SENCO and SEN Staff
Our SENCO is Jo Madgwick, acting Headteacher, who has the National Award for SEND (Awarded in 2016). She also recently completed her Masters’ Degree, specialising in Speech, Language and Communication development.
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.
The team also includes staff trained in Elkan, an in-depth Speech, Language and Communication programme.
External Specialists and Other Bodies
The school enjoys good working relationships with a wide range of people who provide services to children with SEND and their families.
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
These include:
- Durham SEND Information, Advice and Support Service
- Educational Psychology Consultants
- Speech and Language Therapy Consultants
- Occupational Therapists
- Paediatricians
How We Secure Specialist Expertise
We allocate funds from our budget, or through our Community of Learning to secure this specialist advice.
Sometimes this funding is used to train staff in specialist skills eg using PECs cards, supporting children with social and communication difficulties or developing speech and language skills.
This training is used to support children and young people with SEND through individual work or group interventions.
If a child has complex special educational needs, we could also receive additional staffing through the LA Early Years Support pool of staff.
