Hello, I am Mrs Gorman and I am the SENDCo at Hope School.

If you feel you need additional support regarding your son/daughter/charge's additional needs do not hesitate to contact me and we can arrange an appointment to discuss any issues.

I am more than happy to provide help, support and guidance to parents and carers and

I am looking forward to working with each of you again over this next year. 

Please find below contact details

​Hope School

251 Hartsbourne Aveune

Liverpool

L25 2RY

0151 363 3130

h.gorman@hope-school.co.uk

CAMHS Support 

Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) is a collection of NHS and voluntary sector organisations that provide a range of mental health support for children, young people and their families. As well as offering information, advice and guidance, assessment, diagnosis, treatment and intervention for young people who are experiencing problems with their emotions, behaviour or mental health, these partners also promote ways to develop positive mental health, including building resilience and training. This support covers a range of mental health difficulties including depression, eating disorders, self-harm, abuse, violence or anger, bipolar, schizophrenia and anxiety among many other difficulties. 

A new online resource has been launched to help children, young people, parents and professionals to make referrals into partnership mental health services and get support from Liverpool CAMHS. The new platform allows just one referral form linking a wide range of mental health services across Liverpool, who work in partnership together. Previously, the referral process has been long, complicated and difficult to navigate. It is the first time mental health services have been integrated in this way in the UK.

Please use the below link to access resources or to make a direct referral to CAHMS support. 

ASD Support

The Liverpool ASD Training Team are providing a series of virtual drop in advisory sessions via zoom.  They are for parent/carers wishing to talk in a private one to one setting about any questions or concerns they may have about their child. You do not require a diagnosis of ASD to book your place.

To book your place please email your choice of date and time and you will be emailed a zoom link. There are two places available for each time slot.

sdtrainingteam@liverpool.gov.uk

Parental and Carer Support 

Please find lots of useful information below to help support you and your family. If you need any help on accessing or understanding the information, please do not hesitate to contact me.   

There are many support groups, forum and information to support parents and carers. I have included a few below. 

The Isabella Trust 

The Isabella Trust provide short courses and workshops for professionals and parents/ carers of autistic children and children who have sensory processing difficulties and communication difficulties. Some of the courses they offer also include toilet difficulties, PDA, Autism & Girls, Autism & Transition and Social Stories. 

Kinship Carers

Kindship carers supports grandparents, aunts, uncles or any other family members who are raising children in their care when their biological parents are no longer present or able to look after their children. They offer advice on all topics, and can direct you to free legal advice. 

Special Needs Today

Launched in December 2018, Special Needs Today is by parent, for parents and aims to be a one stop shop carrying information which will help parents and carers of children who have special needs on their lifelong journey.

The site includes information on medical conditions and lifestyle - all written in an easy to understand way.

What is SEN?

SEND stands for Special Educational Needs and Disabilities. A child or young person has SEND if they have a learning difficulty or disability which calls for special educational provision to be made for him or her in order to support them to make progress. A school or setting will often be able to offer this provision via the graduated approach to SEN support. Therefore, if parents feel that their child has SEND, it is best to work together with the child’s school or setting to consider the best ways to meet their child’s needs. However, if parents feel that they would like external advice or support, there are many services on offer including SENDIASS, LivPaC and ADDvanced Solutions. 

LivPac

Liverpool Parent and Carers Forum (LivPaC) is a group of parents and carers of children and young people with special additional needs and/or disabilities (SEND) who work with education, health and care services to ensure the services they plan and deliver are fit for purpose and meet the needs of children, young people and their families across Liverpool. We have a Steering Group of parent and carer volunteers who lead this work and who actively seek out the experiences and views of parents and carers across Liverpool to make sure we know what is important to them.  We aim to give parents and carers a collective voice and use our experience, knowledge and feedback from families to help commissioners and providers plan and develop the quality, range and accessibility of services families use.

LivPac Events

Due to COVID, all the LivPac coffee mornings have been cancelled but they are now hosting virtual coffee online. The times are below.

1st Tuesday of every month              10am - 12noon

2nd/3rd Thursday of every month     6pm - 8pm

3rd Tuesday of every month              10am - 12noon

Please check out their Facebook page, Instagram and also Twitter for up to date information.

Transitions 

Transitions and moving to a new school are a difficult time for pupils. We work hard to make key links with the named school for each pupil and transitions are tailored to the needs of individual children. We also have a designated member of staff who works with pupils from September to make transition more smooth and effective for all pupils.

Pupils who are new to the school will have a pre-placement interview and attend a school walk around to see the building, facilities and meet some of the staff and pupils. Key information, policies and procedures are also shared at this time. After this, an integration program is created to best meet the needs of each individual pupil.

Please see the Liverpool Local Offer below. There is lots of information regarding schools that you may consider when your child is looking to move on from Hope School. 

Liverpool Local Offer 

Liverpool's local offer provides information for children and young people up to the age of 25 with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) their parents or carers - all in one place.

Knowing what is out there gives you more choice and control over what support is right for you or your child.

On the local offer website you can:

• Search for services from a range of local agencies including education, health and social care.
• Find secondary schools for post year 6 and 8 provision. 
• Find out more about SEND reforms and keep up to date with the scope of the local offer as it develops and grows.
• View a range of SEND documents and reports.

BDA Quality Mark in Dyslexia 

Hope was recently re-verified for the 'Dyslexia Friendly' award and I am delighted to announce that we have once again achieved the BDA Quality Mark in Dyslexia. I would like to say a big thank you to all the staff, parents and pupils for their continued support. Please find the report attached. 

What We Offer?

As a school we look at every child as an individual, creating a plan allowing each child to achieve the best outcomes.  Each child will receive quality first teaching in their lessons alongside specific interventions to support overall development of each young person.  We work closely with the team around each child to ensure we focus on these outcomes, breaking them into small manageable steps which often make up the targets on their One Page Profiles.  All of our policies and procedures are always under review and this is why the voice of the team around the child is so important and we always encourage our parents to attend all meetings.

All pupils receive support through interventions relating to any SEND needs they may have. Hope is a Dyslexia friendly school and ensures it follows protocols in meeting children's needs. Hope also works alongside the ADHD Foundation and ADDvanced Solutions.

The primary needs of our pupils are:

Social, Emotional and Mental Health 

Hope school is attachment friendly and pupils are encouraged to manage their own emotions and behaviours. Staff support and guide pupils in making the correct choices and ensure strategies and any equipment needed (timer, stress toys etc) are in place to support this. Some members of staff are trained to deliver Talking and Drawing therapies to pupils who are referred by their class teacher. All staff have been trained to create social stories for pupils with ASD or have associated difficulties.  Two members of staff have completed bereavement therapy and we have staff also trained in delivering sand play healing. 

Cognition and Learning

We have trained staff to deliver interventions to pupils with dyslexia or other literacy difficulties. We also provide children with specialist equipment and training on how to access the equipment successfully. Lessons are delivered via a creative curriculum selected by pupils including topics they have an interest in. Lessons are short and well-structured including a range of multi-sensory approaches to engage all learners. We also have two multi-sensory room for pupils to use during interventions and lessons. We have Occupational Therapy who works with a selection of pupils who have sensory needs, these interventions support pupils with their strength and self-regulation which then has a positive impact on their handwriting and readiness to work.

Staffing 

We are committed to developing the ongoing expertise of our staff.  Staff within our school are always developing their knowledge and keeping up-to-date with current expertise and research. Please see the list below of specialist staff in each strategy we offer:

Talking and Drawing Therapy - Ms Jones and Mrs Anderson  

Sand Tray Healing – All support staff are trained in sand tray and this is over seen by Mr Darkins and Mrs Anderson.

Seasons for Growth Bereavement Intervention -  Ms Gomes 

ASC – Mrs Gorman

PDA – Mrs O’Neill

Attachment and Trauma – All staff within school are specialists in working in an attachment and trauma sensitive approach overseen by Mr Naik, Mrs O'Neill and Mr Darkins

Social and Emotional Well-being and Development – Mrs Anderson 

As always we will continue to focus on quality first teaching working on the Kagan approach to co-operative learning and how this can improve attainment.  All staff have complete the ASC level 2 training and are continuing their professional development with training showing the differences between attachment disorder and ASC. The school SENCDo attends the SEN briefings twice a year to ensure she is up to date with change.    

Support staff are deployed, based on their experience and qualifications, to meet the needs of individuals and groups of children.  Support staff are based in a class and follow that classes' timetable, they then deliver the person centred intervention to those pupils.  

Assessment and Progress 

As of September 2023, we have 60 children or young people on the main roll of the school receiving some form of SEN Support. We also have 10 intervention places available for pupils who need support while going through the EHCP process. 

We have internal processes for monitoring quality of provision and assessment of need.  These include learning walks, work scrutiny and data analysis. 

Termly, we look at all the vulnerable groups of children and their progress in comparison to the whole school averages in both Mathematics and English, from the data collected we decide what children or groups of children require additional support and arrange this either in school or through an outside service.

Please see relevant policies 

Article 23; A child with a disability has the right to live a full and decent life with dignity and, as far as possible, independence and to play an active part in the community. Governments must do all they can to provide support to disabled children and their families.