Wider world of school: Approaches to extra curricular activities and pastoral care

How accessible is this school for my child?

•  We are not fully wheelchair accessible (but have had a child with a wheelchair in the school and put systems in place to manage their needs), see accessibility plan below.  We do have toilets for people with disabilities and we ensure that equipment and adaptations are put in place to support each child's individual needs
• The school has interactive whiteboards in every classroom and there is access to laptops and iPads
• Our classrooms are communication friendly and staff in Early Years use Makaton to support children who do not use speech to communicate

What is a communication friendly classroom?

• Instructions are simplified
• Children are given additional take-up time to respond to questions and requests.
• Limiting the use of idioms and metaphors and sarcasm. Model appropriate language structures which are only slightly in advance of those used by the children.
• Break up lengthy teacher talk sessions with think-pair-share activities to allow children to take ‘brain-breaks’.
• Acknowledge that many inappropriate behaviours may be due to communication difficulties and look at how they can adapt rather than expecting the child to change.

How will my child be welcomed into school?

We recognise that transition - both into school and from Lawn to another school - can be both an exciting but worrying time for children and their parents.  To help children feel welcome:

• We spend time in the Summer term working with new parents/carers whose children will be taking a Nursery or Reception place. Depending on the situation, this can include visiting the family at home or seeing the child in an Early Years setting to make sure we are prepared to meet their needs on entry.
• We encourage all new children to visit the school prior to starting, where they are shown around the school and meet some key members of school staff.
• For children with SEND, we encourage further visits to assist with getting used to the new surroundings.
• We also visit children in their current school setting, and talk with you about what will make your child feel most secure and settled.

How will my child be supported to be part of the school?

• Most children with SEND are supported through the regular opportunities provided to all children - high quality teaching, excellent play opportunities and supportive and empathetic staff who want to listen to your child
• Some children do find the social and emotional aspects of school life to be more difficult than others - for them we have an excellent curriculum and support system in place (see information links below)

Positive Mental Health

Follow this link to take you to all out Emotional Intelligence information - Emotional Intelligence

How is behaviour managed?

• We want all of our children to grow into responsible adults, who respect themselves and each other
• Self-discipline is important for learning and behaviour, as is your child learning about cooperation and friendship.  This atmosphere of mutual trust between students allows us to build the foundations of a clear stand against bullying.  Children from groups that may be vulnerable to bullying are carefully monitored and supported within an inclusive whole school approach (for more information please see our behaviour policy.  To ensure this happens, we feel it is essential for staff to establish a consistent approach to behaviour, including attitudes and behaviours for learning.
• We want children to want to behave well, and to achieve, because they see the benefits for themselves.
• We need to teach children about social and emotional aspects of development and we use a range of opportunities to do so.

We use a range of strategies to manage behaviour:

• the most important strategy to ensure good behaviour is to provide the highest quality teaching that fully engages your child
• We listen and attend to what children say and do, as this provides us with important clues for why they behave as they do
• We praise them when they have done well
• Children are provided with warnings if their behaviour is not in keeping with what is expected of them
• There are sanctions that teachers and support staff apply when a child is not making good choices
• Our behaviour management approach allows children to have a fresh start each day, and that it is always the behaviour that is undesirable - not the child

We cannot manage behaviour effectively without your support and it is essential that you understand and support the policies of the school with regard to learning and behaviour.  We need you on board with our system for rewarding good behaviour and sanctioning challenging behaviour and to work together with us.  Supporting your child's learning at home to help them achieve their best is a very important part of the help we get from you.

What support do we offer you as a parent/carer of a child with SEND?

Engagement with parent/carers is very important to us and we make use of a variety of strategies to do this:

• School website
• Facebook
• Newsletters
• Parents meetings
• Parent governors
• School productions
• School App

Your child's class teacher is available to discuss your child's progress or any concerns you may have.  We have parent - teacher meetings also, where you and the teacher share information about what is working well at home and in school so everyone uses strategies that work for your child.  If your child has an individual plan, this is also a chance for you and the teacher to look at targets that have been set for your child, the support we gave and how it has made a difference.

The SENDCo, Welfare Manager and THRIVE Team are always 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, or where this is not possible, provided in a report.  Please make sure you keep your contact details up-to-date with the school office to make sure we can always get in touch with you for meetings, sending reports and so on.

What extra-curricular activities can my child participate in?

We do not discriminate against children with SEND, and all extra-curricular opportunities available for children without additional needs are available to those with SEND.  We have a range of excellent extended services (both before and after school) - breakfast club, Art club, Homework club and so on.  To see the section on the website about this kind of provision click ***.

It is important to us that children with SEND access school visits and trips, which are such exciting and interesting learning opportunities for children.  We conduct a review of each visit/trip beforehand to ensure we have everything in place to make it a success (e.g. some children with SEND may find periods of walking difficult, or find new environments upsetting); and we make adjustments to our plans to meet their individual needs.

What support is available at less structured times of the day (e.g. playtimes, lunch)?

• All children at Lawn Primary are well supervised at all times.
• If needed, we provide a teaching assistant to support children with complex SEND who find playtime more challenging.
• We also ensure that children who would find such an approach beneficial have jobs and responsibilities at lunchtimes.