Deaf provision and inclusion

Our offer for deaf children in Newham: watch our video to learn more.

We look forward to welcoming you to our school - please call 020 8471 6173 or contact us by email to arrange a personalised tour: https://selwyn.leadinglearningtrust.org/contact-us/

Our status as Newham's deaf provision for primary aged children

We are proud of the fact that our school is Newham's deaf provision for primary aged children. Deaf children have a high profile within our school and are involved in all areas of school life. Our vision for deaf children at our school can be summarised as follows:

• To provide all children with a safe, healthy and inclusive environment;
• To deliver enjoyable and challenging personalised learning opportunities;
• To provide high-level, individualised specialist support to empower all children to fully develop their language and communication skills, and
• To enable children to contribute positively to the school and wider community.

What does our deaf provision offer for children in Newham?

• A total communication approach to learning;
• A place alongside their peers in a language-rich mainstream classroom;
• A family-centred approach, where parents play in integral role in their child's education;
• Individualised support in order to support access the curriculum;
• Specialised support from a Teacher of the Deaf;
• Regular, intensive support from a Specialist Speech and Language Therapist (SALT) or Auditory-Verbal Therapist;
• In-class support from a Communication Support Worker (CSW) or a Teaching Assistant with a BSL qualification;
• Bespoke family support from a Family Support Worker (FSW);
• Parent education and support workshops;
• Acoustically treated classrooms fitted with Soundfield Systems and access to an FM radio aid, and
• Regular opportunities for parents to meet with school personnel to discuss their child's needs.

How does our deaf provision compare with deaf provision at other schools in Newham?

• Our school promotes learning language through listening opportunities;
• A supportive, involved relationship with parents is integral to our offer, and
• Other provisions may provide alternative communication approaches, such as BSL, total communication.

What additional support do we provide to children with specific educational needs?

Our Whole School Provision Map (available as a document to download on this page) provides a brief overview of the various additionality we offer to support all learners, as and where appropriate. If you wish to discuss your child’s support, please do not hesitate to get in touch with our SENDCo. Details of all staff are available on the website.

Our School SEN Information Report provides detailed information about our school and our provision, and is available as a document to download on this page.

Additional needs are identified before, on entry or at any point during your child’s time at Selwyn. The appropriate additionality, referral or support is then put in place – as per our Whole School Provision Map, and our Deaf Provision Map (which is also available as a document to download on this page). You will find further information regarding our school offer here.

SEND classrooms

We have three dedicated teaching spaces for learning and a newly developed outdoor space that can be accessed throughout the school day by the children in our SEND class.

Children within this school-led provision are taught a bespoke curriculum which meets their cognitive and social needs and is delivered by our SEN teacher and a team of skilled support staff.

Core subject additionality

Additionality in core subjects is delivered by class teachers and members of the school’s leadership team each morning. Children are identified for core additionality throughout the year which focuses on supporting children to meet age related expectations.

Wider additionality

Throughout the school day, support staff members run additionality sessions to support children to develop a wide range of skills. These include Attention Autism, Nessy (dyslexia support), ELSA & LEGO therapy.

Speech and language

Specialist speech therapists are employed by the school, and work with the SEND Lead, the SENDCo, class teachers and learning support staff to deliver appropriate plans and interventions across the school. These are for children who have been referred, by the school or by a medical professional. These programmes can include speech sound production, language development and social skills, depending on the child’s needs.

SENDCo Assistant

Selwyn employs a SENDCo assistant who is available to support our families of children with SEND. She is available throughout the week to any parents who may require it. This may be to organise appointments with professional networks; to signpost families to the most appropriate support or just to sit and listen when parents may need this time.

Family Support Worker

We have a Family Support Worker who supports our children and families at Selwyn. She is a member of both the Safeguarding and Behaviour Support teams. 

Our Family Support Worker is available three days a week to meet with parents to discuss any issues that they may be having. This could be behaviour management, employment, benefits or housing. They are able to sign-post parents to other organisations that offer support to families.

School Counsellor

We employ a school counsellor through Place2Be who works with pupils on a termly basis, as identified by the Leadership Team.

Early Riser sessions

We offer early riser sessions every day from 08:00. Children All of the children in our deaf provision as well as identified children from Reception to Y6 are invited to daily sessions with members of our support staff team to develop their language skills.

Moving to secondary school

Our school is part of Newham Community Learning, a family of two primary and four secondary schools in the west of the borough of Newham.  Lister Community School is a co-educational secondary provision, which is part of our Trust - and which is also the borough's resourced secondary provision for deaf and hearing impairded students.  Staff at Selwyn and Lister work closely together to support students moving from primary to secondary school.  

Additional reading

We have allocated a number of our support staff members to read with the children in Reception & KS1 each week. This time is spent reading the phonics phase books allocated to each child to ensure that they have the opportunity to develop their blending, segmenting and fluency.

 Children from Y1 - Y6 who are currently working below the standard in reading for the age range are also targeted each week by in-class support staff to develop their fluency and comprehension.

We hope that these sessions will develop each child’s love of reading as well as using and applying reading skills taught in class. We encourage all of our families to read at home with their children.

This page was last reviewed in September2022.