SEND Specialist Expertise
SENCO and SEND Staff
Our SENCO is Sophie Foster. She can be contacted on 01388 488350 or by emailing: s.foster102@wittonlewear.net.
More details of the SENCO’s role can be found in the SEND Policy which you can find in the School Policies section of our website.
At Witton-le-Wear Primary School we receive a notional SEN budget from the Local Authority and this is used to support children and young people with SEND by offering a wide range of intervention and enhancement programmes within school and through our partnerships with other agencies and professionals within the Local Authority. This is monitored by the Governing Body.
External Specialists and Other Bodies
The school enjoys good working relationships with a wide range of people who provide services to children with SEND and their families.
The external specialists may:
- Act in an advisory capacity
- Extend expertise of school staff
- Provide additional assessment
- Support a child directly
- Suggest statutory assessment is advisable
- Consult with all parties involved with the child
These include:
- Durham County Council Local Offer
- Durham SEND Information, Advice and Support Service
- Durham County Council Local Offer
- One Point Hubs – Bishop Auckland
- Durham SEND Information, Advice and Support Service
- Local Authority Special Educational Needs Inclusion Team
- Durham Educational Psychology Service
- Health Agencies, particularly School Nurse Service.
- Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS)
- Speech and Language Therapists
- Durham Autistic Spectrum Disorder and Communication Team
- Durham Cognition and Learning Team
- Durham Emotional, Wellbeing and Effective Learning Team
- Durham Behaviour Support Services / Crisis Response.
- Treetops Occupational Therapy Service for Children
- Educational Social Workers
- Looked After Children Team
- Learning Difficulties and Disability Support Service
- Occupational Therapy
- Medical Practitioners
How We Secure Specialist Expertise
Our Additional Needs Budget is used to support children and young people with SEN.
The external specialists may:
- Act in an advisory capacity
- Extend expertise of school staff
- Provide additional assessment
- Support a child directly
- Suggest statutory assessment is advisable
- Consult with all parties involved with the child
This is used to support children and young people with SEND by:
- Providing extra staff to support pupils with a range of needs
- Providing training for staff to enable them to support pupils more effectively
- Paying for specialists e.g. ASC Team, EWEL Team, Behaviour Intervention Team to come into school to assess/support pupils and advise staff on suitable support strategies
- Purchase SEN Resources e.g. sensory circuit equipment, apps, books, fiddle toys
If a child has complex special educational needs, we could also receive additional funding from the Local Authority to meet the agreed outcomes.
