Bochum Parkway, Sheffield, South Yorkshire S8 8JR

0114 2 372 768

MOSSBROOK SCHOOL

Engage to Explore and Enjoy to Excel

SEND INFORMATION REPORT NOVEMBER 2019 


The kinds of SEND that are provided for.

Our school has been designated for children with autism and communication difficulties by Sheffield Local Authority.

Policies for identifying children and young people with SEN and assessing their needs.

All of the children at Mossbrook have Education, Health and Care Plans that identify their needs.  Should a further assessment be needed it is requested as part of the annual review.

Arrangements for consulting parents of children with SEND and involving them in their child’s education.

Involving parents and carers is one of the key factors for a successful education for our children. Over the year the following will take place: 

  • Notes in the home/school book
  • Parents meeting in Autumn term one
  • Weekly class newsletter
  • Termly whole school newsletter
  • Phone calls as required
  • Two parent/carer consultation evenings
  • Annual review
  • Two class assemblies/open afternoons per year
  • A range of whole school activities including coffee mornings, Christmas performance, Sports Day and Family Fun afternoon.

Arrangements for assessing and reviewing children and young people’s progress towards outcomes

Every child has outcomes set out in their Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP). These are discussed with parents and carers at the annual review and parents receive a written report each term detailing progress. Teachers assess whether children have made better than expected, expected or less than expected progress towards each target. Subject specific learners receive a termly report detailing progress towards subject targets while other children receive a report written under the headings of our ‘Explorer’s’ assessment scheme.

Arrangements for supporting children and young people in moving between phases of education and in preparing for adulthood.

Transition into Mossbrook is carefully planned. For children already in an education setting we will work with them and parents/carers to decide on the transition into Mossbrook that works best for the child. Children will be visited at home or in their setting prior to them starting at Mossbrook school.

Mossbrook children tend to move on to one of three Sheffield Secondary special schools. The schools work closely together to facilitate transition visits and the sharing of information.

The approach to teaching children and young people with SEND.

Our children are either Explorers (semi-formal learners) or Adventurers (formal learners) Our Explorers access a wide range of subjects and acquire knowledge in the areas of communication, cognition, Social Emotional and Mental Health or Physical and Sensory. Each of these four headings contain sub headings – more information can be found in our curriculum policy. At this stage, National Curriculum subjects are not the focus although pupils use some subject areas, such as the arts, physical education, geography and history to provide the contexts for their learning. These subjects are part of a thematic approach to the curriculum adopted by the whole school. The intention of the thematic approach is to develop a curriculum that motivates, engages and inspires pupils and make explicit cross curricular links.

Subject Specific learners access the whole range of national curriculum subjects for prescribed for primary school children.

 

How adaptations are made to the curriculum and the learning environment of children and young people with SEN.

As a special school we adapt our curriculum for the needs of the children in an individualised way. Each class is different and teams adapt the curriculum to meet the needs of all the individuals they teach.

The expertise and training of staff to support children and young people with SEND, including how specialist expertise will be secured.

Staff in school have expertise in meeting the needs of children with Autism. Some staff have additional post-graduate qualifications in meeting the needs of children with Autism. We also have staff with particular strengths in Makaton, Intensive Interaction, Attention Autism, Continence, Sleep, Theraplay, TEACCH and Team Teach.  We work closely with the Speech and Language Therapy Service and based on their support and advice we work on communication programmes for the children. 

Evaluating the effectiveness of the provision made for children and young people with SEN.

There is a clear self-evaluation strategy in place in school to look at the effectiveness of what we do for our children. 

How children and young people with SEND are enabled to engage in activities available with children and young people in the school who do not have SEN.

All of our children have SEND. 

Support for improving emotional and social development. This should include extra pastoral support arrangements for listening to the views of children and young people with SEN and measures to prevent bullying. 

Social and emotional development is an integral part of what we do. 

The school values are:

·         We are kind

·         We try

·         We are a team 

These are taught and used for rewarding positive behaviour. The staff team know the children very well and all the children have social and emotional targets as part of their individual education plans. Jessica Brooks and Kerry Smedley are the leads for wellbeing and they do a lot of work in organising curriculum activities for wellbeing. 

How the school involves other bodies, including health and social care bodies, local authority support services and voluntary sector organisations, in meeting children and young people’s SEND and supporting their families.

At Mossbrook we work closely with a range of professionals to support our children. Some of our children have medical needs, and we have regular visits from the Nurse, Doctors, Dentists, Dental Hygienist, Physiotherapist, Continence Nurse, MAST workers, Occupational Therapists, and Speech and Language Therapists. We also have the support of Teachers from the services for children who are visually and hearing impaired.

 Arrangements for handling complaints from parents of children with SEN about the provision made at the school.

If there is ever any cause for complaint the school has a complaints and compliments policy that highlights a graduated process for raising concerns.