| Service Description: | Dale Community Primary School federated with Stonehill Nursery is a mainstream school which takes pupils from age 2-11. Currently we have 545 pupils on roll at Dale and 78 part time places at Stonehill.
Both schools are set in an urban area with our main access off the street. We do not have any parking for parents.
At Dale we have 21 classrooms and two large halls. One is used for PE, the other is used for lunchtimes, PE and assemblies. Our downstairs classrooms have level access and there are two disabled toilets, one of which has a hoist. Our 8 upstairs classrooms can only be accessed by a flight of stairs. The Foundation Stage pupils have access to their own outside play area. Pupils in Year 3 and above use Normanton Park for outdoor PE lessons.
At Stonehill Nursery we have a large teaching space with small enclosed group activity rooms. The outside space contains a range of play equipment. The nursery is all on one level with a ramp and wide doorways to access to the building.
Admissions to Dale come through Derby City central admissions arrangements. Admissions to Stonehill are dealt with by the school and nursery staff.
We are an inclusive school and will aim to make arrangements to enable pupils living in our catchment area to be fully included in the activities of our school.
We differentiate teaching and learning tasks to suit the needs of the pupils. Risk assessments will be written and shared with both parents and pupils when they are needed and we can write personal medical/ access/ evacuation plans as necessary. We work closely with Local Authority Specialist Teachers from STePS where a child has a specific need such as a Hearing/ Visual/ Physical impairment or Autism. We also work with Educational Psychologists, Speech and Language Therapists, the Occupational Therapy and Physiotherapy teams and the Community Paediatrician when their advice is required.
Children are identified as having Special Educational Needs if their progress has slowed or stopped and the classroom interventions put in place do not enable improvement. Once this occurs we set specific targets with focused interventions which help to support their development, accelerate progress and aim to close the gap with their peers. At this point the child is listed on the ‘SEND register’. At Dale, parents will be invited to discuss and review targets with the child’s class teacher, three times a year, as part of the normal parent evening appointment system. As children are at Stonehill for a shorter amount of time and the pace of change is much quicker, targets will be shared each half term. Pupils who receive enhanced support through outside agencies will have a Multi Element Plan setting targets (as needed) in the areas of Medical/ Social/ Care needs, Educational needs and Behavioural needs. Parents of these children will be invited to an annual meeting during the Summer term with the Inclusion Managers to monitor progress and plan for the year ahead.
One of our school Inclusion Mangers holds the National SENCo Award and the other manager is currently working towards the award. Together they coordinate support for children with additional needs throughout the school and nursery. Members of staff have received training on supporting pupils with additional needs. Some members of staff have received additional training in manual handling, epilepsy awareness, and the use of epi-pens.
Our Inclusion Officers support pupils who sometimes find it difficult to access learning. They provide a safe environment in which to talk and resolve issues. They use a number of approaches to support pupils with social or behavioural issues. They work with a number of outside agencies to support families.
Our Inclusion Managers and the staff in Year 6, Foundation Stage and at Stonehill nursery support transition at the beginning and end of a child’s time at Stonehill and Dale, including visits for all pupils and extra visits for those with additional needs and sharing of information with schools and families. Our Inclusion Officers support transition at other points throughout the school year, sharing information and visiting pupils before and after transition.
You can find details of how we support children with additional needs in our School SEND Information Report on our website, together with our School Accessibility plan.
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