🌈 Inclusion and SEND at Wessex Gardens

At Wessex Gardens Primary and Nursery School, inclusion is integral to our educational philosophy. We are resolutely committed to providing high-quality, ambitious provision for all pupils, including those with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), enabling every child to achieve their full potential.

Our approach is firmly aligned with:

• 📘 SEND Code of Practice (2014)
• 🏛️ London Borough of Barnet Inclusion Policy

⭐ High-Quality Teaching for All

High-quality teaching is the cornerstone of our SEND provision. Every teacher is responsible for the identification, planning, teaching and progress of pupils with SEND within their mainstream classroom.

Teaching is adapted to meet individual needs, ensuring that all pupils can access a:

• 📚 broad
• ⚖️ balanced
• 🚀 challenging curriculum

This inclusive approach enables pupils with SEND to make meaningful progress, academically, socially and emotionally.

🌱 SEND in the Early Years (EYFS)

In the Early Years Foundation Stage, we take a proactive, child-centred approach to identifying and meeting SEND. We recognise that early intervention is key to ensuring children have the best possible start in life.

Through our EYFS curriculum, children are supported to develop:

• 🗣️ communication and language
• 🤝 social interaction
• 💛 self-regulation
• 🔢 early academic concepts

Children with SEND benefit from:

• 🎯 individualised support
• 👥 targeted interventions
• 🧸 a rich, enabling learning environment

Practitioners work closely with parents, carers and external professionals to create tailored support plans. A strong focus on speech, language and communication ensures that every child can engage fully in learning and play.

🛤️ Inclusive Curriculum and Learning Pathways

Across Early Years Foundation Stage and Primary, our thematic curriculum and personalised learning pathways provide a clear and coherent framework for inclusion.

The curriculum is:

• 🌟 engaging and relevant
• 🔓 accessible for all learners
• 🔄 responsive to individual needs

Clear learning pathways, aligned to each child’s developmental stage, ensure that SEND provision supports:

• 📈 sustained progress
• 🎯 long-term outcomes
• 🧭 preparation for next steps

We maintain high expectations for all pupils, and SEND provision is regularly reviewed to ensure it remains effective, ambitious and impactful.

🤝 Partnership and Transition

We work in close partnership with:

• 👨‍👩‍👧 families
• 🩺 external professionals
• 🏛️ the local authority

This ensures that support is timely, coordinated and responsive, and that pupils experience smooth transitions to the next stage of education, whether into Key Stage 1 or beyond.

🌟 Impact

As a result of this integrated and inclusive approach, pupils with SEND at Wessex Gardens:

• 📘 engage fully in learning
• 💪 build confidence and resilience
• 🌈 feel valued and supported
• 🚀 are well prepared for their next stage of education

🌿 Mulberry Bush Classroom

While pupils with SEND are successfully supported within mainstream classrooms 🏫, Wessex Gardens is proud to offer a dedicated breakout classroom that enables us to meet the needs of children who require a higher level of support. Our Mulberry Bush Classroom 🌿 is designed for pupils with significant learning needs, including Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and other complex learning difficulties.

🧘 A Calm, Nurturing Space

The Mulberry Bush Classroom provides a calm, structured and nurturing environment, where pupils can access planned or responsive time away from the mainstream classroom to support:

• 💛 emotional regulation
• 🌈 sensory needs
• 😊 overall wellbeing

Within this space, pupils receive highly personalised support, with sensory-informed and therapeutic approaches thoughtfully embedded into daily practice. This enables children to feel safe, regulated and ready to learn.

🛤️ Learning Through the Pathways Curriculum

Learning in the Mulberry Bush Classroom is guided by our Pathways Curriculum 🛤️, ensuring that learning is:

• 📈 developmentally appropriate
• 🎯 meaningful and purposeful
• 🌟 aspirational

The pathways focus on the gradual development of:

• 🗣️ communication
• 🧠 cognition
• 🏃 physical development
• 💛 emotional regulation
• 🧭 independence and life skills

This enables pupils to make sustained progress from their individual starting points.

🔄 Purposeful Integration & Inclusion

Time spent in the Mulberry Bush Classroom is carefully planned and purposeful, with clear links to mainstream classroom learning and individual outcomes. Where appropriate, pupils are supported to transition between this space and their mainstream classroom, ensuring:

• 🤝 inclusion
• 🔁 consistency
• ❤️ a strong sense of belonging

within the wider Wessex Gardens community.

🌟 Our Commitment

We are immensely proud of our commitment to ensuring that every child, regardless of need, is seen, understood and valued. Through the Mulberry Bush Classroom 🌿 and our pathways-led approach, we provide a compassionate and inclusive learning environment where children with diverse and complex needs are:

• 🌱 empowered to grow in confidence
• ⭐ supported to achieve success
• 🌈 enabled to flourish

as part of the Wessex Gardens community

Within our mainstream classrooms, pupils with SEND are supported through a high-quality, inclusive approach underpinned by our Pathways Curriculum 🛤️, a strong team around the child 🤝 ethos, and a clear focus on achieving EHCP outcomes 🎯. All pupils are placed at the heart of classroom learning, with teaching adapted to ensure access, engagement and appropriate challenge, in line with individual needs and developmental stages.

🎯 Intent

What we aim to achieve

Our intent is to ensure that pupils with SEND make strong, sustained progress towards their EHCP outcomes through a curriculum that is:

• 🌟 ambitious
• 🧩 personalised
• 🌈 inclusive by design

The Pathways Curriculum 🛤️ provides a structured, developmental framework that supports long-term outcomes, including:

• 🗣️ communication
• 🧭 independence
• 💛 emotional regulation
• 🚀 preparation for adulthood

🛠️ Implementation

How support is delivered

Support within mainstream classrooms is delivered through:

• 👩‍🏫 adaptive teaching
• 👥 targeted small-group learning
• 🔄 responsive in-class strategies

All support is informed by ongoing assessment and closely aligned to the Pathways Curriculum, with learning and strategies mapped directly to EHCP outcomes. This ensures that daily classroom practice contributes meaningfully to longer-term goals.

The SENDCo plays a central strategic and operational role, working closely with class teachers to ensure high-quality provision across mainstream classrooms. The SENDCo:

• 🔍 oversees the identification of needs
• 📝 supports staff with planning and adaptations
• 📊 ensures Individual Support Plans (ISPs) and, where appropriate, Individual Behaviour Plans (IBPs) translate EHCP outcomes into clear, measurable targets and practical strategies

These plans are implemented consistently and reviewed regularly to evaluate impact and inform next steps.

🤝 Team Around the Child

A strong team around the child 🤝 approach underpins our practice. The SENDCo works in close partnership with:

• 👩‍🏫 teachers
• 👥 support staff
• 👨‍👩‍👧 parents and carers
• 🗣️ pupils (where appropriate)
• 🧠 external professionals

This collaborative approach ensures support is timely, coordinated and cohesive, and that progress towards EHCP outcomes is reviewed and refined regularly.

🌱 Impact

The difference this makes:

As a result of this coordinated, pathways-led approach:

• 📈 pupils with SEND make sustained progress towards their EHCP outcomes
• 🌟 pupils demonstrate increased independence, confidence and engagement
• 💛 pupils feel included, supported and valued

This enables pupils to thrive academically, socially and emotionally as active members of the wider Wessex Gardens community.

🤝 Professional Support & Collaboration

At Wessex Gardens, we believe that children with SEND thrive best when they are supported by a strong, united network of people who know them well and work together. Relationships sit at the heart of our practice, and we are deeply committed to working in genuine partnership with parents and carers 👨‍👩‍👧, valuing their knowledge, experience and hopes for their children. Together, we develop a shared understanding of each child’s needs, strengths and aspirations

🛤️ A Pathways-Led Approach

Our Pathways Curriculum 🛤️ sits at the centre of this collaborative approach. It provides a clear, developmental framework that guides learning, support and intervention, ensuring that all professionals involved are working towards shared goals and meaningful outcomes. The pathways enable us to:

• personalise support
• track progress effectively
• ensure learning is purposeful, relevant and ambitious

🧠 Multi-Agency Working

We work closely with a range of external professionals and specialist services, including:

• 🗣️ Speech and Language Therapy
• ✋ Occupational Therapy
• 🧠 Educational Psychology
• 💛 Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS)

Through this multi-agency approach, specialist advice is carefully translated into everyday classroom practice, across both mainstream classrooms and specialist spaces. This ensures consistency, continuity and impact for our pupils.

The SENDCo plays a pivotal role in coordinating this work, bringing together:

• families
• school staff
• external professionals

This ensures that support is timely, joined up and responsive. Regular reviews ensure strategies remain effective and continue to align with EHCP outcomes and Pathways targets.

We are passionate about developing confident, skilled practitioners. Ongoing professional development ensures that all staff have the:

• 🧩 knowledge
• 🌱 confidence
• 🎯 expertise

to deliver the Pathways Curriculum effectively, particularly in areas such as:

• communication and interaction
• sensory regulation
• emotional wellbeing

🌟 Impact

Through this collaborative and pathways-led approach, pupils with SEND at Wessex Gardens are supported not only to access learning, but to:

• 💛 feel a sense of belonging
• 🌈 flourish emotionally and socially
• 🚀 succeed academically

within a school community that truly understands and celebrates them.

🌈 Inclusive Curriculum

🔍 Curiosity, Challenge and Engagement

We believe that all children learn best when they are curious 🤔, challenged 🚀 and actively engaged 🎯. Our curriculum is carefully designed to:

• ✨ ignite curiosity and a love of learning
• 🔎 encourage exploration and enquiry
• 🧠 provide appropriate challenge so pupils with SEND can deepen their understanding

Learning is carefully sequenced and adapted to meet individual needs, ensuring pupils are supported to move forward while maintaining high expectations.

Through the Pathways Curriculum 🛤️, pupils develop:

• 💛 emotional resilience
• 🗣️ effective communication skills
• 🧭 independence and confidence
• 🧩 problem-solving and life skills

Alongside meeting statutory requirements, we place a strong emphasis on personal development, wellbeing and preparation for life, enabling pupils with SEND to become confident, capable learners.

As a result, pupils at Wessex Gardens experience a curriculum that:

• ✅ supports access to learning
• ✅ empowers pupils to grow and take risks
• ✅ builds confidence and resilience
• ✅ enables pupils to achieve their full potential

📄 School Policies & Local Offer

At Wessex Gardens, our school policies reflect our unwavering commitment to inclusion, safeguarding and the wellbeing of every child. These policies are living documents that guide our daily practice and decision-making, ensuring that all pupils – particularly those with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) – feel safe, valued and supported to thrive.

Our policies are openly available on our website, reinforcing our belief in transparency, trust and strong partnerships with families.

🔗 Wessex Gardens School Policies:
👉 Wessex Gardens Primary & Nursery School - Policies

In close alignment with Barnet’s Local Offer, we are committed to ensuring that families feel informed, supported and empowered throughout their child’s educational journey.

The Barnet Local Offer provides clear and accessible information about:

• 🧩 SEND services and support
• 📘 Education, health and care provision
• 👨‍👩‍👧 Support available to children, young people and families

🔗 Barnet Local Offer:
👉 https://www.barnetlocaloffer.org.uk

We work proactively with families and professionals to ensure support is:

• ✔ clearly communicated
• ✔ accessible
• ✔ responsive to individual needs

This enables families to navigate SEND provision with confidence and clarity.

The voices of our pupils with SEND are central to everything we do. We believe that children are experts in their own experiences, and we actively seek their views when:

• 🎯 planning support
• 📊 reviewing progress
• 📚 shaping learning experiences

By listening to and valuing pupil voice, we ensure that support and learning are meaningful, respectful and aspirational, reflecting each child’s strengths, interests and ambitions.

Through strong, inclusive policies, close alignment with the Local Offer, and a deep respect for pupil voice, Wessex Gardens fosters a school community where children with SEND are:

• 💛 heard
• 💛 supported
• 💛 empowered to succeed

At Wessex Gardens, equality and inclusion are at the heart of everything we do and are firmly rooted in the British Values of democracy 🗳️, the rule of law ⚖️, individual liberty 🕊️, and mutual respect and tolerance 🤝. We are deeply committed to ensuring that every child is welcomed, valued and supported to thrive, regardless of age, gender, race, religion, background or ability.

All pupils are entitled to full and meaningful access to the curriculum, enabling them to learn, grow and achieve their potential. We actively promote a school environment that reflects and celebrates the diversity of our local community, fostering:

• ❤️ a strong sense of belonging
• 😊 wellbeing and safety
• 🌈 respect for difference

Through our curriculum and daily practice, we:

• 🚫 challenge stereotypes and confront bias
• ⚖️ promote fairness and equality
• 🗣️ encourage pupil voice, choice and participation in decision-making

This supports the British Value of democracy, ensuring pupils feel heard, respected and empowered.

Clear expectations, shared responsibilities and consistent approaches promote the rule of law, helping pupils understand right from wrong and feel safe, secure and supported within our school community.

We place great importance on developing individual liberty, supporting pupils to:

• 🌟 express themselves confidently
• 🧭 make informed choices
• 💬 develop a strong sense of identity

Through purposeful learning experiences and open dialogue, we actively promote mutual respect and tolerance, ensuring pupils develop understanding, empathy and respect for people of all backgrounds, cultures and beliefs.

By embedding British Values within an inclusive and equitable school culture, Wessex Gardens creates a safe, nurturing and empowering environment where every child:

• ✅ feels respected and valued
• ✅ has a voice
• ✅ is supported to flourish academically, socially and emotionally.

🌟 More Able Pupils

Alongside our SEND provision, Wessex Gardens is committed to nurturing the strengths and talents of our more able pupils, including those who demonstrate exceptional aptitude in art 🎨, music 🎵, sport 🏅, or academic learning 📚. We hold consistently high expectations and provide a rich, ambitious curriculum that enables all pupils to thrive and excel.

Our approach encourages pupils to take ownership of their learning, driven by curiosity, creativity and challenge. Through adaptive teaching, open-ended tasks, and opportunities for deeper thinking, pupils are supported to:

• 🧠 deepen their learning and understanding
• 🔗 make meaningful connections across subjects
• 🚀 apply knowledge in increasingly complex and purposeful ways

Personalised progression pathways ensure learning is motivating, ambitious and appropriately demanding.

🎤 Leadership, Enrichment and Opportunity

More able pupils benefit from:

• ⭐ Leadership opportunities
• 🤝 Peer mentoring
• 🎭 Performance and showcase opportunities

These experiences allow pupils to refine their talents, broaden their experiences, and develop confidence as learners and role models within the school community.

Progress, engagement and levels of challenge are monitored closely by the Senior Leadership Team (SLT) and the Inclusion Leader, through:

• 🗣️ pupil voice
• 📈 assessment discussions
• 🔄 regular review

This ensures learning remains ambitious, responsive and challenging, and that pupils continue to make strong progress.

As a result, more able pupils at Wessex Gardens develop as:

• ✅ independent and reflective learners
• ✅ pupils who embrace challenge
• ✅ learners who deepen understanding and think critically
• ✅ children who are well prepared to fulfil their potential, both in school and beyond

At Wessex Gardens Primary & Nursery School, we are committed to providing an ambitious, inclusive and well-sequenced curriculum that enables all pupils, including those with SEND, to achieve highly. Our opportunities are carefully planned to strengthen quality teaching, support staff development, and ensure pupils are prepared for their next steps.

🌱 Curriculum Intent

What we want children to learn and why

• A SEND Pathways Curriculum, aligned to EHCP outcomes, that supports communication, independence, regulation and academic learning
• A strong focus on early language, phonics and communication
• A curriculum that values neurodiversity, promotes curiosity and prepares pupils for life beyond Wessex Gardens

👩‍🏫 Curriculum Implementation

How we teach and support learning:

High-Quality Teaching & Staff Development

• Whole-staff Adaptive Teaching training to ensure inclusive, responsive classroom practice
• SEND Pathways Curriculum and assessment training to support consistency and high expectations across the school
• Braille SATs support training (RNIB) to strengthen accessibility and equitable assessment
• Delivery of an Outstanding Early Years training session and workshop to Barnet’s Early Years Network, sharing best practice and promoting high-quality teaching and inclusive practice across the borough.

🗣️ Communication & Language Support

🧠 Speech and Language Therapy
Speech and Language Therapy strategies are embedded into everyday classroom practice, supporting pupils to communicate confidently across all areas of learning.

🗨️ ELSEC Specialist Support (Years 1–2)
Targeted speech and language support delivered through the ELSEC provision to strengthen early communication and language development.

👁️ Visual Communication Strategies
Consistent use of visual supports to aid understanding of learning, behaviour, routines, and expectations across the school.

🧩 Widget-Friendly Environment
A symbol-supported environment that promotes understanding, independence, and confidence for pupils with communication needs.

✏️🚫 No Pens Day
A whole-school event raising awareness of speech, language, and communication needs, celebrating alternative ways of expressing ideas.

🌿 Mulberry Bush Classroom
A calm, nurturing space offering planned or responsive time away from mainstream classrooms to support emotional regulation and readiness to re-engage with learning.

🌈 Bounce Project
Targeted support to develop emotional resilience, confidence, and positive social relationships.

⚙️ Sensory Circuits & Gross Motor Groups
Structured physical activities that support regulation, coordination, focus, and readiness for learning.

🏊 SEND Swimming (with Visual Support)
Inclusive swimming provision supported by visual communication strategies, ensuring access, confidence, and success for all pupils.

🌟 Our Impact

Together, these approaches ensure pupils are ready to learn, able to communicate effectively, and supported to develop emotional resilience, independence, and wellbeing, enabling them to thrive both in and beyond the classroom.

📊 Curriculum Impact

The difference this makes

• Regular ISP and IBP monitoring ensures teaching strategies remain effective
• Individual behaviour strategy meetings, led by SLT and the SENDCo, provide strong leadership oversight
• SEND Coffee Afternoons ensure parent voice informs practice
• Secondary SEND transition support, including access to transport, prepares pupils for their next stage

As a result, pupils with SEND at Wessex Gardens:

• Access the full curriculum
• Develop confidence, independence and communication skills
• Make strong progress from their starting points
• Feel safe, valued and included

Through continuous staff development, strong leadership, and an ambitious Pathways Curriculum, we ensure that every child at Wessex Gardens receives a high-quality education and is supported to flourish academically, socially and emotionally.