is called the Brent Local Offer. 

Brent SENDIASS provides free, confidential and impartial information, advice and support to children and young people aged 0 to 25 with SEND and their parents and carers.

This May Help is a website for parents offering advice about supporting the mental health and well-being of their children at home. It includes tips for supporting your child to sleep. 

We use the Nessy Reading and Spelling programme to support children with Specific Learning Difficulties such as dyslexia. Parent resources can be accessed here. If you have been given a login for your child, the login page can be accessed here. 

Supporting the Assessment Route (STAR) supports families, children and young people who are under the care of Brent Paediatrics or Children's Mental Health Services (CAMHS) and will be undergoing a Neurodevelopmental or Social Communication Assessment for Autism Spectrum Condition (ASC) or ADD/ADHD. 

English as an additional language (EAL) 

At Christ Church, we welcome diversity and embrace the many languages our pupils speak. Being EAL is not the same as being SEND. At least 25 different languages are spoken by children from our school. We welcome children at the beginning of their journey to learn English and offer support including working in smaller groups to learn to read and write. Being bilingual is an immensely useful skill. Several of our children are Language Ambassadors. Language Ambassadors are children who have shown they can speak in English and at least one other language. They also demonstrate that they can be leaders within our school community. Our Language Ambassadors help by being young translators and supporting younger pupils who are new to English. 

If your child has access to our EAL programme, Flash Academy, you can click here to login. 

Looked after children
A child who has been in the care of their local authority for more than 24 hours is known as a looked-after child or LAC. If a child at Christ Church is a LAC, the school will liaise directly with the local authority to make sure everyone is supporting their education and wider well-being at school. For further information, visit here.