Our vision for children with Special Educational Needs and/or disabilities at St Mary Magdalene CofE Primary School is:

that we will be able to instill high aspirations for now and their future selves by having confidence in their own strengths and abilities. All children with SEND have a sense of belonging within our school community, which supports them to thrive and feel valued throughout their school life.

My name is Miss Lewis and I have responsibility for Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) within our school. It is a privilege to support all of our children, parents and staff to work together to set high expectations, inspire, challenge, achieve and celebrate learning in our school.

As SENCo (Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator) I am responsible for managing the provision for children who require additional support. My role, in partnership with parents, staff, and outside specialists is to ensure that the specific needs of all children, whether they be social, emotional, behavioural, medical or cognitive, are identified and appropriate support put in place. To help your child to achieve their full potential we will always ask them how they think we and you can support them. We will make sure they are involved in setting their own goals and targets. If your child requires a Learning Plan, we will have a meeting with you and your child to ensure targets are shared and you are aware of the support in place for their needs

If you feel you need to speak with me, my details are below:

Sioned Lewis
0121 588 2371 | nursery@st-marymagdalene.sandwell.sch.uk

Click to find out about our Local Offer

If you feel that you need some independent advice, speak to Sandwell SENDIASS (Sandwell's Special Educational Needs and Disability Information, Advice and Support Service).

Get Registered with The Family Information Service!

As part of Sandwell Council, The Family Information Service have lead responsibility for Children and Young Adults with Disabilities and SEN Register. This is a legal requirement for all local authorities.

The Register is a voluntary register, however we do encourage parents to join it as the Family Information Service will communicate with them on a regular basis with information specific to disabilities and SEN, such as changes in legislation, support groups and activities and events.

The application form is now available to complete online on the Sandwell Local Offer website . If you are not already signed up, follow the link and complete the form.

https://www.sandwell.gov.uk/info/200220/disability/2353/register_of_children_with_a_disability  

SEND Documents

Parent Information

We want to support all of our parents to access the wealth of services available to them in Sandwell.  There is so much out there but it is not always easy to know where to look or how to get involved.  This page is updated regularly with information on what is currently available. We hope you will find it a useful resource. 

The SDPC now has a website which is updated with events for parents and children. Please follow this link and click on the 'news' tab to see what is available each month; https://www.sp-dc.org/  

Take a look at The Albion Foundation for Disability Camps and Sessions. They will be running a free holiday camp for children over the age of 8 from 10:00am-2:00pm during the upcoming October half term https://www.wba.co.uk/albion-foundation/book-now/disability-sessions-camps 

Reflexions

We are now in our third year of working with Reflexions and have seen many children benefit greatly from this service. Reflexions are able to offer sessions within our school, reducing disruption to a child's school day.  Please talk to your child's class teacher or contact Miss Lewis if you would like more information or to discuss a referral for your child. 

Reflexions provide preventative and early intervention mental health support within Education Settings for children and young people with mild to moderate mental health difficulties.

We work with children and young people who may need support with:

• Presentations related to anxiety/worry or low mood
• Sleep difficulties in the context of anxiety or low mood
• Anxiety/avoidance
• Panic attacks
• Parent-led intervention for support with child or young person’s symptoms relating to anxiety
• Support in understanding emotions and managing relationship with emotions

Please visit the Reflexions website for more information; https://www.blackcountryhealthcare.nhs.uk/our-services/reflexions 

Enhanced Speech and Language Support

At St Mary Magdalene we recognise the importance of language skills for academic success. Many of our children have speech and language needs and, in recognition of this, our Governors have invested additional money into developing children's language skills and upskilling staff. We have a Speech and Language Therapist (SLT) who visits our school weekly. Our SLT;

- Works 1:1 with children to develop their speech sounds

- Offers training and coaching to staff

- Runs social interaction activities such as Lego Therapy and Intensive Interaction

- Makes referrals to other services such as Audiology and Autism Assessment Services

- Works with parents (including making home visits to support in delivering speech programmes at home)

- Completes thorough assessments of children's speech and language skills and provides reports with small step targets (which are regularly reviewed)

- Attends professional's meetings including EHCP Annual Reviews. 

We have a wonderful working relationship with our SLT, Sophie, and are very proud to be able to offer our pupils this wonderful service.  It is worth noting that, if school did not buy into this enhanced service we would only get 3 visits per year rather than the one visit every week we benefit from. 

Neurodiversity Celebration week from

17^th-21st March 2025

During this week we celebrated our entire school population.  We talked about what makes us the same and what makes us different. . We also developed our understanding of the term Neurodiversity and completed age appropriate activities around this.

EYFS children talked about visible differences between themselves and their peers 

Year 1 and 2 discussed the many ways we are similar and different

Year 3 and 4 learnt about Autism and about how everyone's brain works differently

Year 5 and 6 learnt about neurodivergence in more depth, including finding out about celebrities who have dyslexia, dyspraxia, autism and ADHD.  They created posters to encourage acceptance and kindness. 

All children got the opportunity to practice a calming technique called 5 Finger Breathing.

World Down Syndrome Day 2025

We ended the week with a celebration of World Down Syndrome Day. The children all wore their best and brightest socks. The message of the day was ensuring that people with Down Syndrome get the right kind of support at the right time.