We are all one big family at Handale Primary School…

“The most vulnerable deserve our best.” ​

Nancy Zinkin

At Handale Primary School, provision for children with additional needs is at the very heart of the ethos of our school. Our statement of equality is simple; we strive to ensure all children achieve their best, irrespective of gender, race, need or background. All children can ‘be their best’.

Special Educational Needs and / or a Disability can affect many children throughout their school career and beyond. Whilst disabilities generally affect children long term, not all SEN difficulties should be seen as ‘Life Long’. SEND is seen by our school as the child requiring provision that is additional to, or different from the rest of the class. For example they may have additional needs due to dyslexia, coordination problems, number understanding, significant sight problems – the list is endless and every child is unique – however a carefully planned approach is needed, additional to high quality class teaching in order for these children to achieve as well as they can.

At Handale we believe it is important to involve parents and pupils in their education. We review SEND plans and targets with parents and pupils each term to ensure we capture their views in the assessment and review process.

Our school has a variety of key policies which directly impact upon our provision for children with SEND, and ensure that we fully comply with the Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations (2014). These are all available as part of our school website, and include:

The School’s SEND Information Report is a valuable source of information for parents in relation to SEND. This report details our ethos, processes, curriculum accessibility and provision for SEND, including who to contact if you have a question, query or complaint. Of course, our door is always open – so please speak with us if you ever need to. 

SEND REPORT INFORMATION REPORT

Mr Emmerson is our SENCo. He is supported by Lingfield Education Trust’s trust level SENCo, Sharon Minikin and Miss Kendall. Both can be contacted by contacting the school office on 01287 640416.

For parents of children with an identified, or undiagnosed special educational need, it is important to know who you can turn to for specialist advice and guidance beyond the school. As such, in Redcar and Cleveland, the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Information, is a free confidential and impartial information, advice and support service on issues related to Special Educational Needs and disability. To find out more about what this great service have to offer, please follow the link Special Education Needs (redcar-cleveland.gov.uk) or call on 01642 774774.

THE ‘LOCAL OFFER’ 

Schools are only part of the ‘Local Offer’ that local areas must provide for children with SEND needs. Follow the link below  to see how Redcar and Cleveland Council are coordinating this offer, the services they provide and information to support families across the region. 

LOCAL OFFER REDCAR AND CLEVELAND

New School Story

If your child is joining us and would benefit from a ‘Social Story’ book all about our school, please download one here. We can always post you one too, if you contact us. They can really help children who are a little anxious about a new school. If your child is joining us at a time other than reception – get in touch and we can send specific year group stories. 

The School’s Accessibility Plan

Schools have a legal duty to carry out accessibility planning for disabled pupils. We are fortunate to be located in a beautiful new building, which is fully compliant with Disability Discrimination Act 2015 regulations – but accessibility goes beyond the physical space of a school.  

Our school’s accessibility plans are aimed at:

  • Increasing the extent to which disabled pupils can participate in the curriculum
  • Improving the physical environment of schools to enable disabled pupils to take better advantage of education, benefits, facilities and services provided, and
  • Improving the availability of accessible information to disabled pupils

Please take a look at our full plan, below. 

ACCESSIBILITY PLAN

Equalities at Handale…

We welcome our duties under the Equality Act 2010. Under the general duty of public sector equality duty, in the exercise of our functions, have due regard to the need to:

  • Eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct that is prohibited under the Act.
  • Advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it;
  • Foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it

As part of our public sector equality duty, we formulate, review and publish our school’s Equality Policy and Objectives – sharing them with all those connected to our school – in order to ensure that our mission is clear and communicated to all. Our Trust, as our parent organisation, also publishes a Trust wide Equalities information. Both can be found below:

School Policies – Equality and Diversity Objectives (including the school policy) 
Trust Policies – Equality and Diversity Policy and Objectives 

Teaching children about equalities, rights and difference is important to us at Handale Primary School. We aim for our children to be ‘good people’ – and in order to do that, they must be able and willing to recognise, understand and embrace difference. Our PSHE curriculum, encompassing our approach to Relationships and Sex Education, is a key in delivering this mission – as part of our wider ethos and the virtues which we promote. Please follow the following links to see our curriculum information; including our PSHE curriculum and overall curriculum design and ethos and virtues articulation.  

Curriculum at Handale Primary School

Ethos and School Virtues