Specialist Expertise

SENDCO and SEND Staff

Our SENDCO is Mrs Charlton.  To contact Mrs Charlton, please use the Contact Us section of our website.

It is the SENDCO’s job to:

• Oversee the day-to-day operation of the school’s SEN policy
• Liaise with the relevant Designated Teacher where a looked after pupil has SEN
• Advise teachers on using a graduated approach to providing SEN support
• Advise on the deployment of the school’s delegated budget and other resources to meet the pupil’s needs effectively
• Liaise with parents/carers of pupils with SEN
• Liaise with and be a key point of contact for external agencies
• Ensure that the school keeps the records of all SEN pupils up to date
• Work with the head teacher and school governors to ensure that the school meets its responsibilities with regard to reasonable adjustments and access arrangements by phoning the school on 01207 509724 or sending an email to: contactus@moorsideprimary.org.uk

More details of the SENCO’s role can be found in the SEN Policy which you can find in the School Policies section of our website.

Our Head Teacher, Mrs Helen Louise Templeton.

External Specialists and Other Bodies

At Moorside Primary Academy we actively seek the involvement of parents and carers and other bodies to educate and meet the needs of children with SEND including external agencies and initiatives. We work with an extensive range of services and professionals to ensure we meet the needs of each individual child. We encourage these professionals to visit school as often as possible to work with our staff and share their expertise.
The professionals within these agencies offer a wealth of knowledge and expertise for us to draw upon and ensure we meet the needs of all SEND children, no matter how complex, both in school and at home. Wherever possible, our staff implement programmes of work linked to these professionals e.g. speech and language programmes, exercises recommended by physical therapists etc.
The external specialists may:

• Act in an advisory capacity
• Extend expertise of school staff
• Provide additional assessment
• Support a child directly
• Suggest statutory assessment is advisable
• Consult with all parties involved with the child

Each year, children with a wide range of SEND attend our school and we continually strive to cater for their unique needs and ensure they develop a range of skills during their time with us. As a result, we have built relationships with a large network of external agencies to consult with and offer support to children and staff respectively.
The ‘Community of Learning’ (COL) which Moorside Primary School is a part of has evolved to develop a bespoke framework in order to share expertise across the local area and cluster school. SENDCOs and Advisory Teachers meet regularly in order to share best practise and expertise as well as accessing shared training and resources.
Below is a list of the different types of agencies we work with regularly. If you would like further details about any of these, please contact us.
These include:

• Durham County Council Local Offer
• Durham SEND Information,  Advice and Support Service
• ASD
• Behaviour Support Services
• CAMHS Assessment Team
• Community Nurse
• Community of Learning
• Dieticians
• Early Bird ASD Group
• Epilepsy Nurse
• Future Steps Consultancy – Occupational Therapy
• Northern Genetics Service, Centre for Life
• Next Steps Consultancy Counselling Service
• Occupational Health Service
• One Point Children’s Service
• SENDIASS: Durham SEND Information Advice and Support Service is a statutory service supporting parents/carers of children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and children and young people with SEND. SENDIASS offer a vast range of support for parents/carers such as parental EHC applications, support with parental voice, support with transition between key year groups and have access to all other SEN services across the local authority.
• Sure Start Family Centre – Paediatric Team
• Physiotherapy Service
• Durham Portage Worker Website
• Durham Educational Psychology Service
• Specialist Health Visitor
• Speech and Language Therapy
• The Service for Hearing Impaired
• The Service for the Visually Impaired 

Voluntary sector organsations and support groups can also be found on facebook as well as a list of useful organsations and support groups on the SENDIASS website.

How We Secure Specialist Expertise

The budget allocation is agreed between our school and the Local Authority at the beginning of each financial year. Detail of how this money is used to support children and young people with SEND is shown below. This is monitored each term by the Governing Body.
Our Additional Needs Budget is used to support children and young people with SEN. At Moorside Primary School, our notional SEN budget 2022/23 is £73,962.This is used to support children and young people with SEND by:

• Prioritising to tailor-make learning to ensure small steps of progress are continually made by all SEND learners.
• Purchasing Educational Psychology to identify additional support for learners
• Buying into the Crisis response SLA to support our most vulnerable pupils
• Buying into ASD/Cognition and Learning SLAs to support SEND pupils.
• Training staff in relevant areas to meet and support the needs of SEND pupils
• Providing direct support for children in terms of the staff that support them throughout the day to meet their needs
• Purchasing a range of SEN resources to support pupils

If a child has complex special educational needs, we could also receive additional funding from the Local Authority to meet the agreed outcomes. A Costed Provision Map will be developed in liaison with the child, young person, parent or carer with detailed evidence of supporting resources provided in school.   This will itemise support and give detailed costing for all provision.

If you would like to discuss your SEND requirements in detail please contact the school to arrange an appointment.