SENCO and SEN Staff
Our SENCO is Mrs S Channell. She received the National Award for SEND Coordination from Bath Spa University in April 2022.
More details of the SENCO’s role can be found in the SEN Policy which you can find in the School Policies section of our website.
We have a number of experienced staff who a have a wealth of knowledge around supporting children with SEND. Recent staff training has included:
- Supporting children with Autism
- Supporting children with SEMH difficulties
- Sensory Smart Classrooms
- Supporting children with Memory Difficulties
- Zones of Regulation
- Intensive Interactions
- Team Teach Training
- Supporting spelling for children with SEND
- Supporting Mental Health and Wellbeing
- Supporting children with Visual Impairments
- Understanding ADHD
- Build to Express
- Specific speech and language training
- Specific medical needs training
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 SEND Information, Advice and Support Service
- CAMHS County Durham
- NHS Speech and Language
- Autism and Social Communication Team
- Sensory and Physical Team
- Cognition and Learning Team
- Emotional Wellbeing and Effective Learning Team
- Portage Service
- ONE Point
- Occupational Therapy
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:
- Providing adequate levels of adult support through the employment of Teaching Assistants
- Paying for assessments and advice from specialists e.g. Educational Psychologists
- Paying for additional speech and language Therapy from Emily Backes
- Buying specialist resources
- Buying specialist intervention schemes
- Subscribing to programmes like Lexia and Reading Plus
- Subscribing to The Learning Library
If a child has complex special educational needs, we could also receive additional funding from the Local Authority to meet the agreed outcomes.
