SENDCo - Ms Kelsey Martin and DSL

At Orchards Infant School children with special educational needs and/ or disabilities gain a high quality and inclusive education. Our curriculum is carefully sequenced to build on children’s prior learning and we have high expectations of all of our learners.

We run a range of interventions which are targeted to support children’s development, including language interventions, physical programmes and literacy or numeracy based interventions. Our curriculum also supports children’s emotional development, and we ensure that all children are valued and listened to.

At Orchards Infant School we follow the SEN Code of Practice and use the assess, plan, do and review cycle in order to plan a child-centred approach to learning. This ensures that all children receive support and provision targeted to meet their individual needs. We believe the views of parents/carers should be listened to and incorporated into the support that their children receive. The SENDCo is a point of contact for parents who need information on additional support and advice regarding provision.

We believe it is essential to maintain communication between different agencies and services involved with the child and their family. The SENDCo is a point of contact for parents who need information about external agencies and services. The SENDCo co-ordinates advice and support from a range of outside agencies and facilitates effective partnership with them. These agencies include Speech and Language Therapists, Occupational Therapists and Educational Psychologists.

At Orchards Infant School we are fortunate to have a Special Support Centre (SSC) for up to thirteen children with speech, language and communication needs. Children’s services (SENAT) refer the children to the SSC. The children are from a wide surrounding area and work with a Speech Therapist and dedicated staff with a wealth of knowledge and experience in the field of speech, language and communication needs.

The SENDCo has many years of experience in this role and keeps abreast of changes and new initiatives under the SEND agenda.

The Teacher in Charge of the SSC (TIC) has completed an Elklan Level 2 Award meaning that she can offer specialist advice to staff in order to support children with Speech, Language and Communication needs.