SENCO and SEN Staff
Our SENCO is Mrs Nicola Wood Tel: 01388 815943, email: northpark@durhamlearning,net
In our school the Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENDCo):
- manages the day-to-day operation of the policy;
- co-ordinates the provision for and manages the responses to children’s special needs;
- supports and advises colleagues;
- maintains the school’s SEND register;
- contributes to and manages the records of all children with special educational needs;
- manages the school-based assessment and completes the documentation required by outside agencies and the LA;
- acts as the link with parents;
- maintains resources and a range of teaching materials to enable appropriate provision to be made;
- acts as link with external agencies and other support agencies;
- monitors and evaluates the special educational needs provision and reports to the governing body;
- manages a range of resources, human and material, linked to children with special educational needs
We have teaching and support staff specially trained in:
- Elklan Speech and Language Therapy
- Movement support
- Team Teach
- Drawing and Talking Therapy
- The use of Lexia
- Counselling and Play Therapy
- Therapeutic storywriting
- Lego therapy
- Precision teaching
- Relax kids
- Speech and language
- Maths and English support, including phonics
- Emotional wellbeing
- Moving and handling
Staff are also committed to research to develop their knowledge and understanding of how to meet a child’s SEN as the need arises.
More details of the SENCO’s role can be found in the SEND Policy which you can find in the School Policies section of our website.
External Specialists and Other Bodies
The school enjoys good working relationships with a wide range of people who provide services to children with SEND and their families.
The external specialists may:
- Act in an advisory capacity
- Extend expertise of school staff
- Provide additional assessment
- Support a child directly
- Suggest statutory assessment is advisable
- Consult with all parties involved with the child
These include:
- Durham County Council Local Offer
- Durham SEND Information, Advice and Support Service
- Local Authority Special Educational Needs Inclusion Team
- Educational Psychology Service
- Ferryhill One Point Hub
- Health Agencies, particularly School Nurse Service and Health Visitors
- Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS)
- Speech and Language Therapists
- Behaviour Intervention / Crisis Response, including WAVES intervention
- Durham Movement Difficulties Service
- Tree Tops Occupational Therapy Service for Children
- Future Steps Occupational Therapy Service
- Virtual School for Looked After Children
- Learning Difficulties and Disability Support Service (LDDIS)
- Autism Spectrum Condition advisory team
- Specialist therapists – Occupational Therapy and Physiotherapy
- Durham LA Emotional Wellbeing Team and counselling services
- Butterwick Hospice (bereavement support)
- Other specialist health services as required, e.g. hearing, speech, vision, diabetes
- Medical Practitioners – GPs, Paediatricians, Clinical Psychologists
- Family workers and One Point Children Centre staff
How We Secure Specialist Expertise
Our Additional Needs Budget is used to support children and young people with SEN.
This is used to support children and young people with SEND by:
- Specialist training for all staff
- Specialist training for SENDCo
- Enabling the school to employ members of staff to support children and run programmes of intervention
- Resources to enable children to meet outcomes
- Buy in the services of specialists, through SLAs
- Buy into support packages
- Purchase assessment and intervention tools
If a child has complex special educational needs, we could also receive additional funding from the Local Authority to meet the agreed outcomes. The additional needs funding is monitored by the Senior Leadership Team and Governing Body to ensure support is secured to meet needs and has a positive impact on outcomes for children with SEND.
