Our vision at Holy Trinity is for all children to ‘soar on the wings of eagles’, regardless of any barriers they might face. We are an inclusive school where we expect and help all children to learn and play together whatever their abilities, differences or individual needs. We recently had a successful review of our SEND provision by Camden Borough. Please find the report here.
Raising Aspirations
We raise aspirations for our pupils with SEND by pursuing academic excellence in all areas, according to individual need. We offer the breath of curriculum for children with SEND, both within school and through extra-curricular activities. We enrich our curriculum with opportunities locally and across London.
Children are taught explicitly about the successes and achievements of people with SEND through our PSHE curriculum. We have also chosen our English texts carefully so that there are books to inspire children about diversity and inclusion.
Reaching Our Potential
For pupils to reach their potential, we offer a safe, welcoming and inclusive environment, where everyone has the opportunity to contribute and flourish. We aim to encourage a personal love for learning alongside high quality teaching and support. We are committed to making sure all our pupils have the chance to thrive, and support them to meet their full potential.
We ensure that all staff have the knowledge and skills to support all children with SEND in our school and dedicate INSETs to SEND training. We believe that progress in wider skills, such as speaking and listening, maintaining friendships, developing independence and keeping safe and healthy is just as important as progress in academic learning.
We know that parents are the first educators of their child and help children meet individual progress through strong partnership. We do this by: listening to their concerns, discussing their child’s strengths and individual needs; planning provision and review progress. We also work in partnership with external professionals, linking them with families and acting on their advice.
Learning to Live Well Together
Pupils learn to live well together through our school’s Christian values of: significance, peace, compassion, respect, forgiveness and courage. These engender a sense of community and belonging for all. The children enjoy whole school Worship in which we work together towards these values and encourage children to ask questions. By celebrating diversity in this way, our children learn to be respectful and compassionate towards children with SEND.
Holy Trinity’s SEND Information Report sets out what we provide for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) throughout their time with us. It is designed to answer some of the key questions that parents may have when considering, or entering the school, as concisely as possible.
Please refer to our SEND Policy July 2024 for greater detail on the provision that we offer and our day-to-day procedures.
The SEND Code of Practice, revised in 2014, provides guidance of the duties that schools, local authorities and others working with children who have SEND must have regard for. Our school currently provides additional and/or different provision for children with the following needs:
- Communication and Interaction e.g. speech, language and communication needs (SLCN); Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Asperger’s Syndrome
- Cognition and Learning e.g. Specific Learning Difficulties (SpLD), moderate learning difficulties (MLD), Severe Learning Difficulties (SLD)
- Social, Emotional and Mental Health e.g. attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD); depression, eating disorder, attachment disorder, self-injury
- Physical and Sensory e.g. Visual impairment (VI); Deafness or Hearing impairment (HI); Multi-Sensory impairment (MSI); Cerebral Palsy etc.
Whilst each child’s needs are unique, the above categories help the school to broadly plan provision. Some children may have needs in more than one category.
Limitations of the school site
At Holy Trinity we take our duties under the Equality Act 2010 seriously and we continue to implement a programme of improvements to the school building in order to make it accessible to more children. However, the nature of the school site will make access very difficult for children with some types of physical disability. Parents of children with mobility difficulties are therefore advised to visit the school and meet with the Inclusion Leader before applying for a place, so that they can make an informed decision as to whether the school can meet reasonably meet their child’s physical needs.
Accessibility Plan
We have written an accessibility plan that covers:
- Increasing the extent to which pupils with disabilities can participate in your curriculum
- Improving your school’s physical environment to increase the extent to which pupils with disabilities can take advantage of the education, benefits, facilities and services you provide or offer
- Improving the delivery to pupils with disabilities of information which is readily accessible to pupils without disabilities
For more information, please email [email protected]
Medical Conditions
Parents are asked to alert the school office to any medical conditions that their child may have and provide contact details for their GP. Children may require an individual health care plan that will normally specify the type and level of support required to meet the child’s medical needs. This should be drawn up by medical staff and shared with the school.
SENDCO
Jess Dillon is the school SENDCO. She has completed the National Award for Special Educational Needs Coordination (NASCO). She also plays part of the Senior Leadership Team which ensures that the needs of SEND children are at forefront of any decision making.
Both the head of school, Keeley McCleave, and the executive head, Laura Hall, have completed the NASCO and are experienced Inclusion Leaders. Together they work to meet the needs of all the children at Holy Trinity Primary School.
Jess can be contacted via the school office on 0207 435 9089.
Class Teachers
All of our teachers receive in-house SEN training, and are supported by the SENCO to meet the needs of pupils who have SEN.
Teaching Assistants (TAs)
We have a team of TAs at Holy Trinity, including a number of higher-level teaching assistants (HLTAs) who are trained to deliver SEN provision.
External agencies and experts
Sometimes we need extra help to offer our pupils the support that they need. Whenever necessary we will work with external support services to meet the needs of our pupils with SEN and to support their families. These include:
- Camden’s Language and Communication Service include Language and Communication teachers and Speech and Language Therapists
- Educational psychologists
- Occupational therapists
- GPs or paediatricians
- School nurses
- Child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS)
- Social services and other LA-provided support services
If you think your child might have SEN, the first person you should tell is your class teacher. You can get in touch with them by arranging a meeting with them through the school office.
They will pass the message onto our SENCO, Jess Dillon, who will be in touch to discuss your concerns. Together we will decide the next steps for your child.
At Holy Trinity CE Primary School, we place great importance on the early identification of children with barriers to learning and recognise the need for early intervention. We have clear procedures in place that help us to identify children that need to be monitored or those needing extra or different provision on the basis of the progress they make. Please note that academic progress is not the only measure we look at. Children are also measured against various developmental milestones, especially in Reception.
A child is identified as making less than expected progress, given their age and individual circumstances, when their progress:
- is significantly below than that of their peers starting from the same baseline;
- fails to match or better the child’s previous rate of progress;
- fails to close the attainment gap between the child and their peers;
- widens the attainment gap.
We identify the children who are making less than expected progress through a regular and thorough assessment cycle. As part of the cycle, teaching teams and the Senior Leadership Team meet termly to discuss and analyse a range of information, including test data, formative assessment data and wider observations about a child’s overall development. We call these meetings Pupil Progress Meetings. Whilst additional or different provision is broadly planned from the results of these meetings, teachers are continually assessing the progress of the children in their class and adapting their planning and resources to meet their needs.
Slow progress and low attainment do not necessarily mean that a child has SEND and will not automatically lead to a pupil being recorded as having SEND. There are many factors that can impact on a child’s progress and attainment other than SEND. These include:
- Poor attendance and punctuality
- Health and welfare
- English as an additional language (EAL)
- Being in receipt of Pupil Premium Grant
- Being a Looked After Child (LAC)
- Being the child of a serviceman/servicewoman
Parents/carers, children and staff are encouraged to share any concerns about the progress of a child with the class teacher or SENDCo as early as possible. We listen carefully to what staff, children and parents tell us at any time during the year and will seek to implement support where necessary, as soon as possible.
It is also important that parents/carers make the school aware of any significant changes to their child’s family or home situation, as these can equally impact on a child’s readiness to learn. Information of this sort can help us to provide the right type of support before it impacts on a child’s learning.
All children with SEND are assessed termly so that their progress and attainment can be monitored. Any summative assessments carried out will be at an appropriate level for the child. We track and monitor interventions using provision maps which are monitored by the SENCO. Children with EHCs are evaluated annually during Annual Review meetings.
Some children with SEND may find it hard to access the same assessment materials as others e.g. test papers. Therefore other assessment methods will need to be used. This may include formative assessments made against individual or national curriculum targets, observations.
To measure individual targets, support is delivered through successive rounds of a 4-part cycle known as the graduated approach (assess, plan, do, review).
- Assess
If your child is not making the expected level of progress, we will make an assessment to find out what strengths and difficulties your child has. We will ask for you and your child’s input, as well as getting help from external professionals where necessary.
- Plan
In discussion with you and your child, we will decide what outcomes we are hoping to achieve. We will make a plan of the support we will offer your child to help them meet those outcomes. We will make a record of this and share it with you and all relevant school staff.
- Do
We will put our plan into practice.
The class teacher, with the support of the SENCO, will be responsible for working with your child, and making sure the support we put in place is having the impact we intended.
- Review
We will assess how well the support we put in place helped the pupil to meet the outcomes we set. We will use our improved understanding of your child’s needs to improve the support we offer.
To achieve the best for all children, it is vital that the school and parents/carers work in partnership.
We support this by:
- Listening to parents/carers and sharing the knowledge they have of their children
- Providing support for children’s learning and personal development at home
- Involving parents/carers in reviewing their child’s progress
- Helping parents/ carers to get independent advice
- Communicating frequently on their children’s progress, well-being, success and needs.
- Providing workshops to help parents/carers support their child’s learning at home.
The school has strong communication links with parents/carers of pupils with special educational needs. We value the involvement and contribution of parents/carers. We encourage parents/carers to share their views within Annual Reviews and during multi-disciplinary review meetings. Parents/carers of pupils with SEND can approach school staff to discuss the progress of their children and to seek information and advice.
We help parents/carers to make a positive contribution to the education of their children through:
- A systematic effort to support parents/ carers at periods of transition, by clearly explaining all the procedures, paying visits to new settings (internal or external), having interviews with newcomers and making sure that all needs are communicated effectively so that they can be followed up successfully.
- Good communication including telephone and face to face conversations, Annual Review meetings and school reports. We believe that it is also the day-to-day informal discussions with parents/carers that build the relationships that are vital to close partnership working. We will meet with parents/carers regularly to discuss any questions and/or concerns that they may have about their children’s education.
The level of involvement will depend on your child’s age, and level of competence. We recognise that no 2 children are the same, so we will decide on a case-by-case basis, with your input.
We may seek your child’s views by asking them to:
- Attend meetings to discuss their progress and outcomes
- Add their own comments to their Individual Education Plan
- Discuss their views with a member of staff
We will adapt how we teach to suit the way the pupil works best. There is no ‘1 size fits all’ approach to adapting the curriculum, we work on a case-by case basis to make sure the adaptations we make are meaningful to your child. We aim to be as responsive to the individual’s needs as possible and may use a variety of different approaches to do so. These may include: different teaching strategies, additional or different resources, time with an additional adult or external professional, more time to complete tasks, additional breaks or specific intervention programmes.
Most children with SEND are educated with their peers in their classroom and follow the same programme of study which has been differentiated for them. Where a child needs to follow a highly adapted curriculum, this will be planned for them by their teacher, in conjunction with specialist professionals and the SENCO.
We take advice from professionals regarding adaptations to the school environment. These recommendations always take into account the limitations of the site and the need for the school to create a welcoming environment for all of the children.
We will evaluate the effectiveness of provision for your child by:
- Reviewing their progress towards their goals each term
- Reviewing the impact of interventions every term
- Monitoring by the SENCO
- Using provision maps to measure progress
- Holding an annual review (if they have an education, health and care (EHC) plan
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 school trips, including our residential trips. All pupils are encouraged to take part in whole school events.
At Holy Trinity we take our duties under the Equality Act 2010 towards disabled children seriously and we continue to implement a programme of improvements to the school building in order to make it accessible to more children. For example, during the Summer 2021 holiday we made alterations to the hall to improve the lunchtime experience for children with sensory needs and created a new ‘pod’ to facilitate a specific intervention programme.
However, the nature of the school site will make access very difficult for children with some types of physical disability. The school, including the playground, is situated on a steep slope and the upstairs classrooms are all reached via tight staircases. Unfortunately we are unable to change the topography of the site or increase the footprint of the school building.
Please see our accessibility plan for more information.
At Holy Trinity we aim to promote positive mental health and wellbeing for our whole school community and recognise how important mental health and emotional wellbeing is to our lives. We recognise that children’s mental health is a crucial factor in their overall wellbeing and can affect their learning and achievement.
In view of this, Ms Toplis is now a dedicated Pastoral Support Worker helping children with social, emotional and/or mental health needs (SEMH). Children can be referred to Ms Toplis via the SENDCo or they can self-refer.
We support all our children’s emotional, mental and social development in the following ways:
- Providing a dedicated Pastoral Support Worker
- Through the teaching and practise of Christian values
- A rigorous PHSE and Citizenship programme of study
- Involving children in decisions that affect them e.g. School Council
- Giving them responsibilities e.g. House Captains, drawing up class charters
- Rewards systems and assemblies
Some children, particularly those with SEND, may need further support in this area, which may include:
- Supported interactions with other pupils
- Participation of organised games at playtime
- Interventions that target the development of social skills, self-esteem or resilience
- 1:1 sessions with the Pastoral Support Worker
- Support from external professionals e.g. CAMHS or PLSS
There are a number of measures in place that support a smooth transfer of all children to the next school year. In addition to these, we have the following measures for children with SEND:
- The Inclusion Leader ensures that we pass on all records to the next class teacher and that he or she is fully aware of the child’s needs
- During all Pupil Progress Meetings and SEND Review Meetings pupils are discussed in detail to ensure continuity of provision.
- At the hand-over meeting in the Summer term, the class teacher shares detailed information with the new class teacher
- We share behaviour support plans for Social Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH) with class teachers and others as appropriate
- At the end of the academic year, provision for the child is reviewed and My Plans are drawn up for the Autumn term to ensure children’s needs are targeted, using the resources outlined in the Provision Map. For pupils with an EHCP, their plans incorporate the specific targets and requirements as set out in the EHCP. These are monitored and reviewed through the processes outlined in this policy
- We put in place additional strategies for individual children e.g. extra visits to the new classroom, photo books, buddying with older child/sibling/learning mentor support
- When a child transfers to another primary school we pass on the SEND profiles and the Inclusion Leader may speak to the teacher with responsibility for SEND at the new school
Children from Holy Trinity CE move on to a variety of secondary schools that are closely linked with the school. All Year 6 children have transition visits to local secondary schools. When children with EHCP transfer to Secondary School or to a special school, the Inclusion Leader and Year 6 teacher invite the SENDCo of the receiving school to visit Holy Trinity to meet the child. They are also invited to attend their Annual Reviews. We pass on all the SEND records e.g. personalised planning to the receiving school. If appropriate some children may make several visits to their new school with their teaching assistant or learning mentor as part of an individual transition plan.
It is always best to try to resolve complaints amicably and this is what invariably happens, either through the teacher or SENDCo. We make ourselves as accessible as possible and are always glad to chat informally. Alternatively, we are happy to make an appointment for a more formal meeting where parents/carers are welcome to bring a family member or a person acting as their advocate or translator if required.
Camden’s Local Offer is published on: https://cindex.camden.gov.uk/kb5/camden/cd/localoffer.page?localofferchannel=0
It provides:
- Information, advice and guidance about the support offered for children and young people with SEND; and
- Service information including what services you can expect to receive, what the criteria is, the referral process and contact details