The Deanes Ethos for Students with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEN)

The Deanes Ethos for Students with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEN)

In keeping with the philosophy of inclusion every teacher at The Deanes has a responsibility to meet the needs of students with SEN, ensuring access to a broad and balanced curriculum. This is achieved through a strong belief that the high expectations of all teachers are the key to meeting the needs of all students and that the teacher’s knowledge of each student’s skills and abilities, and their ability to match this knowledge to finding ways of providing access to the curriculum will allow for achievement for all.

The Deanes believe all students are entitled to an education that enables them to:

• Excel
• Become confident individuals equipped to deal with our evolving World.

The Deanes recognises that a child or young person has SEN if they have a learning difficulty or disability which calls for special educational provision to be made for them, as defined in the 2014 Code of Practice, if they:

• Have a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others of the same age; or
• Have a disability which prevents or hinders them from making use of educational facilities of a kind generally provided for others of the same age in mainstream schools.

Special Educational Needs are identified in terms of:

• Little or no progress despite the use of targeted teaching approaches and a differentiated curriculum.
• Working at levels significantly below age expectations, particularly in Literacy or Numeracy.
• Presenting persistent emotional and / or behavioural difficulties, which have not been managed by appropriate strategies usually employed.
• Sensory or physical impairments that result in little progress despite the provision of appropriate aids or equipment.
• Poor communication or interaction, requiring specific interactions and adaptations to access learning.
  

The Deanes believes that young people, parents and carers have a right to be involved in making decisions and exercising choices. They have a right to receive and impart information, to express an opinion, and to have that opinion taken into account in any matters affecting them. Consequently the school is committed to working in partnership with the child, *parents and

*Throughout this policy, “parents” should be taken to include all those with parental responsibility, including corporate parents and carers.

outside agencies including education, health services and social care to identify needs, provide support and monitor progress.

The Learning Support Faculty works closely across the whole curriculum to identify students in need of support, and to devise a personalised programme to meet these needs and ensure the success of learners. Strategies for support include in-class support, and if necessary small group or individual intervention sessions.

Students who receive assistance through Learning Support are placed on the appropriate level of support, with personalised targets, and a designated mentor to support them to succeed. A highly specialised team of designated co-educators ensure that all students can benefit fully from their time at The Deanes. Close contact is maintained between parents.

The Deanes has an excellent reputation for working with students with physical disabilities, ensuring they are fully integrated into school life. The building is equipped with special ramps and lifts to allow access to all subject areas. Separate cloakroom and changing facilities are also provided. Specialist staff are trained to meet the needs of these students.

Our learning support department work closely across the school to provide targeted intervention. We work out of a learning support centre, with a sensory room, a dyslexia intervention room and areas where we can provide targeted intervention. Our focus is to make sure that teachers work closely with us to provide the best differentiated inclusive lessons possible for our students to thrive.

The Deanes Learning Support Team are:

The team are dedicated to supporting the needs of all students across the curriculum. Individuals have a good understanding of the curriculum, as well as an understanding of child development and learning processes. The qualifications of the team reflect this, with NVQ Level 3 for Teaching Assistants or HLTA, and degrees related to education.

Mrs Lisa Stroud – Vice Principal for Achievement, Advanced SENCO, (B.Ed (Hons) MA (Ed)

Mrs Sioux Derome - SENCO

Dyslexia Therpaist – Mrs Lesley Walker.

Maths Senior Co-Educator – Ms Jo Boswell.

English Senior Co-Educator – Miss Beverley Drain.

Co-Educators – Mrs Jo Locke, Mrs Jacquline Osborne, Mrs Karen Miller (transition and inclusion), Mrs Maren Barton (EAL), Miss Jodie Cussen and Mrs Charlotte Storey (ASD)

Partnership Ethos.

The Deanes has an open door policy encouraging parents and carers to engage in their child’s learning, with a personalised to approach learning. From making an application for a place at The Deanes and throughout their child’s time at the school, parents are given regular opportunities to discuss their child’s needs, progress and concerns. For example:

• Transition meetings. (Year 6 into Year 7, KS3 into KS4, and KS4 into Post 16)
• Termly meetings to discuss progress with the SENCO.
• Parent Evenings and meetings with the SENCO and other appropriate staff.
• Statutory meetings and reviews.
• Parent Forums.
• Information Evenings

Records of formal meetings are kept for future reference.

The Deanes believes it to be essential all students are given an opportunity to express their views regarding their education. This is particularly important for students with SEN who require a more personalised approach. A mentoring culture has been established across the school involving teachers, tutors, governors, volunteers from the community and students themselves to give support to other students. This is a specific strategy used when reviewing the progress and needs of students with SEN incorporating the use of Student Passports and One Page Profiles as a tool to provide information to teachers. Co-Educators hold termly mentoring meetings with the students to refocus learning before statutory/review meetings to ensure their involvement.

The school is committed to hearing the voice of the student and ensuring their needs are met. It seeks to ensure that the students are empowered to bring to the attention of staff their needs and the best ways in which they can be supported. This may be through:

• School Council
• Student Voice Forums.
• Young Leaders.
• SEN Guardians

As a school we work hard to be in effective communication with children and parents, and to listen and respond positively to any concerns brought to our attention. We are committed to taking all concerns seriously and would like to think that, through being open and accessible, concerns can be raised with and dealt with easily. In the first instance, if such a situation should arise, the school SENCO should be contacted either by email or telephone.

If it is felt that the SENCO has been unable to reassure them that needs are being met effectively, then the school’s Complaint Procedure, which is available on our website or by request, sets out clearly what the steps are to draw these concerns to the school’s attention.

In conjunction with The Deanes Offer we feel it necessary to also bring to your attention the Local Authorities Local Offer which sets out in one place information about the provision available for children and young people in the area who have SEN, including those who do not have EHC plans. Available at:

Identification and Early Intervention.

The Deanes closely follows the Code of Practice for Special Educational Needs and Disabilities. (2014)

The identification of students who have a significantly greater difficulty in learning, or who have a disability which prevents or hinders them from making use of educational facilities are identified through a number of different assessments and/or professional judgements :

• A student and/or child’s parents has the right to request an assessment for a particular barrier to learning, if they believe they have or may have SEN.
  Liaison with Primary Feeder School to discuss current level of support upon transition.
• The Deanes assess each pupil’s current skills and levels of attainment on entry using Lucid Lass as an assessment tool to identify difficulties in learning due to visual memory, auditory-verbal memory, phonic reading skills, phonological processing ability, single word reading, sentence reading, spelling and reasoning.
• In addition to this more detailed screening is performed to determine students with dyslexia, reading ability assessed further through Suffolk Assessment Tool and Spelling ability by The Young Assessment Tool.
• Teacher raises query with SENCO.
• Co-educators observe students across curriculum areas.

Upon identification The Deanes works closely with the student and their parents to discuss what the specific barriers to learning are and to understand why a student may not be making progress. A personalised programme of support will be determined and may include:

(refer to Provision and Access Map at The Deanes)

Once a potential special educational need is identified, actions are taken to put effective support in place. These actions form part of a cycle through which earlier decisions and actions are revisited, refined and revised with the growing understanding of the students’ needs and of what support the student is making good progress and securing good outcomes. This assessment is regularly reviewed, to ensure that support is matched to need, and that a clear picture of the interventions put in place and their effect is developed. (In some cases, outside professionals from health or social services may be considered). All teachers and support staff who work with the child are made aware of their needs, the support provided and any teaching strategies or approaches that are required. These are recorded on the school’s information system. The effectiveness of the support and the impact on the child’s progress is reviewed in line with the agreed date. The impact of the support provided, along with the views of the pupil and their parents, is fed back into the analysis of the student’s needs, and the strategies revised in light of the student’s progress and development.

Quality First Teaching and Personalisation.

The Deanes is committed to ensuring that all teaching is at least good and much is outstanding. High quality teaching is that which is differentiated and personalised to meet the needs of the majority of students. All members of staff understand that they are teachers of students with SEN. The Deanes aims to ensure:

All staff provide high quality teaching which allows students to learn effectively. Professional development sessions take place after school weekly with a focus on developing teaching and learning strategies to ensure all students can access the curriculum.

Senior Co-educators have been deployed in Maths and English to give further capacity to personalised support in core areas of the curriculum.

All students, regardless of their ability, have access to a wide range of suitably challenging educational opportunities which are appropriate to their needs. Every student at The Deanes is provided with opportunities to make progress in every aspect of their development, enabling them to be the best they can be, such as:

• Duke of Edinburgh.
• School Productions, including Music and dance Productions and Drama.
• Representing the school in sporting activities.
• “Speak Out”

The Deanes works hard to ensure that no student is disadvantaged in terms of facilities and equipment dependent upon need. Risk assessments are carried out for individual students to ensure they have access to the curriculum, with parents and carers, and the students encouraged to contribute. To ensure that we achieve this goal we work with outside agencies and specialist professionals when necessary. Further information can be found in our Equality Policy and Disability Access Policy, which reflects the Equality Act 2010: Advice for school leaders’ , both of which are available on our website or upon request. In particular The Deanes has:

• Disabled toilets on each floor, and access to disabled changing rooms if necessary.
• Ramps and lifts.
• Modified furniture.
• Coloured overlays
• Access to laptops and tablet technology.
• Specialist equipment particularly in Science, PE and technology.
• Staff trained in lifting and personal care.

Early Intervention and the Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP).

The benefits of early identification are widely recognised; identifying need at the earliest point and then providing good interventions, improves long term outcomes for a child. Where a special educational need has been identified, appropriate evidence-based interventions will be put in place. These will be provided as a graduated approach, which includes regular reviews of the progress made and adaptations to the support provided as required. Parents will always be informed of their child’s involvement in such provision.

Where the special educational provision required meeting the students’ needs cannot reasonably be provided from within the resources normally available, the local authority must conduct an assessment of education, health and care needs

EHC plans focus on the outcomes the student seeks to achieve across education, health and care. It gives clear information how services will work together to meet the students needs and in support of those outcomes. EHC plans are based on a co-ordinated assessment and planning process which puts the child and young person and their parents at the centre of decision making.

Parents of children who have an Education, Health and Care plan have a right to ask for a particular school to be named in the Plan and for a personal budget for their support.

At The Deanes we attain a detailed understanding of a child’s learning and development by actively engaging in the students’ EHC Plan, working closely with the parents and the student themselves, setting stretching targets for them to ensure their high ambitions are reached. Their progress is tracked towards these goals through mentoring with the Co-Educators, and formal review meetings with the SENCO, keeping under review the additional or alternative provision that is made for them. This ensures the approaches used are the best possible.

It is our belief that by encouraging parents to share their knowledge about their child and engage in positive discussion helps to give them confidence that their views and contributions are valued and will be acted upon. It is very important to engage directly with the student to discuss their needs, and plan how they can achieve the best outcomes.

At The Deanes it is important every child feels secure in the transition between stages of education and preparing for independent living. This can be a particularly anxious time for students with SEN. Our transition programme includes:

• A two day transitional programme from primary to secondary school, plus personal visits with the accompaniment of a parent or carer.
• Attendance by SENCO to a child’s final annual review at their primary school, and relevant information shared with all stakeholders.
• Transitional Summer Schools e.g. sport and taster lessons.
• Options Programme to give support in beginning key Stage 4 studies.
• Involvement of Transitional pathways from key Stage 4 to 5, including visits to post 16 establishments with individual students.
• Support given with application forms from SENCO and Careers Advisor.
• Transition meetings held at The Deanes with all stakeholders: student, parent, post 16 establishment, to ensure the formal exchange of data with a more personal approach.

S. Derome (December 2016)