Our School Vision   

At Good Shepherd Catholic Primary School, the well-being and development of each child underpins all that we do. Our aim is to develop children into confident and resilient learners, for them to develop a love of learning and to encourage them to explore opportunities to step outside of their comfort zone whilst not neglecting the need to develop wider life skills that they can use to underpin their future development.

June 2024 Information

Good Shepherd Catholic school currently has 229 children on role from Nursery to Year 6.

There are currently 53 children on SEND register with a range of needs from universal to specialist.  (23%)

44 children on SEN support (19.2%)

11 children that have an EHCP (4.8%)

The SENDCO is Miss Gurpreet Doal

If you would like to contact Miss Doal please call school on 020 8698 4173

or email the school office at 

info@goodshepherd.lewisham.sch.uk

At Good Shepherd Catholic Primary School, we support children with a variety of differing special educational needs and we pride ourselves on being a highly inclusive school with an ethos which encourages and celebrates diversity and difference.

SEND is categorised into the following areas in the SEN Code of Practice 2014:

	Cognition and Learning
	Communication and Interaction
	Social, Emotional and Mental Health
	Sensory and Physical

At Good Shepherd Catholic Primary School we work closely as a team and if staff have a concern about a child, there are a variety of ways that staff identify and assess children with SEND. Through stringent data analysis and pupil progress meetings children who are underachieving and not reaching their full potential are quickly identified and extra provision put in place.  

Children at Good Shepherd may also be identified as having SEND through a variety of ways including:

• Class teacher concerns, observations and discussion with the child
• Discussions between class teacher, SENCO and senior management.
• Liaising with previous settings, if applicable
• Liaising with outside professionals/agencies
• External assessments form outside agencies
• Parental concerns
• Continued concerns despite targeted intervention.
• In house assessments used to support the identification of difficulties.

A child will then be placed on the monitoring register and we begin to follow the Graduated Response approach of ‘Assess, Plan, Do and Review’.

After a period of 6 – 8 weeks we will decide if a child needs to be placed on the SEND register and invite you in for a meeting, where we will share the targets your child is working on and the support they are receiving. 

Some children may require more support than is ordinarily available and we may ask outside agencies to support us in ensuring that we are offering the best support we can.

If you are concerned that your child may have SEND, we will meet with you to discuss your concerns. The class teacher is the first person to contact.

We are an inclusive school.  Wherever possible children are taught alongside their peers in flexible teaching groups. 

Teachers adapt their high-quality teaching to cater for their pupils’ needs and plan individual timetables where necessary. When appropriate, staff are deployed to give children additional interventions in small groups outside the classroom, or to provide one-to-one support.

We use the EEF guidance ‘Five-a-day’ and embed the key principles into all our lessons.

Curriculum adaptations

Visual timetables	Task boards	Peer mentoring
Assistive technology	Talk partners	Peer marking
Self-assessment	Word banks	Positive behaviour
Ear defenders	Timers	Explicit instruction

We use a range of strategies across our lessons to ensure we offer an inclusive approach to learning and allow all children to access the classroom environment.

We also seek advice and equipment from outside agencies as and when the need arises.

At Good Shepherd Catholic Primary School we work closely with parents and carers and recognise that they have much to contribute to our support for children with SEND.

We hold drop-in sessions every term and Miss Doal (SENCO) is available at parents’ evenings to discuss any concerns.

We also hold coffee mornings where parents can meet up and support each other in a safe environment.  During these sessions we gather parent feedback on SEN provision at Good Shepherd Catholic Primary School, direct to training courses and support groups and offer opportunities to meet up with outside agencies.

For children who have an Education, Health and Care Plan, SEN Support Provision Plan or require specialist support (over and above what is ordinarily available) we will invite you in for 3 further meetings a year in the Autumn, Spring and Summer term.  These meeting are used to celebrate your child’s learning, looking at the progress they have made against the targets set, create new targets and discuss next steps.  A copy of this will always be sent home after the meetings.

Child Consultations

Pupils' views are very important; they have a right to be involved in decisions about their education and they are made aware of the support that surrounds them in school.

Children are fully involved and their views feed directly into all policies, procedures and daily teaching of children with SEND. 

Pupils are given regular opportunities to:

Self-assess how they are doing	Attend meetings and help decide the support needed	Feedback and review progress/interventions

• Review progress in SLT meetings and discussing next steps.
• Discuss and share ideas in staff meetings to ensure up to date research and policy is in place.
• Reviewing children’ individual progress towards their goals at regular intervals, as a minimum every term.
• Establishing children’s baseline before receiving interventions and reviewing the impact of interventions at regular intervals.
• Asking our children if they feel the adjustment or intervention is helpful and makes a difference.
• Monitoring by the SENDCO.
• Regularly using a tracking tool to update targets and measure progress.
• Holding termly reviews for children who are on Education Health and Care Plans, SEND Support Provision Plans and those requiring specialist support.
• Holding annual reviews for children with Education Health Care Plans.

Staff Training

At Good Shepherd Catholic Primary School, we believe in professional development and aim to ensure all our staff have the understanding they need to enable them to support your child.

When a new member of staff joins the school, we ensure they understand the systems within school and they are given information about the children they are working with.

The Senior Leadership Team within school are constantly moderating needs within the school and, where an area of concern is highlighted, whole school training could be organised to ensure all staff understand specific learning difficulties and appropriate teaching or support strategies that could be utilised.

If your child needs specialist support from an outside agency, such as the Speech and Language Service (SALT), Educational Psychologist (EP), Occupational Therapist (OT) or school nurse, we will always discuss this with you first.

Some of our staff have completed training in the following areas.  When staff go on a course, they have an opportunity to give feedback to the rest of the staff during staff meeting sessions.

Play therapy	Lego therapy	Child development	Bucket time
Autism (Level 1)	Makaton (Level 1)	Phonics (Catch-up)	Team teach
Specific Learning Difficulties	Complex Needs training	Nurture support	Speech and language
De-escalation	Attachment	Reading for those who struggle	Sensory needs

Nursery to Reception

We hold a parent and carer session in the summer term for our new reception starters, providing parents with the opportunity to meet with the class teacher and SENCO. 

We hold a ‘taster’ sessions follow in the second half of the summer term in preparation for their September start.

Transition to Reception, and then into each successive year-group, is supported by meetings, information leaflets and taster sessions in each new class.

End of Year transition

When children move up a year, we provide transition sheets which include photos of the teacher, TA and classroom environment.

We hold a transition sessions during the summer term allowing the children to go up to their new classroom and meet their teacher. 

Some children may require extra transition visits to their new classroom to help reduce their anxiety and ensure that the transition is successful and positive.

Class teachers and TAs meet with each other during the summer term to discuss the needs of the children and share Individual Learning Plans.

Secondary Transition

We liaise very closely with our partner schools to ensure that the transition from primary school to the secondary school is as smooth as possible.

Mid-Year new starters

When we are aware that pupils joining us from other settings have identified special educational needs, we arrange a meeting with the family to enable us to gain a greater understanding on the support we need to put in place.

Outside Agencies

We work with the following agencies to provide support for children with SEND:

• Lewisham Educational Psychology Service
• Lewisham Speech and language therapy
• Lewisham Specific Learning needs
• Lewisham Sensory Team
• Outreach Inclusion Service
• Drumbeat
• School Health advisory services
• School nurses
• Attendance officers

We will ask your permission before we arrange for any outside agencies to come in and work with your child.  Once the feedback has been received we will call you in for a meeting to share the advice.

Clubs and Trips

All our extra-curricular activities and school visits are available to all our children, including our before-and after-school clubs.

All children are encouraged to go on our trips such as residentials.

All children are encouraged to take part in sports day, school competitions, school assemblies and performances, workshops, etc.  

All children are encouraged to apply for roles of responsibility in school e.g. school council, house group leaders, technical team etc. 

No child is ever excluded from taking part in these activities because of their SEN or disability.

Please read the school’s accessibility plan for further information about the steps we have taken to prevent disabled children from being treated less favourably than other children and the arrangements we have made to help children with SEND access our school.

Complaint Procedure

Your first point of contact is your child’s class teacher.

If you are not satisfied that your concern has been addressed, then please make an appointment to speak to the SENDCO or Deputy Head Teacher.  If they cannot solve your issue, then an appointment can be made to speak to the Headteacher.

If you are not happy with the response, then you may contact the governors through the school office.

George Odeleye – Chair of Governors

Mary Caballero – SEND Governor

Lewisham Local Offer

The Lewisham Local Authority Local Offer can be found at

https://lewisham.gov.uk/myservices/children-and-young-people-service/services-for-children-with-complex-needs-and-disabilities/local-offer