School SEND Offer

School SEND Information

The teachers responsible for S.E.N in the school are Mrs Joanne Smith and Mrs Katie Hammond.  They can be contacted via the School Office.

For information about equality, accessibility and admissions please see individual policies under information for parents.

This document incorporates the school offer and SEN information report.

What is the Local Offer?

Under the Children and Families Bill which becomes law in 2014, Local Authorities are required to publish, and keep under review, information about services that they expect to be available for children and young people with disabilities and Special Educational Needs aged 0-25.  This is called the Local Offer.  The intention of the Local Offer is to improve choice and transparency for families.  It will also be an important resource for professionals in understanding the range of services and provision in the local area.

Schools are required to publish information about services they provide for children with disabilities and Special Educational Needs.  This is known as the school’s ‘Local Offer’.

At St. Mary’s School, we aim to be as inclusive as possible, with the needs of pupils with Special Educational Need/ Disabilities being met in a mainstream setting wherever possible.

All pupils in school receive quality first teaching.  This means that a range of teaching and learning styles are used and appropriate learning objectives are set for all children matched to their needs.  Quality teaching is important for all children: however for some children additional support may be needed to enable them to achieve and reach their potential.

Please find below, a set of 19 questions which we hope will support you in understanding what we can offer you and your child at St. Mary’s the Mount.

The following Policies may also be useful:

Q1: What kinds of Special educational needs and disabilities might the children of St. Mary’s The Mount have? (Schedule 1: Point 1)

Children and young people with SEN have different needs, but the general presumption is that all children with SEN but without an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) are welcome to apply for a place at our school in line with the school admissions policy. For a child with an EHCP, parents have the right to request a school that is suitable for their child’s needs.

Special educational needs and provision can be considered as falling under four broad areas:

Communication and interaction

Cognition and learning

Social, mental and emotional health

Sensory and/or physical

Communication and interaction

Children and young people with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN) have difficulty in communicating with others. This may be because they have difficulty saying what they want to, understanding what is being said to them or they do not understand or use social rules of communication. They may have difficulty with one, some or all of the different aspects of speech, language or social communication at different times of their lives.

Cognition and learning

Support for learning difficulties may be required when children and young people learn at a slower pace than their peers, even with appropriate differentiation. Learning difficulties cover a wide range of needs, including moderate learning difficulties (MLD), severe learning difficulties (SLD), where children are likely to need support in all areas of the curriculum and associated difficulties with mobility and communication. Specific learning difficulties (SpLD), affect one or more specific aspects of learning. This encompasses a range of conditions such as dyslexia, dyscalculia and dyspraxia.

Social, emotional and mental health difficulties

Children and young people may experience a wide range of social and emotional difficulties which manifest themselves in many ways. These may include becoming withdrawn or isolated, as well as displaying challenging, disruptive or disturbing behaviour. These behaviours may reflect underlying mental health difficulties such as anxiety or depression, self-harming, substance misuse, eating disorders or physical symptoms that are medically unexplained. Other children and young people may have disorders such as Autism Spectrum Disorder, Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder, Oppositional Defiance Disorder or Attachment Disorder.

 or Attachment Disorder.

Sensory and/or physical needs

Some children and young people require special educational provision because they have a disability which prevents or hinders them from making use of the educational facilities generally provided. These difficulties can be age related and may fluctuate over time. Many children and young people with vision impairment (VI), hearing impairment (HI) or a multi-sensory impairment (MSI) will require specialist support and/or equipment to access their learning. Children and young people with an MSI have a combination of vision and hearing difficulties, which makes it even more difficult for them to access the curriculum or study programme than for those with a single sensory impairment.

Some children and young people with a physical disability (PD) require additional ongoing support and equipment to access all the opportunities available to their peers. 

Q2: Who are the best people to talk to in this school about my child's difficulties with learning/Special Educational Needs or disability (SEND)? (SE7 1 Q1) (Schedule 1: Points 2 & 4) (SE7 Q14) (Schedule 1: Point 9)

Our SENCo - Mrs Smith and assistant SENCO – Mrs Hammond are responsible for:

Our class teachers are responsible for:

Our Headteacher - Mrs Amos is responsible for:

SEN Governor – Mr S Mutsigwa is responsible for:

Q 3: How will the school support a child with SEND? (SE7 Q2) (Schedule1: Points 2,3,6,8 &10)

Walsall Getting it right for SEND guidance and Banding  document and Walsall SEN toolkit are used to identify interventions and support.

Class teacher input via quality, differentiated, targeted classroom teaching also known as Quality First Teaching

For your child this would mean:

All children in school should be getting this as a part of quality classroom practice when needed.

Where it is decided that special educational provision is required, parents will be informed and their partnership sought in order to improve attainment. 

Action relating to SEN support will follow an assess, plan, do and review model with the parent’s and child’s involvement throughout.

Support may be as follows;

Specific group work within a smaller group of children

This group, often called an intervention or booster group in school, may be run

and may be facilitated by a teacher or a Teaching assistant, who has had appropriate training to run these groups.

For your child this would mean:

This type of support is available for any child who has specific gaps in their understanding of a subject/area of learning. 

If progress rates are still inadequate despite the support, advice will be sought from external agencies regarding the best strategies to best meet the specific needs of a pupil.

Specified Individual support each week in school

Your child may have an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP). 

This type of support means your child will have been identified by the class teacher/ SENCO/ Senior management team as needing a particularly high level of individual or small group teaching which cannot be provided from the normal budget available to the school.

Usually your child will also need specialist support in school from a professional outside the school. This may be from:

For your child this would mean:

This type of support is available for children whose learning needs are:

Q4: What do I do if I am worried about my child's progress in school? (SE71 Q1) (Schedule 1: Points 2&4)

Q5: How will the school let me know if they have any concerns about my child's learning in school? (SE7 Q1) (Schedule 1: Point 2)

We know when pupils need help if:

If your child is identified as not making progress the school will:

Q6: How is extra support allocated to children? (SE7 Q11) (Schedule 1:Point 6) (SE7 Q12) (Schedule 1: Point 7)

Q7: Who else might my child have support from, professionally at St Mary's? (SE7 Q2) (Schedule 1: Points 2,3,6,8 &10)

Q8: How are other adults in school used to support pupils with special educational needs or disabilities?

Q9: How is teaching adapted for children with SEND? (SE7 Q3) (Schedule 1: Point 3)

Q10: How will my child's progress be measured in school?

Q11: How are the teachers in school helped to work with children with SEND and what training do they have?(SE7Q7) (Schedule 1:Point 5)

The SENCO’s job is to support the class teacher in planning for children with SEND.

Individual teachers and support staff attend training courses run by outside agencies that are relevant to the needs of specific children in their class. 

The Walsall Banding Guidance and the SEN toolkit is used to identify interventions and resources to help support the children.

Q12: What support is there for me as a parent of a child with SEND?(SE7 Q4) (schedule 1: Point 7) (SE7Q13) (Schedule 1: Point 7) (Schedule 1:Point 8) (Schedule 1: Points 11 & 13)

The SENCO will work closely with any external agencies that we feel are relevant to individual children's needs within our school including:

Information, Advice and Support Service (IASS) offer independent advice. The nearest IASS can be located via https://www.wcld.co.uk/kb5/walsall/asch/service.page?id=yj2W-cxJVEg

For parents who are unhappy with the LA or school, parents may seek mediation from the regional mediation services. Information is located via https://www.kids.org.uk/regional-mediation

Walsall’s Local offer can be found via 

https://go.walsall.gov.uk/the-send-local-offer


Q13: What other activities are available for pupils with SEN in addition to the curriculum? (SE7Q8)(Schedule 1:Point 3)

Q14: How will my child be supported when they are leaving this school or moving to a new class? (SE7 Q10) (Schedule 1:Point 12)

We recognise that transitions can be difficult for a child with SEND and take steps to ensure that any transition is a smooth as possible.


Q15: What support will there be for children overall well-being? (SE7Q5) (Schedule 1:Point3)

The school offers a wide variety of pastoral support for pupils. These include:

Q16: Pupils with medical needs. (SE5)

Pupils with complex medical needs will be provided with a detailed Health Care plan, compiled in partnership with the school nurse, parents and pupils.

Staff who volunteer to administer medications will complete formal training. In September, all staff receive training on Asthma, administering Epipens. Staff who work closely with children with Epilepsy will receive training every two years from the Epilepsy Nursing team.

All medicine administration procedures adhere to the LA policy and Department of Education guidelines included within ‘Supporting pupils at school with medical conditions’ (DFE 2015) 

Q17: How accessible is the school environment? (SE7 Q9)(Schedule 1:Point 3)

For more information see our Accessibility Plan.

Q18: How is St Mary’s the Mount doing compared with other children with SEN?

July 2022

4 children with SEN

3 children with EHCP

KS2 Combined reading, writing and maths 

July 2023

5 children with SEN

1 child with EHCP

KS2 combined reading, writing and maths

July 2024

5 children with SEN

2 children with EHCP

KS2 combined reading, writing and maths

Q. 19: How are children with SEN and who are looked after by the Local Authority supported?

Children who are looked after will be supported in the same way as other children with SEND.

Regular PEP meetings will be held along with IEP meetings to review and set targets.