SEND Local Offer

SEND information report – 2024

Introduction

Welcome to our SEND information report which is part of the Norfolk Local Offer for learners with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND.) All governing bodies of maintained schools and maintained nursery schools and the proprietors of academy schools have a legal duty to publish information on their website about the implementation of the governing body’s or the proprietor’s policy for pupils with SEN. The information published must be updated annually.

At John Grant School we are committed to working together with all members of our school community. We would welcome your feedback and future involvement in the review of our offer, so please do contact us. The best people to contact this year are:

Belinda Brookes – Headteacher and Governor

Ian Ward – Chair of Governors

Our approach to teaching learners with SEND

As a school for pupils with Complex Needs, all of our pupils have Special Educational Needs and have the support of an Education Health Care Plan (EHCP). We work hard to ensure that all our pupils can participate in learning at a level appropriate to their needs and we celebrate the achievements of all members of our community. We want to create an inclusive culture in our school and we aim to be responsive to the diversity of our children’s backgrounds, interests, experience, knowledge and skills.

We value high-quality teaching for all learners and actively monitor teaching and learning in the school.

Our school improvement plan is about developing learning and achievement for all and includes the plan for continued professional development (CPD) opportunities for our staff. We aim to be a “Learning Community” in its widest sense.

We aim to create a learning environment which is flexible enough to meet the needs of all members of our school community. We monitor the progress of all learners, and staff continually assess our pupils’ progress ensuring that good learning is taking place.

At John Grant School our motto is:

“Working together to be the best we can be”

How we identify SEN

The Code of Practice defines SEND as:

“A child or young person has Special Educational Needs (SEN) if they have a learning difficulty or disability which calls for special educational provision to be made for them. A child of compulsory school age or a young person has a learning difficulty or disability if they:

have a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others of the same age: or
have a disability which prevents or hinders them from making use of educational facilities of a kind generally provided for others of the same age in mainstream schools or mainstream post-16 institutions.”

As a Complex Needs school, all of our pupils have SEN. Their needs are identified through the Local Authority’s assessment processes and are identified in an Education Health Care Plan (ECHP).

Through both the statutory Annual Review process and our own assessment and evaluation, we are constantly checking that we are able to meet the SEN of our pupils and that placement at John Grant School remains the right one for each pupil. Even within our very specialist setting, there are times when we need to seek additional support in order to ensure needs are correctly assessed and met. This may be with regard to very particular or unusual learning, physical, sensory, medical or behavioural needs.

We have access to services universally provided by Norfolk County Council, which are described on the Local Offer website available here.

At John Grant School we have a range of professionals who regularly work together with our teaching and education support staff to meet the SEN of our pupils. These include:

Speech and Language Therapist, Physiotherapist and Occupational Therapist who is in school regularly to set and monitor the delivery of programmes by school staff, to re-assess needs and to provide professional advice and guidance.

School Nurse: on-site 5 days per week

Several members of the John Grant school staff have additional training and qualifications including:

Moving and Handling training

5 Norfolk Steps Tutors

Signalong Tutor

Rebound Therapy Instructors

Qualified swimming and sports coaches

Specialists in supporting pupils with Autistic Spectrum Condition (ASC)

Visiting specialists include:

Norfolk Virtual School for Sensory Support

CAMHS – Starfish Team and Starfish Plus

Clinics are run in school by a Paediatrician, the Healthy Weight team, the Feeding assessment team, and the Dietician.

Specialists providing vision checks

We also have close links with our colleagues in Social Services in particular those that support Children with Disabilities. Many support and liaison meetings for pupils and their families are held in school.

What we do to support learners with SEN at John Grant School

At John Grant School our classes are primarily grouped by the National Key Stages to ensure a progression of experience that is appropriate to the pupil’s ages, as they go through the school.

Within the Key Stages, the classes are mostly grouped taking both academic and social needs into consideration. This ensures each group has teaching that is designed to meet the pupils’ learning requirements and is in an environment that meets their social and emotional needs. There are five specific class groups covering the age range of the school, focusing on the needs of pupils whose primary barrier to learning is Autistic Spectrum Condition (ASC) and two base groups for pupils who require a very sensory-based approach to learning, including pupils who have Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulties (PMLD).

Every Teacher is required to adapt the curriculum to ensure access to learning for all children in their class. The Teacher Standards 2012 detail the expectations of all teachers, and we at John Grant School are proud of our Teachers and their development. The Teacher standards are available here.

All our Teachers will use a wide range of strategies to adapt access to the curriculum, this might include:

Visual timetables
Picture Exchange Communication Systems (PECS)
Zones of Regulation
Signalong
Objects of Reference
Electronic communication aids
Attention Autism
Forest School
Intensive Interaction
Symbol supported text
I-pads, laptops or other alternative recording devices
Sensory curriculum
Sensory Circuits
Rebound therapy
Hydrotherapy

At John Grant School we are very fortunate to have modern, spacious accommodation with several specialist facilities that help us meet the SEN of our pupils. These include:

Food Technology room with access for wheelchair users to a height-adjustable work surface and hob
Computer room, including Interactive White Board and computers with touchscreen access
Hydrotherapy pool, with direct hoist access from changing rooms to pool. The Hydro pool area also has many sensory room facilities including room lighting effects, underwater lighting and audio
Swimming pool with hoist access
Full-sized Sports Hall
Dance studio
Small fitness suite
1 large Sensory room and also 2 smaller sensory rooms linked to the specialist Class bases.
4 “Safe Space” rooms
Therapy Assessment room
A range of outdoor spaces includes a sensory garden, trim trail, Forest School area, climbing frame area, also a horticulture area which includes a Polytunnel.

The school has the use of a minibus with wheelchair access for off-site visits

Funding for SEN

John Grant School receives funding directly to the school from the Local Authority based on an agreed formula which is linked to the levels of SEN of our pupils.

How do we find out if this support is effective?

Monitoring progress is an integral part of teaching and leadership within John Grant School. Parents/carers, pupils and staff are involved in reviewing the impact of what we do.

Progress data of all learners is regularly collected, collated and monitored by Subject Leaders, Teachers, Senior Leaders and Governors. This enables more particular intervention strategies to be planned and implemented.

Teacher assessments are monitored in-school, but also with colleagues across Norfolk’s Complex Needs schools and at the inter-county level. Increasingly we are also moderating assessments with our colleagues in mainstream schools both at Cluster and County levels.

Each pupil EHCP is reviewed annually

2 formal opportunities are provided each year for parents/carers to discuss and review their child’s progress with their child’s teacher. We do however aim to maintain good contact with our pupils’ parents/carers throughout the year, e.g. via home/school communication books in order to ensure we are working together to continually meet their child’s needs. Informal appointments and/or phone calls can always take place when requested.

Wherever possible our pupils are involved in their own self-review. All pupils are supported in providing comments for their Annual Review and wherever possible pupils attend their Annual Review for at least part of the meeting.

We have a School Council, at which each class base in the school has representation. They meet at least once a half term to discuss issues brought by the representatives or that have been otherwise raised. The meetings are always minuted and consequently reviewed and discussed at Senor Leadership Team meetings

Other opportunities for learning

At John Grant School we offer a wide range of additional or extra curricular activities. These include:

a range of lunchtime clubs; e.g. young cooks, and a range of sports activities.
All classes will arrange off-site visits linked to aspects of the curriculum
In Key Stage 2, most pupils are able to have the opportunity to experience horse riding for one term each year.
Our pupils engage in a wide range of inter-school sports competitions with events at all ability and need levels – these include special sports activity days for pupils with ASD and PMLD.
For our age leavers a “Leavers Ball” is held in school at the end of the summer term to which all in Key Stage 4 and FE are invited.

We are committed to making reasonable adjustments to ensure participation for all.

Preparing for the next step

Transition is a part of life for all learners. This can be a transition to a new class in school, having a new teacher, or moving on to another school, college or day provision. John Grant School is committed to working in partnership with our pupils, their families/carers, social services, colleges and other providers to ensure positive transitions occur.

Planning for transition is a part of our provision for all learners throughout their school carers, but has a special priority from Year 9 onwards when we begin to think about planning for life beyond school. From year 9 onwards, a transition plan is included within their EHCP meeting.

From Key Stage 4 onwards we aim to provide at least an annual opportunity (usually a coffee morning) for parents/carers to come into school to meet each other, relevant providers and parents of pupils who have already left school to receive information and raise any concerns with regard to planning for their child’s future.

Most of our pupils stay at John Grant School until they are 19 in our Further Education (FE) department. Throughout FE the curriculum is focussed on planning and preparation for life beyond school including practicing skills in the community, college visits, road safety development based using the TITAN scheme and, wherever possible and relevant, work experience; whilst continuing the development of literacy and maths skills.

In each pupil’s last year in school, a Leavers Conference takes place, in addition to the Annual Review, to ensure all arrangements for their next step are in place. Once the future placement is agreed upon, transition visits are arranged, usually with support from school staff.

Links with other provision

John Grant School, alongside the other 9 special schools in Norfolk, is a member of “Trust Norfolk SEN” a Co-operative Trust. We aim to work together for the benefit of all pupils with SEN in Norfolk – our motto is….

“Every child with SEN deserves to thrive and succeed”

John Grant School is a member of the Federation of Leaders in Special Education (FLSE).

Relevant staff attend networking meetings across Norfolk including with the Norfolk Association of Special School Heads (NASSH), Norfolk Association of Special School Administrators (NASSA) and Norfolk Special School Deputy Heads.

John Grant School has staff who go out to support identified pupils with SEN in mainstream schools. This is a service run by the Norfolk Special Schools for the Local Authority. It is called “S2S” – School to School support.

John Grant School is also part of the specialist support provided to the Local Authority’s School Resource Bases (SRBs). Our role is to provide a Specialist Partner for the ASD, SRB at Edward Worlledge Primary School in Southtown, Great Yarmouth.

John Grant School buys into a national organisation “ Challenge Partners” which includes networking across the eastern counties and an annual, 3-day external Quality Assurance Review.

Have your say

At John Grant School we continually strive to shape and develop provision for all of our learners ensuring achievement for all. This SEN report declares our annual offer to learners with SEN, but to be effective it needs the views of all parents/carers, learners, governors and staff. If therefore you have a view, suggestion or query about what we do, please get in touch and let us know.