Here at Elm Grove Primary, it is our belief that educational inclusion is about equal opportunities for all learners, whatever their age, gender, ethnicity, disabilities, attainment and background. As our vision statement outlines:
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Carla Kemp, SENDCo
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I am a qualified Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Coordinator (SENDCo) across the whole school and ensure that the SEND code of Practice (2015) is fully integrated across all aspects of school life. I am also part of the Senior Leadership Team (SLT)and work closely alongside Mr M,assey and Mr Waring in this role. This means that for any children who have any additional needs, I ensure that they receive the support needed to meet their needs as much as possible whilst they are at school. I am a fully qualified and experienced teacher, who has also taught across both key stages including Reception. I lead the Inclusion Team in school. |
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Sam Barfoot is our Senior Inclusion Mentor as well as being a mental health and Attachment Lead in the school. She is passionate about empowering children’s voices, has worked with children with complex needs for many years, Just Right trained, has a therapeutic training background and supports children using these skills and experience. She is based in The Nest and liaises with families closely. |
Sam Barfoot, Inclusion Mentor
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Sadie Mockford, Inclusion TA
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Sadie is an Inclusion Teaching Assistant and based in The Canopy on the upper corridor of school. She is an enthusiastic, caring member of the Inclusion Team who helps to support children throughout the school in her role. Sadie runs intervention groups including social skills groups, speech and language sessions as well as supporting key transition times such as coming into school as well as positive playtimes and lunchtimes. |
A date for your diary!
The next upcoming parent worksop held in school will be on Thursday 29th January from 9:15am - 10:30am. This workshop will be based on puberty and is suitable for any parent to attend and learn abouit key changes during this time and how to prepare and support your child through this.
Below are links to information that you may find useful:
Supporting your child with the transition to Year 7
Find out about the young carers project: Young Carers Project flyer.pdf
Under the NHS Right to Choose, families in England have the legal right to choose which service carries out an assessment when a GP makes a referral for certain conditions, including autism and ADHD. This means you can ask your GP to refer your child to an approved independent provider that has an NHS contract, rather than waiting for your local NHS service.
Many families are now choosing this option because local NHS waiting lists for developmental assessments have become very long. However, as more families use the Right to Choose route, some of these independent providers also now have waiting lists — though they are often shorter than local NHS ones.
Choosing your provider can help your child be seen more quickly and by a team experienced in neurodevelopmental assessments, which can lead to earlier understanding, support and intervention.
Speak to your GP – Tell your GP that you would like to use your Right to Choose for an autism or ADHD assessment. Your GP will need to make the referral, so it’s helpful to say which provider you’d like to use.
Choose a provider – You can search online for NHS-approved Right to Choose providers for autism and ADHD assessments (for example, Clinical Partners or Psychiatry UK). Check that they offer services for children and that they hold an NHS contract.
Provide information – Your GP may ask for background details such as school reports or observations. This helps the provider understand your child’s needs.
Referral and waiting time – Once the referral is sent, the provider will contact you directly to confirm receipt and give you an estimated waiting time.
Assessment and follow-up – After the assessment, the provider will share a report with you, your GP and sometimes your child’s school, to support next steps.
Schools play an essential role in the assessment process, as teachers see your child every day and can provide valuable insight into their learning, behaviour and social interactions. Most Right to Choose providers will contact the school to request information or ask for questionnaires to be completed via parents.
At Elm Grove Primary School, any information requests, including questionnaires about your child, must be emailed to
📧 admin@elmgrove.brighton-hove.sch.uk, FAO: SENDCo.
The SENDCo will then forward these requests to your child’s class teachers, who will complete them. Teachers are best placed to provide accurate and detailed observations about your child’s day-to-day experiences in school.
Please note that it is very important to allow a minimum of four weeks for teachers to complete this information. Our policy allows up to 6 weeks for referrals and information to be completed. This timeframe ensures that staff can provide thoughtful, detailed input alongside their teaching commitments.
If you book an appointment with a Right to Choose provider at short notice (for example, within a week or two), it is highly unlikely that the school will have completed the referral information in time for that appointment. Families are strongly encouraged to take this into consideration when booking future appointments through the Right to Choose route.
If your child receives an autism diagnosis through a Right to Choose provider, the diagnostic report will still need to be sent to the local Child Development Centre (Seaside View) for ratification. Once this has been confirmed, a referral can be made to the Brighton and Hove Inclusion Support Service (BHISS), which coordinates access to local authority–commissioned external professionals who can support your child in school.
If your child receives an ADHD diagnosis and you would like to explore further support such as medication, this will also require a referral to CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services).
This means that even after receiving a diagnosis through the Right to Choose pathway, your child may still need to be referred back into local NHS services for follow-up care and ongoing support.
For further information regarding the Right to Choose route for referrals, please visit: this link.
This guide has been written to help prospective parents of children with SEND explore key information and questions about supporting their child to begin their Reception year at Elm Grove as positively as possible. It outlines what school life is like at Elm Grove, answers common questions from new families and shares important details about the school day and the SEND systems in place to support children’s individual needs. It also provides guidance on how transition is managed and explains when our SENDCo may meet with new parents.
Brighton and Hove City Council offer support for children and young people who have special educational needs and disabilities, and their families. We call this our Local Offer.
Their website is an excellent source of information and support pertinent to the Brighton and Hove area and includes fact sheets, details of upcoming parent workshops as well as videos regarding specific issues that a lot of SEND families come across.
Identified children in Key Stage 2 have access to a range of Literacy Support programs on individual Chromebooks to help support their literacy and reading development. These programs are research-based and approved programs that come highly recommended from our Literacy Support Service (LSS) Specialist who works in school. The main programs we use are: Wordshark, Clicker, Clicker Write and Nessy
We have subscribed to Nessy's full range of programs to further improve our provision in school. Please visit the Nessy wesbite to find out more.
