Every Child Belongs

At Captain Shaw's, inclusion is not something separate from everyday school life. It is part of how we teach, how we plan and how we care for one another.

Our school vision calls us to:

Serving the Common Good: Seek what is best for everyone, beginning with the last, the least, the lost, the most vulnerable and the most forgotten.

For children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), this means beginning with the child: understanding their strengths, identifying the barriers they may be experiencing and working together to find the support, adaptations and opportunities that will help them flourish.

We want every child to belong, participate, learn and make progress.

Inclusion Begins in the Classroom

Our starting point is high-quality teaching that anticipates and responds to the different needs of the children in front of us.

Teachers remain responsible for the progress and development of every child in their class. Our classrooms use approaches such as clear routines, visual support, carefully structured instructions, explicit modelling, appropriate resources and different ways for children to demonstrate what they understand.

We recognise that the same thing does not work for every child. Where a child needs something different or additional, we adapt our approach thoughtfully and, where appropriate, provide targeted or specialist support.

Our aim is not simply to help children access school. We want them to be active and valued members of it.

Knowing Our Children Well

One of the strengths of being a small school is that our children are known very well.

Supporting a child with SEND is not the responsibility of one person. Our whole team shares responsibility for understanding and supporting our children.

Staff regularly discuss children's strengths, successes, barriers, views, provision and next steps.

Where a child requires additional support, we use the SEND graduated approach:

Assess → Plan → Do → Review

This means that we seek to understand the child's needs, agree what we are trying to achieve, put appropriate support in place and then evaluate whether it is making a difference. The cycle continues and develops as our understanding of the child grows.

The important question is not simply "What support are we providing?", but "Is it helping this child?"

Children and Families at the Centre

Children and families are an essential part of this process.

Parents and carers know their children in ways that school cannot, and we value that knowledge. We therefore work together to understand strengths and needs, agree outcomes, review progress and decide what should happen next. Our Information Report specifically recognises parents as experts in their child's needs and aspirations.

Children's voices matter too.

How we seek a child's views will depend on their age, communication and individual needs. A child might talk with us, contribute to a meeting, use another way of communicating their views, or have a trusted adult help represent what matters to them.

Being unable to communicate in a conventional way should never mean having no voice.

Belonging to the Whole School

We want children with SEND to experience the full life of Captain Shaw's.

That means learning alongside their peers wherever appropriate and being included in our curriculum, visits, community projects, Breakfast Club, after-school clubs and wider opportunities.

Where a disability or additional need creates a barrier, we consider the reasonable adjustments required to help the child participate. Our current SEND arrangements explicitly state that school visits, extracurricular activities and before and after-school clubs are available to pupils with SEND and that reasonable adjustments will be made where needed.

Sometimes a child will benefit from targeted or specialist provision away from the class for part of their timetable. Where this happens, it should have a clear purpose and benefit for that individual child rather than separation becoming the default.

Working With Specialists

Sometimes we need expertise beyond school.

Depending upon a child's individual needs, we may work with professionals and services including speech and language therapists, educational psychologists, occupational therapists, health professionals and specialist advisory teachers.

We use professional advice alongside what the child, family and school already know to help us plan appropriate provision.

If You Are Worried About Your Child

You do not need to wait for a diagnosis or for a difficulty to become significant before talking to us.

If you have a concern about your child's learning, communication, development, wellbeing or participation in school, please speak to your child's class teacher in the first instance.

We will listen, share what we are seeing in school and decide together what, if anything, should happen next.

You can contact the school office on 01229 718279 to arrange a conversation.

Our SEND Information Report

Our SEND Information Report explains in much greater detail how SEND support works at Captain Shaw's, including:

• how we identify and assess special educational needs;
• how we involve children and families;
• how teaching and the curriculum are adapted;
• how we assess whether support is working;
• how we access specialist support and resources;
• how children with SEND are included in wider school life;
• support for emotional and social development;
• transition between different stages of education;
• arrangements for children with disabilities; and
• what families can do if they have a concern or complaint.

Our SEND Information Report 2026/27 is available to download at the bottom of this page.

I would also provide the following separately rather than hiding everything within one very long combined document:

Cumberland SEND Local Offer

Cumberland Council's SEND Local Offer brings together information about services, support and opportunities available to children and young people with SEND and their families across Cumberland.

Explore Cumberland's SEND Local Offer

The Local Offer includes information about education, health, social care, activities, preparing for adulthood and sources of advice and support.

Families can also access independent SEND information, advice and support through Cumberland's SENDIAS service.

Admissions and Accessibility

Captain Shaw's is a mainstream Voluntary Controlled school and our admissions are managed by Cumberland Council.

Children with SEND and disabilities are welcomed as part of our school community. We do not treat a child less favourably because of a disability and we make reasonable adjustments to help disabled pupils access education and participate in school life.

Our Accessibility Plan explains how we work over time to:

• increase disabled pupils' participation in the curriculum;
• improve the physical environment where required; and
• improve access to information.

These are specifically required elements of the school's published SEND information.

Who Can I Talk To?

If you have a question about your child's needs or the support they receive, their class teacher is usually the best person to speak to first.

SENDCo: Terentius Jackson
Telephone: 01229 718279
Email: admin@capt-shaws.cumbria.sch.uk

You are always welcome to contact us. We would much rather have an early conversation about something that is worrying you than have a family feel they need to wait.