Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Report

Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Report

Our Aims and Values:

Aims

To secure the highest possible academic standards and levels of challenge for our pupils and to prepare our pupils for life after school.

To provide a curriculum that is broad, balanced and relevant to each pupil.

To create a happy and positive learning environment, fostering mutual respect, consideration for others and personal responsibility.

To be committed to developing positive relationships with parents, promoting education as a partnership between home and school.

To provide a school based experience for all our pupils which promotes equality of opportunity and seeks to overcome barriers to their achievement.

To prepare our pupils for life after school so they are able to access the best opportunities in further education and the world of work.

To encourage our pupils to be creative and independent learners.

To establish effective working relationships with other professionals for the benefit of all.

To promote Turves Green Girls’ School as part of the wider community.

To provide a safe and caring environment in which all pupils can make a positive contribution to their learning, school and community.

To provide the best possible environment and inspirational teaching by using current technology and new approaches in the classroom.

Values

Every child and every member of staff at Turves Green Girls’ School matters.

We continually strive to promote and nurture the health and well-being of our pupils.

We believe that making a better school for our pupils arises from a consultative and collaborative approach, respecting the views of our stakeholders.

We actively promote the sharing of good practice both within the school and through extended partnerships to provide the very best opportunities for our pupils.

We actively promote the school as a community which aspires to gain experience beyond our geographical horizons.

We strive to combat gender stereotyping and aim for our pupils to be fully prepared to take active roles in their future.

How to speak to the SENCo or relevant staff if you have a concern:

Contact Carolyn Martin via the school office on 0121 464 8346 or via email . Carolyn will strive to respond to your contact as soon as possible.

How we try to make the information about your child clear and easily understood:
Pupils who have Special Educational Needs and their parents will be invited to Individual Education Plan meetings where academic progress and interventions are reviewed and changes made to support your daughter. In addition, three times a year all parents receive an academic report, showing progress across all subjects. Finally, between academic reports, parents can contact their daughter’s Head of Year (0121 4648346)to request an up-to-date report on how their daughter is doing.

How we ensure the necessary people know about your daughter’s needs:

At the start of each academic year all staff receive a SEND Register prepared by the SEND Team that lists all pupils’ special needs. Teachers consult this document for information relating to the classes they teach, and record relevant details in their Teacher Planners.

What about when things change?

If new information comes to light, or if recommended teacher strategies change, all teaching staff are informed at a Teacher Briefing that takes place on Wednesday mornings, and all teachers receive an email confirmation of this information. The SEND Register is also updated and is accessible by staff throughout the year.

Which agencies might become involved?

Pupil and School Support
City of Birmingham Schools
Communication and Autism Team
Educational Psychologist

School also provides services such as mentors and counselling services. All information about what Birmingham City Council can offer in terms of supporting your daughter's needs can be found here:

If your child requires support from these services, school will always consult you and request written permission.

How we train staff to support the needs of your child:

Staff training is planned strategically by our Assistant Head Jacqui Hall in order to meet the needs of all our pupils and to continually develop and improve the practice of our staff. Some of our training (for Epilepsy, Asthma, Allergies or for how best to support children on the Autistic spectrum) is delivered by external specialists such as the Communication and Autism Team. Our Teaching Assistants also receive a wide range of external and school-based training, developing their own specialisms to support our SEND pupils.

How we ensure good teaching for your child and how we give extra support if your child needs it:

We offer support through some key interventions. We identify the students by looking closely at their progress and what we can do to support them.

Teaching and support staff will be able to accurately assess the level children are working at and differentiate the curriculum:

We use a range of criteria and evidence to help us identify the level/grade students are working at. This might include:

• Checking the words children can read and spell independently

• Moderating writing together

• Making observations, particularly literacy, communication skills and numeracy

• Use of tests, where appropriate

This helps teachers to plan work for all children to make progress. The work and support will be different for different groups of students.

We use the following to support students with additional needs to become independent learners:

• Interventions

• One to one or group support

• Learning mentors

• Adapted tasks and resources

Where necessary, resources will be available to support the learning of students who have significant social and/or communication needs.

We work with the Communication and Autism Team. Members of the team observe, assess and offer advice on ways to support students with autism. We can provide a quiet place for students that need time out.

How we ensure that parents and children with additional needs are fully included in all school activities:

We believe all our pupils should be able to access the wide variety of opportunities and activities offered by our school. When planning activities or educational visits we go to great lengths to meet the requirements of all pupils. Carl Smith (our Educational Visits Coordinator) is available via reception ( or 0121 4648346)

How we ensure that your child has work pitched at the right level to make good progress:

All our teachers are trained to differentiate tasks to meet the needs of different abilities within our classes. In addition most of our teaching groups are set by ability, with additional classroom support where necessary.

What resources does the school offer if my child has significant social and/or communication needs?

We have our own qualified support staff to work with students in small withdrawal groups to develop social and/or communication needs, including Teaching Assistants and Learning mentors.

We also work in close communication and have experts from other agencies to come in and work with students that continue to struggle with social and/or communication needs:

· CAT – Communication and Autism Team

· COBS – City of Birmingham Schools

· The Edge Academy

If your daughter needs the support of these agencies, we will ask for your permission for them to work with your child and will regularly review their progress and keep you up to date.

What sorts of learning resources are available for my child?

We have specialist intervention and withdrawal groups to support students that are not making the required progress in a specific aspect of learning and development, this is identified through the monitoring progress:

Every teacher will differentiate their lessons according to the needs of the individual students.
Accelerated reader / Literacy Boosters / Numeracy boosters – to support with literacy and numeracy.
Family Learning Programme where Mr Humphries works with parents and daughters.
Specific literacy support – for students that show signs of dyslexia traits e.g. spelling errors, muddling words up – handwriting skills for fine motor problems
Social Skills group work and one to one mentoring

If your daughter needs these additional resources to support her learning, we will ask for your permission for him to be withdrawn from some subjects, sometimes it will be for a brief period; sometimes we may have to follow up with further support or seek external agency support.

What support is available if my child needs support with managing behaviour or dealing with social situations?

We have a strong pastoral team which will discuss behaviour or social problems with you as they arise. If we agree that matters require more sustained intervention, we run anger management courses, self-confidence courses and other 1-2-1 and small group work to support children. If a child’s behaviour is damaging the learning of others, we take the additional step of establishing an Individual Behaviour Plan, which will involve regular meetings with parents.

In rare instances we will also look to work with the Edge Academy to arrange short term or longer term placements in a different environment with smaller groups and more specialist staff.

How we will work with you to identify your child’s needs:

We will work in partnership with you to identify the needs of your child and put in place the correct support including family support if you need this.

The governing body has a duty to ensure that the school adheres to the new Code of Practice under the Children and Families Act 2014. This means that the school governors hold the Headteacher and SENCo, Mrs Martin to account for this.

The governing body appoints a governor who is specifically responsible for special educational needs to ensure that the school and the SENCo carry out their duties. This governor is Alison Jones (who can be contacted via the clerk to the governors – Sharon Killeen ( or 0121 4648346 ).

One of the key responsibilities of the governing body is to make sure that the school’s policy for children with disability and special educational needs (SEND) is published on the school website. The information on the school website must be reviewed annually by the governing body.

The governing body also has a responsibility to ensure that appropriate safeguarding procedures are in place for all pupils, including those who are at risk. The Deputy Head, Neil Jones is our Designated Safeguarding and works closely with Karen Southall our Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead.

How we will ask for your permission to involve other professionals to work with your child:

If Mrs Martin decides it is appropriate to seek help, support and advice from outside agencies, she will discuss this with your prior to making a referral.

How we will involve your child in decisions about their learning:

Children supported through School Intervention – Learning: Parents will be invited to regular Individual Education Plan reviews, where the progress and needs of your daughter will be discussed and agreed. These meetings will also involve your daughter.

Children supported through School intervention – Emotional, Social and Behavioural: Parents will be invited to regular Individual Behaviour Plan meetings where progress and interventions are discussed and agreed. These meetings will also include your daughter.

How we will involve you in all decisions and listen to your views:

How we can support you in contacting organisations who can give advice and support:

Useful links: