Belgrave St Bartholomew's Academy

Click here to view the Ofsted rating for this setting

From the minute you step inside our academy, you will see that we all work towards one main aim; ‘Being the best that we can be, together.’ Every child and adult is encouraged to flourish and reach their full potential regardless of age, gender, ability or faith and we do this together, as a family.

What kinds of SEND does the school provide for?

The school accommodates all SEND in line with the Equality Act 2010 and provision is available for all 4 areas of need outlined in the 2014 SEND Code of Practice.

From September 2018, 'Belgrave St Bartholomew's - The Avenue' (formally known as Westfield Nursery School) also came under the SEND provision from Belgrave St Bartholomew's Academy. In September 2022 King’s Avenue became the second resource base to come under Belgrave St Bartholomew’s Academy.  They are separate resource bases providing support for children in the Early Years and Key Stafe One who have additional needs.  The resource bases can offer placement for a child who has an Education, Health and Care Plan, providing an environment, staff and resources which are all planned designed to meet the additional needs each of the children has.  The provisions access a large range of outside agency support for the children including Educational Psychology, Speech and Language Therapy, Occupational Therapy and input from the special school settings. 

How does this setting know if their children/young person needs extra help and what should I do if I think my child/young person may have special educational needs?

Before our children join the nursery, we carry out home visits to meet all the children and their families. This can identify if a child may have additional needs before they enter our setting so that we can plan for them appropriately.  We communicate with the day nurseries to find out about any child who has been identified as having additional needs and will carry out observations in nursery or home environments to gather information to help make their transition into our school as smooth and successful as possible.

Once a child is part of Belgrave, their progress and development is tracked and any concerns about a child are raised and discussed with parents, relevant staff and the Inclusion Team. Appropriate intervention and provision is then planned to meet each child’s needs.

If a child joins Belgrave mid-year that has additional needs, we ensure discussions are held with the previous setting to gain as much information as possible to help them settle and make progress.

If you are concerned that your child may need extra help, speak to their class teacher in the first instance. If after discussion with the class teacher there are still concerns please speak to a member of the Inclusion Team.  Together we can discuss any additional intervention or support that your child may need.

Children who may benefit from being at The Avenue or King’s Avenue, are identified through the Early Years Forum and the Special Head's Meetings.  Visits to the setting can then be arranged and a transition programme planned to meet the needs of the individual.

How will the setting support my child/young person?

Your child will be supported from the day they arrive at Belgrave to be happy and successful throughout their school life with us. They will be encouraged to pursue and develop any interests and/or talents they display and will be supported to overcome any difficulties or barriers they experience.  

At Belgrave we are about developing the whole child and work closely with our families to achieve this.  We provide a rich, vibrant, exciting curriculum where the children have opportunity to use technology to innovate, create and evaluate their own learning.  They will take part in performing arts, a whole range of sporting activities and events and have regular opportunities to develop their creativity.  The children receive high quality teaching which enables them to know more, remember more and be able to do more. If they are identified as requiring additional support, outside agency workers or specialist provision, this will be planned as appropriate in consultation with parents.

At The Avenue and King’s Avenue, the children receive continual support to work towards the outcomes in their Education, Health and Care Plans.  Activities, group sessions and 1-1 sessions are planned carefully to best meet the needs of each child. 

How will teaching approaches and the curriculum be matched to my child or young person's needs?

Our curriculum is planned and personalised to meet the needs of our children. We are recognised as an Apple Distinguished School for our continuous innovation in learning, teaching and the school environment.

Where any other specific resources or equipment will enable a child to access the curriculum more effectively, these will be brought in and modelled to enable the children to use them effectively. We aim to provide an inclusive, creative, curriculum that will equip children to be successful in life. 

At The Avenue and King’s Avenue the children receive continual support to work towards the outcomes in their Education, Health and Care Plans.  Activities, group sessions and 1-1 sessions are planned carefully to best meet the needs of each child. 

How will both you and I know how my child/young person is doing and how will you help me to support their learning?

We use a range of strategies to report to parents about how your child is doing. Children are assessed each term in reading, writing and maths, along with ongoing teacher assessment.  We also use standardised assessments to measure the impact of any additional interventions that your child has been involved with.  Class Dojo provides a means of communication between home and school and is a great way of sharing information between school and home.  We have termly parent’s evenings to share how your child is progressing in all areas of their development and we are keen that if you need to discuss your child at any point in the year, we will arrange this through whichever is the most convenient form of communication whether it be face to face meetings, telephone conversations or notes home.

If your child has any additional support for their Special Educational needs, they will have their progress reviewed three times a year and the Inclusion Team will be involved in these ‘SEN Support’ reviews. Each child who is on SEN Support will have a Pupil Passport detailing their likes, interests, strengths and targets.  These will be written collaboratively with parents and pupils.  We are able to support families as a whole, through the Early Help framework and are keen to meet regularly with you if there are any areas of support that you feel you and your child would benefit from.

If your child has an Education, Health and Care Plan they will also be reviewed three times a year and one of these will be the Annual Review where progress towards the outcomes defined in the plan will be discussed.

We also run a variety of workshops and courses throughout the year for parents and we are keen to personalise these to the needs and requests from our parents.

What support will there be for my child's/young person's overall wellbeing?

All of the staff at Belgrave go above and beyond to ensure that the health and wellbeing of your child is paramount and have all had training in mental health and well being.  Our Extended Home School Links Worker, Mrs Jones is available to support the children if they need some time to talk or space to work through an issue and this also extends to supporting the families as well. 

Your child’s spiritual and moral education is central to the overall education of our children. The school motto is 'Being the Best that we can be, together' and is underpinned by the bible verse from Philippians 4:13, 'I can do all things through him who strengthens me' We use assemblies with a Christian theme each week which are linked to the school values of CHERISH (Creativity, Humanity, Enthusiasm, Respect, Integrity, Spiritiuality and Hard Work) and our Personal, Social, Health Education sessions are based around British values to help your child develop an understanding of these areas.

What specialist services and expertise are available at or accessed by the setting?

There is a wealth of subject expertise within our school and we have recently (2022) become an Apple Distinguished School.

Here at Belgrave we work closely with the local authority Inclusive Learning Services team. This involves a lead advisor who is available to advise the school in what support is needed for pupils requiring more than class teacher support. The school has an Educational Psychologist who is enlisted for several visits across the year to provide advice when needs are becoming more complex and require additional support.  

We also work with the Occupational Therapy/Physiotherapy service to support children with physical needs. By referral to a central hub we can also access a range of health services including CAMHS and school nurses.

What training are the staff supporting children and young people with SEND have had or are having?

The Inclusion Manager has a Masters Degree specific to Special Educational Needs and our Assistant SENCOs have been trained in a wide range of intervention programmes to address the variety of needs in our school. All teaching assistants and learning support practitioners are supported to attend training in areas of SEND relevant to the children they are working with.

SEND is included as an area of whole staff training each term to enable staff skills to be developed.  An audit of CPD needs linked to SEND is completed each year to enable the training for staff to be planned and relevant to the needs across the school. 

In addition to the above, staff at The Avenue and King’s Avenue access training from Hazeltrees, the Special Schools, and professionals relevant to the needs of the children.

How will my child/young person be included in activities outside this classroom including school trips?

Your child will be included in all activities, unless there is reason that this would not be appropriate for safety or health reasons. Reasonable adjustments will be made wherever necessary and we will work with the families and specialists to enable adjustments to be made.

Every situation is dealt with on an individual needs basis.  We carry out risk assessments and ensure appropriate staffing ratios to meet any identified barriers.

How accessible is the environment?

See the school Accessibility Plan

How will the setting prepare and support my child/young person to join the next stage of education and life?

We take transition very seriously and do as much as we can to make it as smooth and comfortable an experience as we can. Home visits are carried out before your child starts in our nursery and a number of stay and play sessions are offered to all the children and their parents to introduce your child to the staff and school during the Summer term before their Autumn start.

A transition period takes place each year for children in Key Stage 1 and 2 during the summer term which enables all classes to move up to their next teacher and classroom. For children for whom this move may be more of a concern, additional sessions are planned in to build relationships with key members of staff.

High school staff are invited to attend all three parent’s evenings through the year to enable parents and children to ask questions and meet key people. All children will have a transition day at their chosen high school and any child who has additional needs or may find the move more difficult will have specific additional sessions planned.

Discussions are held between key staff in our school and the high schools to share all the relevant information about your child to ensure their individual needs are met.

How are the setting's resources allocated and matched to children's/young people's special educational needs?

Resources to meet the needs of the children are allocated appropriately and when additional resources need to be purchased these go through the central finance team.

Training and specialist services which are required to ensure the children's needs can be met are also purchased through the central finance team.  We aim to meet the needs of each individual child whether that involves buying specially adapted furniture, training for staff in a particular area of SEND or programmes to support the provision for our children.

How is the decision made about what type and how much support my child/young person will receive?

All of our children receive high quality teaching which is rigorously monitored and evaluated every term. Where this is not enough for an individual child, additional support or intervention will be planned to address your child’s needs initially by the class teacher.  If this is still not having the impact required, discussions will be held with the Inclusion Team and an additional layer of support will be planned for which may involve requesting advice from one or more of the outside agencies mentioned above.  Through having the layers of support, it ensures that each child's needs are met appropriately.  If the decision is made that a child requires SEN Support through a Pupil Passport and would go onto the SEN register, this discussion takes place with parents and the next steps for the child are planned.

How will our child and young person be involved in the decisions about their learning?

Pupils are involved at all stages.  Pupils will have 1:1 conversations with their teacher to help the pupils to identify areas of strength and potential barriers to their learning.  Strategies can also be identified.  For SEND pupils, there are opportunities at least termly to discuss their needs using the Pupil Passport.  These documents help a child to identify what will work well for them and what will not. 

For pupils who have a higher level of support either through a statement or EHC plan, their views are gathered regularly and will be fed into the statutory reviews at least annually. We also send out a pupil questionnaire across the whole school which is analysed and impacted upon.

How will we be involved in the decisions about the learning of our children and young people?

In much the same way as pupils are involved throughout, parents are also involved.  Parents are invited to attend informal and more formal meetings with class teachers throughout the year.  There are regular opportunities to share ideas and strategies.  For SEND pupils, parents are invited to contribute to the pupil passport at least 3 times per year.  Also, for pupils with a statement or EHC, parents have opportunities throughout the year to contribute to reviews and share their views on how their child can best be supported.  The Academy welcome the views of any pupil or parent about how outcomes can be best achieved.

How are parents involved in the setting? How can I be involved?

Parents are encouraged to communicate with school through Class Dojo.  We hold parent’s evenings three times each year.  ‘Wow’ events are a great opportunity to come into school and join in with your child and their class with their learning.  A variety of workshops and courses are run throughout the year and these are tailored to the requests and needs of our families.

Parents are also encouraged to become part of the Governing Body. If this is something you are interested in please contact the school.  

There are also opportunities throughout the year for parents to be involved with trips and visits and to celebrate your child’s achievements through Musical Evenings, End of Topic Shows, Awards Day and Class Assemblies.  

What do I do if I want to make a complaint?

In the first instance, the child's class teacher is the person to speak to if something is not quite right.  They are available either at the end of the day when a child is dismissed or via an appointment made with the school office.  If concerns continue, a member of the Senior Leadership Team can be consulted.  Appointments can be made via the Academy office.  Governors can also be contacted if concerns continue. Enquiries of a specific SEND nature should be addressed to the class teacher or the Inclusion Manager. 

What other support Is available to parents and how can I contact them?

Support at Belgrave St Bartholomew's Academy is available from:

Miss K. Crawley  - Inclusion Manager at Belgrave St Bartholomew’s Academy

Tel no:  235523

To contact SEND Services:

Tel: 01782 232538
Email: SEND@stoke.gov.uk

Special Educational Needs Monitoring and Assessment Service (SENMAS)

Tel: 01782 231863

Email: SENMAS@stoke.gov.uk

Special Educational Needs and Disability, Information, Advice and Support Service (SENDIASS)

SENDIASS are the independent parent support agency who provide confidential, impartial information from education law on disability, health and social care to help parents/carers, children and young people in making informed choices enabling them to play an active role in relation to educational decisions. 

Tel: 01782 234701
Email: iass@stoke.gov.uk

Website: https://www.sendiass-stoke.co.uk/ 

Agency support can be located on the Stoke on Trent Local Offer website.  The link is detailed below:

http://localoffer.stoke.gov.uk/kb5/stoke/directory/home.page