SENCO and SEN Staff
Our SENCO is Jill Jones.
More details of the SENCO’s role can be found in the SEN Policy which you can find in the School Policies section of our website.
Our team includes staff trained in Every Child a Talker, Makaton, Supporting Children on the Autistic Spectrum, Talking Tots, Think Sensory Not Behaviour and PECs.
External Specialists and Other Bodies
The school enjoys good working relationships with a wide range of people who provide services to children with SEND and their families.
The external specialists may:
- Act in an advisory capacity
- Extend expertise of school staff
- Provide additional assessment
- Support a child directly
- Suggest statutory assessment is advisable
- Consult with all parties involved with the child
These include:
- Durham County Council Local Offer
- Durham SEND Information, Advice and Support Service
- Educational Psychology Consultants
- Speech & Language Consultants
- Occupational Therapists
- Paediatric Physiotherapists
- Paediatrician
- Early Years Team
- Early Years Learning Support Officers
- Portage worker
How We Secure Specialist Expertise
We allocate funds from our school budget or through our Community of Learning to secure specialist advice.
Sometimes this funding is used to provide additional support, train staff or provide additional specialist resources. Each year we purchase an SLA with the Speech and Language Therapy service in order that children with difficulties in this area are quickly identified and supported.
If a child has complex special educational needs, we could also receive additional staffing through the LA Early Years Learning Support Assistant pool of staff. Our nursery is a base school for two such staff and as a result we are able to observe effective practice and access advice and training.