Welcome to our fifth edition of our Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) newsletter. I hope you and your families had a fun filled holiday and are full of enthusiasm for the adventures that 2024 will bring.

As a federation we have started the year with a focus, once again, on how we support our children with special educational needs. On Monday 8th January, the federation came together to receive training from the British Dyslexia Association, delivered by Anna Sutton. All school staff learnt more about how the condition can affect almost every aspect of a person's life and strategies and techniques to support those children with both a diagnosis of Dyslexia and those children with Dyslexic tendencies. The training was interactive, thought provoking and provided a tool kit of ideas to complement the already fantastic inclusive teaching being delivered. More on this later in the newsletter.

I do hope that you are able to make the Inclusion coffee morning (or afternoon tea) that I am hosting next week with our colleagues from the Lambeth Autism Advisory service.

All are welcome.

Best wishes

Kathryn Congdon

Before supporting children with Dyslexia and Dyslexic tendencies it is important to understand what Dyslexia is, this is the definition that The British Dyslexia Association (BDA) currently use;

Dyslexia is a learning difficultly that primarily affects the skills involved in accurate and fluent word reading and spelling. Characteristic features of dyslexia are difficulties in phonological awareness, verbal memory and verbal processing speed. Dyslexia occurs across the range of intellectual abilities. It is best thought of as a continuum, not a distinct category, and there are no clear cut-off points. Co-occurring difficulties may be seen in aspects of language, motor co-ordination, mental calculation, concentration and personal organisation, but these are not, by themselves, markers of dyslexia. A good indication of the severity and persistence of dyslexic difficulties can be gained by examining how the individual responds or has responded to well-founded intervention.

In addition to these characteristics:

The BDA acknowledges the visual and auditory processing difficulties that some individuals with dyslexia can experience, and points out that dyslexic readers can show a combination of abilities and difficulties that affect the learning process. Some also have strengths in other areas, such as design, problem solving, creative skills, interactive skills and oral skills. (BDA 2010)

The complexity of the definition means that we as teachers are not qualified to assess the children in our classes, we can though adapt our teaching styles to ensure that we are giving all children the best opportunities to learn. One of the many ways we do this is through teaching the children how to create story maps in literacy, ensuring repetition of language and story. Additionally by ensuring that all teaching of reading is specific to the individual child, it is our commitment that every child will leave the BJS federation a reader.

The training at the start of this year provided an opportunity for us to review how we are supporting our Dyslexic learners and confirmed that the interactive, multi sensory, creative curriculum is supporting Dyslexic children. One aspect as a federation that we will continue to develop is our multisensory approach to teaching spellings, ensuring that children have time to be explicitly taught new words with unusual spelling patterns.

If you are concerned that your child could be dyslexic then I would advise you to speak to the class teacher and click on the link below.

Executive SENCo

We are continuing to learn new Makaton signs each week, these are the ones we have learnt this week and will be learning next week.

Did you know only 10% of the population have dyslexia yet;

40% of self made millionaires are dyslexic

40% of people working in Technology are dyslexic

35% of successful entrepreneurs are dyslexic

'Dyslexia is a kind of disability, but it's actually it's an opportunity' Richard Branson

You will be sent a link to complete your parent survey and this year we especially want to hear the voices of parents with children who have Education Health and Care plans. To complete yours, if you haven't already, then click on your child's school name below.

The first point of contact should always be your child's class teacher, please always discuss your concerns with them before contacting a member of the inclusion team. The teachers and support staff who work with your children really value the relationships they have with their classes and are in the strongest position to speak to you about how your child is getting on at school.