INCLUSION AND SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS AND DISABILITY (SEND)

If you require additional information about SEND at St. Laurence, please contact the school's SEND/Inclusion Manager, Mrs Veronica Harvey, via the office (office@stlaurence.cambs.sch.uk) or by telephone (01223 712227).

Schools publish an annual Special Educational Needs Information Report, which will outline what individual schools are able to offer in order to support children and families with SEND.

The 2023-2024 SEND information report for St. Laurence Catholic Primary is available at the bottom of this page.

At St. Laurence Primary School, we believe that every child is unique and special, and we aim to provide a broad and balanced curriculum for all. We are committed to developing cultures, policies and practices that are inclusive. We have systems to identify when children have barriers affecting their learning and tailor specific interventions to enable pupils to overcome their barriers.

Where children are identified as needing additional learning or behavioural support, the school adheres to the 2014 SEND Code of Practice. We ensure that each child’s needs are individually and appropriately catered for, and that any relevant outside agencies are involved in providing guidance and support. Teachers closely monitor the progress of all pupils and review progress with the SENCo (weekly) and senior leaders (termly).

Through assessments, observations and communication with parents, a teacher may feel a child needs to be placed on the Special Needs Register. With support from the school’s SEND/Inclusion Manager, provision is carefully planned. Provision strategies to help support the child in class and notes from discussions with parents form a “pupil profile.” The SENCO is responsible for supporting, planning and monitoring interventions and pupil profiles. This monitoring is used to ensure systems are effective and impact positively on pupil progress.

Following discussions with parents and carers, pupils may be placed on the SEND Register. For many, this involves a short burst of targeted intervention which may lead to them being taken off the register and their progress monitored, while for others the support process is a longer one. Children with high level or complex needs will have an Additional Support Plan in place, as well as a pupil profile, and the children with the most severe and complex needs will have an Education Health Care Plan drawn up following a full assessment by the County Statutory Assessment Team. In all cases, our aim is to provide the very best education for pupils, allowing all children to fully achieve their potential.

Cambridgeshire's Local Offer

From September 2014, all local authorities must publish in one place information about the services they expect to be available in their area for children and young people 0-25 who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. This is known as the local offer. You can find out more about the Cambridgeshire Local Offer at http://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/send.

The local offer helps parents, carers and young people to see clearly the range of services and support that are available in their local area and understand how to access them. It contains information about:

• services and support available
• how children and young people's needs are identified and assessed
• the way schools, colleges and maintained nurseries support children and young people with SEND
• how to access services and how decisions are made
• preparation for adulthood and independence
• arrangements for making a complaint and mediation
• how to comment on the local offer.

Should you have any concerns/complaints about SEND provision, in the first instance, please contact the SENCo as above. There after, should your concern/complaint not be resolved, please follow the school's Complaints Procedure which can be found on the Policies page.