Avening Primary School

Who to Contact

What should I do if I am concerned about the progress my child is making? Who is the best person in this school to talk to for advice about my child’s difficulties with learning, special educational needs or disability?

  • If you have concerns about your child’s progress you should speak to your child’s class teacher initially.
  • If you are not happy that the concerns are being managed and that your child is still not making progress you should speak to the Headteacher, Jane Rushton or SENDCo, Tina Harris.
  • If you are still not happy you can speak to the school SEND Governor, Richard Young.

The following people have responsibilities within the school with regard to SEND provision:

Headteacher: Jane Rushton

SENDCo (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Coordinator: Tina Harris

Responsible for:

  • The day to day management of all aspects of the school, this includes the support for children with SEND.
  • Ensuring that parents are kept informed and involved in reviewing how children are doing and involved in the support the children are getting
  • Ensuring that the Governing Body is kept up to date about any issues in the school relating to SEND.
  • Coordinating all the support for children with special educational needs or disabilities (SEND) and developing the school’s SEND Policy to make sure all children get a consistent, high quality response to meeting their needs in school.
  • Holding termly Pupil Progress Meetings to identify any child who may be in need of support.
  • Liaising with all the other people who may be coming into school to help support your child’s learning e.g. Speech and Language Therapy, Educational Psychology, Early Help etc.
  • Updating the school’s SEND register (a system for ensuring all the SEND needs of pupils in this school are known) and making sure that there are excellent records of your child’s progress and needs

In addition, Kelly Wilkinson (Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead and Assistant SENDCo) is involved in:

  • Carrying out interventions, along with other members of staff
  • Writing any Health Care Plans
  • Supporting teachers to write and review My Plans and My Plan Plus plans
  • Holding Parent Coffee Mornings
  • Liaising with all the other people who may be coming into school to help support your child's learning, e.g. Speech and Language Therapy, Educational Psychology, Early Help etc

Class teachers
Responsible for:

  • Checking on the progress of your child and identifying, planning and delivering any additional help your child may need (this could be things like targeted work, additional support)
  • Ensuring that all staff working with your child in school are helped to deliver the planned work/programme for your child, so they can achieve the best possible progress. This may involve the use of additional adults, outside specialist help and specially planned work and resources.
  • Writing and reviewing My Plans and My Plan Plus plans, with the support of the Headteacher, SENDCo or Assistant SENDCo
  • Writing and reviewing Provision Maps to meet the needs of children needing additional interventions within school
  • Ensuring that the school’s SEND Policy is followed in their classroom and for all the pupils they teach with any SEND.

Teaching Assistants

Responsible for:

  • Carrying out intervention, under the supervision of the class teacher
  • Providing support for children in and around the school
  • Undergoing training as necessary

SEND Governor: Richard Young
Responsible for:

  • Making sure that the necessary support is made for any child who attends the school who has SEND.
  • Carrying out an SEND audit on behalf of the Governing Body each year, reporting findings to the Governing Body and following up any actions.

You can contact any of the above via email (admin@avening.gloucs.sch.uk), telephone (01453 833191) or in person via the school office.

What expertise does our school and our staff have in relation to SEND?

The SENDCo holds the National Award for SEN Coordination. 

All class teachers have qualified teacher status.

We have a member of the support staff, Mrs Deb Carter, who is trained as a Senior Mental Health Lead and an Emotional Literacy Support Assistant

We have two Forest School leaders. 

The Headteacher and Assistant SENDCO are trained in leading the Team Around the Child meetings as part of the graduated pathway for children with special educational needs, as well as Designated Lead Multi-Agency Safeguarding training. 

A number of staff and governors have completed autism awareness training.

Three members of staff have completed social stories and concept cartoon training. 

We have staff trained in emotion coaching, positive behaviour handling, trusted emotional available adult training and who have completed ACEs training, amongst other relevant professional development.