Inclusion at Howe Dell

Special Educational Needs, often referred to as 'SEN' or 'SEND' (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities), is a term used to describe learning difficulties or disabilities that make it harder for a child to learn, creating barriers to learning. The four identified broad areas of Special Educational Needs are:

Cognition and Learning Needs

Communication and Interaction Needs

Social, Emotional and Mental Health Needs

Sensory and/or Physical Needs

At Howe Dell, we believe in Equity. We are proud to be an inclusive school who strive to achieve the best outcomes for each individual child in our care, at our school. Our school provides a broad and balanced curriculum for all our children. We do our very best to ensure that barriers to learning are identified at the earliest stage, as we believe that early intervention is vital in helping our children succeed and fulfil their potential. If a child has an identified Special Educational Need or Disability and/or barriers to learning, we aim to create an environment to meet that need in order for them to thrive.

Our goal is to meet each child’s needs through effective High Quality Teaching, differentiation and support. We make reasonable adjustment to our systems to meet needs as well as offering additional provision when appropriate. Support, for example, may be a class teacher discussion with the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) team or an external agency support such as an Educational Psychologist/ Advisory Teacher.

At Howe Dell, we believe every child should have access to high quality, inclusive teaching. Teachers differentiate the learning, set appropriate objectives and achievable targets for the individual children in their classes, closely supported by the Inclusion Team of the school to ensure every child is given the opportunity to reach their potential. The new Special Educational Needs and Disability Code of Practice encourages support through an Assess, Plan, Do, Review cycle.

We always work closely with parents and their child and are proud of our strong working partnerships with our families here at Howe Dell, as we believe in a 'team around the child' approach. Parents are able to meet the class teacher or the Inclusion Lead to discuss their child's progress, needs and queries and work together to find solutions to enable each child to make the best progress they can.

All statutory polices and documentation can be located within the policy section (statutory information tab) on the website.

If you have any concerns or questions regarding Special Educational Needs/ Inclusion, please contact Miss Ewen, our Inclusion Lead / SENCo or Mrs Field, Inclusion Hub Leader, via the School Office.

Support for Howe Dell Families 

Parents and Carers,

Please see the below links which are signposts of information for supporting your children's emotional well being, Special Educational Needs and family life. Many of the support channels signposted below are also added to our School Newsletter and can be accessed from there too. If you require any further information or support, please contact the Inclusion Team in school via the main school office who will be happy to help you.

Hertfordshire Local Offer

The Local Offer lets parents and young people know what special educational needs and disabilities services are available in Hertfordshire, and who can access them.

New to SEND? Learn more

DSPL 5

About DSPL Area 5

DSPL Area 5 (Welwyn and Hatfield) covers 32 primary schools, five secondary schools, three special schools and three  maintained nurseries.

DSPL (Developing Special Provision Locally) is a Hertfordshire-wide partnership approach where parents, staff in early years settings and schools, further education colleges, local authority officers and representatives from other agencies, work together as part of an Area Group, reviewing and developing the range of provision and support services available to their local community that :

• Meets the needs of children and young people with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), aged 0-25, as close to home as possible
• Improves outcomes for wellbeing and attainment
• Widens choice for children and parers/carers
• Removes barriers to learning
• Uses resources more effectively

There are nine DSPL Area Groups across the county that meet regularly to discuss what services are available and to influence how services are shaped and developed to ensure the children and young people with SEND in their area receive the right support in their educational activities.

Please see below relevant contacts for Integrated Services for Learning

ISL Contacts

NESSie (through DSPL5)

We support the positive mental health of children and young people, 0 – 25 years. 

We do this three ways:

• • We offer 1-1 and group arts therapies for children and young people

• • We offer training and supervision to professionals

• • We offer workshops and support to parents and carers

NESSie provides easy access to arts therapies, counselling, support and training so that children, young people and their families can thrive.  We provide support through partnering with local schools, county councils and community organisations within Hertfordshire and the surrounding counties. Parents can also reach out to us directly.   

Together our therapists have over 200 years of experience. We welcome diversity and have specialist trauma, ASC and LGBTQ+ therapists within our team. We have excellent feedback from organisations and parents and a long history of working relationships with local statutory and community partners.

We are proud to offer qualified, regulated, child centered, flexible support.  Our Mental Health Leads Training is quality assured by the Department of Education

Link to further support:   https://nessieined.com 

Welwyn and Hatfield Schools Partnership

Howe Dell Primary School is now part of the the Welwyn and Hatfield Schools Partnership. This service is readily available to parents, carers and the school to seek further support for themselves, their child/children and families.

Please read the information provided below to see what types of support our School Family Workers can offer. We encourage any families who would like additional support for their family and/or child to get in touch with the Inclusion Team at Howe Dell via the main school office who will happily assist parents and carers in making a referral.

Welcome to your local schools partnership. We are here to help improve outcomes for children and young people and to help make it easier for you to support your children with their learning.

Our School Family Workers support families in whichever way they need.  They have a wealth of knowledge regarding services available to support families and can offer one to one support on parenting issues. The School Family Workers will happily help with queries you may have.

What are School Family Workers?

The School Family Workers are employed by the Welwyn Garden City and Hatfield Schools Partnership to support families across Welwyn Garden City and Hatfield.

We can help support you with a range of concerns you may have.

No problem is too big or too small.

The help we provide is dependent on your needs and we are a completely confidential service.

Our School Family Workers have a wealth of knowledge regarding services available to support families. Some of the difficulties we can help you with are:

•  Parenting strategies: e.g. managing challenging behaviour or sleep patterns
•  Assisting parents of children with additional needs
•  Changing schools (transition)
•  Loss or bereavement
•  Financial concerns
•  Smoking, drugs and alcohol misuse
•  Family breakdown
•  Being in an abusive relationship

We have a wide range of knowledge about all issues that affect families, if you would like to discuss concerns with a School Family Worker please ask your school to make a referral to us or contact us directly on the numbers above.

If you prefer to contact us via email about anything we can help you with or sign up to receive our newsletters, please submit a contact form and we will get back to you as soon as possible.

SEND online resources