At Moorside Primary School we consult with a range of agencies and partnerships to facilitate arrangements for supporting children and young people with pastoral, medical and social needs. The class teacher has overall responsibility for the pastoral, medical and social care of every child in their class, therefore this would be the parents’ first point of contact. If further support is required, the class teacher liaises with the SENDCO for further advice and support. This may involve working alongside outside agencies such as Health and Social Services, and/or the Behaviour Support Team. We also have staff trained to run additional interventions to develop social needs of children e.g. through Lego Therapy and Build 2 Express.
Views of all children are taken into account through Pupil Questionnaires, the School Council representatives and regular discussions with children as part of the school’s monitoring, focussing on different aspects of school life e.g. learning, environment, behaviour etc.
School accesses the services of a specialist councillor and children can be referred to the services for a range of needs. We also have support via our Community of Learning to specialist speech and language provision and behaviour support provision. School also buys into a crisis SLA with the local authority and Educational Psychology time.
Since September 2021, Moorside Primary School have participated in a range of CPD and pilot schemes in relation to mental health, working alongside services linked to health and social care to strengthen these links with education to impact positively on outcomes for children. Following the pandemic, the wider impact the pandemic has on wellbeing and mental health of staff, children and the community, led to our involvement and participation in the following projects;
- Durham County Council’s ‘Anxious About School COMF pilot’ (Implementation of peer mentors in school & FEARLESS Triple P programme for parents with children with Anxiety/Autism in school)
- Youth Mental Health First Aid course (Qualification for Senior Mental Health Leads)
- MHST (Mental Health Support Team- with links to the local authorities EWEL Team & CAMHS)
An ‘Anxious About School Audit’ has been completed with further details in relation to our work with the project. In order to support staff wellbeing, a ‘Celebration Ceremony’ is held for staff to share positive contributions made across the week in relation to work, efforts, good practice or kind words/thanks. Guardian Angels have also been implemented in order to support random acts of kindness amongst the staff team to share and promote positive wellbeing.
Support for children with speech, language and communication needs:
- Support/advice from SENDCO
- Makaton/ PECS/Communication boards
- Lego Therapy/ Build 2 Express
- Additional appropriately skilled adults routinely used to support flexible groupings
- Access to targeted small group work with class teacher or TA.
- Access to intervention group work with class teacher or TA
- Access to speech language and communication support materials e.g. Welcom, speech link/language link resources
- School staff access awareness-enhanced and specialist training including LA training regarding meeting the needs of pupils
- Additional appropriately skilled adult (e.g. TA) for focused support during unstructured times e.g. lunchtime supervision/ targeted extra- curriculum activities, supervision in the playground.
- Access to a quiet, distraction-free environment in which to deliver intervention groups
- TA and class teacher to liaise with SALT as appropriate
- Access to specific SALT sessions
- School may consult the teachers from the Enhanced Resource Provision for SLCN for advice on best practice
- Allocated time for professional meetings
Support for children with social, emotional and mental health difficulties:
- We consult with a wide range of agencies and partnerships to ensure the pastoral, medical and social needs of SEND children are met. The class teacher has overall responsibility for the pastoral, medical and social care of every child in their class, therefore this would be the parents’ first point of contact. If further support is required the class teacher liaises with the SENDCO for further advice and support. This may involve working alongside outside agencies such as Health and Social Services, and/or the Behaviour Support Team.
- School accesses the services of a specialist counsellor and children can be referred to the services for a range of needs. Mrs Pears (School Operations Manager) can also liaises with parents/carers in relation to emotional and self-esteem difficulties.
- Nurture Group Provision
- Peer Mentors
- Staff have accessed Attachment Training delivered by Kate Cairns Associates
- SENDCO is trained in Drawing and Talking Therapy
- Access to bespoke/recommended interventions from professionals.
- Comic Strip Conversations
- Social stories
- Bespoke/personalised curriculum
- Staff have accessed training in relation to Restorative Approaches and these are used consistently across school in conjunction with the Respectful relationships policy.
- Zones of Regulation
Support for children with medical needs:
- The school has a policy regarding the administration and managing of medicines on the school site.
- Parents need to contact the class teacher if medication is recommended by Health Professionals to be taken during the school day and appropriate forms must be completed by parents/carers and staff.
- On a day to day basis the Admin Staff generally oversee the administration of any medicines.
- As a staff, we have regular training and updates of conditions and medication affecting individual children so that all staff are able to manage medical situations.
- Advice/liaison with the school nurse.
More details on how we adapt information, our environment and curriculum can be found in the Accessibility Plan, our SEND Policy and our Teaching and Learning Policy which you can find in the School Policies section of our website.
If you would like to discuss your SEND requirements in detail please contact the school to arrange an appointment.
