SEND & Inclusion
Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND)
Welcome to the Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) department of Blueberry Park Primary School.
This page is updated regularly with information relating to Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) at Blueberry Park Primary School.
At Blueberry Park Primary School, we strive to support all pupils to enable them to achieve their full potential. We are proud to be an inclusive and diverse school, where all staff work together to ensure the inclusion of all pupils. In order to support pupils with SEND, many steps are taken internally within the school to support them throughout their learning journey.
High-quality first teaching is a vital thread throughout the implementation of the Graduated Approach. However, there are occasions when additional targeted or specialist support may be required to support pupils achieve their targets and reach their full potential. Here at Blueberry Park Primary School, our SEND department supports pupils and families at each stage of this process.
'Special educational provision is underpinned by high quality teaching and is compromised by anything less'
- SEND Code of Practice
The Graduated Approach.
The Graduated Approach consists of four stages of SEND support and follows a continuous cycle:
Assess, Plan, Do, Review.
Early identification of SEND is crucial to ensure the implementation of appropriate SEND support at school level through high-quality teaching at the earliest opportunity.
Involving the child and supporting parents and carers in decision-making is at the heart of the Graduated Approach and is embedded within the principles of the SEND Code of Practice.
At Blueberry Park Primary School, we follow a robust internal Graduated Approach which supports pupils with SEND through the 4 stages of SEND support:
Universal, Emergent (teacher first), Targeted (professional outreach support) and Specialist provision (EHCP).
If you have a SEND concern about your child, please arrange an initial discussion with your child’s class teacher. The class teacher will follow the Graduated Approach cycle and meet with you regularly to set targets and plan support accordingly. Most SEND needs can be met at the emergent school level through high-quality teaching, environmental adaptations and internal interventions.
If further support is required, the class teacher will arrange a meeting with the SENCO to discuss the possible involvement of targeted outreach support.
Further information on the Graduated Approach can be found on
the Liverpool and Knowsley city council Local Offer:
Liverpool Council : https://fisd.liverpool.gov.uk/kb5/liverpool/fsd/localoffer.page?localofferchannel=15&sortorder=1&sortfield=relevance
Knowsley Council: https://www.knowsleyinfo.co.uk/send-education-information-support
Our Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCO) is responsible for managing the SEN provision across the school, from Nursery provision to Year 6.
Miss L Scott is our SENCO and Assistant Headteacher.
She can be contacted at school on 0151 233 2480.
Alternatively, you can send an email, for her attention, to: Miss Scott
senco@blueberrypark.liverpool.sch.uk
Our Assistant SENCO: Miss D Albiston (KS1 Lead and Y1 Class Teacher)
Parental Engagement
At Blueberry Park we welcome and encourage parental input to support our pupils. Throughout the year, we offer a variety of parental engagement activities with an SEND focus. We hold half-termly 'Inclusion coffee mornings' and parent workshops. Our most recent event, a collaboration with Beautiful New Beginnings sharing their 'Seasons' programme with families.
Beautiful New Beginnings
We are dedicated to offering family support services that empower families and communities, starting from pregnancy and extending throughout life. Through a wide range of classes, courses, and sessions, our inclusive and welcoming environment ensures that everyone can thrive. Our goal is to support and empower families and communities in the United Kingdom, enabling them to lead happier, healthier lives!
You can find out more about our services: https://www.beautifulnewbeginnings.co.uk/
Mental Health
At Blueberry Park, we realise the importance of mental health. We have a mental health team in place to support all aspects of mental health provision across the school. Our Mental Health Lead is Miss Smith. She is available to support and signpost pupils, parents and carers to the relevant mental health support. Miss Smith is supported by Miss Kerwin, as part of our in-house Mental Health team.
For our pupils, Alder Hey and CAMHS provides a Crisis Care team operating 7 days a week from 8.00am until 8.00pm. The Crisis Care team will be offering advice, consultation and direct intervention to children and young people aged between 0-18. Families, children/young people and carers can contact the team on 0151 293 3577.
Our weekly school newsletter often contains information about helpful websites to support with mental health strategies. You can find out more about these on our Safeguarding page.
Educational Psychology
If you would like to find out more about the Liverpool Educational Psychology Service and the sessions that we can access via our SEND Consortia, please explore the Local Offer information here:
https://fisd.liverpool.gov.uk/kb5/liverpool/fsd/service.page?id=FXDfap8RdLw&localofferchannel=4-13
Autism & ADHD
Are you interested in learning more about ASD/ADHD or the referral/diagnostic process?
Ambitious About Autism (https://www.ambitiousaboutautism.org.uk)
The National Autistic Society (https://www.autism.org.uk)
Spectrum Gaming (https://www.autismunderstood.co.uk)
ADHD Foundation https://adhdfoundation.org.au/
ADDvanced Solutions: https://addvancedsolutions.co.uk/
Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust provides a specialised, combined Neurodevelopmental Service for children and young people (aged 2–18) for assessing conditions such as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and ADHD. The service offers diagnosis, support, and, for some, post-diagnostic feedback workshops, focusing on a personalised approach to neurodiversity.
Alder Hey NHS referral process: https://www.alderhey.nhs.uk/services/autism-spectrum-disorder/
Information around these activities will be shared via the school newsletter and Class DoJo.
Local Offer
When the Children and Families Bill became enacted in 2014, local authorities were required to publish and keep under review information about services they expect to be available for children and young people with special educational needs. This is called the Local Offer. The intention of the local offer is to improve choice and transparency for our families. It is also an important resource for professionals in understanding the range of services and provision in the local area.
A further key role for the local offer is to inform the joint commissioning for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities by setting out in a single place what is available locally. The Local Authority must work together with children and young people, parents and carers and with local services, including the voluntary and community sector, to develop their offer and keep it under review. This is called co-production.
Click on the link below to find the details of Liverpool Authority's Local Offer:
Liverpool Council : https://fisd.liverpool.gov.uk/kb5/liverpool/fsd/localoffer.page?localofferchannel=15&sortorder=1&sortfield=relevance
Knowsley Council: https://www.knowsleyinfo.co.uk/send-education-information-support
Parent voice
We really value feedback from our parents and carers, not only do their thoughts and opinions celebrate the SEND provision at Blueberry Park but feedback also helps us to make improvements and changes to suit the needs of our pupils.
Some recent feedback from our parents/carers:
"I am pleased to say that my children attend a school where they can have the amazing support given by the SENCo and all of the school staff.
They go above and beyond to get your child the support they need and deserve. The staff are always so helpful and approach special needs with respect.
The work and efforts this school and the SENCo put into to children with SEND should not go unnoticed. I would recommend this school for both mainstream and SEND. To have people who are understanding and supportive makes your schooling journey with your children so much easier and it is appreciated by myself as a parent I couldn't ask for more."
"Although we are new to the school we can't fault the SEND provision. The individual approach given to each pupil is refreshing and ******** feels happy and safe coming into school. We are impressed that ******** can communicate a problem and action can be taken quickly to solve it, whilst listening to ******** needs "
"The support offered to both myself and my child has been amazing. The school has engaged well with external teams to get as much support as possible to try to give my child the best opportunity to thrive. I am grateful for the help and advice I've received myself, good correspondence and open door policy when I've needed to speak to staff."
SEND Information notice board and Inclusion Zone website page
Miss Scott has a 'SEND Information' notice board in the waiting area, next to the main school office. This is regularly updated with useful information for parents and carers regarding all aspects of SEN provision both in school and the local community. On this board you can find details about the SEND graduated approach, the SEND Code of Practice, Beautiful New Beginnings, Autism advice drop in sessions at Alder Hey and other useful information. You can also find useful information on the Inclusion Zone page of our website. Here you will find information and resources to support with some SEND needs.
Please click below to access our SEND Information Report. Here you will find out more about the graduated approach and the strategies and services that we can engage with in order to meet any additional needs that your child may have.
The engagement model
You can click on the link below to read more about 'The engagement model.' The engagement model is a teacher assessment tool, used to assess pupils who are working below the level of the national curriculum and not engaged in subject-specific study. Children may be assessed using the engagement model if they have special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
Parent's Information - The engagement model
SEND Policies and additional information
We work hard to ensure that parents have access to all of the information regarding our provision for pupils with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities. Please click on the links below for further information and our policies. Alternatively, paper copies can be obtained from the school office. Miss Scott will be more than happy to talk you through any of our documentation privately. Upon request, we are also able to provide copies of documentation in any language, please contact Miss Scott so that she can arrange this.
External agencies
We are lucky enough to work with a wide variety of external agencies in order to support our pupils:
- Liverpool Educational Psychology Service
- SENISS – Special Educational Needs Inclusion Support Service
- Together Trust - OT and and Advisory Teachers
- RISE
- Liverpool Virtual School
- Liverpool SEN team
- Addvanced Solutions
- Deaf Active
- NHS Speech and Language Therapy Service
- Merseyside Speech and Language Therapist (MAST)
- Beautiful New Beginnings
- CAMHS – Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service
- Seedlings (under the CAMHS umbrella)
- Mental Health Support Team (MHST)
- School Health Service, including the School Nurse
- Liverpool Community Physiotherapy
- Occupational Therapy
- Early Help Hubs
- EHAT Team
- Purple Circle Autism Consultancy
- The Yew Tree Children’s Centre
- The ADHD Foundation
- Broadgreen International School, Holly Lodge and other local secondary schools
- Holy Spirit church and other local churches
- Education Welfare Officer
- School Improvement Liverpool
- NSPCC
- Barnardo’s
- Dovecot MAC
- Rock Kidz
- Beth Tweddle Gymnastics
- Merseyside Police – Mini Police Project and other relevant events throughout the year
- Merseytravel
- Priority Youth Community Bus
Useful SEND information
Please find below, a selection of Local Education Authority (LEA), government SEND guidance and general information which Miss Scott believes that you may find helpful.
Meet our Educational Psychology (EP) team
What happens during an EP consultation?
Useful organisations - Contact details