Special Educational Needs and Disabilities, or SEND, refers to a child or young person with a learning difficulty or disability that calls for special educational provision to be made for them. This may mean they have significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others of the same age or have a disability which prevents or hinders them from making use of educational facilities of a kind generally provided for others of the same age. These pages set out information about our provision for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). This information is updated annually.

About our school

Kingham Primary School provides for children and young people with a wide range of special educational needs including those with:

• – this includes children who have speech language and communication difficulties including autistic spectrum conditions.
• this includes children who have learning difficulties and specific learning difficulties like dyslexia, dyspraxia and dyscalculia.
• this includes children who have visual or hearing needs, or a physical disability that affects their learning.

Our Special Educational Needs co-ordinator (SENDCo) is: Miss Emma Jenkinson. Our SENDCo can be contacted initially through the school office by telephone or mail using the contact details on the school website.

Our school governor with responsibility for SEND is: Mr David Salter. The SEND governor regularly meets with the SENDCo and reports back to the full governing body.

How do we identify and give extra help to children and young people with SEND?

The school uses Oxfordshire County Council’s guidance ‘Identifying and supporting Special Educational Needs in Oxfordshire schools and settings’.

The guidance sets out:

How we review progress and agree outcomes and involve parents and children in this.

How do we work with parents and children/young people?

We will always contact parents if we have a concern that a child or young person may have a special educational need.

We work closely with children and young people with SEND, and their parents, to agree outcomes and how we will all work towards these, and then to review progress.

All pupils on our SEND register will have a personalised ‘My Plan’ outlining the school’s intended strategies and interventions to achieve the necessary learning outcomes.

Adapting the curriculum

We offer a broad and balanced curriculum for all children and young people including those with SEND.  Details are published on the school website. The way we adapt this for children with SEND is set out in the School Accessibility Plan which outlines: how we increase the extent to which disabled pupils can participate in the curriculum; how we improve the physical environment to enable disabled pupils to take better advantage of the education and facilities we provide; how we improve the availability of accessible information to disabled pupils.

The support available will vary depending on the needs of the child, but could include:

• use of individual, pair and small group activities to teach specific skills
• access to suitable individual or small group intervention programmes
• models, images and multisensory resources to promote understanding
• any adaptations needed to the physical environment to help with access to learning.

What expertise can we offer?

Our SENDCo has several years’ experience as a teacher and school leader. She has been trained in many aspects of SEND and is currently training for the SENDCo qualification.

All staff receive regular SEND training.

We also have access to a range of specialist support services including:

• Educational Psychology
• SENSS, who support children with communication and language, sensory needs and physical needs
• Behaviour Support
• Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS)
• Oxfordshire School Inclusion Team
• Therapy services
• Early Intervention
• Children’s Social Care

Information about these services and what they offer can be found on the Oxfordshire County Council SEN web pages.

We always discuss the involvement of specialist SEN services with parents first.

We also work with other services and organisations that are involved with a family, with the family’s permission.

How do we know if SEND provision is effective?

We evaluate the effectiveness of provision for pupils with SEND by:

• Reviewing pupils’ individual progress towards their goals each term
• Reviewing the impact of interventions each term
• Using pupil questionnaires
• Monitoring by the SENDCo
• Holding annual reviews for pupils with EHC plans

How are children and young people with SEND helped to access activities outside of the classroom?

All of our extra-curricular activities and school visits are available to all our pupils, including our before-and after-school clubs.

All pupils are encouraged to go on our residential trips

All pupils are encouraged to take part in Sports Days, House tournaments, assemblies, productions and enrichment workshops.

No pupil is ever excluded from taking part in these activities because of their SEN or disability and we talk to parents and children when planning activities and trips so that everyone is clear about what will happen. 

There is information about activities and events for disabled children and those with SEN in Oxfordshire in the Family Information Directory.

Oxfordshire’s accessibility strategy can be found on this link.

What do we do to support the well-being of children/young people with SEND?

All children have the opportunity to share their views through their school council representatives and pupil questionnaires

We listen to the views of children/young people with SEN by holding termly meetings prior to setting targets in their ‘My Plan’

We take bullying very seriously.  We help to prevent bullying of children/young people with SEND by proactive education about bullying and rigorous sanctions if it occurs. 

Joining the school and moving on

We encourage all new children to visit the school before starting.  For children with SEND we recommend a pre-visit to the school before their admission date.

Who to contact

Any concerns about a child should be discussed in the first instance with their class teacher. If issues remain unresolved, then the matter should be referred to the Special Educational Needs and Disability Coordinator (SENDCo). The SENDCo at Kingham Primary School is Miss Emma Jenkinson. The SENDCo can be contacted initially through the school office by telephone or mail using the contact details on the school web site.

The school governor with responsibility for SEND is Mr David Salter. The SEND governor regularly meets with the SENDCo and reports back to the full governing body.

If a parent would like impartial advice and support from Oxfordshire’s SENDIAS (SEND information advice and support service) then please click on this link  

If you’d like to know more about opportunities for children and young people with SEND and their families, support groups or information about SEND, these are listed in the Family Information Directory:

Oxfordshire’s Local SEND Offer also contains lots of information for parents.

If you have a complaint about SEND provision in our school this should be addressed initially with the child’s classteacher or if necessary the SENDCo and then the Headteacher. If you are still not happy with the response you can make a formal complaint. Please see our Complaints Policy for further details.