Special Education Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Information Report

Bedlingtonshire Community High School

Special Education Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Information Report

Introduction

Bedlingtonshire Community High School (BCHS) is an inclusive school which ensures that all students achieve their educational potential with an additional focus placed on spiritual, moral, social and cultural development (SMSC). We are committed to achieving equality and providing full access to the National Curriculum for all students, including those with special educational needs. Currently our Support Register consists of 11.7% of the student cohort.

The intention of this SEND Information Report is to inform parents/carers how we, as a school, support all students who attend BCHS including those with Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities (SEND).

As a school we have consulted with parents/carers in the production of this SEND Information Report by sharing information regarding the changes to the SEND Code of Practice in 2014. It is important to us that parents and carers are fully involved in all stages where their child or young person may need support. This will be initially through informal discussions at parents evening, through to reviews at target setting and possible discussions with other professionals from external agencies.

This is a working document and is reviewed on an annual basis. The next review date is July 2018.

Supporting Students with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities and Their Families

A child or young person has a special educational need if they have a learning difficulty or disability which calls for special educational provision to be made for him or her. A child of compulsory school age or a young person has a learning difficulty or disability if he or she:

Has a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others of the same age, or
Has a disability which prevents or hinders him or her from making use of facilities generally provided for others of the same age in mainstream schools or mainstream post-16 institutions.

Children and young people have a learning difficulty if they:

Have a problem of understanding or an emotional difficulty that affects a person's ability to learn, get along with others and follow convention. This can also include things such as not being able to concentrate for long periods, getting bored easily, acting impulsively, losing track of time or forgetting what they have just learnt. These characteristics may not seem problematic, however the key issue is when these characteristics become prominent and begin to have an impact on learning.
A learning difficulty can be more apparent when a child is not progressing at a similar rate as others of the same age within the majority of educational areas or if the child has a disability which prevents or hinders them from making use of educational facilities provided for children of the same age in schools within the local education authority.

Special educational provision means:

Special educational provision is the provision that is put in place in addition and sometimes different from the educational provision made for mainstream children.

For more information can be found by following the link; Section 312, Education Act 1996

BCHS will contact families to let them know about any concerns about a student’s learning via the Senior Leadership Team (SLT), SEND Co-ordinator (SENDCO), Heads of House (HOH) or one of the Raising Achievement Leaders (RAL):

Supporting Families

The school works in partnership with parents and carers to support the learning of their child outside of school. This is carried out in a number of ways such as previously mentioned in the curriculum overview, outside agency provision, parent’s evenings, review meeting, sharing of information via student planners and online resources such as My Maths and Accelerated Reading.

The school also directs parents and carers to the advice and guidance available from outside agencies including health care professional, as well as the support available in the Local Offer published by the Local Authority.

Contact between school and home is vital so that students are able to make progress and can be carried out using a number of methods including:

A phone call,
An invite for parents/carers to come into school for a meeting
An email
Parents evenings
Target setting appointments (options choices)

Along with pastoral support, BCHS employ four Learning Mentors whose aims include the removal of any barriers to individual’s learning, providing both social and educational support in diverse and individualised ways.

In addition to this the SENDDCO will;

Prior to school transfer the SENDCO visits feeder middle and primary schools to gather information about students coming into Y7 and Y9. It is the intention to meet with feeder SENDCOs in June for an initial discussion and again in July.
For pupils with a Statement or Education Health and Care Plan, other agencies may request a joint meeting with both school and parents/carers. In these meetings, a plan will be devised to allow the needs of the young person to be fully met.
The Learning Mentors within school also liaise with feeder schools and arrange visits for the vulnerable students prior to transfer day. This can involve the use of public transport so that the young people become familiar with the bus routes and the journey to BCHS.
Additional meetings with parents/carers are set up at BCHS to help alleviate any uncertainties, concerns or misconceptions that they may have.
Students who are placed on the Support Register have the option of using a home to school diary to help transfer information and keep an open dialogue between school and home.

How BCHS involve Parents and Carers in Discussions about Planning for Their Child's Education

At Bedlingtonshire high school we take the views of parents/carers very seriously and always look to act upon the feedback given to us by parents/carers. We are involved in multiple activities which involve parents/carers and are always looking for ways to improve parental participation in these activities. Below is a summary of the activities we offer and what the impact of these are.

Target Setting Day/Target Review Day

At the beginning and end of the year we invite all parents/carers into school to meet with their child’s form teacher in a 1:1 setting. At this meeting the students, parents and tutors set targets for the year and then review them at the end of the year. All students are expected to attend and to help meet parent’s/carer’s needs we offer this as a week-long event with appointments after school every evening. This has allowed parents/carers to come in at the start of the year to set targets for their children but also to meet their child’s form teacher and form a relationship with them so if they need to speak to anybody at the school they know who to contact. At the end of the year the parents/carers are able to review the progress of the child through the year and discuss the reasons why the students have or haven’t met the targets set as well as setting any targets for over the summer holidays.

Parents Evenings

Each year group has one parents evening a year. At these events parents/carers are given the opportunity to speak to their child’s individual class teachers about their performance in each subject. In these meetings parents/carers are given the opportunity to discuss the topic by topic performance of students in subjects, identify areas of underperformance and set targets for improvement. In addition to this areas of strength are also identified and students are praised for this.

At parents evenings we also have a question board where parents/carers are able to leave comments or questions about anything they are unsure on to do with the school. This is then summarised into a report for SLT who look to act upon the feedback given by parents/carers.

These meeting are for all students including those with SEND needs. We also meet/liaise with both parents/carers and young people who have a statement (awaiting transfer to Education Health and Care Plan) and those with an Education Health and Care Plan as frequent as possible to ensure we are meeting the individual needs of the students and hold reviews annually.

Parental Focus Group

Every term the parents focus group meet to discuss issues around the school. This group is open to all parents/carers and the agenda is set by both staff and parents/carers. The feedback from the parents/carers is then acted upon by the school.

Transition Meetings

As part of BCHS’s programme with parents/carers we offer various meetings and evenings for the students and parents/carers at feeder schools. We offer new starter parents evenings where parents/carers and children are able to meet there new tutor and ask any questions they have with regards to moving the students to BCHS. In addition to this we also offer individual meetings with parents/carers and tours of the school to allow students and parents/carers to feel more at ease before the students move.

We offer a number of visits and excursions to a variety of career pathway and employability based activities throughout the academic year for KS4 students. This is from a range of providers which include the Northumberland County Council Careers and Enterprise service as well as Newcastle University and ‘The Launch Group’ who are delivering a bespoke programme to Year 11 students.

Year 11 students have a variety of opportunities to receive careers information including a ‘Future Pathways’ event at which colleges, apprenticeship training providers as well as Armed Services are available to discuss courses and post 16 options.

All year 11 students participate in a ‘Career Speed Dating’ event.

Careers based workshops are delivered throughout key times of the academic year these include college applications and personal statement writing, interview preparation and apprenticeship seeking. All year 11 students have the opportunity to attend a 1:1 independent careers interview at the start and middle of the year. Transitional support is also delivered by the Senior Leadership Team/Student Performance Leaders/Tutors and Head of Sixth Form, with the added support of our Service Level Agreements with external providers such as the Northumberland Careers and Employability Service.

All Year 11 students have access to our ‘Post 16 Options Evening and are invited to additional evening linked with university advice evening

SIMS Integrated Website

As of September as part of the schools new website parents/carers will be able to access their Childs SIMS page from home. This will allow parents/carers to check their child’s reports behaviour and attendance daily and liaise instantly with the school about the concerns they have.

Celebration Events

We offer numerous celebration events throughout the year and these celebrate things from achievement to progress to attendance. These are a chance for parents/carers to come in and see their students be rewarded for their efforts through the year.

Raising Achievement Group Parents Evening

As part of the raising achievement group students are identified and their parents/carers are invited in to several information evenings showing how they can help their students to progress in their GCSE studies.

Parental Surveys

Every year we conduct a parental survey which asks parents/carers their views on everything to do with the school. The replies are then collated into reports which are then used to aid the future developments in the school.

Accessibility

All entrances to the school have ramps fitted to allow wheelchair access.
The school has disabled toilets/facilities located in the Year Block

Please see the Accessibility Police for further details and information.

Policies

All policies such as Behaviour, SEND, Safeguarding and Equality and Diversity policies are available on the school website.

The schools self-evaluation process looks in detail at teaching and learning for all students individually including those with a special educational need and/or disability.

BCHS evaluate and review all policies on a regular basis with a focus on the impact on all students including those with a special educational need.

These are updated annually and are on the school website via the link to School Policies.

How BCHS Inform Parents and Carers How Their Child or Young Person is Progressing

BCHS will carry out internal assessments on a frequent basis in all subjects. Each student will receive three reports in an academic year. Two reports will be an Electronic Progress Check (EPC) which include subject teacher assessments, subject concerns and the student’s attitude towards learning within each subject. The third report will include the EPC and written feedback on performance and how to make improvements from all subject teachers as well as form tutor comments.

In addition to these reporting arrangements, BCHS contact parents/carers on a regular basis sharing information of both achievements and areas of difficulty within school. This is carried out using a number of key staff. The SENDCO, Student Performance Leaders and Key Workers (LSA who works closely with an individual child or young person) will make frequent contact via phone calls, and if necessary invite parents or carers to attend a meeting to discuss the student and the steps that can be taken to support them.

In addition to the key staff listed above, class teachers and form tutors are encouraged to contact parents/carers via phone calls and using student planners to have an open dialogue between school and home. An option of using a home to school diary to help transfer information and maintain good lines of communication can also be a valuable tool.

How the Curriculum at BCHS will Support the Needs of Children and Young People including those with SEND

Mrs. Pritchard is responsible for liaising with parents and carers regarding the curriculum that their children or young person will follow in each academic year. Before the start of the academic year, a Curriculum Overview will be sent to all parents/carers which informs them in detail of what aspects are involved in each of the subjects taught at BCHS. RALs have overall responsibility for curriculum. For the full curriculum overview for each subject please see the curriculum section of the website.

BCHS Supports the Development and Progress of Children and Young People including those with SEND in a Number of Ways

Planning, Assessment and Review

Access to teaching and learning for students with special educational needs is monitored through the schools self-evaluation process, Student Progress Centre, Form Tutors and Subject departments.
Teaching resources are routinely evaluated to ensure they are accessible to all students.
Interventions are reviewed after each half term and based on a 6 week cycle.

The Role of the Subject Teacher

All teachers understand that there is a wide range of ability within each class and provide differentiated work. This involves making sure that each student has access to the curriculum through the delivery of appropriate courses, programmes of study and modifications to the way lessons are completed.
Raising Achievement Leaders play an important role ensuring that a suitable range of teaching assessment methods and resources are available and meet the needs of all learners including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities.
Every teacher contributes to the assessment, monitoring, and recording of progress of all students including those with special educational needs.
Subject teachers access the Support Register and Student Profile Sheets via the staff shared area.

The Role of Subject Departments

All RALs meet regularly to discuss various school needs and this is an opportunity where the SENDCo is able to share key information regarding any SEND information which is then disseminated to subject teachers.
It is the responsibility of each Raising Achievement Leader to ensure that all students have access to the National Curriculum and that this can be delivered in a way that is suited the needs of the individual.
Each department will provide differentiated work for the full range of ability and this will be apparent with their schemes of work.
All teachers at school are aware of the importance of identifying students within their subject area who have special educational needs. Once the student is identified, the RAL will refer them to the SENDCO.
Each subject area has a member of the Student Progress Department attached to them as a key link. During departmental meetings SEND is a regular item which is championed by the Student Progress Department key link attending the meetings.
The monitoring of progress of all students, including those with a special educational need, is the responsibility of all of the teachers of these students.

The Role of Learning Support Assistants (LSAs)