We are an inclusive Junior School whose core purpose is to provide a happy and safe learning community in which we aim to nurture and inspire all individuals to achieve by providing a vibrant curriculum, inspirational teaching and effective support.

What we do:

• We work in partnership with parents to ensure that you are at the heart of planning effective provision to support your child to be happy at school and make progress with their learning.
• We think it is important that wherever possible, our pupils are also a part of their provision planning as this helps them to understand their responsibilities as learners and to share their ideas about what is important and how we can support them.
• Our teachers are committed to providing inclusive learning environments, adapting teaching styles and resources as necessary, to ensure all pupils are supported to achieve their full potential.
• Our large team of teaching assistants are experienced in supporting pupils both in and outside of the classroom, using a wide of interventions to target support where it is most effective.

As of September 2024 we have 77 children on our SEND register, approximately 23% of the children on roll.
This breaks down as:

• EHCP (Educational Health Care Plan) or Statement of SEN = 7
• SEN support provision = 70

The SENCO – Mr Wheeler – 01630 652769

Responsible for:

• Coordinating all the support for children with special educational needs or disabilities (SEND) and developing the school’s SEND Policy to make sure all children get a consistent, high quality response to meeting their needs in school.
• Ensuring that you are:
  • involved in supporting your child’s learning
  • kept informed about the support your child is getting
  • involved in reviewing how they are doing
• Liaising with all the other people who may be coming into school to help support your child’s learning e.g. Speech and Language Therapy, Educational Psychology etc…
• Updating the school’s SEND register (a system for ensuring all the SEND needs of pupils in this school are known) and making sure that there are records of your child’s progress and needs.
• Providing specialist support for teachers and support staff in the school so they can help children with SEND in the school achieve the best progress possible.

Class/subject teacher

Responsible for:

• • Checking on the progress of your child and identifying, planning and delivering any additional help your child may need (this could be things like targeted work, additional support) and letting their Assistant Head Teacher know as necessary.
• Writing a Learning Plan and sharing and reviewing these with parents at least once each term and planning for the next term.
• Ensuring that all staff working with your child in school are helped to deliver the planned work/programme for your child, so they can achieve the best possible progress. This may involve the use of additional adults, outside specialist help and specially planned work and resources.
• Ensuring that the school’s SEND Policy is followed in their classroom and for all the pupils they teach with any SEND.

Headteacher – Responsible for:

• The day to day management of all aspects of the school, this includes the support for children with SEND.
• Will give responsibility to the Assistant Head Teachers and class teachers but is still responsible for ensuring that your child’s needs are met.
• Must make sure that the Governing Body is kept up to date about any issues in the school relating to SEND.

As a Junior School, many of our SEND pupils arrive with their SEND identified and planned for.  Discussions take place with the SENCO from Market Drayton Infant School and any other infant feeder school in the summer term in order to ensure an effective transition and sharing of relevant information.

If this is not the case then we take a graduated approach to assessing whether or not a pupil has SEND.  This has 4 main stages.

Class teacher input via excellent targeted classroom teaching also known as Quality First Teaching.

For your child this would mean:

• That the teacher has the highest possible expectations for your child and all pupils in their class.
• That all teaching is based on building on what your child already knows, can do and can understand.
• Different ways of teaching are in place so that your child is fully involved in learning in class. This may involve things like using more practical learning.
• Specific strategies (which may be suggested by the SENCO or outside staff) are in place to support your child to learn.
• Your child’s teacher will have carefully checked on your child’s progress and will have decided that your child has gaps in their understanding/learning and needs some extra support to help them make the best possible progress.
  All children in school should be getting this as a part of excellent classroom practice when needed.
  If this approach alone is not helping a pupil to make expected progress then some intervention may be planned.

Specific group work within a smaller group of children.

This group, often called Intervention groups by schools, may be

• Run either inside or outside of the classroom.
• Run by a teacher or teaching assistant who has had training to run these groups.

This type of support is available for any child who has specific gaps in their understanding of a subject/area of learning.

If, despite differentiation and intervention, a pupil is still not able to make expected progress with their learning then school would seek the permission of parents to request assessment from specialist outside agencies.

Stage of SEN Code of Practice: SEN Support

This means they have been identified by the class teacher as needing some extra specialist support in school from an outside professional and/or individual support of less than 15 hours in school

• Local Authority central services such as the Educational Psychology, Occupational Therapy or Sensory Service (for students with a hearing or visual need)
• Outside agencies such as the Speech and Language therapy (SALT) Service. Learning Support Advisory Teachers (LSAT) or ASD Specialist Outreach Team (e.g. Woodlands Outreach).

For your child this would mean:

• Your child will have been identified by the class teacher/SENCO (or you will have raised your worries) as needing more specialist input instead of or in addition to quality first teaching and intervention groups.
• You will be asked to come to a meeting to discuss your child’s progress and help plan possible ways forward.
• You may be asked to give your permission for the school to refer your child to a specialist professional e.g. a Speech and Language Therapist or Educational Psychologist. This will help the school and yourself understand your child’s particular needs better and be able to support them better in school.
• The specialist professional will work with your child to understand their needs and make recommendations, which may include:
  • Making changes to the way your child is supported in class e.g. some individual support or changing some aspects of teaching to support them better
  • Support to set better targets which will include their specific expertise
  • A group run by school staff under the guidance of the outside professional e.g. a social skills group
  • A group or individual work with outside professional.
• The school may suggest that your child needs some individual support in school. They will tell you how the support will be used and what strategies will be put in place.

This type of support is available for children with specific barriers to learning that cannot be overcome through Quality First Teaching and intervention groups.

If, despite a more significant level of additional support, following the advice of outside agencies, a pupil is still not able to make progress with their learning, or is not able to do so with any level of independence then the final stage of the graduated approach is a request for statutory assessment to support specified individual support.

Specified Individual Support

This is usually provided via an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP).This means your child will have been identified by the class teacher/SENCO as needing a particularly high level of individual or small group teaching (usually more than 15 hours a week).

It is likely that your child will also need specialist support in school from a professional outside the school. This may be from:

• Local Authority central services such as the ASD Outreach Team or Sensory Service (for students with a hearing or visual need).
• Outside agencies such as the Speech and Language therapy (SALT) Service.
  For your child this would mean:
• The school (or you) can request that the Local Authority carry out a statutory assessment of your child’s needs. This is a legal process which sets out the amount of support that will be provided for your child.
• After the school have sent in the request to the Local Authority (with a lot of information about your child, including some from you), they will decide whether they think your child’s needs (as described in the paperwork provided), seem complex enough to need a statutory assessment. If this is the case they will ask you and all professionals involved with your child to write a report outlining your child’s needs. If they do not think your child needs this, they will ask the school to continue with provision at SEN Support.
• After the reports have all been sent in the Local Authority will decide if your child’s needs are severe, complex and lifelong and that they need more than 15 hours of support in school to make good progress. If this is the case they will write an EHC Plan. If this is not the case, they will ask the school to continue with the current SEN Support available through school.
• The EHC Plan will outline the number of hours of individual/small group support your child will receive from the LA and how the support should be used and what strategies must be put in place. It will also have long and short term goals for your child.
• An additional adult may be used to support your child with whole class learning, run individual programmes or run small groups including your child.

This type of support is available for children whose learning needs are:

• Severe, complex and/or lifelong
• Need a significant amount of support in school (usually in excess of 15 hours).

• If you have concerns about your child’s progress you should speak to your child’s class teacher initially.
• If you are not happy that the concerns are being managed and that your child is still not making progress you should speak to the SENCO or Headteacher.
• You may also wish to write to the School Governors.
• If School is not able to address your concerns, another option would be for you to contact the SEN Team at the Local Authority (Shirehall).

Please click here to link to the School’s Complaint Policy.

If your child is then identified as not making progress the school will set up a meeting to discuss this with you in more detail and to:

• listen to any concerns you may have too
• plan any additional support your child may receive
• discuss with you any referrals to outside professionals to support your child’s learning (please see section 2 for detailed information about the graduated approach to identifying and assessing pupils with possible SEND and what this might look like at each stage).

• The school budget, received from Shropshire LA, includes money for supporting children with SEND.
• The Head Teacher decides on the budget for Special Educational Needs and Disabilities in consultation with the school governors, on the basis of needs in the school.
• The Head Teacher, Assistant Head Teachers and the SENCO discuss all the information they have about SEND in the school, including:
  • the children getting extra support already the children needing extra support
  • the children who have been identified as not making as much progress as would be expected.

And decide what resources/training and support is needed.

Where children have been identified as requiring additional support this could be provided through planned intervention programmes, booster groups, additional time and/or additional adult support in the classroom.

If a child does not make progress despite intervention at this level, school would contact parents for permission to refer to an outside agency for assessment and advice. Depending on the outcome of that assessment, the child could then be identified as requiring SEN support and a PCP (Person Centred Plan) would be written.

Provision is reviewed approximately once a term and if identified children are not making appropriate progress this may be amended or added to as necessary. This would be discussed with parents as required and at least termly as part of our PCP review meetings.

Please see Section 2 for detailed information about the graduated approach to identifying and assessing pupils with possible SEND and what this might look like at each stage.

All resources/training and support are reviewed regularly and changes made as needed.

Directly funded by the school:

• Additional Teaching Assistants
• ‘Solihul Approach to Parenting’ support programme
• Intervention programme for emotional development
• Intervention programme for development of organisational and motor skills
• Intervention programme for development of fluid handwriting style
• Intervention programme for basic skills development in number
• Intervention programme for catch-up phonics and basic skills development for reading and writing.
• Autism Outreach Service
• Learning Support Advisory Team Assessment Service
• Dyslexia Screening (n.b. this gives us an individual ‘at risk’ profile not a diagnosis)
• Daily dyslexia support programme
• Educational Psychology Service.

Paid for centrally by the Local Authority but delivered in school:

• Sensory Service for children with visual or hearing needs
• Occupational Therapy Service (Assessment, advice and resources for children with specific learning difficulties around developmental co-ordination/ dyspraxia
• Speech and Language Therapy
• School Nurse
• Physiotherapy

• The Assistant Headteachers’ job is to support the class teacher in planning for children with SEND.
• The school has a training plan for all staff to improve the teaching and learning of children including those with SEND. This includes whole school training on SEND issues such as ASD and Speech and language difficulties.
• Individual teachers and support staff attend training courses run by outside agencies that are relevant to the needs of specific children in their class e.g. from the ASD Outreach service.

• Class Teachers plan lessons according to the specific needs of all groups of children in their class, and will ensure that your child’s needs are met.
• Specially trained support staff can adapt the teachers planning to support the needs of your child where necessary.
• Specific resources and strategies will be used to support your child individually and in groups.
• Planning and teaching will be adapted on a daily basis if needed to meet your child’s learning needs.

• Your child’s progress is continually monitored by his/her class teacher.
• His/her progress is reviewed formally against the National Curriculum every term.

Pre Key Stage levels’.

• If your child is in Year 1 and above, but is not yet at National Curriculum levels, a more sensitive assessment tool has been used which shows their level in more detail and will also show smaller but significant steps of progress. These are called ‘
• If your child is not yet able to access subject specific learning, then they will be assessed using the Government’s new ‘Engagement Model’ and this will be explained to you by your child’s class teacher and/or the SENCo.
• At the end of key stage 2 (i.e. at the end of year 6) all children are required to be formally assessed using Standard Assessment Tests (SATS). This is something the government requires all schools to do and are the results that are published nationally.
• Children requiring SEND Support will have a PCP, which will be reviewed with your involvement every term and the plan for the next term made.
• The progress of children with a statement of SEND/ EHC Plan is formally reviewed at an Annual Review with all adults involved with the child’s education.
• The AHTs/SENCO will also check that your child is making good progress within any individual work and in any group that they take part in.

• The class teacher is regularly available to discuss your child’s progress or any concerns you may have and to share information about what is working well at home and school so similar strategies can be used.
• The AHT is available to meet with you to discuss your child’s progress or any concerns/worries you may have.
• The SENCO is available to meet with you to discuss any concerns over specific support for your child.
• All information from outside professionals will be discussed with you with the person involved directly, or where this is not possible, in a report.
• Learning Plans will be reviewed with your involvement each term.
• Homework will be adjusted as needed in order to meet your child’s individual needs.
• A home/school contact book may be used to support communication with you, when this has been agreed to be useful for you and your child.

• All pupils with SEN and /or disability take part in all aspects of school life including out of school activities. All children have participated in the full range of opportunities and events arranged by the school, including trips and residential visits.
• The whole building is accessible to children with physical disability via ramps on the main doors.  The only areas inaccessible would be two upstairs offices and two resource areas, none of which are frequently used by pupils.
• We ensure that equipment used is accessible to all children, where physically possible, regardless of their needs.
• After school provision and extra-curricular activities are accessible to all children including those with SEND – if a case arose where school felt a particular need could not be catered for by existing provision, this would be discussed with parents on an individual basis.

We recognise that transitions can be difficult for a child with SEND and take steps to ensure that any transition is a smooth as possible.

• If your child is moving to another school:

  • We will contact the school SENCO and ensure he/she knows about any special arrangements or support that needs to be made for your child.
  • We will make sure that all records about your child are passed on as soon as possible.

• When moving from Market Drayton Infant School:

  • The SENCOs from both schools meet early in the Summer Term to ensure that information can be passed on to the new class teacher in advance.
  • If the infant SENCO believes it necessary, your child will be included in two additional visits to Market Drayton Junior School
  • If your child would be helped by a book to support them understand moving on then it will be made for them.

• When moving classes in school:

  • Information will be passed on to the new class teacher IN ADVANCE and if necessary an additional planning meeting will take place with the new teacher.
  • If your child is identified as requiring any further support with transition, this will be discussed and agreed at that meeting.

• In Year 6:

  • The SENCO from Grove School is invited to attend Annual Reviews for children with Statements/EHC Plans who are due to transfer the following year.
  • The SENCO from Grove School (and any other school we are aware of) is invited to come into Market Drayton Junior School in the Summer Term in order to discuss the needs of individual pupils so that support may be in place from the beginning of Key Stage 3.
  • If it is deemed necessary, your child will be included in one or more additional visits to their Secondary school prior to the national transition days.

At Market Drayton Junior School, we value the opinion of our pupils and allow regular opportunities for the children to discuss their learning. Children are involved in peer and self-assessing regularly, and respond to marking to improve their learning. Targets are shared with children, including specific targets to support pupils’ learning.

We have a School Council where representatives from each class meet to discuss a range of relevant issues, sharing the views of their classmates in order to drive forward change. All children are regularly consulted through simple discussions and/or questionnaires over a range of school issues including teaching and learning, assessment, menus, after-school clubs, break and lunchtime provision and changes to the school environment.

In addition, children with SEND contribute to their PCPs during termly meetings, discussing what they do well and the support they feel they will need to make progress.

At Market Drayton Junior School we support the Emotional and Social development of pupils with SEND and guard against unacceptable behaviour e.g. bullying through provision of the following:

Mentoring activities:

• Pastoral support from the Learning Support Assistants Team or directly from the Child and Family worker
• Peer support from older children

Strategies used to reduce anxiety, promote emotional well-being and self-esteem:

• Support from the Learning Support Assistants or directly from the Child and Family worker
• Transition support, visits and events
• Social skills groups
• Friendship groups
• No Worries (Cognitive Behaviour Therapy Support Training)
• Reach for the Top programme
• Comic strips and social stories
• Contact and liaison with parents
• Advice from SPECTRA (Autism Specialist Advisory Team)
• Advice and support from BeeU (Child and Mental Health Services)
• EHAF (Early Help Assessment Form)
• Support from Enhance
• Solihull Parents Course – Understanding Your Child

Strategies to support behaviour

• Good to be Green school behaviour policy
• Pastoral support plans
• Advice from Behavioural Support Consultant
• Advice from Woodlands Outreach Centre, Wem
• Learning behaviours are included within the curriculum and are promoted through ‘Stars of the Week’ and presented during whole school assemblies
• Anti-bullying assemblies

Support at unstructured times of the day

• Breakfast club for vulnerable children
• Support for children with specific requirements
• Information regarding vulnerable children is shared amongst all lunch supervisors so that they can be monitored more closely and supported effectively.