What are Speical Educational Needs?

Special Educational Needs, or SEND, is a term that is used to describe pupils who have needs over and above those that can be met by high quality classroom teaching. These needs may be within speech and language; cognition and learning; social and communication difficulties; or emotional and behavioural difficulties. They may be for a short period or throughout a child’s educational life. They may be identified before a child has even entered school or they may come to be recognised at a specific point in their education.

At Westende Junior School, we celebrate the fact that all children are different and have diverse learning needs and we make sure we tailor learning opportunities to meet the needs of individual children. We build self-esteem with positive learning experiences and successfully involve children with whole school life. We recognise SEND with the intention of addressing unmet needs; and enabling children to have an ability to engage, and develop skills and knowledge to achieve, succeed and even excel beyond their potential across all areas of the curriculum.

Staff have a wealth of experience in the field of SEND. We have a wide range of specific initiatives designed to meet the differing needs of pupils and children may take part in a single, or many different interventions.   Movement in/out of these programmes is flexible and responsive to pupil need.

If you would like to contact Westende Junior School’s SEND co-ordinator, Mrs Moira Robinson, please contact via the school office on 0118 978 6682 or via email MrsRobinson@westende.wokingham.sch.uk

What is the local offer?

As part of the changes within the Children and Families Bill, local authorities are required to develop a ‘Local Offer’, which will provide information for children, young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and their parents/carers in a single place, helping them to understand what services they and their families can expect from a range of local agencies.

The local offer for Westende Junior School can be found by clicking this link. It provides information on what services children, young people and their families can expect from the school. Knowing what is out there gives you more choice and therefore more control over what support is right for your child.

To access further documents, please click on the links below: