At Kiwi Primary School, we want all children to be successful and to SOAR. Our SOAR values – Striving for Success, Owning our Actions, Ambitious, Respectful, Resilient and Reflective – underpin everything we do. We are an inclusive school and work closely with children and families to identify barriers to learning and provide the right support at the right time, ensuring every child has the opportunity to participate, belong, learn and achieve.

Our SEND Team

Mrs Nicola Wright – Deputy Headteacher & SENCo
Mrs Mandy Jones – Resource Base Lead Teacher, Lakeside

Contact: sen@kiwi.wilts.sch.uk

Our SEND team works closely with class teachers, teaching assistants, pastoral staff and external professionals to support children across the school. We recognise that every teacher is a teacher of pupils with SEND, and the class teacher remains central to identifying and meeting children's needs.

What are Special Educational Needs and Disabilities?

A child may have special educational needs if they have a learning difficulty or disability which means they require provision that is additional to or different from that generally available to other children of the same age.

SEND can include needs relating to:

• communication and interaction;
• cognition and learning;
• social, emotional and mental health; and
• sensory and/or physical needs.

Children do not need a diagnosis before we can identify a need or put appropriate support in place.

What happens if there are concerns about my child?

Your child's class teacher is usually the first person to speak to if you have concerns about their learning or development.

Concerns may also be identified by school staff through classroom observations, assessment, pupil progress meetings, attendance or wellbeing information, or information received from a previous setting or external professional.

We work with parents and the child to understand their strengths, needs and any barriers to learning before deciding what support may be helpful.

Where further support is required, the class teacher will work with the SENCo and our Inclusion Team. We follow the graduated approach of Assess, Plan, Do, Review, which means that support is regularly reviewed and adapted according to the child's progress and changing needs.

SEND and Our Curriculum

High-quality teaching is the starting point for all children at Kiwi.

We use Ordinarily Available Provision for All Learners (OAPAL) to describe the range of teaching approaches, adaptations, resources and strategies that are available within our classrooms to help children access learning.

This might include visual supports, practical resources, additional processing time, breaking learning into smaller steps, adapted methods of recording, pre-teaching, movement or regulation opportunities and additional scaffolding.

Where OAPAL is not enough, a child may require additional or different support. Depending on their individual needs, this may be recorded through an Individual Education Plan (IEP), Individual Behaviour Plan (IBP), Wiltshire SEND Support Plan or Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP).

Whatever level of support a child receives, their progress and provision are monitored and reviewed, with parents and children involved in the process.

Lakeside Resource Base

Kiwi Primary School has a Local Authority Resource Base known as Lakeside, led by Mrs Mandy Jones.

Lakeside provides specialist provision for children whose identified needs require this level of support. Children within Lakeside remain an important part of the wider Kiwi community and opportunities to learn and participate alongside their peers are considered according to their individual needs.

Places within Lakeside are allocated through Wiltshire Council's statutory placement and consultation processes. Having an EHCP or attending Kiwi Primary School does not automatically provide access to a Resource Base place.

Help for Parents and Carers

There is a wide range of information and support available to families:

• Wiltshire Local Offer – information about SEND services, education, health and support available to children, young people and families in Wiltshire.
• Wiltshire Ordinarily Available Provision for All Learners (OAPAL) – information about the support that should ordinarily be available to children and young people.
• Wiltshire Parent Carer Council (WPCC) – Wiltshire's parent carer forum, providing information, signposting and support for families of children and young people with SEND.
• Wiltshire Needs Led Approach – information about Wiltshire's approach to understanding children's needs and providing support.

Our SEND Documents

Below you can find our:

SEND Policy
SEND Information Report
Accessibility Plan

These documents provide more detailed information about how we identify, support and review provision for children with SEND at Kiwi Primary School.

Resources for Families

We have also provided resources below that may be helpful at home, including support with routines, communication, emotional regulation, independence and preparing for school.

If you are unsure which resources might be helpful for your child, please speak to their class teacher or contact our SEND team at sen@kiwi.wilts.sch.uk.