EDUCATION
Special educational needs and disabilities (SEND)
At New Road, and across the Learning Community Trust, we strive to meet the needs of all our students.
SEND
We believe that all student are entitled to receive a high quality, ambitious and engaging curriculum, regardless of need or disability. We aim to fulfil the potential of every student by offering a broad and balanced curriculum, often delivered in innovative and creative ways. Our inclusive academy welcomes all students and values them as individuals, treating them equally and with respect. We believe that all students have the right to have their own individual needs recognised and addressed to achieve success.
Our use of a wide range of resources and strategies enables all students to develop the skills and attitudes to become independent learners and communicators, both at our academy and through to adulthood. At New Road all teachers are teachers of student with SEND and it is therefore a whole academy responsibility to ensure that students’ needs are addressed. Through staff working together as a team, and in partnership with students, their parents/carers or with external professionals we strive to ensure that all students with SEND are provided with an environment in which they can flourish.
New Road is a mainstream academy with an inclusive and ambitious ethos for all students. Whilst most students’ needs are met within the classroom there may be some students who require support above and beyond many of their peers. Additional support is delivered in many ways, at different stages and is usually referred to as ‘the graduated response’.
Wave 1
At the first stage the class teacher delivers quality teaching direct to all students with small adaptations made to ensure all students can access the curriculum. This may include:
- Revisiting previously taught concepts and building on from where the student is at
- Delivering new learning in small chunks to reduce memory overload
- Providing opportunities to overlearn the new concepts, in different contexts
- Checking in with the students to ensure he/she understands what to do and what is expected of them. Support is offered to address misconceptions
- Using models and visual prompts to aid the pupil
- Enlarging the text or simply reducing the amount of text presented at any one time
- The use of an individual whiteboard to give answers visually or to record words or questions of importance
- The use of maths equipment to aid calculations
- Planning for opportunities to try new things in a ‘safe’ space
- Considering where the student sits in the class
In addition, class teachers will be constantly observing pupils, offering feedback on their work, and making use of termly assessments.
If, after a minimum of 6 weeks, there is limited impact upon using at least 3 of the above strategies, then the class teacher would speak with the SENDCo and complete a concerns sheet, outlining concerns and strategies tried. It may be recommended that wave 1 strategies are continued for longer or a move to wave 2.
Wave 2
Wave 2 is begun if the strategies tried at wave 1 have not reduced concerns or begun to close the gaps in learning. Parents/carers and teachers will review the situation and agree the next stage. This may include adding the pupil to the SEND register. At this point each student will receive an individual provision map, completed termly, and shared with parents and students. Wave 2 is expected to last a minimum of a term and may include 1 or more of the following:
- Providing the student with specialised equipment e.g. writing grip, sloped board, coloured overlay
- Targeted support from within academy from specially trained staff. This could include issues relating to mental health and well-being, bereavement, friendship issues or having English as an additional language
- Targeted booster group work in 1 or more curriculum areas
- Assisted technology to increase access to the curriculum
- Pre-teaching of PSHE topics
- Wellbeing sessions
- inclusion hub access
- Talk about for teenagers emotional regulation/resilience
The majority of students will have their needs met at wave 1 or 2 and will continue to receive support at this level as they move through school and gaps in learning continue to shrink.
A very small proportion of students will need to access some specialist support from an external provider. The class teacher, parents/carers and SENDCo will meet to discuss if this is considered appropriate and an agreed plan of action will be drawn up as a result.
Wave 3
Wave 3 provision usually involves other professionals coming into school to work with students and their families. The student is considered to have a high level of SEND and will probably need long-term support in school. At this stage parental permission is sought to involve professionals from outside school and in many cases a report or parental consultation is involved. Professionals include:
- Educational Psychologists (EP)
- Learning Support Advisory teachers (LSAT)
- Behaviour Support and Advisory teachers (BSAT)
- Sensory Inclusion Service (SIS)
- Speech and Language Therapists (SALT)
- The school nurse
- Occupational Therapist (OT)
- Medical professionals
On a very small number of occasions school will need to make a referral to a panel of experts for additional support or funding to meet the needs of a student. This could be related to any area of SEND but defines the point at which the school is finding it difficult to meet the needs of the student from within the resources of the school. All families who reach this point have generally been working with the school for a long time and have a close working relationship with school staff.
Broad areas of need
A brief description of the four broad areas of need follows. Many children have needs in more than one area, and every child is different; often the area of need given for a particular child is their ‘prime’ area.
- Communication and interaction (CI) – This area includes speech, language, and communication needs (SLCN), which could mean difficulties with speech production, the understanding of language, the expression of language or a combination of all three. It also includes difficulties with the social use of language. Pupils with communication and interaction difficulties may or may not also have learning difficulties.
- Cognition and learning (CL) – This area includes general learning difficulties (which may be moderate or severe), profound and multiple learning difficulties (PMLD) and specific learning difficulties (SpLD).
- Social, emotional, and mental health difficulties (SEMH) – Challenging behaviours are displayed for many reasons, which may be indicative of underlying mental health difficulties or emotional issues. We aim to look for the underlying causes of any difficulties with behaviour and/or emotional state, and aim to support these, rather than just dealing with the presenting behaviour. For some pupils with SEMH difficulties, the nature of these difficulties will mean that they have learning difficulties, either temporarily or in the long term.
- Physical and/or sensory need (PSD) – This area includes sensory impairments, such as visual impairment (VI) and hearing impairment (HI), as well as physical disabilities. Pupils with these disabilities will usually access support from the specific local team, which may be a combination of education and health services. These pupils do not necessarily have ‘learning difficulties’, in that their cognitive functioning may be average or above; some children do have associated learning difficulties.
Special educational needs and disabilities coordinator
Contact form
The SENDCo is listed on the leadership team page – click here
Contact our SENDCo using the form below, or contact the academy on 01952 388088.
