School works very closely with our Educational Psychologist, Dr Lindsay Kay. Once a decision, in conjunction with parents/carers has been made to involve our Educational Psychologist, a referral is made. A date will be set and she will come to school to carry out a classroom/playground observation and/or a 1-1 assessment. If the child is EAL, then a translator will be brought in for the entirety of the assessment. Parents are fully involved in this process and will be invited in to share their views with the Educational Psychologist.

It may also be deemed necessary for a child to be referred to speech and language therapy. Again, parents’ permission will always to be sought. (in the case of a Looked After Child, permission may be given by the carer or the social worker) Parents are responsible for taking their child to all speech and language appointments. We also have the facility to seek advice from Salford’s Learning Support Services. We have good links with The Social Interaction Team (ASC team), who provide invaluable support to school on the best ways to support Autistic children. We work closely with the school nurse and continue to have good links with the community paediatricians. Many of our children have been referred to CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services) and our SENDCo has been trained to make referrals for children who may need assessment.

There are times when a family needs to be supported in order to help their child. At times an Early Help Assessment may need to be completed. This is an assessment tool which looks at the whole family and helps to identify where the need is and who is best suited to offer support in that area. This is where we need to look at using other agencies within Children’s’ Services to provide skilled support for the entire family, thus helping the child. We also have strong links with the EWO (Education Welfare Officer), helping children and families to improve punctuality and attendance.