'Every child deserves a champion - an adult who never gives up on them, who understands the power of connection, and insists that they become the best that they can be.'

Rita Pierson

At St. Andrew's we aim to support all children to learn and achieve successfully including those with Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities. We work together with parents to ensure that we use our best endeavours to meet children's needs and to shine a light on a world of possibilities.

SENCo (Special Educational Needs Coordinator) – Mrs Tamsin Thomson

Important documents relating to SEN support at St. Andrew's Junior School

St Andrew’s Junior School values the contributions of all to our school community and we strive to be completely inclusive in all that we offer. We work hard to provide a neuro-affirmative environment to support children and staff who may be autistic, have ADHD or other neurodevelopmental differences. Our school strives to be dyslexia friendly and celebrate children's strengths. We fully appreciate the importance of mental health and wellbeing to successful learning and ensure that we consider this crucial aspect in all our learning experiences. A dedicated team of LSAs support children’s learning, both inside and outside of the classroom. We place huge value on our partnership with parents, appreciating the important role that they play in their child’s education. We welcome an open dialogue, with our joint aim being to achieve the best possible outcomes for the child/children.

The Graduated Response

At St Andrew’s we follow and use a graduated response. This includes the use of the Somerset Graduated Response Toll which is fully embedded in our SEN practice across the school. A video explaining the graduated response can be found here

Neurodiversity at St. Andrew's

St. Andrew's is committed to a neuro-affirmative approach, recognising and valuing the diverse ways children and staff learn and thrive. We believe that all children have unique strengths and challenges, and our curriculum, pedagogy, and environment are designed to support this neurodiversity.

Our school is needs based not diagnosis based. A child at our school does not need to have a diagnosis or wait for a diagnosis for us to explore in collaboration with parents the best ways to support their individual needs and help them to learn and achieve successfully at St. Andrew's.

Further information