• Talk to your child’s class teacher about your concerns.
• It is likely that the class teacher will have discussed your concerns with Mrs Kemp-Robertson, who is our school SENDCo and Ms Palmer, who is our Inclusion Co-ordinator.  You may then wish to arrange a meeting.  Please ether ring the school on 01727 890440 (Option 2) or email  and we will arrange this for you.
• If you continue to have concerns discuss these with the Headteacher.

• Pupil progress meetings are held each term where any progress concerns are highlighted and discussed in-depth with the Senior Leadership Team.
• Your child’s class teacher may initially speak to you at the beginning or the end of a normal school day and arrange a further time to discuss the concerns.
• The class teacher may also talk to you about any issues at a parent/teacher consultation meeting.
• The school SENDCo /Inclusion Co-ordinator may contact you and arrange a meeting to discuss your child’s difficulties with learning or emotional well-being and any possible support strategies the school might be considering.

• At Garden Fields school we believe it is very important for parents/carers to be involved in all areas of their child’s learning and we actively encourage discussions. We believe, where appropriate, that it is essential to understand your child’s views on any difficulties they may experience with their learning and emotional well-being.
• You will be able to share your views and discuss your child’s progress at regular meetings with the class teacher and others.  These can be arranged through the office or a regular timetable of meetings can be drawn up in consultation with the Class Teacher and SENDCo / Inclusion Co-ordinator.
• If your child has an identified special educational need they will be added to the SEND register and you will be invited to a termly ‘assess plan do review’ Support Plan meeting with the class teacher and SENDCo to discuss current progress, support strategies being used and expected outcomes and the impact of these. The Inclusion Co-ordinator may also attend this meeting.
• If your child has an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) you and your child will be able to share your views at the Annual Review.

• At Garden Fields we believe that your child’s learning needs will first be met through the high quality first teaching delivered by her/his class teacher and the teaching team.
• We regularly review the school training schedule and professional development for all teaching and support staff to ensure there is the appropriate expertise to support children with special educational needs.
• Effective and comprehensive CPD is provided for all staff. The school is able to access training programmes from different organisations including Hertfordshire for Learning, Outreach teams, and Local Partnership Teams.
• Garden Fields is proactive in ensuring that the teaching teams and where possible, all staff, have been trained in the needs of the current cohorts attending the school. We also have programmes running in the school to support specific needs, for example, Drawing and Talking and teaching groups to support emotional well-being.
• Specialist individual training from outside agencies is arranged when necessary.
• All training and programmes are responsive to the needs in the current cohort.
• As well as being a qualified SENDCo, Mrs Kemp-Robertson is also an SpLD Level 7 qulaified teacher.

• At Garden Fields we believe that your child’s learning needs will first be met through the high quality first teaching delivered by her/his class teacher and the teaching team.
• We carefully plan our curriculum to match the age, ability and needs of all children.
• The class teacher will adapt lesson planning and teaching to match your child’s special educational needs and/or disability.
• It may be appropriate to adopt different strategies or resources and adapt outcomes to meet your child’s learning needs.

• Garden Fields regularly reviews its Accessibility Plan to ensure that all children have the fullest access to the curriculum and the school site as possible.
• Additional specialist advice is sought when appropriate and, when necessary, accessibility aids and technology may be used to support your child’s learning.
• As not all classrooms are at ground level, the needs of each child would be considered when allocating classroom spaces.
• The school has disabled toilets accessible to all pupils.

• This really depends upon the nature of your child’s needs and difficulties with learning. But our education provisions will match the needs of the four broad areas of need as defined in the SEN Code of Practice 2015 (last updated 30th April 2020);
  • Communication and interaction
  • Cognition and Learning
  • Social, emotional and mental health
  • Sensory and/or physical needs

  At Garden Fields school we have a 3-tiered approach to supporting a child’s learning.

  1. Universal – this is the quality first teaching your child will receive from her/his class teacher and the teaching team and may include some very minor adaptations to match learning needs.
  2. Targeted – it may be appropriate to consider making additional short term special educational provision to remove or reduce any obstacles to your child’s learning.  This takes the form of a graduated four part approach of:
     a) assessing your child’s needs, b) planning the most effective and appropriate intervention, c) providing this intervention and d) reviewing the impact on your child’s progress towards individual learning outcomes.
     Specific targeted one to one or small group interventions may be run outside the classroom. These will be limited to a number of weeks to minimise disruption to the regular curriculum. You will be kept informed of your child’s progress towards learning outcomes.
  3. Specialist – it may be necessary to seek specialist advice and regular long term support from a specialist professional outside the school in order to plan for the best possible learning outcomes for your child.

  The current interventions provided at Garden Fields may include:
  RWI 1-1, Fine Motor Skills, Drawing and Talking, Protective Behaviours,Counselling, Mentoring 1-1, 1:1 or small group SpLD phonics, small group mediation, Lego Therapy and Speech & Language.

The following are some of, but not exclusively, the specialist services that we routinely access:

• Educational Psychologist
• The Collett School Outreach Service
• Specialist Advisory Service for Speech and Communication and Autism
• Specialist SEND Family Worker
• NESSie – Supporting Mental Health in Schools
• LINKS Academy Outreach Service
• St Albans Plus – VISTA
• NHS Speech and Language Service, Occupational Therapy and Physiotherapy
• The school may need to prioritise referrals to these services. However, for a very small number of pupils access to these specialists may be through an EHC Plan.

• When planning lessons, teachers consider the individual needs of children and make reasonable adjustments to enable them to access the curriculum, such as task boards/checklists, personalised word lists, sentence openers. Pupils may be supported to use accessible technology, for example, talk to text or text to talk, word processing.
• When appropriate and necessary, pupil’s may be taken out of class for a specific and targeted intervention. This is always managed so as to have the minimal impact on their class-based learning.
• The class teacher and other staff working with your child ensure that your child receives appropriate teaching and support in order to reach these goals. The ‘assess plan do review’ Support Plan, strategies and progress will be reviewed termly.
• External agencies and specialists may also review your child’s progress and adapt their planning accordingly.

• The purpose of an EHC Plan is to make special education provision to meet the special educational needs of a child or young person, to secure improved outcomes for him/her across education, health and social care and, as he/she gets older, prepare for adulthood. An EHC Plan will contain;
  • the views and aspirations of you and your child
  • a full description of his/her special educational needs and any health and social care needs
  • establish outcomes for your child’s progress
  • specify the provision required and how education, health and social care will work together to meet your child’s needs and support the achievement of the agreed outcomes

  You, your child (where appropriate and aged 16 and over) and/or the school, usually the SENDCo, Inclusion Co-ordinator or Headteacher, can request that the local authority conduct an assessment of your child’s needs. This may lead to an EHC Plan.

  https://www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/microsites/local-offer/education-health-and-care-plans/education-health-and-care-plans-ehcp.aspx

• If your child is on the SEND register then they will have a Support Plan, which forms part of the ‘Assess, Plan, Do, Review’ process, as advocated by the SEND Code of Practice, 2015. As a parent you are invited to a termly Support Plan meeting so that you can be involved in the setting of your child’s targets. During these meetings you can ask for any support you require, and advice may be given around your child’s needs.
• There may be suggested strategies or activities for you to do at home to support your child’s learning.
• Workshops for parents/carers are run in school to help you understand the strategies used in school.  In addition, we may be able to offer you individual training in specific support strategies relevant to your child.
• The SENDCo and Inclusion Co-ordinator may also support you with strategies, resources and ideas for supporting your child’s learning at home.
• Meetings may be arranged with other professionals involved in supporting your child eg educational psychologists, speech and language therapists etc.
• At any point during the academic year, you are welcome to contact the office via email or call 01727 890440 to ask for support from the SENDCo and INCo

• Mainstream maintained schools and academies are notified each year of a clearly identified but notional budget, within their overall budget allocation, towards the cost of fulfilling their duty to use their ‘best endeavours’ to secure that special educational provision for their pupils with SEN. (The notional SEN budget for mainstream schools: operational guidance, February 23, GOV.UK)
• For pupils with an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) there can be additional High Needs Funding (HNF). How much HNF a pupil receives is dependent on the pupil’s needs identified by an EHCP.
• If a pupil does not have an EHCP, but is identified as needing additional funding to be able to support their needs then the school can apply for Local High Needs Funding (LHNF). A panel will decide whether the application meets the threshold for funding to be allocated.
• The Head teacher, in consultation with the School Governing Body, decides how to allocate the budget for SEN provision on the basis of the needs of the children in the school.
• The Head teacher and the Inclusion Co-ordinator discuss the effectiveness of the school’s current interventions and provisions and prioritise an action plan, which may include additional or alternative interventions, staff training and equipment needs.
• This process is reviewed regularly to ensure the best possible intervention is provided to those children who require additional support to learn.

• Your child’s progress will be assessed both in terms of his/her regular learning within the class and with regard to specific intervention programmes.
• The impact of the support given is carefully measured to ensure that the learning outcomes have been achieved and if not, what adaptations are necessary.  It may be decided that a further period of support would be beneficial for your child.
• You and your child will be kept informed and encouraged to be actively involved at all stages of this support.

• At Garden Fields school we believe that the happiness and well-being of all our pupils is paramount.  All members of staff take this aspect of school life very seriously.
• You can be confident that your child’s class teacher, the teaching assistants, year group lead and phase leader, SENDCo and the Inclusion Co-ordinator are available to provide support to match your child’s needs.
• You should feel free to contact your child’s class teacher if you have any concerns.  She/He will then liaise with the teams mentioned above and you may be invited to a further meeting to discuss possible support for your child.
• All staff have been trained in the Therapeutic Thinking Approach to Behaviour. It is an approach which prioritises the pro-social feelings of everyone within the dynamic. It is a whole school – whole system approach to supporting children with their behaviour.

• Garden Fields is an inclusive school and committed to providing equal opportunities for all children.
• School clubs, educational visits and residential trips are available to all children.
• When necessary the school will make reasonable adjustments to ensure that children with SEN and/or disabilities are included in all activities.
• You should also feel free to contact your child’s class teacher if you have any concerns.

• We liaise and where possible visit the school or nursery your child is transferring from.  We are able to discuss with the relevant staff any individual needs and how best to support your child in school.
• While at Garden Fields we take care to ensure that during transition points (between classes each year and at the end of Key Stages) all staff are aware of individual pupils needs, learning progress and best support strategies. Where transition may be difficult for an individual we make sure that a programme is in place for support.
• Garden Fields makes arrangements to ensure there is a smooth transition when your child transfers to his/her secondary school of choice by close liaison with the inclusion team at the new setting.  All supporting documents will be passed on.
• If your child has an EHC Plan, we will facilitate its review in sufficient time prior to him/her moving between key phases of education. You will be kept informed of these arrangements and asked to attend the reviews.
• If appropriate, and needed, a social story will be created and shared with your child to support any transition.

• At Garden Fields school we are very happy to speak to you about any aspects of your child’s education. It is best to speak to one of the following in this order;
  • The Class teacher –
  • The SENDco –
  • The Inclusion Co-ordinator –
  • The Headteacher –

• Hertfordshire’s Local Offer can be found at: https://www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/microsites/Local-Offer/The-Hertfordshire-Local-Offer.aspx
• Hertfordshire Quality SEND offer
• DSPL7 website of local services and support http://dspl7.org.uk/
• Hertfordshire directory https://directory.hertfordshire.gov.uk/Categories/29