Hawthorns School Offer
SEND PolicySEND Report 2023 to 2024Teaching and Learning
- Our curriculum pathways and their underpinning rationales provide opportunities for academic, social and personal development to enhance children’s life opportunities.
- The Hawthorns curriculum is personalised and skills-based to meet the needs of our learners. We use a teaching model that is designed to connect each learning step and build on achievement as skills are taught, reinforced, practised and mastered.
- There are opportunities for pupils to apply their learning in a range of contexts, such as outdoor education, cookery, thematic learning, themed weeks and special events.
Annual Reviews
- All children are reviewed regularly whilst attending Hawthorns.
- Each child has a new pupil meeting in the first term following their admission to Hawthorns. This involves parents, teaching staff and key agencies.
- Where possible we aim to include the child in the meetings to enable them to talk about what they enjoy about school and what they dislike. If children are unable to take part, we have photographs and videos so that parents can see what activities their child is involved in.
- Each child has an annual pupil centered review.
- We coordinate reports from all professionals involved with each child as well as a contribution from parents.
- Many children have difficulty conveying their ideas, so we use suitable strategies that enable them to communicate their thoughts and ideas – such as symbols and photographs.
- All professionals, including an Education Officer, are invited to attend the meeting or to send a report.
- This review of the statement/ education health care plan (EHCP) is to ensure that the provision is suitable and can meet the child’s needs effectively.
- The documentation for the Review is circulated ten days before each meeting.
- During the year we hold three formal parent meetings with class staff to review progress.
- Parents / carers can contact school at any time to arrange a discussion / meeting about their child’s progress.
Health (including emotional health and well-being)
- The school’s policy on the administration of medication ensures that all staff are trained in consultation with the school nurse and other Health Professionals.
- All staff receive yearly training for epilepsy and asthma from the school nurse.
- Teaching assistants are first aid trained and can administer rescue medication.
- Consent for administration of medication is given by parents at the start of the school year and dispensed by trained class staff both on and off-site.
- All medication is stored securely.
- Health Care Plans are written by the school nurse before a child starts at school in liaison with parents/other healthcare workers to meet the health needs of those children requiring them.
- The plan is shared with all adults who work with the child and revisited regularly.
- Regular staff/team meetings ensure staff awareness is raised.
- Any training requirements are organised by the school nurse, updated regularly or when required.
- Care plans may include asthma, epilepsy, toileting and feeding needs.
- Medical Emergencies are dealt with in a calm, sensitive manner and staff know when and how to call for help.
- There are emergency alarms in each class and public areas. Key staff are trained to use a defibrillator.
- Health and Therapy Services – school works closely with all health and therapy services and many services provide appointments at school.
- School nurse
- Medicals
- Speech and language therapists
- Visual Impairment team
- Audiology
- Physiotherapy
- Occupational Therapy
- Pupil Counsellor
- Hawthorns Wellbeing Hub is a special place in school. Click here for more information
- Trained Mental Health Champions will follow a holistic learning programme.
- This promotes and supports Mental Health and Wellbeing for the whole school community and helps develop Emotional Intelligence.
Keeping Children Safe
- Risk assessments are undertaken to keep our children safe and include Individual Pupil Risk assessments for Behaviour, Moving and Handling and HealthCare – begun on entry to school and reviewed regularly.
- Curriculum Risk assessments for PE, Swimming, DT, Science, Cookery, Outdoor Learning – carried out yearly.
- Risk assessments for Offsite Educational visits – Forest Schools, OAA, Curriculum linked visits and activities.
- These are carried out by the teacher taking lead responsibility for the visit and verified by the Headteacher.
- All aspects of a visit are covered including transport.
- Staff / pupil ratio is a priority and ensures all children can be included.
- Residentials – risk assessments cover all aspects of the visit and activities and involve a pre-visit by the leader as well as approval by the Headteacher, Governors and Tameside.
- Risk assessments for the school premises carried out by the school Health and Safety Officers and include fire safety and electrical supply.
- Staff wear ID badges, and all visitors must sign in and out.
- Disclosure and Barring Checks are carried out on all staff appointed to school.
- All volunteers/students are also checked.
- All risk assessments are carried out in line with statutory requirements and school policies and also include dynamic Risk assessments to meet changing needs that may arise.
- Staff are trained in accordance with their roles and responsibilities across school and named in respective policies.
- All staff receive yearly Child Protection / Safeguarding training.
- Our School Behaviour Policy includes policies for Anti-Bullying and E – Safety.
- These are available on school website. Click here to view policies
- Handover arrangements at start/end of day – Most pupils arrive on LA transport.
- Clear procedures are in place for Key staff to receive children from buses and escort them to the playground where class staff supervise until the bell rings.
- Children arriving with parents are handed over to class staff.
- At the end of the day children leave school in bus groups with school staff and a bus escort.
- Necessary information is passed on to bus escorts and staff ensure children are settled and safe to go home.
- The car park is barrier operated and access is essentially for school staff. It can also be opened by reception staff when necessary.
- Supervision at break and lunchtimes by teaching staff.
- Other staff are available for indoor supervision (where necessary) and first aid treatment.
- Different arrangements are made depending on an individual pupil’s or a full class’ needs.
- At lunchtime children are supervised in the dining room by a senior staff member and class staff who sit with them at the table.
- All classes play together outside at lunchtime supervised by teachers and class staff.
- Some children may need to be inside, and class staff are available for toileting and first aid.
Transition to Secondary School
- Transition to secondary school can be an anxious time for our pupils and their families.
- We work closely with all secondary schools which have been named as possible placements for our pupils to ensure the transition is as smooth and comprehensive as possible.
- The transition process includes discussions with families during Year 5 reviews in regard to suitable secondary placements and advice to visit and find out what provision is available through research and visits.
You may wish to consider any of the Special schools within Tameside:
- Samuel Laycock School, Ashton– for children with significant moderate learning difficulties and autism.
- Cromwell School, Dukinfield – for children with severe, profound and multiple learning difficulties and autism with Learning difficulties.
- Thomas Ashton School, Hyde– for children with social, emotional and mental health needs.
- Parents/ carers may also wish to consider mainstream schools, other SEN schools within the New Bridge Trust or specialist ASC provision out of borough.
Autumn Term
- In September when a child is in Year 6, parents will receive email information from Tameside informing them of the formal admission process to secondary schools.
- The link Moving On contains all relevant information.
- Parents / carers are advised to visit prospective schools during the day and formal Open Evenings so both parents and child know what the school is able to offer.
- The SEN Team is available to provide special educational needs advice. Please call them on 0161 342 4433.
- Tameside Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) Information Advice and Support (IAS) Service (SENDIASS) provides confidential, impartial information, advice and support on education matters and health and social care issues in relation to education: Telephone: 0161 359 8005 or visit their website: Together Trust
- Parents / carers of children with an EHCP are not formally required to complete an application but it is advised that they indicate their preferences for special and / or mainstream schools.
- Where the council concludes that the needs of a child can be met in a mainstream school and the parents / carers have not provided the name of a mainstream school on the application the council will proceed with naming the mainstream high school closest to the home of the child
- Parents / carers should complete the online application form by the stated deadline (end of October), stating preferred secondary placement.
- Please contact school if you need support by telephone 0161 370 1312 or email admin@hawthorns.tameside.sch.uk
Spring Term
The council considers:
- The review documents from Year 5
- Parental preference indicated on the Common Application Form
- Any discussions with parents
- Consultation feedback from potential secondary schools
- The requirements of the SEN Code of Practice
- National Offer Day for School Place confirmation is 1 March 2023.
- Any appeals should be made on the online appeal application form.
- An updated EHCP will be sent to parents before 12 February 2023.
- This will ‘name’ the Year 7 placement.
Summer Term
- Parents / carers will work with school to prepare for transition to secondary school
- Class staff support children in the classroom in regard to ‘changes’ as part of our work on Social and Emotional aspects of learning
- Planned visits to school by secondary staff to introduce themselves and get to know the pupils.
- There will be an opportunity for school staff to discuss pupils in detail with secondary staff.
- A programme of planned visits for pupils to their secondary school to coincide where possible with the local authority transition days.
- Pupils are accompanied to and from their new school by class staff where possible
- Additional visits planned where necessary to meet the needs of individual pupils.
- A detailed pen portrait of each pupil including individual behaviour plans, social stories, signs and symbols, health care plans and appropriate medication will be handed to the secondary school on arrival for visits
Working Together
Home/ School contract
- Parents and carers are asked to read and sign our home / school contract prior to their child starting school.
Pupil Voice
- Each class has a pupil representative on our School Council and Eco team. They meet half-termly to discuss all aspects of school life e.g., playground equipment, snack food, animal care, recycling.
- We encourage opinions, group decision making and action!
- Questionnaires are sometimes used to find out what children think about certain aspects of school life.
Parent Voice and Involvement
- We actively encourage parents/ carers to become more involved in their child’s education and parental views are sought and listened to in many ways.
- Parent/ carers questionnaires sent out with Annual Review
- Friends of Hawthorns (1142429) – our school charity, hold fundraising events. Click here to view our charity page.
- Ofsted Parent View gives you the chance to tell Ofsted what you think of your child’s school. This is available on the school website and through and through this link
- Home / School books, class email account, PLP (Personal Learning Plan) meetings, Annual Reviews, Post Admission, CAF’s and medical meetings
- Online and Virtual parent / carers workshops offered by external agencies, sessions with our Wellbeing facilitator, coffee mornings, fundraising events, class and special assemblies, Christmas shows, Sports Day, and our termly Newsletter, click here to view our latest newsletter.
- Parents/ carers on Governing Body – vacancies are advertised on the school website, when they become available.
- Different agencies are sometimes invited to talk to Governors about their role in school e.g., Family Liaison Officer, Data team.
Communication with Parent and Carers
- Hawthorns School has an open-door policy.
- Staff will always seek to respond to parents’ requests to meet or for support on the same day.
- Parents can contact school via telephone (0161 370 1312, this number is for all sites), class email, home / schoolbook, face to face meetings, direct messaging through class Twitter pages, or through our ‘contact us’ page. Click here to view
- At the initial meetings and transition visits, we aim to find out as much information about your child as possible.
- We complete detailed admission documentation with parents and carers to understand your child’s needs, their family, routines, development, previous school information, health needs etc.
- Parents/ carers can contact class to arrange a time to meet if they have any concerns.
- Other professionals working with each child will also contact parents / carers as necessary.
- Each class has their own Twitter page which has regular posts so parents can see what their child has been up to during their school day/ week.
- We also have a termly school newsletter.
- We have started to invite parents into school again for class assemblies and we hope to extend this by holding coffee mornings for parents in the future.
- There is a Friends of Hawthorns school charity that relies on and involves parents in fund raising events.
- We have a school website that has school information, including class pages and school policies.
- Our parent app is now our main way of communication, informing parents and carers about school matters. For more information about our parent app, click here
- We have a Family Liaison Officer, Mrs Jones to support with home school links.
Extra-Curricular Activities
Sports Club
- We run a weekly afterschool sports club, every Wednesday from 3 – 4.15pm.
- The club is run by school staff and our Active Tameside Sports Coach, Mr Beswick. Throughout the year children in Sycamore, Maple, Chestnut and Beech are offered places at the club.
Everyone Can Active Tameside
- We promote Active Tameside’s Disability Community Respite sessions as part of their Everyone Can scheme.
- For more information about the disability community respite weekly timetable click here.
Our Kids Eyes (OKE)
- OKE, is a registered charity that offers support, information and activities to families who have children with special needs/disabilities.
- OKE’s ethos is to try to see the world through ‘Our Kids Eyes’ and provide activities and events throughout the year to make a positive impact on the lives of Tameside children and their families. For more information about the activities, they offer click here