Special Educational Needs & Disability(SEND)
Ashley Down Primary School is a maintained school and works closely with the Local Authority to ensure that all pupils, regardless of their specific needs, make the best possible progress.
Our current SENCO will leave at the end of Term 2, and a new permanent SENCO has been recruited and will join us in April 2026. In the meantime, we have interim arrangements in place:
- Tracey Nairn, an experienced consultant from SENCAT, is supporting the school on a consultancy basis and is our named SENCO.
- Our Senior Leadership Team (SLT) will oversee SEND provision and monitor the SENCO email daily.
- Class teachers remain your first point of contact for any concerns. They will escalate communication to phase leaders as necessary: Ms Taylor (Phase 1), Miss Robinson (Phase 2), and Ms Christie (Phase 3).
- Mrs Sood, Headteacher, will oversee SEND provision and processes across the school, working closely with members of the SLT and the interim SENCO to ensure continuity and high-quality support.
If you are a current or prospective parent/carer and would like to discuss your child’s needs, please email: senco.ashleydownp@bristol-schools.uk
Latest SEND Newsletter
SEND Newsletter - December 2025
How are Special Educational Needs & Disability defined?
The definition of SEND is for those children who need something different from or additional to what is being delivered by a class teacher using quality first teaching.
Special Educational Needs and Disability code of practise 0-25yrs July 2014 identifies this as;
“A child or young person has SEND if they have a learning difficulty or disability which calls for special educational provision to be made for him or her.”
“A child of compulsory school age or young person has a learning difficulty or disability if he or she:
- has a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others of the same age, or
- has a disability which prevents or hinders him or her from making use of facilities of a kind generally provided for others of the same age in mainstream school or mainstream post-16 institutions”
Under the Equality Act of 2010 it is recognised that ‘many children and young people who have SEND may have a disability’, that is ‘... a physical or mental impairment which has a long term and substantial adverse affect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.’ (long term is defined as a year or more and includes sensory impairments; sight and hearing and medical conditions such as diabetes, epilepsy, asthma and cancer. Therefore ‘where a disabled child or young person requires special educational provision they will also be covered by the SEND definition’
Ashley Down Primary School SEND Policy can be found here.
Our Accessibility Plan can be read here.
SEND Report
We have organised our SEND Report into a Question and Answer format from a parent/carers view. These can be accessed from the links below:
If you would like more information about Bristol's local offer for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities, and their families, please visit: