SEND and Inclusion

What does the local offer cover?

The local offer will include information about health and social care services, education, leisure activities and support groups in the area for children and young people aged 0 – 25 with SEND and their families.

There will be information about:

  • Services and support available
  • How children and young people’s needs are identified and assessed
  • The way schools, colleges and maintained nurseries support children and young people with SEND
  • How to access services and how decisions are made
  • Preparation for adulthood and independence
  • Arrangements for making a complaint and mediation
  • How to comment on the local offer

The Department for Education’s draft SEN Code of Practice and regulations outlines the range of information to be included in the local offer.

SEND Local Offer 

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Ermine Street Church Academy is committed to providing a high quality education to all the children. We believe that all children, including those identified as having special educational needs or a disability (SEND) have a common entitlement to a broad and balanced academic, personal and social curriculum, which is accessible to them. All children should be fully included in all aspects of school life.

We believe that all children should be equally valued in school. We will strive to eliminate prejudice and discrimination, and to develop an environment where all children can flourish and feel safe.

Ermine Street Church Academy is committed to inclusion and providing ‘Quality First Teaching’ for all children. We aim to engender a sense of community and belonging, and to offer new opportunities to all learners. This does not mean that we will treat all learners in the same way, but that we will respond to learners in ways which take account of their varied life experiences and needs.

We are always available for you to discuss any questions or concerns that you may have about your child and their provision.

Speech, communication, and language are all linked together. When we speak, we are using all three to express ourselves clearly and to understand others. However when children have difficulty expressing themselves, their underlying difficulties may relate to all three areas or just speech and communication (having difficulties with pronunciation and making specific letter sounds, saying words, and knowing how words build to make grammatically correct sentences) or language (having difficulties with understanding speech) alone. Often Speech and Language therapists will assess the exact nature of a child’s difficulties and then recommend that they either follow a Speech and Communication pathway of support or a Language support pathway.

Speech Clarity and Pronunciation

A child’s speech development relies on being able to say and pronounce each individual letter sound correctly. As they progress, children will blend these individual sounds together to make different letter sounds, and then combine sounds to make words.

A child’s ability to pronounce letters correctly can be affected by many different things. Sometimes their ability to physically move their tongue and mouth to form the correct shapes for each sound, or difficulties with hearing (affecting how a child thinks a letter sounds and how their own speech sounds) can affect their speech. However it can also be that they simply need a little help to master the sounds with practice.

Alternative Ways to Support Communication

When a child’s speech is unclear, it can be difficult for others to follow what they are saying or asking, and this in turn can lead to frustration for the child. However, having a symbol, object or sign that they can use alongside their speech, can make their ideas and needs much clearer to others, and in turn help them feel they are being understood. As a child’s speech develops, the need for these visual forms of communication may gradually lessen or disappear altogether, or they may become beneficial to a child in a different way, for example helping children understand a sequence or set of instructions.

Using Visual Aids

Using a picture or a real object relating to something being spoken about, is a great way to give children an additional thing to use to make sense of what is being said. It will also give adults something to reinforce and clarify what a child is trying to say. When a child is younger, using the real objects themselves or a 3D representation (for example a toy car to represent going in a real car) make linking to a word or idea very clear. However, as they become older and more able to link words, ideas and concepts to more abstract pictures, photos, drawing and symbols can be used.

PECS - Picture Exchange Communication System

The use of PECS may be recommended for a child by Speech and Language Therapists or other Specialist Teachers following assessments of a child’s needs.

PECS uses a range of simple line drawings on cards to represent key words, including actions, objects and feelings, to help children communicate. The cards can be used by children to make what they are wanting to say clear to others, and by the people they are communicating with, to make the ideas in their speech and language easier to understand.

Makaton

The use of Makaton will be recommended for a child by Speech and Language Therapists or other Specialist Teachers following assessments of a child’s needs.

Makaton uses symbols and signs to reinforce speech, and is often thought of as a simple form of sign language. Children and adults working with them will gradually learn the symbols and signs associated with specific words, including actions, objects and feelings, so that a child is able to express themselves and be understood by others. Speech is always used alongside Makaton signing to help children link the sign and the spoken word and to encourage children to attempt pronounce the word correctly.

We often take for granted that we can find the words we need to describe something and communicate clearly. However sometimes, learning new vocabulary and then recalling it to use in a variety of situations, can be difficult. Sometimes children need to be explicitly taught the vocabulary to be used and the way to form a sentence correctly.

There are 3 different levels or ‘tiers’ of vocabulary that we learn and use.

  • Tier 1: Basic vocabulary including many everyday words - often naming vocabulary and simple words: hair, coat, mum, dad, walk, run, happy, sad.
  • Tier 2: Common, regularly used vocabulary, which can be called High Frequency vocabulary. It also includes more adventurous descriptive vocabulary that children will begin to use in their speech and writing.
  • Tier 3: Topic specific vocabulary, which means vocabulary that is not commonly used in everyday speech, but is used in specific topics or subjects. For example, when working in Maths, you may need to know, understand and use words like perpendicular, vertices, angle. These words are specific to the topic in question and not to general language.

Sometimes specific vocabulary from these tiers needs to be taught explicitly to children. By doing this, and playing with the new vocabulary regularly, children are helped to remember vocabulary and use it in their own sentences.

Building Vocabulary

Here are a few ways you can help your child’s vocabulary to become more secure and expand.

Pre-Teaching

This strategy involves teaching new vocabulary or reminding a child of the vocabulary they may come across or need to use, before a new topic is begun. Practicing relevant vocabulary before a topic is taught or discussed, enables the child to become familiar with relevant words and phrases. When they are then used in context in a lesson or discussion, the child will be aware of them and hopefully be more confident in being able to pick up key parts of the discussion.

Talking Boxes

Talking boxes are little collections of objects that can be used to play with and talk about with your child. The items are collected to fit a theme, for example fruits. A collection of real and/or toy fruit that goes in a box, can be opened up with a child and talked about as they play shops or being at a restaurant. In this way, children are actively using the vocabulary they are being introduced to, which will make them more likely to remember the vocabulary being introduced, and be aware of the context in which it can be used.   

Click here for an example of Talking Boxes you could set up with your child. The ideas can be adapted for any topic and vocabulary being introduced or practiced.

Vocabulary Maps and Books

Vocabulary maps can be made to present new vocabulary for a particular topic or theme. They can be created in different ways, depending on the age of a child and the detail needed, and what works best for any particular child. Most will use pictures and colour coding of some kind. Putting the maps created for different topics in a book, keeps the vocabulary collections together, and makes them easy to refer to at any time, when the topic is revisited or a recap is needed to boost a child’s confidence or recall.

Click here for examples of different types of Vocabulary Maps for Vocab books.

Click here for examples of making Vocabulary Maps work at different levels.

Developing Grammar in Speech

Sentence construction is a tricky thing when you analyse it in detail, and yet we often pick it up without having to really understand what goes where and why. Sometimes children need a little support to hear that words may be missing, are in the wrong order, or are confused, when they develop their own spoken sentences. Practicing the specific areas children find tricky, can help build their awareness of the building blocks of sentences and concepts.

Pronouns

Pronouns are small words that can be used to replace using a noun all the time. They include words like; they, he, she, we, theirs, ours, us.

Positional Vocabulary

Prepositions are small words that add detail and clarity to a sentence, often by describing the position of something. Sometimes children miss these words out of sentences. Practicing sentences using the correct vocabulary can help them get used to adding them into their speech.

Conceptual Language

Language that is used to describe a range of different concepts, is referred to as conceptual language. It may describe:

  • Location (here/there/above/below)
  • Direction (left/right/up/down) and position (first/second/third/last/middle)
  • Number and quantity (more/less/greater/fewer),
  • Order and sequence (first/then/last),
  • Attributes (soft/rough)
  • Size (big/small/large/tiny)
  • Similarities and differences (the same/different)

Children will usually be given one particular concept to work at at one time.

Resources to support learning of many different concepts can be downloaded from the Twinkl website.

Activities to practice many different aspects of language including; pronouns, concepts, negatives, and question words. (Scroll down to Language section to find relevant activities).

Understanding Language

Even simple sentences contain words that give information for children to understand and follow. As a child’s understanding of language develops, they will move from being able to pick up 1 information word in a phrase, to 2 information words, to 3 and then 4. This sequence of development often occurs in the first 4-5 years. However, many children need a little help to be able to consistently understand and therefore follow instructions at the 3 and 4 information word level.

Understanding Key Words and Instructions

Practicing sentences that contain information carrying words with your child, as they play or do things to help around the home, models increasingly complex instructions and sentences to them, and encourages them to develop their ability to pick them up.

Here are a few examples of different sentences that show 2, 3 and 4 information carrying (key) words. You can use them as they are in play with your child, or use them as a model to create similar sentences for activities around the home or to structure questions as you and your child read a book.

We use 8 different sensory systems in our bodies all the time without thinking about it, to make sense of things around us … to recognise and interpret smells, textures, tastes, our position, how much we need to squeeze our hands and fingers together to pick up things that are solid or fragile. To respond appropriately to stimuli around us, we need our sensory systems, with their network of receptors, to give messages to our brain to which it can respond. Sometimes these sensory systems and pathways don’t work as expected. They may be over-sensitive (hyper-sensitive) or under-sensitive (hypo-sensitive), or they may confuse things. When this happens we can find things a little different and sometimes behave in unexpected ways to thing. 

When children have difficulties processing different sensory information, their behaviour may seem unusual and confusing to others. However it is because they are perceiving things differently.  Identifying the nature of their difficulties and triggers for certain behaviours is key to understanding their difficulties and finding a way to help them.

Sometimes children can find different situations and environments over stimulating, and as a result highly distracting. Sometimes using sensory activities and providing them with different sensory stimulation via a sensory diet, can help to calm them and manage their bodies responses, and in doing so help them focus more easily.

Sensory Circuits

Sensory circuits are a set of physical activities set up in a circuit for children to complete for 10-15 minutes each day. The activities are designed to help the brain’s processing speed, and are grouped as either: alerting, calming or organising. The activities within the circuit can be specifically chosen for your child and to help them in a particular way, for example more calming activities may be needed to encourage an active child to have the right mindset to begin learning, whilst alerting activities may help another child who is less active and more passive.

Sensory Breaks

Sometimes a short activity break can help children to maintain concentration and focus on learning and other tasks. Adding in a break of 10-15 minutes of physical activity or any sensory activity (including listening to music, carrying something heavy, having a hand massage) helps to alert or calm children who may be feeling tired or anxious about an activity and therefore starting to loose concentration. Any of the activities included on this page could help your child - it’s a case of finding something that they enjoy and works for them.

When we move, we either make small, more refined movements using our hands and fingers (fine motor movements) or larger movements using larger muscles in the arm and legs (gross motor movements).

Fine Motor Control

Fine motor movements relate to the movements made by our fingers and hands, and the muscles and tendons in our upper arms which coordinate and control them.

When children struggle with things that require small controlled and coordinated movements like using zips and buttons, tying shoe laces, handwriting, and picking up and applying pressure to small objects like Lego, they may benefit from a few fine motor control exercises, designed to build up strength in their upper arm and finger muscles. Here are a few activities you could try with your child to develop their fine motor skills.

Gross Motor Control

Gross motor movements are those made by coordinating and controlling larger muscle groups, for example as we walk or run, using our leg muscles and as we stretch and move our arms.

Sometimes children can have difficulty coordinating and controlling these movements, and as a result may have difficulty maintaining their balance, being able to make coordinated and controlled movements whilst playing a sport, and show difficulty with hand-eye coordination. Exercises that practice these skills help to build the muscle strength as well as develop better body awareness and coordination. Here are a few activities you could try with your child to develop their gross motor skills.

Emotions are one of those things most of us take for granted and don’t really ever stop to think about or analyse. However having the words to describe how we feel is a really important part of a child’s development. Understanding our emotions and how to manage them is more complex, but important too. Sometimes children need a little extra help and support to develop Emotional Literacy and their ability to understand and deal with their emotions and those of others too.

Modelling and talking about the words we use to describe different emotions and how we feel can help children learn to identify and name their own emotions. Using pictures or acting out different facial expressions for different emotions, and talking about how we feel at different times, can be fun ways of exploring and developing emotional vocabulary with your child.

Exploring Emotions Resources:

There are lots of different emotions that children can need support understanding and dealing with. Here we explore just a few. However if you need advice on any other emotions your child is having difficulty with, please contact us and we will discuss other support ideas.

Anxiety

We can all become worried and anxious about different things, but sometimes children can have difficulty dealing with anxious feelings, and this can overwhelm them. This can be debilitating and prevent them from being happy and able to achieve their potential. Sometimes anxieties can cause a child’s behaviour to change - either making them withdraw or show more anger and lash out.  Recognising times that may cause anxiety in a child and how they show their anxiety, is key to helping them.

Developing strategies that they can use as their anxieties grow or when you or they are aware that something that increases their anxiety is about to happen, can really help children to manage their feelings and responses to them.

Below are a few ways that may help your child to manage and reduce their anxieties.

Mindfulness

Meditation and Music

Yoga

Children’s Books about Anxiety and Worries:

Anger

Anger can be a difficult emotion for a child to deal with. It can cause impulsive reactions which can be challenging to deal with. Talking to a child about their feelings or the consequences of their actions if necessary, could escalate the child’s anger if done straight away. However giving your child a short time to calm down, in a safe place, can give them time to calm down and allow their initial intense feelings to subside. Talking to them and addressing any issues and consequences when the child is much calmer, enables the child to listen to you, and what you need to say more easily.

Sometimes children will recognise how this Time Out strategy can help them, and will start to use it independently without prompting. If you think this could help your child, agree a quiet, safe space with your child for them to ‘retreat’ to if and when they need to. This could be a hoop on the floor, a mat, a tent or tepee placed in a quiet, safe space in your home. It is an idea to walk past to monitor this space when children use it, just to keep an eye on how they are, and when they may be ready to talk. 

Having time to reflect on their behaviour is an important part of helping a child learn about what went wrong and how they could react differently. Reflection time helps them to think about how they could respond differently in the future, if they start to feel angry again. Young children will often need help in reflecting in a meaningful way.

Restoration is also an important part of dealing with our actions when they have gone wrong. After reflecting on their behaviour, encourage your child to ‘put something right again’. It may involve picking up toys that have been thrown on the floor, or saying sorry to their brother or sister if they have been hurt by words or actions.

You may also find the ‘Challenging Behaviour’ tab useful.

Feelings, thoughts and behaviours are all linked together. We feel what we feel as a result of thoughts and experiences, and perhaps the behaviour of others, but in turn these feelings will change our own thoughts and behaviour. Children are just the same.

Every child will present with some level of challenging behaviour at some point, pushing to see what the response is from someone else. It is part of learning boundaries and expectations. However for some children, their challenging behaviour can be more significant and begin to change their relationships with others, and control what they can and can’t do…it can start to be a factor that controls them and those around them.

It is important to see a child and their behaviour as two separate things…we can love the child, but not like their behaviour. Having this mindset sometimes help to look more objectively at the possible causes of a child’s behaviour – as it will almost always be telling us something, or result from some underlying reason.

Investigating the situations and circumstances in which a child’s behaviour becomes challenging can give clues to triggers and possible reasons for the behaviours seen, and in doing so help everyone to understand and consider support strategies that may help.

When a child becomes angry, it is important that they can regulate their emotions and manage them without it impacting on others. Helping them to recognise the signs that they may be becoming agitated or anxious and giving them to skills or tools to calm these feelings before they escalate can really help a child’s behaviour. Here are a few ways in which you can help your child recognise escalating feelings, and how to help them keep or become more calm again.

The exact way to support a child showing challenging behaviours will depend on the underlying reasons and the specific behaviours they show. If a more specific approach is needed, then please speak to us and we will find the best way to help you and your child together.

Many of the strategies and ideas mentioned on the ‘Emotions’ and ‘Sensory Processing’ tabs could also be useful in supporting children showing challenging behaviours.

Social Interactions

We often don’t think about how we make friends and interact with others, we just take it for granted that we know what to say and how to behave around others. However for some children social interactions can be confusing and worrying. They can be a mind field of social cues, and subtle gestures that can be difficult to pick up and understand. Teaching children specific social skills can help know what to say and do in a range of situations, and in doing so, help them gain the confidence to build friendships, and know how to behave with others.

Turn Taking

Learning to take your turn comes as children grow and develop and become more aware of the feelings of others. However sometimes children may need a little help to learn this skill.

Having something visual to show whose turn it is can help children understand and use taking their turn as a rule in a conversation and game. The visual aid may be a toy to hold or a hat to wear, that is passed on each time someone new takes their turn.

Talking to Others

Giving a child that is struggling to make friends, the words to use to initiate a conversation with other children can help them know what to do to start talking to other children, and in doing so give them the confidence to have a go. Practicing having conversations at home can also help build a child’s confidence in talking to others.

Other Social Skills

Social Stories

Sometimes children have difficulty picking up daily routines or social behaviours. when this happens children need to be taught the skills and behaviour for different situations specifically.  Simple stories that break down a routine or behaviour into several small simple steps can help children gradually change their behaviour and learn what to do in situations they find difficult.  The text is kept simple and short, and used alongside simple line drawing pictures or photographs. The stories are shared with children again and again, and can be acted out, to help them understand and remember what it tells them to do. Each social story is created in the way that is felt best for an individual child, but the more personalised it can be, the better.  Here are some examples of different types and styles of Social Stories. 

Routines

We all follow some form of routine each day which becomes automatic. We don’t need to think about what we are doing, it just happens, and that enables us to think and focus on other things. However, if we don’t know what order we should do things in, or what will happen next it can cause us to become anxious and prevents us from concentrating on other things. Some children can experience this uncertainty and anxiety every day, when they can’t remember what comes next in a sequence or daily life. Having a visual timetable showing them, enables them to know what to expect and can be checked at any time should they need to remind themselves, and in doing so greatly reduce their anxiety levels. In a similar way, having a routine sequence suddenly change can also cause anxiety. Preparing and fore warning children that a routine will or may change helps them accept the change more readily than when it appears to suddenly be sprung on them.

Visual timetables of activities for the day, can help children to feel relaxed about their routines and sequences they use each day, and can also help to show them when a change to this routine may be needed.

First / Then Sequencing

Sometimes children can worry about what will happen next and this can distract them from focusing on the task they are working on. Having a short sequence of tasks or activities enables them to know what will happen next, and in doing so help them to relax and focus.

Professional agencies including Paediatricians, Speech and Language Therapists , Educational Psychologists and Specialist SEND Teachers sometimes assess a child’s needs in order to establish the nature of their difficulties and the best way to support them. Sometimes such assessments will lead to a diagnosis.

We understand that a diagnosis may be challenging for parents and children. However, we strongly believe that any diagnosis should not be seen as a label but a way of understanding what and why a child may find certain things challenging now and in the future, and in doing so, enable everyone to see how best to help them make progress and ultimately achieve their potential.

The links below offer an overview of potential diagnoses and ways in which you may be able to help your child with difficulties commonly associated with them.

Children with many of these diagnoses, will need support in specific areas and so please also refer to previous pages for support.