SEND News

During this summer term the children have enjoyed a variety of events such as The Norfolk Show, Sports Day and the Summer Fayre, as well as school trips. Whilst these days are enjoyable, for some children, these events and the change to routine can be very unsettling and induce anxiety. Thank you for working with us to support your child. The children have been amazing, and overcoming their fears has allowed them to create some special memories.  The children are beginning to think about their next class, so I wanted to take the opportunity to outline SEND transition arrangements. Depending on your child's needs, they will take part in some or all of these  transition activities.  Transition Days- 14th and 15th July. Children will arrive in their classes in the morning. They will be told by their current teacher, who their next teacher(s) will be. The children will then move to spend the day in their new classroom.  Some children with SEND who find transition very ch...

We hope you all had a great Easter holidays. We have been very impressed with how well the children have returned to school following a long holiday.  At this time of year thoughts always turn to transition arrangements for the next year group or phase of education. We are very happy to answer any questions about transition, although all the details are not currently finalised.  For all year 6 leavers, the class teachers and sendco will meet with the transition team and sendco from the school they will be attending in September. There will be a thorough handover of all key documentation and any additional needs will be discussed in detail.  For the Reception intake we will be visiting the pre- school settings to meet the children and talk to the leaders. We will work closely with parents to ensure there is a smooth transition for the children with enhanced transition visits.  Internally, we will be able to hold two transition days this year. During this time the chil...

We were very proud of our wonderful children last week when we had our special visitors in school. They were kind, considerate and a credit to us and the school. Thank you to those of you that took the time to share your views on parent view.  We are hoping that as restrictions ease we will be able to host another parent cafe in school. We were very pleased with the feedback and the response to the first cafe and are keen to welcome you back into school. More details to follow.  We would appreciate your views on the SEND provision in school. Please take a few minutes to complete the following survey. Thank you.  https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=Fx7g3hdfPk6z9hIVBwlc9B5pNLeZ5elKoOLAwSHLNzpURDNYOTIxNkRaRzA5WDlOTE9ZRzYyUk1FVy4u Family voice Unfortunately, uncertainty around Covid has meant that we can’t offer our Conference this year, but we know how valuable parent carers found the chance to meet professionals face to face and have their questions answered...

We have had a successful start to term and we have been very proud of the way that the children have transitioned back after the holidays.  We have recently had some questions regarding our Nurture provision. We are lucky to have a wonderful Nurture team led by experienced practitioners.  In our school Nurture is used as an umbrella term. Within the Nurture team a variety of different interventions are run from Zones of Regulation to Lego Therapy. The team work with children individually and in small groups. They also work with children to help them manage their worries and anger. We are led by the needs of the children at the time.  The children attending nurture are identified by the class teacher and following a conversation with the Sendco we contact parents regarding the suggested provision. The sessions are usually held once a week.  If your child is experiencing overwhelming anxiety that is only presenting outside of school, then Just One Norfolk have some use...

Thank you to those of you made appointments with the class teachers to discuss your child's progress at the recent parents' evening. If you would like to discuss your child's SEN provision in more detail, I always offer longer 20 minute appointments to facilitate this. It was lovely to discuss the successes and achievements of the children during these meetings as well as discussing the future.  Please complete the parent section of the One Page Profiles and return them to school. If you don't have any changes to add to previous comments, please let us know and we will copy them across. We are keen to work with you and we value your contributions.  The school have recently been contacted by Speech and Language Therapy Services. As you may be aware there have been long delays once children have been referred and the service is under a new provider. To evaluate their waiting lists and prioritise support a zoom meeting has been set with the school. Letters and questionnair...

What a fantastic half term we have had with some wonderful learning. It has been lovely to see the children settle back into school and build relationships with their new teachers and support staff.  Unfortunately we have had to cancel our upcoming parents' evenings. However, appointments will be rescheduled after half term. I will be holding SEND parent meetings which can be booked through the school office. It is always advisable to have had the meeting with the class teacher prior to making an appointment with myself. Your child's One Page Profile and Holistic Action Plans have been updated and will be given out at parent meetings.  Norfolk SEND are expanding the way they communicate across social media platforms. Follow them on Facebook @ send norfolk or on twitter @ send_offer Please be aware there is a new local offer page which has been redesigned. The advice and support section is designed for parents/ carers and contains a lot of useful information. Advice and support...

 It has been lovely to welcome the children back to school this term. Thank you for your supporting the children to come onto the site independently. There are always adults at every gate that are keen to assist you should your child need support.  It was lovely to see so many SEND children visiting the school during the afternoon of 2nd September. We hope the children enjoyed the opportunity to meet their new teachers and see the classroom set up without the other children around. We enjoyed welcoming parents in again for these visits. For families awaiting speech and language assessments, please be aware of the following updates: Norfolk & Waveney Children’s SaLT transferred to Cambridgeshire Community Services on 2nd August making closer working with Health Visitors, School Nurses and other Healthy Child Programme professionals much easier. The service is being redesigned to better meet the needs for all children and young people in Norfolk and Waveney . They will updat...

We hope you are all enjoying the warmer weather. At this time of year children and adults begin to look ahead to September. This blog will focus on transition plans.  For our children children with SEND the following arrangements have been made: On the 7th, 8th, 9th July we will be having 3 internal transition days. The children will move up to their new classes and spend time with their new teachers and teaching assistants. High school transitions will take place during the same days.  In September if appropriate your child will be invited to visit the school on one of our INSET days. This will give them an opportunity to see the classroom set up without the other children around. Please be aware that this is not for all children identified with SEND, but just those that struggle with transitions. The class teacher will contact you if they feel this is appropriate.  For the first few weeks of term there will be a focus on building relationships and establishing new routi...

The children have started to enjoy some brighter weather (despite the showers) and they have had fun playing on the field and in the trees. It has been lovely to hear the children speak with such excitement about upcoming plans for holidays and seeing family as restrictions ease.  As opportunities to socialise and interact with others become more frequent, for some children this can cause anxiety. If your child is struggling with anxiety at the moment there are some good resources available to support them:  ThinkNinja is an app recommended by the NHS for 10-18year olds to educate them about mental health and emotional wellbeing.   Just One Norfolk have expanded their website and now have a range of activities and resources offered on their website to help your young people. These include activities for boosting self-esteem, low mood, anger and many more.  Children's Emotional Health Advice & Support - Just One Norfolk If you have ongoing concerns about your...

 We hope you all enjoyed a wonderful Easter and managed to enjoy the sunshine.  Thank you to those of you that signed up for a SEND parent consultation slot. There were some very useful discussions regarding SEND provision for your children.  If you haven't done so already, please make sure you complete the parent section of your child's One Page Profile and return it to school asap. We really value your comments and input, especially after lockdown.  Since Easter we have been pleased we welcome a dance therapist into school. She is working with small groups of children in years 2,3 and 4. This group is not necessarily for children with SEND, but it aims to promote emotional development and boost the confidence of the children involved.  As you may have noticed from the newsletter ASD Helping Hands has recently updated their website. They are a good source of advice and they have some updated resources you may find helpful.  As we begin the summer term chil...

 It has been lovely to see all the children back in school enjoying time with their friends. Thank you for your support in ensuring that the transition back to school went smoothly.  The children have been enjoying the recovery curriculum designed to support children's mental and emotional wellbeing following the turbulence of the last year. Classes have been sharing stories, discussing mental health and the teachers have prioritised spending time with the children to discuss any concerns and rebuild relationships.  Due to the current pandemic and school reopening there have been some very good resources released to support families to manage stress and promote wellbeing at this time. In order to ensure you can access them we will continue to highlight them on the weekly newsletter rather than wait for this monthly blog.  If your child is struggling with anxiety there are some very good websites that may help you open the discussion. Just One Norfolk- Anxiety Barnard...

Last week children in school and at home enjoyed engaging in activities to mark children's mental health week. This year's theme was 'express yourself'. We hope you enjoyed engaging in activities with your children and we hope they were able to explore new ways to express themselves.  We hope you all took advantage of the snow this week for a welcome break from screens to enjoy the outdoors. I'm sure there were lots of very excited children.  The teachers and teaching assistants have been working hard to establish remote interventions to enhance and support the children that are unable to return to school. If you are contacted by a member of staff and offered an intervention please take up the offer as they have been designed to address gaps in your child's learning.  If your child is able to please encourage them to join the morning remote check- ins with their teacher. It is a good way to keep regular contact and an opportunity for them to see some familiar fa...

I hope you all had a good Christmas period.  After one day back at school we now find ourselves in an all too familiar situation of a National Lockdown. For some children the next few weeks will prove very challenging and I would like to use this blog post to signpost you to some online wellbeing support.  Just One Norfolk- This website has a good Covid support section with links to support for adults and children https://www.justonenorfolk.nhs.uk/covid-19-coronavirus-faqs Childline- Childline have put together a coping kit for children that provides activities to do if you are feeling overwhelmed.  https://www.childline.org.uk/toolbox/coping-kit/ Please find below useful links to websites offering wellbeing and emotional support.  I will keep updating this blog as more useful resources arrive. If you need support or advice please email sendco@mulbartonprimary.norfolk.sch.uk

We hope that you are all keeping safe and well. Please see below an invitation to discuss Dental Services for young people with SEND: Thank you to those of you that took the time to complete the SEND parent questionnaire. It has now closed and following the feedback you have given there have been a few common threads that I would like to address: Communication with staff Normally we would be happy to hold meetings with parents to discuss any concerns or issues. Although we can't currently invite you into school if you have a specific question or query please email or phone the school office who will ensure the message reaches the class teacher(s). Please always contact the class teacher before the SENDCO as they are often best placed to answer your queries. One Page Profiles and Holistic Action Plans These have been shared with you via email and we would appreciate your comments in the family section. If you need to discuss these documents please contact the class teachers via the ...

The children are continuing to adapt positively to being back in school, and as we near the end of the first half term I'm sure they are all looking forward to a well deserved rest. Thank you to those of you that signed up for a zoom SENDCO meeting, it was very useful to discuss your child's needs and how they have changed during lockdown. I will be offering these at the next parent consultation evenings in the spring term. Please do not feel that you have to sign up, but only do so if you need to discuss your child's needs. For the next meeting it would be useful if you could have already had a meeting with the class teachers as they may be able to answer some of your queries.  Although the children have already returned to school if your child is struggling to separate, or to adapt to the changes in school there are some useful resources available at: https://www.justonenorfolk.nhs.uk/return-to-school The Just One Norfolk website also has a lot of useful information on po...

Welcome back to all of our pupils with SEND, we hope you have all had a good summer. It has been lovely to see the children return to school this week and we have all been impressed with the resilience they have shown in adapting to the new rules and routines in school.  For those of you with children that were invited into school on the inset days for a transition visit; thank you for your support. Under normal circumstances would would have enjoyed welcoming you and your children together, but it was fantastic to see how the children entered the building independently. We hope that it helped to reduce the anxiety for some when they came into school on Monday.  We all understand that for some children the lockdown period has caused some changes in behaviour. Please rest assured that as a school we have made the wellbeing of the children our main focus for the first few weeks and the academic work will resume slowly. The children are being given a lot of opportunities to explo...

With Coronavirus (Covid-19) in the community, the Under 14’s Child and Family Mental Health Service have developed some key points about looking after mental health during this time. The uncertainty of the current situation may feel worrying, and there are things that you will not be able to control. However, there are things that you CAN do to promote good physical and emotional health. We have given some ideas below of how you can keep doing these things while Coronavirus is around. There are also a number of sources of support for mental health if you are finding it hard to cope. All of these services are likely to be working with less staff, so it will be best to make the most of their website resources rather than contacting them by phone. Just One Norfolk website: https://www.justonenorfolk.nhs.uk/ A local resource providing advice on all aspects of life for a child/ young person. Specific information about emotional health for young people and parents. An App is also avail...

 Please be aware that the pupil passports and action plans will be changing. The new versions will be shared with you at the upcoming parents evenings. The action plans remain very similar but you will notice that the different sections of the plan have been labelled to indicate the assess- plan- do – review cycle of support for your child.  The pupil passports have been replaced by a One- Page Profile. This is to prevent duplicating information between the pupil passports and action plans and also to make your child’s needs clearer for anyone supporting them. To put the child at the centre of the process one section will be completed with them to include their views. There will still be a parent section which we urge you to complete and return to the class teachers asap. Please see an example one page profile below: The impact of sensory stimulation is becoming more widely recognised as a barrier to learning for some children. This is often significan...

Welcome to the second SEND blog. We hope you found the information in the previous blog helpful. Date for the diary- SEN Café. On Thursday 5 th  March we will be hosting our first SEND parents café. This café is for any parents of a child with identified SEN. The children will not be attending and it will be an opportunity to meet other parents of children with SEN in a relaxed and informal way. There will be tea and biscuits and Claire Jack from Family Voice will be attending to talk about their role and the support they offer to families. The café will begin at 9 and run until 9:45. The aim is for this to be quality time for you as parents to work together alongside the school so ideally younger siblings would not attend. We hope to see you there! We have recently been reviewing the format of the pupil passports and action plans. We have decided to make some changes and simplify the pupil passports to a one page profile. The child’s views will recorded on these profiles ...