St.

Matthew’s Church of England Primary

SEN Information Report – Our Local Offer
This page provides details of how we support children with Special Educational Needs
and Disabilities (SEND) at St Matthew’s. If you require any further information, please
contact the school directly and we will be only too pleased to assist.

Head teacher: Gary Quinn

Inclusion Manager / SENCO: Julia Warner
Safeguarding Lead: Gary Quinn
SEN Governor: Lynn Coward

Our Accessibility Plan

This Accessibility Plan has been drawn up to cover the period from 2016 to 2019. The
plan can be available in large print or other accessible format if required. The plan
takes account of the school’s public sector equality duty set out in section 149 of the
Equality Act 2010.

St Matthew’s Primary School are committed to providing an environment which values

and includes all pupils, staff, parents and visitors regardless of their educational,
physical, sensory, social, spiritual, emotional and cultural needs. We are further
committed to challenging attitudes about disability and accessibility and to developing
a culture of awareness, tolerance and inclusion.

Click here for a copy of our plan.

Special Educational Needs Policy

Click here for a copy of our Special Educational Needs Policy

Our Local Offer

1. How does St At St Matthew’s School the progress of pupils is closely

Matthews School know tracked and recorded. During termly pupil progress
if a child needs extra meetings the individual progress and attainment of all
help? children is discussed in detail with the class teacher and
members of the Senior leadership team.
 In addition to the above, teacher observations of
academic understanding and participation, social/
emotional skills and general well-being are also taken
into consideration.

Class Teachers (CT) have a detailed knowledge of age-

related expectations and have had training and support
in the identification of children with special educational
needs (SEN).

Should there be concerns over a pupil’s progress the

school will closely monitor and support the child
through adapting teaching methods and additional
interventions wherever appropriate.

At St Matthews we work closely with parents. We do

this through:–

 home school visits for all children in Nursery and

Reception
 holding informal meetings with the class teacher and
Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCO)
whenever necessary
 termly parents’ consultation/open evenings.

Should you have any concerns regarding your child’s

2. What should I do if I academic progress or emotional well-being please
think my child may have contact the class teacher who will be happy to discuss
SEN? your child and where appropriate develop a personal
support plan.

Our general provision for pupils includes:-

 High quality differentiated teaching. This is when the
teacher plans specifically to the individual needs and
learning styles of all the children in the class
 Small group interventions delivered by highly
qualified staff to support pupils who need to ‘catch
up’ in specific areas
 In class support to access the curriculum when
necessary
Our support philosophy for all children adheres to the
principles of :-

Access – Plan –Do - Review

If your child is not making the expected progress and is

falling behind age expected attainment, an SEN support
plan will be put in place. This plan will consist of
personal targets which will be closely monitored and
reviewed. All targets set will be Specific /Measurable
/Achievable /Relevant/Time Limited (SMART)

The SEN support plan will be closely monitored and

reviewed at least termly

SEN support plan review meetings may be attended by

the class teacher and parents, as well as SENCO,
Learning Support Assistant (LSA), Teaching Assistant
(TA), and your child where appropriate.

At St Matthews we ensure that both you and your

child’s views on the support plan are discussed and
recorded at both the start and end of process.

Should your child still not make the expected progress

despite the support plan being in place we will then
refer to outside agencies for additional advice and
recommendations. These agencies may include :-

 Educational Psychology Service (EP)

Speech and Language Therapy (SALT)
 Occupational Therapy (OT)
Physiotherapy (PT)
 Language and Behaviour team (LBL)
 Early Years Inclusion (EY inclusion)
 School Nursing Service (SNS)
 Merton Autistic Outreach Services (MAOS)

Recommendations will be used to inform both SMART

targets and general teaching strategies.
If progress continues to cause concern and additional
resources are required to support your child above the
level of funding that is available in school, an
application for an assessment for a personalised
Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) will be
requested from the borough. The school and parents
will work closely together to make this request.

For further details of how to apply for an EHCP please

refer to Merton’s Local offer.
3. How will I know how At St Matthew’s we have had experience in supporting
St Matthew’s School children with a wide range of special needs including :
supports my child?
 ASD
 ADHD
 Global Delay
 Social Communication Difficulties
 Speech and Language delay
 Behavioural and Emotional difficulties
 Cerebral Palsy
 Dyspraxia
 Dyslexia
 Dyscalculia
 Specific processing and planning difficulties
 Specific medical needs

If your child has been identified as having a Special

Educational Need (SEN) a support plan will be put in
place.
All support plans will be developed in conjunction with
your child’s class teacher, SENCO, you and your child
well as advice taken from a range of outside agencies
and services specific top your child’s need. These may
include:

 Educational Psychology Service

 Speech and Language Therapy
 Occupational Therapy
 Physiotherapy
 Early Years Inclusion
 Children’s and Adult Mental Health Services

Personalised planning will ensure that the curriculum is

made accessible to your child at their own level. This
may be supported by additional adults where necessary.
Learning Support Assistant/Teaching Assistant support
 is allocated by level of need and the specific skill set of
the adult.

All interventions, either in small groups or 1:1, are

closely monitored and tracked for their effectiveness.

There is regular use of outside agencies to support staff

and to deliver relevant training to the whole school.
This INSET training is open to all members of staff,
including mid-day supervisors. This ensures that the
whole school community has an understanding and
awareness of the range of needs within the school, and
all adults are therefore better placed to support
individuals across the school day.

The Governors have a designated person responsible

for SEN, Mrs Lynn Coward and the SENCO, Julia
Warner is also a member of the Governing Body.

4. How will the Highly differentiated and personalised planning across

curriculum be matched all classes ensures that the curriculum is made
to my child’s needs? accessible to all pupils. The differing learning styles of
pupils is also taken into account in teachers planning
and delivery of lessons.

St Matthews has an effective age appropriate marking

policy which is understood by the pupils – this informs,
supports and involves the pupil in evaluating and
developing their own learning as well as informing the
teacher as to the ‘next steps’ required by individuals.

Each child’s support plan targets are included in the

day to planning of the curriculum and all staff involved
with the class are fully informed about all targets

Specialist equipment is used within the class when

appropriate, If 1:1 support for Occupational
 Therapy/Physiotherapy/Speech and Language therapy
is required children will be supported by a Teaching
Assistant/Learning Support Assistant in a suitable
environment (e.g. hall/open space for Occupational
Therapy or quiet area for Speech and Language
therapy/social skills groups)

Children are supported by Teaching Assistants and

Learning Support Assistants as well as the class
teachers. Children are supported to work within the
classroom area whenever possible.

Specific training from specialist agencies is available for

both individual teachers and Teaching Assistants
depending on the need of the children in the class, as
well as INSET training for all teaching and support
staff.

5. How will the school Academic progress is monitored through :-

know how well my child  Ongoing observation and assessment
is doing?  Regular formal teacher assessments in Literacy and
Maths
 Termly pupil progress meetings with class teachers
and members of Senior Leadership team
 Book scrutiny and ‘learning walks’ by subject co-
ordinators
 Consideration to class and individual needs is
discussed at regular Senior Leadership meetings.

Each child, whether they have special education needs

or not, has a specific set of targets against which
progress is monitored on an on-going basis.

St Matthews is a small one form entry school and all

pupils know each other and staff. As well as
encouraging supportive relationships across the school,
social and emotional well-being is fostered and
monitored by :-

 Observations by all staff members

 Monitoring of playground by teaching staff and
midday supervisors
 Monitoring use of ‘buddy bench’ in playground
 Review of impact of provision for social skills
groups
6. How will I know how
well my child is doing? St Matthews reports on all children’s progress to
parents every term.
Parent’s consultation meetings are held during the
Autumn and Spring terms, and an Open evening in the
summer term.

A full report is written on your child’s progress at the

end of every academic year, and your child’s views on
both the academic and social aspects of school are also
recorded.

There is an ‘open door’ policy for informal meetings

between class teachers, parents and SENCO if required.

If your child has an SEN support plan there will be

additional meetings to discuss progress and to set new
targets. These meetings will be held at least once a
term.

If your child has an EHCP there will be an Annual

review in addition to the termly support plan meetings.
This is an opportunity for you and all professionals
involved with your child to review progress and
suitability of provision and to set targets for the year
ahead. Should the needs of your child change an
Interim Review may also be called.

Your child may also have a ‘Home /School’ book, which

is a way for you to communicate daily with the Class
Teacher and staff who are supporting your child.

7. How will you help me At St Matthews we believe that a child makes the best
support my child’s progress both academically and socially when both the
learning? parents and school are working together to reach a
shared goal using similar approaches and strategies.

Ongoing communication is achievable through the

effective use of Home /School books, regular review
meetings (-at least termly), as well as informal meetings
should either party have any concerns.

We also encourage you to meet any professionals who

are supporting your child in school.

The SENCO will also inform parents of any suitable

training, events or workshops that are running in the
borough.

St Matthews has a designated Parent Support Advisor

to help advise parents on specific issues if necessary.
Louise Morgan is contactable via the school office,
telephone or email. office@st-matthews.merton.sch.uk

8. What support will St Matthews is a small one form entry school, which has
there be for my child’s the benefit of all staff and children knowing each other.
overall wellbeing? How The ‘open plan’ free flow style of the building
will my child’s personal emphasises a feeling of community.
or medical needs be
met? The Parent Support Advisor works closely with parents
on a confidential basis when necessary.

Staff members have been trained in delivering social

skills and communication packages to individuals and
small groups. Individually tailored programmes will be
put in place to encourage positive behaviour when
appropriate.

The administration of medicines at school is clearly

 logged and monitored in line with school policy.
The School Nursing service is accessed when necessary
and Care plans are drawn up in conjunction with
parents as required. Specific training for an individual
child’s day to day medical needs is also provided by the
service.

There is regular Epipen training for all staff. Any

children with severe allergies have their photo and care
plan on display in their classroom, staff room, school
office, kitchen and hall.

The school has designated First Aiders, and all

members of the Foundation Stage Staff have Paediatric
First Aid training.

Child Protection training takes place for all staff on a

rolling basis, and members of the SLT and Governors
have completed Safer Recruiting training.

All pupils are encouraged to be involved in the direction

9. How will my child be of their own learning and to be involved in setting their
able to contribute their own targets.
views on how things are
going? If your child has an SEN support plan they will be
asked for their thoughts and opinions on the targets set
at both the start and end of the plan. They will be
actively encouraged to contribute to the targets, and to
prioritise their learning. They will also be encouraged to
discuss the strategies they feel work best for them.

Support for pupils may include:

 Individual Visual timetables

 Visual cue card
 Visual task cards
 Work stations
 Talk partners
 Adult support to scribe or record comments when
necessary
 IT support

If your child has an EHCP they will be asked for their

views on their progress in all areas across the year, and
their thoughts and views for forthcoming targets.
10. What specialist St Matthews has an experienced staff team who have a
services and expertise range of expertise including:-
are available at or
accessed by the school?  ELKAN ( specialist Speech and Language /Social
Communication training)
 ASD awareness
 Experience in delivering Occupational Therapy
programmes,
 Experience in delivering Speech and language
programmes,
 Experience in running Social skills groups.
 Dyslexia accredited Teaching Assistant specialising in
supporting children with a range of literacy needs.

We also regularly access specialist services when

required. These include:
 Educational Psychology Service (EP)
Speech and Language Therapy (SALT)
 Occupational Therapy (OT)
Physiotherapy (PT)
 Language and Behaviour team (LBL)
 Early Years Inclusion (EY inclusion)
 School Nursing Service (SNS)
 Merton Autistic Outreach Service (MAOS)

For further information please see the Merton Local

SEN offer .

All members of St Matthews Staff (both teaching and

11. What training have support) have access to ongoing training as required by
the staff supporting the needs of individuals in their class. This includes
children with SEN had specialist training on ‘Managing difficult behaviour in
or are having? the classroom’

Regular meetings are held with staff/support staff and

the SENCO. This is to update on provision, training
and to ensure the needs of all children are being
adequately met and that staff feel equipped to meet the
specific needs of the children they are supporting.

INSET training for all staff ( including midday

supervisors when appropriate) has included
 ASD
 Dyslexia
 Dyspraxia
 Inference training
 Child Protection
 Promoting Positive Behaviour

We are planning training for all staff for Sensory

processing difficulties

We have a specialist ELKAN (Specialist speech and

Language) trained LSA and a TA with accredited
dyslexia training.
 At St Matthews we have a strong culture of learning outside the
12. How will my classroom. Each year group has school trips built into the
child be curriculum. Residential trips currently take place in all KS2
included in classes. Every child is included in all school residential trips and
activities visits this is ensured through
outside the
classroom  Detailed Risk assessments being completed by the class teacher
including school and signed off by the Head Teacher.
trips?  Pre-trip site visits ,so that adaptations can be made to
included all children
 Pre-trip preparation ( e.g. photos /social stories) for children
when necessary
 A high adult/ child ratio on all trips, and all helpers are CRB
checked

Individual support from Teaching Assistants /Learning Support

Assistants when required ensure all children are included in all
activities.

13. How St Matthews School is built on one level, with no internal steps
accessible is the or stairs. There are wide corridors for easy access and we have a
school specialist disabled toilet and shower.
environment?
Support from the Visual Impairment /Hearing Impairment
service is accessed when required.

Visual support systems– TEACCH/PECS are available in all

classes as required

All classes have visible timetables, and individuals have their

own timetables if appropriate.

Parents who have English as an additional language are

supported through using other parents or the Translation
services.

We have home visits prior to starting Nursery and Reception; if

14. How will the your child is joining further up the school we arrange a visit to
school prepare meet the teacher and class before starting whenever possible.
and support my
child when We encourage you to have an initial meeting with your child’s
joining St class teacher and SENCO before starting to ensure all relevant
Matthews information is handed over and the contact arrangements for
School, home /school liaison are fully explained. Additional contact will
transferring to a be made with the child’s previous school if appropriate.
new school or
planning for the When moving from St Matthew’s to another school detailed
next stage of planning for transition will involve the class teacher, Learning
their education, Support Assistant and SENCO. Supported visits to the new
employment or school will take place if requested. There will be meetings and
training? telephone conversations between you, the SENCO and new
school staff wherever possible.

If your child has an EHCP the staff from the new school will be
invited to attend the final Annual or Interim review to ensure
that suitable ongoing targets are set, and that they fully
understand the teaching styles and method that suit your child
best.

Advice from outside agencies will be requested when needed.

All SEN files will be handed over well in advance to ensure the
receiving school has adequate time to put all required provision
in place.

15. How are the

school’s Initially a child’s identified need will be resourced from within
resources the school budget and reviewed alongside the SEN plan. The
allocated and resourcing will respond to the level of need of the individual and
matched to the progress made.
child’s special
educational If your child requires provision which needs a higher level of
needs? funding beyond that available within the school budget, the
school and/or parent/carer can request top up funding from the
Higher Needs funding held by the local authority. This will be
initiated by asking for an assessment for an EHCP

16. How is the

decision made Parents are fully involved in the decision making process as to
about what type the support your child receives.
The provision and support given to your child will be regularly
and how much
reviewed at SEN support plan meetings and at an annual review
support my if your child has an EHCP.
child will
receive? How Advice and recommendations from any other relevant agencies
will I be will also be taken into consideration.
involved? This will be done in conjunction with the class teacher, SENCO
and Head Teacher.

17. How will I be You will be invited to all meetings concerning the progress and
involved in future planning of your child. You are also invited to meet with
discussions all professionals working with your child.
about and
planning for my Your agreement will be sought for all referrals and prior to any
child’s interventions taking place.
education?
Progress and outcomes of specific interventions will be shared
with you, either at SEN support meetings/Annual review
meetings, or at additional meetings as necessary.

18. How can I be Parents are warmly welcomed at St Matthews. They are
involved in the encouraged to accompany children on school trips and visits, as
school more well as to help with reading and special activities.
generally?
Weekly ‘book sharing’ sessions take place in Nursery.

There are regular workshops for parents so the school can share
policies and current good practise on Reading, Writing and
Maths within the school.

We have an active PTA who will warmly welcome any new

members. They plan and run a range of fundraising and social
events across the school year. These events are well attended and
help to foster a sense of community.

19. Who can I Should you have any concerns regarding your child your first
contact for point of contact would be your child’s class teacher and then
further SENCO, Julia Warner .
information?
If you require further information please arrange a meeting with
the Head teacher, Mr Gary Quinn

office@st-matthews.merton.sch.uk
0208 947 7227
 You are welcome to come and visit the school and meet the staff.
20. What should To make an appointment please contact :-
I do if I am
considering Louise Morgan/Gloria Saunders
whether this is St Matthew’s Church of England Primary
the right school Cottenham Park Road
for my child? West Wimbledon
SW20 0SX
0208 947 7227
office@st-matthews.merton.sch.uk

For further information regarding SEN and support in Merton

please contact :-
Special Educational Needs and Disabilities and Integrated
|Services Team
London Borough of Merton
Civic Centre
London Road
Morden
SM4 5DX
http://www.merton.gov.uk/learning/edinclusion/sendis.htm

This document has been read and reviewed : December 2017

Date of next review : November 2018