Who are the best people to talk to in this school about my child’s difficulties with learning\Special Educational Needs or Disability (SEND)?

The 2015 SEND Code of Practice states that schools need to set high aspirations and outcomes for children through Quality First Teaching. They are entitled to a broad and balanced curriculum to reach these aspiration, achieving their best, becoming more confident and make a successful transition to adulthood.

The class teacher

Responsible for

• Checking on the progress of your child and identifying, planning and delivering any additional help your child may need (this could be targeted work or additional support) and letting the Special Education Needs/Disabilities Co-ordinator (SENCo) know as necessary.
• Personalised teaching and learning for your child as identified on the school’s SEND provision map.
• Ensuring that the school’s SEND Policy is followed in their classroom and for all the pupils they teach with any SEND.

The SENCo: Mrs C Kenyon-Owen

Responsible for

• Developing and reviewing the school’s SEND policy.
• Co-ordinating all the support for children with special educational needs or disabilities (SEND)
• A thorough transition with feeder primary schools and their Year 6 teachers.
• Close liaison with Pastoral Leaders and Form Tutors
• Scrutinising KS2 data
• Ensuring that you are

1. involved in supporting your child’s learning
2. kept informed about the support your child is getting
3. involved in reviewing their progress

• Liaising with all the other people who may be coming in to school to help support your child’s learning, e.g. Speech and Language Therapy, Educational Psychology.
• Updating the school’s SEND register (a system for ensuring that all the SEND needs of pupils in this school are known) and making sure that records of your child’s progress and needs are kept.
• Providing specialist support for teachers and support staff in the school, so that they can help students with SEND in the school to achieve the best progress possible.
• Referring to outside agencies in order to gain further advice and strategies to support students both in school and at home

The Head teacher: Mrs R Hudson

Responsible for

• The day-to-day management of all aspects of the school; this includes the support for students with SEND.
• The Head teacher will give responsibility to the SENCo and class teachers, but is still responsible for ensuring that your child’s needs are met.
• The Head teacher must make sure that the Governing Body is kept up to date about issues relating to SEND.

School contact telephone number: 01244 371475

We provide effective interventions for students with a variety of needs;

SLD (Severe Learning Difficulty)
MLD (Moderate Learning Difficulty)
SpLD (Specific Learning Difficulty)
SLCN (Speech, Language or Communication Need)
C&L (Cognitive and Learning)
SEMH (Social, Emotional and Mental Health)
ASC (Autistic Spectrum Condition)
VI (Visual Impairment)

HI (Hearing Impairment)

Consulting parents and young people / assessing and reviewing progress towards outcomes

• Meeting with SENCo or other staff when requested
• Review assessment after each data catch

Approaches used when teaching young people with SEN

• Quality First Teaching
• Differentiation
• Aspirational target grades
• Fully inclusive school

Class teacher input, via excellent targeted classroom teaching (Quality First Teaching).

For your child this would mean

• That the teacher has the highest possible expectations for your child and all students in their class.
• That all teaching is built on what your child already knows, can do and can understand.
• That different ways of teaching are in place, so that your child is fully involved in learning in class. This may involve things like using more practical learning.
• That specific strategies (which may be suggested by the SENCo) are in place to support your child to learn.
• Your child’s teacher will have carefully checked on your child’s progress and will have decided that your child has a gap or gaps in their understanding/learning and needs some extra support to help them make the best possible progress.

Specific group work

Intervention which may be

• Run in the classroom or a group room.
• Run by a teacher or a teaching assistant (TA).

Specialist groups run by outside agencies, e.g. Speech and Language therapy

SEND Code of Practice 2015: School Support (K)

This means a student has been identified by the SENCo/class teacher as needing some extra specialist support in school from a professional outside the school. This may be from:

• The Local Authority central services, such as the Autism Service, Behaviour Support Team or Sensory Service (for students with a hearing or visual need).
• Outside agencies such as the Education Psychology Service (EPS),and speech and language therapy or Paediatrics

If you have concerns about your child’s progress, you should speak to:

• Your child’s form tutor
• Your child’s progress leader
• The schools SENCo

If your child is identified as not making progress, the school will set up a meeting to discuss this with you in more detail and to

• Listen to any concerns you may have.
• Plan any additional support your child may need.
• Discuss with you any referrals to outside professionals to support your child

The school budget, received from the LA, includes money for supporting children with SEND.

The Head Teacher decides on the deployment of resources for Special Educational Needs and Disabilities, in consultation with the school governors on the basis of needs in the school.

The Head Teacher and the SENCo discuss all the information they have about SEND in the school, including

• The children getting extra support already,
• The children needing extra support,
• The children who have been identified as not making as much progress as would be expected.

From this information, they decide what resources/training and support is needed.

The school identifies the needs of SEND pupils on a provision map. This identifies all support given within school and is reviewed regularly and changes made as needed, so that the needs of children are met, and resources are deployed as effectively as possible.

School provision

• All teachers are responsible for teaching SEND students and ensuring Quality First Teaching.
• SEND Teaching Assistants mainly working with either individual children or small groups.
• Family Support workers offering support for students
• Pastoral support where pupils can access mentoring, or receive Emotonal Literacy support via a qualified ELSA (Emotional Literacy Support Assistant)
• Specialist Nurture Teacher based in the Sanctuary- a place for students to receive specialist teaching and to support access the mainstream classroom environment
• A Specialist SpLD teacher.
• Access to Platform For Life Counselling.
• Hearing Impaired support and BSL trained TA.
• Specialist 1:1 Mathematics teaching assistant
• Outdoor Education with an external provider
• Specialist nurture groups for years 7-9 where there is a high staff to pupil ratio

Local Authority Provision delivered in school

• Autism Service
• Educational Psychology Service
• Sensory Service for children with visual or hearing needs
• Information Advice and Support Service (IASS) for parents/carers
• SALT (Speech and Language Therapy)
• Education Access Service

Health Provision delivered in school

• Additional Speech and Language Therapy assessments when required
• School Nurse

The SENCo’s job is to support the class teacher in planning for children with SEND.

• The school provides training annually as part of schools staff Continual Professional Development (CPD) and support to enable all staff to improve the teaching and learning of students, including those with SEND.
• Students who do not currently require action are monitored at each half term
• Students who have additional educational needs, requiring additional provision are discussed
• Students who have more complex additional needs and who hold an Education Health Care Plan are reviewed to check the support is adequate and effective.
• A confidential list of names of those students who have additional needs is compiled and this information is disseminated to all teaching staff via the SEND register, updated each time a change is made.
• Information around the various SEND and Quality First Teaching strategies are available to staff.
• Individual teachers and support staff attend training courses run by outside agencies that are relevant to the needs of specific students in their class, e.g. from the Autism Service.

We make the following adaptations to ensure all pupils’ needs are met:

• Differentiating our curriculum to ensure all students are able to access it, for example, by grouping, 1:1 work, teaching style, content of the lesson, etc.
• Adapting our resources and staffing
• Using recommended aids, such as laptops, coloured overlays, visual timetables, larger font, overlearning etc.
• Differentiating our teaching, for example, giving longer processing times, pre-teaching of key vocabulary, reading instructions aloud, etc
• For students with Hearing Impairments we have a FM loop available, a qualified BSL practitioner to support and ensure the environment is adapted to their needs.

• For students with Dyslexia and Dyslexic tendencies there is a specialist SpLD (Specific Learning Difficulty) teacher can provide advice to teachers of strategies and ways to adapt resources. Our SpLD teacher is able to test for coloured overlay use.
• A key stage pastoral learning mentor will be on hand to ensure students are able to access the daily learning based on their emotional needs.
• There is a Homework club specifically to support pupils with SEND students and allow them to access their Homework.
• The Sanctuary and Orion classrooms are our SEND and Nurture base. This is where students who are finding it difficult to access a mainstream setting can be taught with the aim of them being given the skills to fully integrate back into their year group classes.

Your child’s progress will be continually monitored by his/her subject teacher every half term.

The progress of students with an EHC Plan will be formally reviewed at an Annual Review with all adults involved with the child’s education. Those with top up funding will be reviewed formally with parents before the funding is due to cease to ensure continuation if needed.

• Education is accessible for all students either by adapting timetables or location/space.
• Arrangements are put in place to ensure accessibility and safety for all.
• The progress of SEND students both academically via assessment and socially via the monitoring of behaviour and attendance.
• Staff usage of the SEND register and One Page Profiles when required
• The use of pastoral system and form tutor to monitor student well-being.

The SENCo will also check that your child is making expected progress in line with their ability progress within any individual work and in any group that they take part in.

Regular book scrutiny and lesson observations will be carried out by members of the Senior Leadership Team to ensure that the needs of all students are met and that the quality of teaching and learning is good.

The severity of need determines the frequency of involvement of parents and the number of meetings required to be held. Parents are, however, always welcome to make an appointment with form tutors, pastoral leaders or SENCo.

The form tutor and progress leader are regularly available to discuss your child’s progress, or any concerns you may have. They will also be able to share information with members of staff about what is working well at home and school, so that similar strategies can be used.

• The SENCo is available to meet with you to discuss your child’s progress or any concerns/worries you may have.
• All information from outside professionals will be discussed with you with the person involved directly, or where this is not possible, in a report.
• Personal progress targets will be reviewed with your involvement every term.
• Homework will be adjusted as needed to your child’s individual requirements.

We recognise that transitions can be difficult for a child with SEND, and we take steps to ensure that any transition is a smooth as possible.

If your child is joining us from another school:

The SENCo will liaise with your child’s primary/other school to discuss your child with the class teacher and the SENCo.

The transition process involves:

• Early identification of vulnerable students with the option of additional transition visits
• Data collation – KS2 Sats – Teacher assessment
• Staff visit to Primary schools where possible
• Full day cohort visit
• Literacy assessment (spelling/reading comprehension)
• Y6 student/parent/carer transition evening
• All data shared with teaching and TA support staff
• Y7 overnight trip
• Communication with the Pastoral Leader and Form tutor.

Other Students:

• Students are provided with careers guidance.
• The school provides support around the different transition phases (between key stages/further education/training).
• We will share information with the school, college, or other setting the student is moving to. We will agree with parents and students which information will be shared as part of this.

We recognise that some students have additional emotional and social needs that need to be developed and nurtured. These needs can manifest themselves in a number of ways, including behavioural difficulties, anxiousness, and being uncommunicative. Students with SEND are also encouraged to be part of the wide variety of clubs to promote teamwork/building friendships etc. We have a zero tolerance approach to bullying.

For those children who find aspects of this difficult we offer:

• Family Support workers
• School Mentors
• Pastoral Year group team
• Social Skills
• Art Therapy
• ELSA sessions
• Access to Platform for Life counselling Sessions
• Access to the Sanctuary nurture centre
• Sanctuary club after School
• Young Carers support
• Social skills group for Key Stage 3 at lunch time
• Morning running club before school
• Lunch club to develop social skills and confidence
• Gardening club
• Time with our therapy dog, Paddy
• IDL (International Dyslexia Learning) sessions

If your child still needs extra support, with your permission the SENC0/Family Support will access further support through the TAF process.

Accelerated Reader: is a reading management and monitoring programme that aims to foster independent reading.

SPLD: This intervention will assist students to improve their spelling, handwriting and reading skills.

Mentoring: This programme will be personalised according to the needs of the students.

SALT: A programme which will assist students to improve their working memory and to improve their vocabulary choices.

Social Skills: A programme designed to assist students to improve their social interaction with peers and adults around them.

ELSA: Is an initiative developed and supported by educational psychologists. It recognises that children learn better and are happier in school if their emotional needs are also addressed.

Art Therapy: Enables a child to express, in a visual form, worries and preoccupations from deep in the mind that they would not be able to talk about. Drawing enables symbolic and safe expression of deep worries and feelings that may seem very dangerous to a child

HeartMath: Will help you to transform your stress into resilience, to achieve higher levels of performance and to live your life with more heart, health and happiness.

SMILE therapy sessions (Strategies and Measurable Interaction in Live English) : These are led by a Speech and Language therapist, and it is a functional therapy that helps students to learn effective communication and social skills to use in everyday situations in and out of school. Pupils selected for this therapy are those selected by their speech therapists.

IDL: International Dyslexia learning. IDL is a computer based program designed to develop an increase in reading and spelling ages. It also develops confidence and self-esteem for those pupils with dyslexia or dyslexic type difficulties.

The school has disabled access and elevators as we are a new build school. The corridors are large enough to comfortably navigate around and disabled toilets are situated on each floor.

The resources of the SEND department are fully accessible for all students.

Enabling students with SEND to engage in activities available to those in the school who do not have SEND. All of our extra-curricular activities and school visits are available to all of our students, including our extensive after-school clubs. All students are encouraged to go on our residential trips and all students are encouraged to take part in sports day, school plays, special workshops, etc. No student is ever excluded from taking part in these activities because of their SEN or disability.