Special Educational Needs

All children at Chilham St Mary’s are valued, respected and welcomed to the school whatever their additional educational need. We will support their learning and ensure they are fully included in all school activities, making full use of externally provided facilities where appropriate.

The staff at Chilham St Mary’s recognise that all children in their care have special needs, each child is seen as an individual and every effort taken to ensure that his/her needs are met. All children have access to a broad and balanced curriculum.

The school adopts a graduated response and an array of strategies to help children who have special educational needs including specialist expertise where appropriate.

Pupils with special educational needs will be admitted to the school in accordance with the requirements of the 1966 Education Act and the LA’s Admission Policy. All pupils are welcomed into the school and the school will seek appropriate support as necessary to ensure that individual needs are met.

Our Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCo) is Mrs Vanessa Robinson. You can contact her directly by telephoning the school or emailing: senco@chilham.kent.sch.uk 

Speech & Language Support
At Chilham St Mary’s CE Primary, we work hard to support all pupils with speech, language and communication difficulties, regardless of their SEN status.
Through The Balanced System, we are in the fortunate position of having support from our NHS link speech & language therapist, Chloe Morgan, in addition to our specialist teachers. 
Chloe can provide staff training, will support staff members to carry out speech and communication interventions and also carry out direct support herself with some of our children. 
Class teachers will be responsible for identifying any children who they think may benefit from speech and communication interventions. Any concerns will be discussed with you as parents/carers/guardians. Parents are also welcome to raise concerns themselves. Our SENCO will then discuss these with our therapist. You will be kept informed of any plans to support your child.
As a school, it is our responsibility to seek parental/guardian verbal consent for your child to be discussed with one of our therapists. This should also include consent to share personal data (name/ address/ date of birth) and if necessary, observe your child on the day of the meeting. The school will also be responsible for informing parents of the outcome of the discussion.
The therapist is responsible for gaining informed verbal consent from the parent to book an appointment to carry out the assessment/ intervention that has been agreed following this discussion.
If you have any concerns about your child’s speech, language or communication skills, please speak to your child’s class teacher or our SENCO, Mrs Robinson, in the first instance. senco@chilham.kent.sch.uk or call 01227 730442

THE BALANCED SYSTEM EXPLAINED

EKHUFT NHS Speech and Language Therapy Service are working with schools to establish the Balanced System® approach to meet the speech, language and communication needs of all children.
This provides an easy way for schools and parents to access speech, language and communication support via an allocated Link Speech and Language Therapist. Our Link Speech and Language Therapist is Chloe Morgan. 
Your child does not need to be on a waiting list to access the Link Speech and Language Therapist as access will be via school in partnership with yourselves (parents). The school SENCO (Mrs. Vanessa Robinson) will be able to discuss your child's progress with the Link Therapist and identify further support required. This could include the implementation of classroom approaches for all children, targeted provisions such as small group interventions for those who will benefit from more focused support, and/ or more individualised support.
If you have any concerns regarding your child's speech, language and communication and would like more information on the Balanced System approach, please discuss this with our school SENCO. 
The Balanced System® framework is being adopted in Kent and Medway after it has been implemented by other areas and within some individual schools in Kent and we are confident that it will transform the service for children, families and staff: ‘The Balanced System® has helped our school to reflect on what we had in place and were doing to support SLCN. It has helped raise awareness of the SLCN and it has helped us develop our provision for the future.’ (Feedback from a local school).
For more information about the Balanced System®:https://www.thebalancedsystem.org/what-is-it/ 

 

Our SEN Policy & Information Report 2023-24 can be found on the Policies page.

 

Useful Links:

Kent Mainstream Core Standards - updated January 2021: https://www.kelsi.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/117256/Special-educational-needs-mainstream-core-standards.pdf

Kent Mainstream Core Standards - Guide for Parents : https://www.kelsi.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/117257/Special-educational-needs-mainstream-core-standards-guide-for-parents.pdf

Kent County Council:  http://www.kent.gov.uk/education-and-children/special-educational-needs

Details of all the services which are available to you through their Local Offer can be found on their website.

The British Dyslexia Association: https://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/about

The vision of the British Dyslexia Association is a dyslexia friendly society enabling all dyslexic people to reach their potential

The Autism Charity: http://www.autism.org.uk/

We are the leading UK charity for people with autism (including Asperger syndrome) and their families. We provide information, support and pioneering services, and campaign for a better world for people with autism.

Kent NHS Trust: http://www.kentcht.nhs.uk/home/our-services/paediatric-childrens-speech-and-language-therapy-east-kent/?entryid109=228850

We assess and treat children and young people with speech, language, communication and feeding difficulties. We also train and support parents, carers and staff in early years’ settings and schools.

Kent Education Learning and Skills Information: http://www.kelsi.org.uk/

We aim to empower parents and families of disabled children and children with SEN to be confident to take an active and informed role in their child’s education and development. We provide a comprehensive, accessible and flexible range of services that includes free confidential, impartial advice and support. For further information view our leaflet on Parent Support.