Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities (SEND)

SEND- Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities

At The John Moore Primary School, we are passionate about children reaching their potential. For some children, this may mean that they need some additional support during their time at school.

We have an Inclusion Manager who is responsible for Special Educational Needs and Disabilities across the school, Mrs Heather Philcox. Mrs Philcox has the following qualifications: BA(QTS)Hons., NASENCO. Our named Governor responsible for SEND is Mrs Pip Woods. They ensure that The John Moore Primary School's Special Educational Needs and Disabilities policy works within the guidelines and inclusion policies of the Code of Practice (2014), the Local Education Authority, and other policies current within the school. Mrs Philcox can be contacted through the School Office on 01684 291661.

In compliance with the Code of Practice (2014), we provide for children with SEND in the following areas:

Communication and Interaction.
Cognition and Learning.
Social, Emotional and Mental Health
Sensory and/or Physical Needs.

Please click here for our Annual Report to Parents.

To view our SEND Policy (including JMPS Local Offer) and Accessibility Plan please click here to go to our Policy page.

Thera-Build®

Thera-Build® with LEGO® is a playful, therapeutic approach for promoting emotional well-being in children, developed by Alyson Thomsen of Bricks2Learn, and is not to be confused with ‘LEGO®-Based Therapy’, which assigns children specific building roles to improve their communication skills.

Thera-Build® focuses on working playfully and therapeutically with all children through the medium of LEGO® bricks, and is particularly helpful for young people with internalising conditions such as anxiety or attachment disorder, for children who are struggling to manage their feelings, or for those who would benefit from some additional nurture time with a trusted adult.

Through purposeful play and active engagement with LEGO® bricks, Thera-Build® aims to reduce stress, boost confidence and self-esteem, and support children to self-regulate, by providing individualised, high-quality, relational building experiences that help children to communicate difficult emotions and to positively connect with others.

A Thera-Build® intervention may be most beneficial on a one-to-one basis, or with a small group of children, depending on a child’s individual need.

There are many benefits to the use of brick-play, including improved:

Language and literacy skills
Social skills, self-expression and more effective communication
Problem solving, decision making and memory
Hand-eye coordination, spatial awareness and fine motor skills
Self-regulation, resilience, understanding empathy and impulse control

Young Minds Matter (YMM)

We are thrilled that our school has been given the opportunity to participate in a national programme to make mental health support for children a priority and more readily available when they need it.

We will be working with other schools and NHS Gloucestershire to introduce Mental Health Support Teams into schools so that valuable support can be given to pupils to help them with a variety of issues such as anxiety, friendship issues, exam concerns and challenging behaviour. This support may involve group work or individual support, in school or elsewhere. The Mental Health team may also link up with the specialist mental health services in Gloucestershire, if appropriate, and will also offer advice to parents and teachers so that they can support children who are finding things difficult.

A Mental Health Health Support Team (MHST), led by a Senior Education Mental Health Practitioner will visit school to help identify children who may benefit from early support. We hope these teams will provide some additional, valuable support for our children and families as we all navigate the ups and downs of life.

You can find out more about the programme from Miss Sturgess, our PSHCE lead. You can also click here for more information.