SEND Information report
Updated November 2023
Dear Parents, Carers and friends of the school,
We very much want this to be a 'living' document. If you find there is anything you would like to see in this report which is lacking at present, please contact the school Special Educational Needs co-ordinator at this address
In July 2019, Phillimore School was awarded the Inclusion Quality Mark (IQM) in recognition of the high standards of inclusive practice throughout the school. In her summarising letter Stephanie Robinson, who conducted the two-day assessment wrote: “Phillimore is a caring school in which staff are committed to providing the best for the children and the community they serve. Inclusion features in the school’s practice and in its beliefs. Everyone works to ensure inclusion and equality exists in all aspects of school life. There is a positive outlook permeating from Senior Leaders, staff, support staff, children, governors and parents. There is clear evidence that data informs teaching and learning at an individual and group level, and that teachers plan and take on board views of Teaching Assistants. A shared and positive approach to children's learning ensures children receive support. The school staff work hard to raise aspiration and attainment.”
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j.whitehead@phillimore.sheffield.sch.uk or by ringing the school on 01142 494036
How does Phillimore School know if my child needs extra help?
Individual children’s needs are identified by the school in different ways. We know that pupils need help if:
Who can I talk to at Phillimore about any concerns I have about my child’s Special Educational Needs or Disability?
The class teacher, who is responsible for:
The Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCo), Mr J. Whitehead, and Deputy SENCo, Mrs E. Jessop, who are responsible for:
The Inclusion Lead, Mrs A Blakemore, who is responsible for:
The Head Teacher, Mrs G. Briggs, who is responsible for:
The SEN Governor, Mrs N Blackwood, who is responsible for ensuring that the necessary support is given to any child with SEND who attends the school, and that the school fulfils its legal obligations towards pupils with SEND.
School contact telephone number: 01142 494036
What different types of support are available for children with SEND at Phillimore?
Quality First Teaching
Each child’s education will be planned for by the class teacher as part of Quality First Teaching. This is guided by the advice provided by the agencies involved with your child, or by assessments carried out by school staff. Teaching and learning will be differentiated, scaffolded, resourced or modelled according to the needs of individual children. This may include additional general support by the teacher or teaching assistants in class. A number of additional classroom resources and strategies are made available to pupils including:
Additional Needs
If a child’s needs relate to more specific areas of learning then the child may be included in an intervention group. This may be led by a teacher or teaching assistant. Interventions are generally run on a ten week cycle but this may vary according to need and subject to regular monitoring. Interventions are reviewed by the SENCo and/or Inclusion Manager to establish the effectiveness of the provision and to inform future planning. Ten-weekly personalised learning/pupil progress meetings are held involving class teachers, Head Teacher, SENCo, the Inclusion Manager and teaching assistants in order to best match provision with needs.
Pupils with an Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCP) are provided with additional support from members of the Inclusion Team, following guidance from the relevant agencies, in order to meet the requirements of their plan so that they have the chance to access the curriculum more fully and hence make progress. For some pupils with Social Communication needs this may also include time in a different classroom, with a high staff to pupil ratio and which is set up as a place where they can remain regulated, and where pupils’ learning and communication are developed under the guidance of professionals.
Consideration is given to class and intervention timetables to minimise the likelihood of pupils repeatedly missing learning in the same subject. Class teachers and Teaching assistants support pupils to catch up with learning they have missed.
SEN Support
If a pupil has higher level needs this may result in them being identified as requiring SEN support and requiring an SEN Support Plan, Birmingham Toolkit ITP, MyPlan or Extended Support Plan (EXSP). The formulation of these documents involves parents/carers, the child and, where applicable, other relevant professionals. This process identifies outcomes for the child and describes how these may be achieved.
Complex Needs
If a pupil’s needs are more complex a formal assessment for an Educational, Health and Care (EHC) plan may be undertaken. This is a legal document, written to include the advice of all professionals involved with the child, which sets out the level and type of support a pupil will need throughout their educational career.
A child may move between the levels of support outlined above, depending on their individual need.
Levels of support provided by the school are highlighted on the Sheffield Support Grid which is moderated within the locality and city-wide each year, and determines the SEND funding provided to the locality.
How can I let the school know that I am concerned about my child’s progress in school?
If you have concerns about your child’s progress, you should speak to your child’s class teacher initially. Members of the Senior Leadership Team, including the Head Teacher, Deputy Head (Inclusion Manager) and SENCo are usually available on the yard at the beginning and end of school should you need to speak to them about your child’s needs.
If you continue to be concerned that your child is not making progress, you should speak to the Special Education Needs Co-ordinator (SENCo) or his deputy. Longer discussions can be arranged via the school office, and may take place over the telephone or via video call.
The school SEND Governor can also be contacted for support.
How will the school let me know if they have any concerns about my child’s learning?
If your child is identified as not making progress, the SENCo will set up a meeting to discuss this with you in more detail and to:
How is extra support allocated to children, and how do they progress in their learning?
The school budget is allocated by Sheffield Local Authority and includes money for supporting children with SEND.
The Head Teacher decides on the deployment of resources for Special Educational Needs and Disabilities in consultation with the school governors, on the basis of needs in the school.
A full and clear picture of those pupils with Special Educational Needs or Disabilities (SEND) is formed through approximately ten-weekly Pupil Progress/Intervention meetings, plus termly reviews with parents and pupils.The school’s tracking system (Sheffield STAT) helps to inform these meetings by identifying pupils making less progress than normal against Age Related Expectations (ARE).
Phillimore also uses a number of other assessment tools, including Birmingham Toolkit, SCERTS, B-squared, Speech and Language Screening, Phonics screening and Before/After intervention checks to identify gaps and inform additional support.
From this information, a decision is made concerning the type and level of support to provide.
Support provided for pupils with SEND is recorded Year Group by Year Group following these meetings. These are reviewed regularly and changes are made as needed, so that the needs of children are met and resources are deployed as effectively as possible.
Which other individuals or agencies provide services for children with SEND in Phillimore?
School provision includes, at various times:
Outside agencies employed by the school or Local Authority, including:
Health Provision delivered in school, including:
How are teachers and other staff helped and trained in order to work successfully with children with SEND?
The SENCo’s job is to support the class teacher in planning for children with SEN. Mr Whitehead holds a diploma in Special Educational Needs Education at Masters level.
The school provides training and support to enable all staff to improve the teaching and learning of children, including those with SEN. This includes whole school training on SEN issues, such as Autism Spectrum Condition (ASC),Speech Language and Communication Needs and Social Emotional and Mental Health support.
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 Autism Team or Speech and Language services.
Sometimes staff will visit other settings who are trying to support children with comparable levels of need, in order to improve Phillimore’s own provision.
Whilst school was partially closed, and when required to isolate, staff continued to access a range of appropriate online training courses to increase their expertise in supporting pupils in their care.
How will teaching be adapted for my child with SEND?
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.
Support staff, under the direction of the class teacher, can adapt 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. These will include pre-teach, scaffolding learning to make it more accessible, modelling, dual coding (representing information in two different ways), retrieval practice and repetition of learning at spaced intervals.
Planning and teaching will be adapted, on a daily basis if needed, to meet your child’s learning needs (see also Section 3).
All pupils with SEN in the area of learning receive either daily (if in lowest 20% reading attainment in their cohort) or at least twice weekly (if in next 20%) additional 1 to 1 reading and phonics sessions.
How will we measure the progress of your child in school?
Your child’s progress will be continually monitored by his/her class teacher.
His/her progress will be reviewed formally with the Headteacher every term in Reading, Writing, SPaG (Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar) and Maths.
More sensitive assessment tools such as Locke and Beech, B-squared, SCERTS or the McSherry Readiness for Integration tool can be used where smaller measures of progress need to be measured.
During the 2020-21 School Year Phillimore introduced the Birmingham Toolkit as a means of assessing pupils’ academic needs more precisely. This excellent resource, which also provides guidance on strategies, resources and interventions to support your child’s learning, continues to be rolled-out more widely during the 2023-24 academic year.
Other assessments for pupils with SEND include:
At the end of Key Stage 2, all children are required to be formally assessed using Standard Assessment Tests (SATS). This is something the government requires all schools to do and the results are published nationally.
Children access the statutory Phonics Screening test at the end of Year 1, and the National Times Tables Test at the end of Year 4.
Where necessary, children will have an SEN Support Plan, ITP, EXSP or MyPlan based on targets set by outside agencies specific to their needs. Targets or outcomes will be set which are designed to accelerate learning and close the gap. Progress against these targets will be reviewed regularly, and a future plan made.
The progress of children with an EHC Plan will be formally reviewed at an Annual Review with all adults involved with the child’s education, as well as termly within the usual Assess-Plan-Do-Review cycle.
The SENCo will also check that your child is making good progress within any individual work schedule or group intervention.
Regular book scrutiny, learning walks, pupil interviews, drop-ins and lesson observations are carried out by the SENCo and/or other members of the Senior Leadership Team, to ensure that the needs of all children are met and that the quality of teaching and learning is high, resulting in good long-term recall.
What support can we offer you as a parent of a child with SEND?
Informal meetings with the class teacher can be arranged 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 that similar strategies can be used.
The SENCo is available to meet with you to discuss your child’s progress or any concerns/worries you may have.
All information from outside professionals will be discussed with you by the person involved directly, or where this is not possible, in a report.
You will be involved in the process of reviewing SEN Support Plans, EXSPs and MyPlans with your child (when appropriate), the SENCo, class teachers and others each term.
Home and remote learning will be adapted to meet your child’s individual requirements.
ClassDojo is a platform which we encourage all parents can sign up to, which allows two way contact between parents and school staff.
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.
We can also signpost you to other agencies or support groups who might be useful to you or your child.
How are Phillimore School premises accessible to children with SEND?
How will we support your child when they are joining the school, leaving the school or moving to another class?
We recognise that transitions can be difficult for a child with SEN, and we take steps to ensure that any transition is as smooth as possible.
If your child is joining us from another school:
If your child is moving to another school:
When moving classes in school:
Towards the end of Year 6:
How will we support the Emotional and Social development of your child?
We recognize that some children have extra emotional and social needs that need to be developed and nurtured. These needs can manifest themselves in a number of ways, including behavioural difficulties, anxiety, and a reluctance to communicate.
All classes follow a structured PSHE (Personal, Social, Health end Economic education) curriculum to support this development. However, for those children who find aspects of this difficult we offer a range of interventions and opportunities.
Under normal circumstances we have an in-school nurture provision, run by highly trained teaching assistants. This follows the Nurture Principles and is usually run on a ten-week cycle.
All teaching staff and teaching assistants accessed Healthy Minds training during the 2020-21 academic year.
During Covid-19 restrictions there was an emphasis on activities and discussions within class or via assemblies which focus on improving the mental health and wellbeing of pupils. Mindfulness applications are used in some classes where this is felt to be beneficial.
Inclusion Team staff are on hand throughout lunchtimes to help children who struggle with break times or other aspects of school life.
When required, there is a ‘Mighty Minds’ intervention provided for pupils with emotional needs, including attachment and self-esteem issues.
As required, other interventions take place within school in order to help pupils to develop socially and emotionally, including Friendship or Reflection groups, and Trauma-Informed practice.
The Gruffalo group is a provision offering a highly differentiated, bespoke timetable for pupils with high levels of need, most commonly Autism Spectrum Condition, following advice and recommendations from the Autism service and Speech and Language professionals.
How can I find information about the local authority's Local Offer of services and provision for children with SEND?
Sheffield Local Offer website:
http://www.sheffielddirectory.org.uk/kb5/sheffield/fsd/localoffer.page
Who can I contact for more information?
Head Teacher: Mrs G. Briggs 01142 494036
Inclusion Manager: Mrs A. Blakemore 01142 494036
SENCo: Mr J. Whitehead 01142 494036
j.whitehead@phillimore.sheffield.sch.uk
Deputy SENCo: Mrs E. Jessop 01142 494036