Our special educational needs co-ordinator, or SENCO: Carly Anderson.

She has been a SENCO for 2.5 years and holds the National Award for SEND Coordination (NASEND).  Before becoming a SENCo, Mrs. Anderson was a teacher for 20 years.

Mrs Anderson is supported by Gemma Poulsom, our Pastoral Coordinator, and Mrs Lewis and Miss Burkinshaw our ELSAs.

You can contact the SENCO at Ruishton C of E Primary School by:

Telephone: 01823 442832

Email: ks1senco@ruishton.oak.education for pupils in EY-Y2 and Ks2senco@ruishton.oak.education for pupils in Years 3-6

Staffing Team:

Teachers

All our teachers hold degrees and ‘qualified teacher status’ or are working towards QTS. Teachers receive SEND training and are supported by the SENCo, Senior Leaders, and a wide range of external agencies and professionals, to meet the needs of children who have SEND.  

Support Staff

We have a team of Teaching Assistants, including a higher-level teaching assistant (HLTA) who is trained to deliver provision for children with SEND. We also have a Pastoral Co-ordinator.

Staff have been trained in several specialist areas in order to support pupils in class and intervention sessions. Examples of training include but not limited to:

• Mental Health First Aid 
• Senior Mental Health Lead
• Social Stories
• ADHD Awareness
• Sensory Processing
• Early Help
• Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA)
• Social Communication, Emotional Regulation, and Transactional Support (SCERTS)
• Forest School Intervention
• Individualised Literacy Intervention (ILI)
• Emotional Literacy (ELSA)
• Nessy
• Makaton
• Crisis Prevention Institute Safety Intervention & Verbal Intervention

External agencies and experts

Sometimes we need extra help to offer the children at our school the support they need. Whenever necessary we will work with external support services to meet the needs of children with SEND and to support their families. These include:

• Speech and language therapists
• Educational psychologists
• Assistant educational psychologists
• Access to Inclusion: Advisory Teachers
• Somerset Vision Team: Advisory Teachers
• Somerset Hearing Team: Advisory Teachers
• Occupational therapists
• GPs or paediatricians
• School nurses
• Health Visitors
• Taunton Deane Partnership College: Specialist Social, Emotional and Mental Health Support:  Advisory Teachers, HLTAs, 
• Alternative Provision: Otterhead Forest School, Player Ready, Conquest Equestrian, Tubers
• Selworthy Special School
• Play Therapists
• SASP: Mentor Scheme
• Family Intervention Service (FIS)
• Child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS)
• Education welfare officers
• Social services and other local authority (LA) – provided support services
• Physiotherapists
• Specialist Nurses: Diabetes, Catheter Care and Gastrostomy Care
• Josephine’s Star: Specialist bereavement support
• Voluntary sector organisations
• Safe Families
• Link LDA: Somerset Key Worker Service
• Route 1: Child Advocates
• Young Somerset
• Parent Carer Forum
• PFSA- Parent Family Support Advisor

1.  If you think your child might have SEND, the first thing you should do is tell their class teacher (you can also contact the SENCo directly). You can contact your child’s class teacher, or the SENCo, by:

Tel:  01823 442832

Email:  ks1senco@ruishton.oak.education or Ks2senco@ruishton.oak.education 

If, together, we decide that your child needs ‘SEND Support’ we will ask your consent to add their name to the school’s SEND register.

SEND Support is the extra help and resources provided to children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) to help them succeed. This support is personalised to meet each child's needs. It can include things like:

• Special teaching strategies or resources (like extra time on tasks or visual aids)
• Intervention support from teaching assistants or external professionals / agencies (such as Speech Therapists or ELSAs)
• Adjustments in the classroom, like quieter spaces or different ways of learning

The goal of SEND Support is to ensure that every child, regardless of their SEND needs, has the opportunity to learn, grow, and reach their full potential.

The SEND Register is a list that schools keep of all the children who have Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). It helps teachers, the SENCo, and Senior Leaders, keep track of which children need extra support or adjustments in their learning.  It helps to make sure that children with specific needs get the right kind of help and support.  The SEND register helps everyone involved in the child’s education stay organised and focused on giving the best support possible.

All our class teachers are aware of SEND and are on the lookout for any pupils who aren’t making the expected level of progress in their development in any of the four broad areas of need (see above). This might include:  difficulties with learning, struggling with friendships or managing emotions, difficulties hearing / seeing, or difficulties with sensory processing.  

If a teacher notices that a child is struggling to make progress, they try to find out if the child has any gaps in their learning or development. If they can find a gap, they will give the child extra support to try to fill it. Children who don’t have SEND usually make progress quickly once the gap in their learning or development has been filled.

If, after some extra support, the child is still struggling to make the expected progress, the teacher will talk to the SENCO.  They will also contact you to discuss your child’s strengths and needs and how we can work together to support them to make progress.

The SENCo may do the following things to help them find out a little more about your child’s strengths and needs and how best to support them:

• Talk to the child
• Observe them in class or on the playground
• Look at their work in class
• Do some assessments
• Look at your child’s progress and development overtime in relation to their peers and available national data
• With your agreement, ask for advice from external agencies / professionals – e.g. occupational therapists / advisory teachers etc.   

Based on all of this information, the SENCO, in discussion with you and your child’s class teacher, will decide whether your child needs SEND support (see above). 

If your child does need SEND support, with your consent, their name will be added to the school’s SEND register (see above).   Your child’s class teacher will work with you, your child, and the SENCo, to create an ‘Individual Education Plan,’ and ‘Adaptations Passport,’ to support your child at school.   

The graduated approach starts with an assessment of your child’s strengths and needs.  We can then use the assessment information to ‘plan’ next steps.  We will work with you and your child to decide which outcomes we would like your child to work towards and how we will support them to achieve those outcomes. 

Whenever we ‘do’ an intervention with your child, we will assess them at the start and end of the intervention.   We do this so we can see how much impact the intervention has on your child’s progress. During the ‘do’ phase of the graduated response, we will track your child’s progress towards the outcomes we set over time.  We will change, and improve, our support offer, as we learn what best supports your child to achieve the outcomes set at the ‘plan’ stage.

At the end of the ‘do’ phase, your child’s progress towards the outcomes set will be ‘reviewed’.  

After the ‘review’ the graduated response (assess-plan-do-review) begins again.  This process is continual. If the ‘review’ shows a pupil has made progress, they may no longer need the additional provision made through SEND support. For others, the cycle will continue and the outcomes, strategies and provisions will be revisited and refined over time.

We know that you’re the expert when it comes to your child’s strengths, needs and aspirations and how best to help them. The Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Code of Practice (DfE: 2014) sets out the central role that you, and your child, should have in making decisions about their education. We want to make sure you have a full understanding of how we’re trying to meet your child’s needs, and value your insight into the best ways to support your child at home and school.

We want to hear from you as much as possible, so that we can build a picture of how the SEND support we are providing is impacting your child outside of school.  If your child’s strengths, needs, or aspirations, change at any time, please let us know right away so we can keep our provision as relevant as possible.

After any discussion, we will make a record of any outcomes, actions and support that have been agreed. This record will be shared with all relevant staff. 

If you have concerns that arise between contacts, please contact your child’s class teacher, or the SENCo:

Tel:  01823 442832 Email:   ks1senco@ruishton.oak.education Ks2senco@ruishton.oak.education 

Teachers will provide an annual report on your child’s progress.  In addition, your child’s class teacher will meet with you at least twice a year, at parent / carer consultation evenings, to:

• Set clear outcomes for your child’s progress
• Review progress towards those outcomes
• Discuss the support we will put in place to help your child make progress
• Identify what we will do, what we will ask you to do, and what we will ask your child to do

This will be recorded in your child’s ‘Individual Education Plan’ (IEP) and ‘Adaptations Passport’.

In addition, you can arrange to speak to / meet with your child’s class teacher, and / or the SENCo, at any time: Tel:  01823 442832 Email:  

ks1senco@ruishton.oak.education

Ks2senco@ruishton.oak.education 

Your child’s teacher is responsible, and accountable, for the progress and development of all the children in their class.

High-quality first teaching is always our first step in responding to your child’s needs. We will make sure that your child has access to a broad and balanced curriculum that is ‘adapted’ and ‘differentiated’ to meet their needs.   We will change how we teach to suit the way your child learns best. There is no '1-size-fits-all’ approach to adapting, or differentiating, the curriculum for children with SEND.  Teachers work on a case-by-case basis to make sure the adaptations, and / or differentiations, they make are effective for your child.

Our Accessibility Plan sets out how we are continually working to improve access to all aspects of school life for children with SEND.

Adaptations may include:

• Differentiating our curriculum to make sure all children are able to access it, for example, by grouping, 1-to1 work, adapting the teaching style, content of the lesson, and / or resources etc.

• Differentiating our teaching, for example, giving longer processing times, pre-teaching of key vocabulary, reading instructions aloud, providing visuals etc.

• Adapting our resources and staffing

• Using recommended resources, such as laptops, coloured overlays, visual timetables, larger font, etc.

• Teaching assistants will support children 1:1, in small-groups, and as part of a whole class.  

The school may also provide the following research-based interventions:

These interventions are part of our contribution to Somerset’s local offer.  You can explore Somerset’s Local Offer for children with SEND here: Somerset’s SEND Local Offer

It may be that your child’s needs mean we need to secure:

• Extra equipment or facilities
• More teaching assistant hours
• Further training for our staff 
• External specialist expertise

If that’s the case, we will consult with external agencies and professionals to get recommendations on what will best help your child access their learning.

If your child has an EHCP, the Local Authority will allocate additional ‘High Needs Funding’ to facilitate the provision set out in Section F of their EHCP.  

All children are encouraged to take part in every aspect of school life.  No child is ever excluded from taking part in activities because of their SEND needs, and we will make whatever reasonable adjustments are needed to make sure they are included.  

The Admissions Authority for Ruishton Primary School is The Oak Partnership Trust. 

An Admissions Committee comprising Directors is responsible for taking all admission decisions for children starting in reception and for joining the school during the academic year, including children with SEN or a disability. All pupils are offered a place using the criterion set out in our Admissions Arrangements, which can be found here: Admissions Arrangements 2025-26

Somerset Local Authority is responsible for co-ordinating all applications for children starting school. These admissions arrangements should be read in conjunction with Somerset’s published co-ordinated Admissions Scheme for September 2025.

We work continually to improve our support for children with disabilities.  More information about this can be found in the school’s Accessibility Plan.

We recognise that children’s social, emotional and mental health and wellbeing is vital if they are going to achieve positive outcomes in education and into adulthood.  We provide support for children to progress in their emotional and social development in the following ways:

• Trauma-informed ‘Behaviour Policy’ that recognises that all behaviour is a form of communication.
• Teachers and TAs are trained, and experienced in using emotion-coaching and a PACE approach to supporting children’s social, emotional and mental health and development.  

We provide extra pastoral support for listening to the views of pupils with SEN by offering appropriate intervention. The school offers ELSA, Block Therapy, Social Stories and regular check-ins, in addition to referral to our school partner MHST. 

We have a ‘zero tolerance’ approach to bullying. We prevent bullying in the school by ensuring all behaviour is monitored, and all staff are required to follow our Anti-Bullying policy.

Between years (including key stages)

To help pupils with SEN be prepared for a new school year we will offer a range of standard and additional approaches:

• Ask both the current teacher and the next year’s teacher to attend a final meeting of the year when the pupil’s SEN is discussed
• Schedule sessions with the incoming teacher towards the end of the summer term Schedule extra familiarity sessions in the class
• Use Social Stories
• Photo booklets of new staff and classroom
• Offer a session during September INSET for parents and pupils to come into school for a familiarity session

Between schools

When your child is moving on from our school, we will ask you and your child what information you want us to share with the new setting.  We will liaise closely with you on the best approach to fit your child. 

Between Key Stages (to secondary school)

The SENCO of the secondary school meets with our SENCO to discuss the needs of the incoming pupils near the end of the summer term. We arrange meetings with the parents/carers of incoming pupils to discuss how we can best welcome their child into our community.

Ruishton Primary School’s designated teacher for looked-after children and previously looked-after children is Miss Bethan Stacy, Assistant Head. 

Miss Stacy will work with Mrs Anderson, our SENCO, to make sure that all teachers understand how a looked-after or previously looked-after pupil’s circumstances and their SEN might interact, and what the implications are for teaching and learning.

Children who are looked-after or previously looked-after will be supported much in the same way as any other child who has SEN. However, looked-after pupils will also have a personal education plan (PEP). We will make sure that the PEP and any SEN support plans or EHC plans are consistent and complement one another.

We encourage strong relationships and collaboration with parent and carers in order to meet the needs of all pupils. Where we might fall short, parents and carers and encouraged to raise concerns or complaints about SEN provision directly to the class teacher in the first instance. Where this cannot be resolved, you will then be referred to the school’s complaints policy: TOPT Complaints Policy

If you are not satisfied with the school’s response, you can escalate the complaint. In some circumstances, this right also applies to the pupil themselves. 

To see a full explanation of suitable avenues for complaint, see pages 246 and 247 of the SEND Code of Practice.   If you feel that our school has discriminated against your child because of their SEN, you have the right to make a discrimination claim to the first-tier SEND tribunal. To find out how to make such a claim, you should visit:

https://www.gov.uk/complain-about-school/disability-discrimination  You can make a claim about alleged discrimination regarding:

•  Admission
• Exclusion
• Provision of education and associated services
• Making reasonable adjustments, including the provision of auxiliary aids and services

Before going to a SEND tribunal, you can go through processes called disagreement resolution or mediation, where you try to resolve your disagreement before it reaches the tribunal. 

Insert contact details of the disagreement resolution and mediation services for your local authority/ies here.

If you have questions about SEN, or are struggling to cope, please get in touch to let us know. We want to support you, your child and your family.

We are in partnership with the PINS project (Partnership for Neurodiversity Inclusion in Schools). You can find out more about the project https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/partnerships-for-inclusion-of-neurodiversity-in-schools-pins/partnerships-for-inclusion-of-neurodiversity-in-schools-pins-programme

To see what support is available to you locally, have a look at Somerset’s local offer; more information can be found on our school website. Somerset LA publishes information about the local offer on their website:

Our local special educational needs and disabilities information, advice and support (SENDIAS) services are:

https://somersetsendias.org.uk/  

A wealth of local organisations that offer information and support to families of children with SEN can be found on the SEND local offer page for Somerset:

https://www.somerset.gov.uk/children-families-and-education/the-local-offer/find-send-services/  

National charities that offer information and support to families of children with SEN are:

IPSEA

SEND family support

NSPCC

Family Action

Special Needs Jungle