SEND - SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS AND DISABILITIES
This department is led by Mr Matt Marle (SENDCo), Mr R Hilton (Deputy SENDCo) and Mr S Viney (Deputy SENDCo) and it comprises of a team of specialist staff who support students across the two academies.
WHAT WE DO:
We provide support for students who have additional learning needs relating to categories of SEND, defined in the DfE SEN Code of Practice document as:
- Cognition and learning difficulties
- Communication and Interaction difficulties
- Sensory and physical difficulties
- Social, emotional and mental health difficulties
Students requiring additional support have access to a range of interventions and provisions provided between 8am through to 4pm. Learning Coaches support students throughout the day through interventions and mentoring. Our teaching staff, pastoral team and Gateway Boost staff are also a part of the offer of support for SEND students.
INTERVENTIONS INCLUDE:
- Numeracy
- Emotional Mentoring
- SALT (speech and language therapy)
- Motor Skills
- Regulation support
- SULP (social use of language) support at break and lunch times
- Homework club (afterschool)
We work closely with a range of external agencies who provide specialist support and advice for individual students depending on their needs. These agencies include:
- SALT (Speech and Language Therapy)
- Educational Psychologist
- Paediatrician
- Occupational Therapist
- CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service)
- Physiotherapist
- Auditory and visual support services
- Local Authority SEN/ Inclusion Team
ASSESSMENT AND MONITORING:
All students who enter the academies are assessed for baseline reading, spelling and complete MiDYAS testing. This information is used alongside other data to identify students who may require additional support. Intervention sessions are provided to target specific development needs and the progress of each student is monitored closely. The SEN register is reviewed on an ongoing basis to ensure that students are moved through the SEN stages of the Code of Practice in an accurate and timely manner.
QUALITY FIRST TEACHING:
The focus at the academies is on Quality First Teaching, with teachers, as the experts in their subjects, being responsible of the progress of all students in their classroom, including those with additional needs. Adaptive teaching may be required to ensure students needs are met in lessons and there is a high expectation that students will achieve in line with their peers.
SUPPORT FROM LEARNING COACHES:
Classroom teachers and Learning Coaches communicate and work closely together to ensure that support is effective and builds upon learning they carry out in lessons. Learning Coaches often work with small groups of students to develop particular basic skills and concepts, that will lead the student to make progress in the lessons. Learning Coaches plan and carry out interventions outside of the classroom to support students at SEN Support Level or with EHCP’s. Some have specialist area of need or year group responsibilities. We do not have one to one adult support in lessons or additional adults based in classrooms.
INCLUSIVE EDUCATION:
We pride ourselves on being fully inclusive and all students attend mainstream lessons with their peers, to ensure they gain the highest specialist subject knowledge from their teachers. Staff at the Academy are continually receiving CPD on how to support a variety of additional needs, therefore in line with the DfE Code of practice, Quality First Teaching is at the heart of support for SEND students.
For further support on BCP’s services and provision to supporting parents and young people click https://fid.bcpcouncil.gov.uk/send-local-offer see the local offer.