The Student Support Team

Our role is to identify and assess students with special educational needs, to support students with learning difficulties and to advise teachers in the best ways to meet students needs.

We currently cater for students with a wide variety of learning difficulties as well as some students with physical, sensory difficulties and others with emotional, behavioural difficulties.

Student Support have a suite of rooms between the library and the main teaching block. These are equipped with 16 PC’s which are available to students.

Although all teachers are teachers of Students with Special Educational Needs you may need to have contact with members of staff who will be particularly concerned with helping your child.

Student Support Co-ordinator (SENCO)	Jennie James
Second in Student Support	Dawn Wood
Student Support Teachers	Linda Cooper	Isi Hatton
Teaching Assistants	Carol Burdon Peter Platts Jackie Claxton Andrea Dawson Sarah Walker Denise Medley Julie Needham	Jane Pollitt Kay Shaw Rachel Zilate Karen Stocks Dawn Meakin Vicki Walters Sue Vallis

 

 

Teaching Assistants:

 

• The school regards a child as having special educational needs:-

  "if they have a learning difficulty which calls for special educational provision to be made for them. Children have a learning difficulty if they:

  1. have a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of children of the same age; or
  2. have a disability which prevents or hinders them from making use of educational facilities of a kind generally provided for children of the same age in schools within the area of the local education authority".

  (Taken from Code of Practice 2001 Education Act 1996)

  These difficulties may involve

  • cognition and learning
  • emotional, behavioural and social
  • sensory and or physical
  • communication and language

  It is therefore likely that up to 20% of students will have special educational needs at some time in their school career.

  The school uses a variety of strategies to support these students but the first step is to identify and assess these needs. For this we use a variety of information including:

  • information from feeder schools
  • parents’ views
  • students’ views
  • subject teacher comments
  • tutor comments
  • school assessments
  • the results of diagnostic tests

  We work closely with the local primary schools so we are aware of students who have had difficulties in the past. The school also monitors students regularly to see if any are having difficulties.

• Once the student has been identified and assessed, if necessary, the student will be offered support and parents will be informed.

  School Action	Extra help given which is additional to that provided for other students.
  Provision & Action is set out on an IEP (Individual Education Plan). Differentiated activities are provided within the normal classroom and students are given extra support. This may be either through class support (an additional member of staff in the classroom) to help the student cope with the work or through the student being withdrawn from lessons for a period of time on a structured programme to improve their reading, writing, spelling, number or social skills. (An IEP is developed which sets targets for the student and staff to work towards. We ask parents to help as well.)
  School Action Plus	Specialist Involvement and Multi Professional Assessment.
  This is similar to School Action but this time a specialist from beyond the school may be involved in setting targets and reviewing them. Support continues to be given either through withdrawal and/or from in class support. The IEP may involve more staff and monitoring from the appropriate specialist. If little progress is made, a Multi-Professional Assessment of the students needs can be requested by parents or the school. This may lead to an application to the L.E.A. for a Statement of Special Educational Needs.
  Statement	Special Educational Need
  This is where the LEA has written the objectives the school must try to achieve for a particular student. To assist the school achieve these objectives, extra help and support is given through extra support teaching time, Teaching Assistant support or the provision of particular resources to assist learning. The objectives are broken down into targets which become part of the student’s IEP. Most of the student’s teaching staff will be involved in helping to achieve these targets and objectives. An Annual Review of Statement Meeting is held to discuss progress and plan for the following year.

• The team supports students individually and in groups within the classroom throughout the school. Support staff work with subject specialists to provide appropriate, accessible work at KS3 and 4. Our provision is both flexible and sensitive to individual need.

  The Student Support Team also offers a number of interventions to speed up progress – these can be offered at any stage in a child’s education but most particularly at Key Stage 3. Parents are informed about any interventions their child is offered. Interventions include:

  SRA Reading	A highly structured approach to reading taught in a small group. The group meets one lesson a day for a term.
  Successmaker	An integrated learning system enabling students to work on individual reading, spelling and numeracy programmes, for 10 to 25 minutes daily.
  Toe by Toe	Intensive one to one programmes which can rapidly improve literacy, involving 20 minutes
  Stride Ahead	a day with a Teacher or TA.
  DILP Dyslexia Institute Literacy Programme.	An intensive 1:1 approach which develops phonological awareness, sequencing, short term memory, organisation and independence skills.
  Reading Activities	Helps students who have recently achieved a functional level and need to develop fluency. Taught in a small group twice a week for 10 weeks.
  Reading for Meaning	Helps students who read adequately but lack confidence and have difficulty understanding their reading. Taught in a small group twice a week for a ten weeks.
  Paired Reading	A one to one session, usually during registration time for half a term. Students read a book of their choice with a trained older partner.
  Corrective Spelling	A highly structured approach to improve spelling. Taught in a small group for 20 minutes daily for approximately 11 weeks.
  Beat Dyslexia	An intensive 1:1 spelling programme which develops the students’ phonological awareness.
  Maths Group	A small group working together on basic mathematical skills using a practical approach.
  Social Skills	A small group work together to develop listening skills and their social use of language. Students are withdrawn twice a week for six weeks.
  Mentoring	This is available where individual students may need support to help them with organisation or specific difficulty. Its timing is flexible according to need.
  Homework Club	Student Support is staffed on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday 2.55 – 3.30pm and every day before school, to help students to complete homework. Students also have access to computers at this time and may also work on Successmaker.
  Reading/Games Club	Student Support staff supervise students involved in structured activities, crafts and games which develop social skills (Tues and Wed 2.55 – 3.45pm).
  Anger Management	A course aimed at assisting students to deal with their anger more effectively. Taught in a small group for six one hour sessions.

   

• All the interventions are also available to students at Key Stage 4 but emphasis is placed on support within the classroom through differentiated work and the development of appropriate courses such as:-

  Entry Level Certificate	Currently available in Science, English, Spanish, Food Technology.
  OCR Graduated Assessment	Currently available in Maths.
  Option Support	Offered to students to give them extra time and support with coursework.
  New CLAIT Stage 1 and OCR	accredited courses in computing and information technology.
  Basic Skills Entry Level
  Work Experience	Placements are organised by Careers and Student Support Staff to suit the needs of the student.

  Also at Key Stage 4, we may arrange for a student with Special Needs to have special arrangements made for them in GCSE’s e.g. extra time in exams, reader, amanuensis, use of a word processor for coursework, enlarged papers etc.

• In late September we hold a parents evening specifically for parents of children with special needs to discuss their progress and set targets for the forthcoming year. A Parents Evening for Year 7 students with SEN takes place in November to set targets appropriate for their secondary education. Targets for Years 7 – 11 are reviewed in March at another Parents Evening.

  There is a member of the Student Support team available at the Parents Evening for the New Intake who is happy to discuss any concerns about the transition from Primary to Secondary education.

  Annual reviews will be held for students with a Statement of Special Education. Parents are invited into the school to discuss their child’s provision with the Student Support Co-ordinator, the child’s key worker and, if relevant, other external agencies.

  The first Annual review after the child’s 14^th birthday may involve at least one member of the LEA to help draw up a ‘Transition Plan’. The Connexions Service must be involved at this stage. This is a guide to the plans and steps to be taken to ensure the successful transition of the child into adult life, employment or training.

  If you have any concerns, please contact his/her Tutor or Head of Year first. However, the Student Support Co-ordinator, Jennie James, and members of the team are available. If possible, write or phone to make an appointment, or leave a message and you will be contacted as soon as possible.

• Bullying
• Racist incidents
• Health and Safety
• SEN and children with statements
• Use of internet
• Physical intervention
• PSHCE

• Staff should be prepared for the unexpected
• Be aware that they have been chosen by the child as a person of trust
• Be non-judgemental
• Re-assure but make no promises (particularly of confidentiality)
• Do not interrogate or ask leading questions
• Try to use the language used by the student
• If the student finds it difficult/confusing to carry on, try summarising what they have said to act as a helpful prompt

• As soon as possible (verbatim if possible)
• Note body language
• Note any marks to the body
• As soon as possible, share your concerns/information with the CP Co-ordinator

• Speak with parents (if appropriate)
• Contact relevant agency (usually social services) if needed
• Fill in referral form
• Put in place any necessary support in school