Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Policy
Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) School Offer 2022/2023
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The Graduated Response
The graduated response is a step-by-step approach to address your child’s individual needs.
Universal Provision (Wave 1)
High quality teaching for all (Quality First Teaching) – the class teacher monitors your child’s progress to ensure targets are met. If progress is not being made, your child is highlighted as a concern. The Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Coordinator (SENDCo) and their team carry out lesson observations and, if need be, intervention is put in place. You will be fully informed of the actions taken by the College.
Targeted Provision (Wave 2)
Small group intervention – SEND assistants lead intervention in small groups in KS3 focusing on your child’s literacy and/or numeracy. Your child will meet with the SEND assistant to discuss and review strategies to support their learning. The information is uploaded onto a digital ‘Passport’. All staff have access to your child’s learning provisions via the passport on Class Charts and they are also made available to parents post-review.
Specialist Provision (Wave 3)
Specialist individual intervention – if a child’s needs cannot be met at Wave 1 and/or Wave 2, specialist support is available at Wave 3. This could be in the form of support or direct intervention from an external agency professional, or more focused/personalised work with a member of College staff.
What special educational needs provision looks like at JHNCC
| Types Of Need | Examples of Support in Our College | How We Check It’s Working
(Assess, Plan, Do, Review) |
| Cognition and Learning
Dyslexia Dyscalculia Dyspraxia |
|
● Guardian/student feedback
● Observations/learning walks. ● Review of academic progress at key assessment points. ● SEND targets and provisions reviewed termly. ● Check-ins with students by SENCO and SEND assistants ● Teacher feedback. ● Screening tools. ● External agency guidance / assessment. ● Research-led provisions. |
Communication and Interaction
Speech and Language (e.g. Auditory Processing Disorder) |
||
| Social, Emotional, and Mental Health Difficulties
Oppositional Defiant Disorder Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Attention Deficit Disorder |
||
Physical and/or sensory Needs
|
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Early identification of students with SEND is important. The College adopts a holistic approach, taking into consideration the impact of environmental factors in addition to academic performance and engagement. Where necessary, we use appropriate screening tools, together with external agency support, to identify barriers to student progress and to develop appropriate strategies to address them. The SENCo will also liaise with feeder primary schools ahead of transition.
Students’ progress will be identified as being of concern where it:-
- is significantly slower than that of their peers starting from the same baseline;
- fails to match or better the child’s previous rate of progress;
- fails to close the attainment gap between the child and their peers;
- widens the attainment gap.
There may also be Social, Emotional, Mental Health (SEMH) and communication concerns raised by guardians and staff not identifiable through academic progress measures.
The first response to concerns raised by parents/carers, College staff, or the SEND department will be through Quality First Teaching (QFT). If a students’ progress continues to be a cause for concern, assessments will be undertaken to identify if the child has any obstacles to learning that could be associated with an identifiable SEND. These assessments may take the form of screening tools and standardised assessments. They do not provide a diagnosis.
Other information used in assessment can include:-
- Reports and/or observations from staff;
- Academic progress records;
- Records from feeder schools, including Education Health and Care Plans, Individual Education Plans, SATs (Year 6);
- Information from parents/carers;
- Existing medical or specialist reports;
- Risk assessments.
Where a student is identified to benefit from additional provision, which is ‘additional to and/or different from’ the provision made generally for others of the same age, we will follow the 4 Point Plan – Assess, Plan, Do, Review. This will be conducted termly or whenever necessary due to transition in a student’s progress.
- Minimum of half-termly liaison with students by the SEND Assistant Team;
- Pastoral Tutor and Head of Year Team engagement. Head of Department engagement;
- Proactive reporting through College’s Flagging system for staff;
- Reviewing outcomes at data points and cross-referencing against targets/previous attainment;
- Through College screening (see above);
- Through the assessments by outside agency specialists;
- Through observation data (particularly in the case of students with SEMH difficulties);
- Through their Class Charts and attendance records.
- Our inclusive curriculum is developed to ensure that all students with SEND can participate in our vast and diverse array of extra-curricular activities.Risk assessments are carried out and procedures/adaptive provisions implemented and monitored to allow all students to participate in activities of their choosing.If additional adult support is required for an activity then parents/carers would be consulted and support put in place for that student.If a student has a transport arrangement provided by the Local Authority, best endeavours will be made to provide adjustments to schedules to accommodate extracurricular participation in negotiation with a student’s legal guardians.
Mrs L. Bracey – Strategic Director SENCo
lbracey@jhncc.org 0121 770 5331
What training does the staff in College have in relation to students with Special Educational Needs?
At John Henry Newman Catholic College, we pride ourselves in delivering a full and robust schedule of quality, research-led continuous professional development (CPD).
This includes:-
- INSET (teacher training) Day briefings;
- Training on policy updates as and when they arise; including Exam Access Arrangements and SEND Code of Practice
- Circulation of authoritative publications (e.g. Government guidance, EEF)
- Internal SEND communications via email;
- Intervention training for SEND team;
- Sharing of best practice (internal and external);
- Weekly department meetings with the SEND Team to identify areas for CPD for the department and whole staff;
- Online training opportunities;
- Attendance of seminars and sessions provided by authoritative organisations (BDA, AET, Solihull College Inclusion Support Service);
The College is committed to supporting children and young people with special educational needs disabilities, and works alongside professionals at an array of accredited organisations and services to ensure students receive the support they need to fulfil their potential. These include:-
-
-
- SISS (Solihull Specialist Inclusion Support Service)
- SAS (Specialist Assessment Service)
- SALT
- Local authority EHCP teams
- Community Paediatrics Team
- Educational Psychology Service
- CAMHS
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- Telephone and email liaison between the SEND Team and parents/carers;
- Communication from subject teachers and form tutor;
- Parent/carer information events (e.g. options meetings, Year 7 settling in evenings);
- Meetings with students assigned with a SEND Assistant;
- Through Area of Need specific coffee mornings
- Home targets/produced in progress reviews;
- Development of support plans in consultation with parents/carers;
- Parent drop-ins;
- Annual and emergency reviews of EHCPs;
- Outside agency involvement (specific).
- Profiling meetings with SEND assistant;
- Co-building and review of strategies and support plans with students (person centred approach);
- Student voice;
- 1-1 sessions with allocated SEND Assistant
- Cooperative analysis of academic and behaviour progress;
- Personal target setting;
- Access to SENDCO/Heads of Year/SEND Assistants/Learning Mentors;
- Options choices at KS3-4 and KS4-5 transitions.
We pride ourselves in, first and foremost, listening to the needs and aspirations of our students and their families. Therefore, we would like you to talk to the SEND Team first if you wish to raise concerns about the support your child is receiving. Should you wish to proceed with a complaint, there is a form available on the College website. This will then be dealt with via the appropriate process.
The SEND Code of Practice outlines additional measures the LA must provide for preventing and resolving disagreements. These can be requested, if required.
- Reports to Governors;
- Governing Body is aware of all external agencies involved in provision in College, along with what they do;
- Governors are aware of support available across Birmingham and Solihull;
- SEND Governor: Mrs J Goulding – jgoulding@jhncc.org
Some of the services available include:-
- Solihull Parents’ Partnership;
- SEND Information Advice and Support Service (Birmingham);
- Autism West Midlands;
- British Dyslexia Association;
- National Deaf Children’s Society;
- More contacts are available on the local authority Local Offer website (Solihull or Birmingham).
To find out more about SEND provision in Solihull, follow this link to the Local
Authority’s website:-
http://socialsolihull.org.uk/localoffer/
To find out more about SEND provision in Birmingham, follow this link to the Local
Authority’s website:
https://www.localofferbirmingham.co.uk/
To find out more about SEND provision in Warwickshire, follow this link to the County
Council’s Warwickshire Direct website:
Year 6 Transition
- Year 6 transition evenings and days;
- Visits to primary schools to meet students to talk to the College’s SENCO and/or the student’s class teacher;
- Close liaison with SEND staff at feeder primaries to employ early intervention strategies;
- Additional induction mornings for students identified as being vulnerable/at risk by their primary school;
- Students with specific needs may visit the College on further pre-arranged days;
- Early reviews for those students who have an EHC Plan.
Mid-Year Transition
- An assigned member of staff coordinates students’ admissions. Students have the support of a ‘buddy’ in their tutor group and the support of their Head of Year and form tutor;
- Information shared about any additional needs with staff and provisions/strategies/progress are monitored by the SENDCo/assigned SEND assistant.
Key Stage 3-4 transition
- Students with additional needs are advised and supported to make appropriate subject choices in discussion with staff, parents/carers;
- Where appropriate students are assessed and Exam Access Arrangements put in place.
Key Stage 4-5 transition
- SEND students are given priority in meetings with the College’s careers advisor to support them on making appropriate Post-16 choices;
A member of the SEND Team supports students in organising additional College visits to ensure they are comfortable and familiar with the setting and courses they will attend.
