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It is our belief at Whitley Park that all children have an equal right to a full and rounded education which will enable them to achieve their full potential.

 

sendco introduction

The Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator at Whitley Park and Nursery School is Charmaine Lynch.

Charmaine  trained as a Nursery Nurse before becoming a qualified teacher.  Her teaching experience is predominantly within Years 3 – 6.  Charmaine has been a SENDCo for 11 years and gained SENDCo accreditation in 2013 and also an MA in Inclusive Education.  She also has a Doctorate in Education.

As a school we have an open door policy and welcome the opportunity to discuss your child’s special educational needs and how, as a school, we can support your child’s learning.     Charmaine is available in the mornings during meet and greet time if you want to pass on any specific information about your child.  Alternatively, we are also available for longer appointments which can be made through the school office or email.  However, the first point of contact to discuss your child’s needs should be the class teacher.

If you would like further information regarding our provision for children with special educational needs please view our school Information report and Local Offer, which provides links to outside agencies and support services and Reading Borough Council’s Local Offer.

Charmaine Lynch

sendco profile

Dr C Lynch - SENDCO

Speech and Language Therapy

About Speech and Language Therapy at School

The Children and Young People’s Integrated Therapies (CYPIT) service are a team of occupational therapists, physiotherapists, speech and language therapists and dieticians.  We work together to support children and young people across Berkshire, their families and schools.   The ‘Speech and Language Therapy Service at School’ is one aspect of the CYPIT services provided.  This service delivers speech, language and communication support in collaboration with school staff, to children attending mainstream schools across Berkshire (with the exception of Slough) from their entry into Reception until they leave school.

The speech and language therapy team work collaboratively with school staff and families, jointly discussing concerns they may have regarding children’s speech and language development, exploring how a child’s difficulties may be impacting on them at home and in the school environment and sharing ‘best hopes’ for this child.  Support may include providing training and advice to school staff on the best ways to support the communication needs of children within their school, helping children to use their communication skills effectively to support their learning and jointly setting targets to ensure the best outcomes for the child.

We offer 3 levels of service  to manage this:

  • Universal; the therapist works with school staff so that they are able to identify and manage children’s communication needs in the classroom.  This includes providing class based strategies and training.
  • Targeted; the therapist works with staff to train them in the delivery of targeted support, such as small groups.  The school staff will then be responsible for maintaining these groups and liaising with parents should their children be considered to benefit from this support.
  • Individualised; this is for children who have been identified as having a high level of speech, language and communication need and where it has been identified by the parents, school and therapist that more specific input is needed in order to impact on the child’s progress. This may include an individualised programme, group, paired or individual sessions. Aims will be decided jointly with parents and school staff and monitored as appropriate.

Should you be concerned about your child’s speech and language skills, please share this with your child’s teacher or the Special Educational Needs Coordinator at the school and they will then discuss this with the speech and language therapist who visits your child’s school. In addition, you may find further support on the online CYPIT toolkit here.

Advice

Drop-in Clinics

Whitley Health and Social Services Centre
Northumberland Avenue
Whitley
Reading
RG2 7PJ

First Friday morning of each month, 9.00am – 11.30am

Surestart Whitley Children’s Centre
252 Northumberland Avenue
Reading
RG2 7QA

Second Tuesday afternoon of each month, 1.30pm – 4.00pm

lOCAL oFFER - rbc

What is the Local Offer?

From September 2014 every Local Authority was required to publish information about services in their area for children and young people from birth to 25 who have special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND); and also services outside of the area which children from their area may use. This is known as the Local Offer.

  1. Whitley Park Primary School's Local offer 24/25   
  2. Whitley Park Nursery School's Local offer 24/25  

Reading’s Local Offer can be found here.

PARENT SUPPORT AND USEFUL INFORMATION

 Support

When your child enters school, they move from the Health Visitor service, to the School Nursing Team. Here are some useful links from our Berkshire School Nursing Team:

 

Please click on the link below to access sites supporting Parents and Children with SEND.https://www.whitleyparkprimaryschool.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Parent-and-Children-SEND-support.pdf

SEND Guide for Parent Carers – Reading Services

Parenting Support and courses are run at various locations around Reading by Brighter Futures for Children and by Parenting Special Children. For more information about any of these courses, or to book onto one of them, please use the contact details on the relevant flyer

Useful Contacts

Parent Partnership This is a confidential service which aims to promote partnership between parents of children with special educational needs and those who provide services that can support them. This service is available to parents who live within the borough of Reading only. If you live in another part of the country you can find out about parent partnership services from your Local Authority (LA), or by going onto the National Parent Partnership Website

PSC

The Parenting Special Children Team brings a wealth of personal and professional experience of children and young people (including Looked After Children) with additional needs.

Find out more at this link.

Reading Play is a section of the Early Years and Extended Schools Service at Reading Borough Council. At Reading Play our main aim is to provide play opportunities 0 to 13 year-olds through play. Encouraging new learning and social experiences through play is an ethos that we put forward through all the services we provide, be it our After School Clubs, Holiday Play Clubs, and events that we hold such as the Summer Play Days. We ensure that all of Reading’s children, young people and families have fair and equal access to free play activities on a daily basis. With our extensive background and knowledge of play and early years education we work with our customers to create a unique play experience.

Find out more at this link.

Family Information Service offers free, impartial information for families in the Reading Borough area with children up to 19 years old (or 25 years old with Special Educational Needs – SEND)

Family Information Service (PDF)

Reading Services Guide

Reading Services Guide provides information on all of the services available in the Reading area.

http://www.reading.gov.uk/servicesguide

 

 

Contact Us

Address Whitley Park Primary and Nursery School, Brixham Road, Reading, Berkshire RG2 7RB

Telephone 0118 937 5566

Email office@whitleypark.reading.sch.uk

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