Sandal Castle VA Community Primary School

A Church of England school serving the Community since 1686

Headteacher: Mrs Caroline Butterworth
Telephone: 01924 303525
Email: office@sandal.wakefield.sch.uk
Address: Barnsley Road, Sandal, Wakefield, West Yorkshire, WF2 6AS

Welcome to our SEND page.

Sandal Castle Primary School is recognised by external practitioners, professionals and organisations for our exemplary and often inspirational work in relation to supporting children with SEND. We are extremely proud of our Inclusion Quality Mark and our accreditation and achievement as an Inclusion Quality Mark Centre of Excellence

Becoming a Centre of Excellence is an opportunity for schools to build on the success of being one of the very special schools which holds the Inclusion Quality Mark award. A Centre of Excellence brings schools together to share and build on their existing good practice in inclusion best practice. Around 240 schools in the UK have met the standard required to become an IQM Centre of Excellence for outstanding levels of inclusion best practice.

At Sandal Castle Primary we view Inclusion as :

·a sense of belonging

·feeling respected

·feeling valued for who you are

·feeling a level of supportive energy and commitment so that we can do our best.

These gifts underpin the inclusive curriculum we offer.

Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities

At Sandal Castle, we have 2 SENDCo's who work closely together to ensure a seamless transition for children and their families as they transition between each key stage:

School SENDCo - Kelly Wiles

Contact - kwiles@sandal.wakefield.sch.uk

KS2 - Rebecca Smethurst

Contact - rsmethurst@sandal.wakefield.sch.uk

SEND Governor - Mark Buckley

Contact - mbuckley@sandal.wakefield.sch.uk

We have a large team of inclusion staff; our Inclusion faculty who are all trained in specific areas of SEND;

Nurture Group

Nurture groups are founded on evidence-based practices and offer a short-term, inclusive, focused intervention that works in the long term. Nurture groups are classes of between six and 12 children or young people in early years, primary or secondary settings supported by the whole staff group and parents. Each group is run by two members of staff. Children attend nurture groups but remain an active part of their main class group, spend appropriate times within the nurture group according to their need and typically return full time to their own class within two to four terms. Nurture groups assess learning and social and emotional needs and give whatever help is needed to remove the barriers to learning. There is great emphasis on language development and communication. Nothing is taken for granted and everything is explained, supported by role modelling, demonstration and the use of gesture as appropriate. The relationship between the two staff, always nurturing and supportive, provides a role model that children observe and begin to copy. Food is shared at ‘breakfast’ or ‘snack time’ with much opportunity for social learning, helping children to attend to the needs of others, with time to listen and be listened to.

As the children learn academically and socially they develop confidence, become responsive to others, learn self-respect and take pride in behaving well and in achieving. Nurture groups have been working successfully for more than 40 years in the UK and now in other countries including Canada, New Zealand and Romania, and have been praised, supported and recommended by organisations such as Ofsted, Estyn and HMIE

The Six Principles of Nurture are:

1. Children's learning is understood developmentally

2. The classroom offers a safe base

3. The importance of nurture for the development of wellbeing

4. Language is a vital means of communication

5. All behaviour is communication

6. The importance of transition in children's lives