At Calcot School all children are valued, respected and welcomed to the school whatever their educational need.  All children have the right to a broad and balanced curriculum with learning opportunities that challenge and enable children to meet their full potential.  The term SEND (Special Educational Needs or Disability) refers to a wide range of learning, social and emotional or physical difficulties that may have an impact on the child’s learning ability or ability to access the curriculum. All children, at some time during their their educational journey at Calcot Schools, could have special educational needs. This may be for a short length of time or longer, with some children having special educational needs permanently.  At this point in time we will support their learning and ensure that they are given access to educational experiences of the highest quality and have the opportunity to develop into confident and independent learners. The achievements of children who have SEND are celebrated equally with those who find success easier to attain. We aim to ensure that children with SEND are perceived positively by all members of the school community, and that SEND and inclusive provision are positively valued and accessed by all.

We keep a Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) register of children who need support which is ‘additional to and different from’ the majority of pupils in school. Each child on the SEND register has a Success and Achievement Plan (SAP) with personalised targets. Our SEND register is fluid and reflects the ever changing needs of our children with children going onto and off our register as needed.

Provision and Specific Intervention

Below are some of the interventions and provisions we have for our SEND pupils at Calcot Schools.

Our sensory hut provides a 'small garden' learning environment for children who need additional sensory stimulation.

We have two fully qualified Emotional Literacy Support Assistants (ELSA) who support the emotional needs of our pupils from within their own equipped and private nurture  rooms.The ELSA programmes that they run recognises that children learn better and are happier in school if their emotional needs are also addressed.  Children can be referred for ELSA by a member of staff in consultation with parents.

Precision Teaching is a highly effective intervention used to develop high levels of fluency and accuracy in a targeted area of learning that a pupil is finding particularly difficult. Daily monitoring and charting of results enables pupils to see the progress they are making over a short space of time.

Read, Write Inc is a Literacy programme developed by Ruth Miskin which is proven to raise both attainment and learning behaviour across the school. 1:1 Read, Write Inc is a phonics intervention developed to support children who require further support in the acquisition of phonics knowledge. Pupils requiring 1:1 RWI receive intensive support from a trained LSA for ten minutes each day.

In Year Five we are able to access (for selected pupils) a local Language and Literacy Centres (LALs). It provides additional support and provision for pupils attending our school  that have significant Specific Learning Difficulties in Literacy as their primary need. The provision offered through the LAL is designed to allow pupils placed at the LAL to achieve their educational and social goals whilst attending school and attending one of the LALs for one session a week.An application  for LAL must be made by the SENCO following discussion with the Cognition and Learning Team, and also with pupil and his or her parents early in a child’s time in Year 4.

Catch Up Reading is a structured one-to-one intervention for learners who find reading difficult. It enables struggling readers to achieve more than double the progress of typically developing readers.It is suitable for all struggling readers whose Reading Age is significantly below their Chronological Age and is designed for use with struggling readers aged 6-14, rather than beginner readers.

SNAP maths is an intervention designed to support plugging the gaps in mathematical concept and rote learning, covering all topics of calculation. Children of all levels will be able to revise, consolidate and fill gaps in their mathematical calculation knowledge and concepts using these activities. 

AcceleRead AcceleWrite  is a computer programme of structured phonics exercises for individuals to improve reading, writing, spelling and listening skills.

In addition to formal interventions specific plans may include some of the following:

Pre-teaching and Post Teach opportunities to deliver targetted learning support before children are introduced to a new learning concept in class or after to provide consolidation and extra exposure.

Fine and Gross Motor Control. These may include exercises that have been recommended by specialist SEN teachers or therapists and may include the use of large apparatus e.g. gym balls, balance boards or small resources e.g. tweezers, marbles, dexterity equipment.

Social stories are sometimes used for children who are finding it difficult to understand social situations and are finding it difficult to understand what others may be thinking, wanting or believing. Social stories are sometimes used to help pupils ‘put themselves in another person’s shoes’ with the aim that they are less confused about the social world around them. Social stories are normally used following recommendation from outside agencies.

Interventions and targetted support may be delivered on a one to one basis or in a small group. Programmes and interventions are reviewed, monitored and adapted regularly by the inclusion manager and class teacher to make sure that they are successful in meeting the child's individual needs.

The Inclusion manager for Calcot Schools is Miss E Kirkby and she can be contacted via the office.

Schools have been asked to give their responses to the following questions for publication in the Authority’s Local Offer. This information will help parents, carers and young people to understand how our schools manage Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND).

You can access Calcot Infant school's local offer by clicking here

Calcot Junior School local offer by clicking here

Link to West Berkshire Local Offer by clicking here