SEND Transition Offer

Pupils on roll: 848

% of identified SEND: 9.4%

Mixed/single sex school: Mixed

Additional commission services:

• Words First (SALT) – 1 day per week
• Place2Be – full-time mental health practitioner onsite

Staffing:

• Assistant Principal for Inclusion
• SENCo
• Deputy SENCo
• HLTA
• 5 Learning Support Assistants
• Inclusion Manager
• 4 Pastoral Leaders (linked to colleges)
• Head of Key Stage (linked to colleges)

Partnership working:

Specialist Teaching and Learning Services: specialist teachers work with the Academy to support a number of students within the school.

We commission educational psychology hours and use this to support students and supervise the work we complete in school.

Via the Leigh Academies Trust, we utilise the network of SENCos and use this to support and improve our provision.

Specialism/experience: 

There is a wealth of experience within the SEN and Inclusion team:

• The SENCo has experience in special schools, as well as being a trauma informed practitioner
• The Deputy SENCo is a qualified Primary School teacher. This enables the SEN team to meet the needs of those students who are not yet at a Key Stage 3 curriculum level, as well as provide support and insight into the transition process 
• The HLTA is a mental health first aider and has a wealth of experience in both SEN and pastoral
• The LSAs lead on areas of SEN, acting as SEN representatives. They complete CPD around these areas and this is publicised around the school

Home school communication (e.g. email, contact book, meetings):

All students have a tutor. This is the first point of contact for home. They meet students in the morning and at the end of day during tutor time.

Those students on the SEN register are assigned a key worker (a member of the SEN team), who will oversee their Provision Plan and will meet with the pupil and family three times a year. This is also someone you can speak with if you have a concern around their SEN support.

All students sit within a college. They have a Head of Key Stage and a Pastoral Leader who will support them pastorally, as well as monitor behaviour, attendance and engagement with learning.

Regular parents’ evenings are held throughout the academic year. This provides parents/carers the opportunity to talk to class teachers about their child’s progress in individual subjects. The SENCo is always present at these events.

For high need students (EHCP etc.) weekly phone calls/emails can be arranged, however this is based on need and is not the normal way of working.

Using the Mainstream Core Standards to successfully include all pupils

Successful strategies to support all pupils with SEND or who may be vulnerable

Wrap around support for students with SEN: meet and greet in the Hub, lunch and break club in the Hub and a SEN specific homework group twice a week.

All students on the SEN register are issued with a Pupil Passport. This is shared with teaching and support staff and details how best to support students with their learning. Most importantly it captures the student’s voice and allows them to lead how they are supported within the classroom.

The Academy uses Universal Design for Learning. This ensures that lessons are appropriately scaffolded and differentiated for all learners.

Additional Relevant Information

The Academy has a SEN base called the Hub. This is manned by the Learning Support assistants and is open before and after school, as well as during break and lunch. Students who would benefit from this provision are issued with a Hub pass.

The SEN provision is known as Endeavour. This is managed by the Assistant Vice Principal for Inclusion, SENCo and Inclusion manager. Via the school referral system, fortnightly ‘team around the child’ meetings are held with the Pastoral Leaders. Those students who require support, above and beyond the universal offer and their Pupil Passports are referred to the team and appropriate interventions and/or external support is sought.

Testimonials About the Hub

• “I like the Hub, because it is calming and you can just sit down and relax. No one is mean.”
• “I like the Hub because it is calm and chill. There is no shouting which is nice.”
• “I like being here [Ebbsfleet] because it is fun and enjoyable.”
• Parent of a year 7 student with an EHCP
  “I just know you are doing everything to help my son. The support you give him is wonderful, I can’t thank you enough.”
• Parent of a year 11 student
  “The SEN team this year have really helped our daughter. They understand her and have supported her, even without her formal diagnosis’.

C & I Provision

• LEGO Therapy
• PEERs Intervention Programme
• Social Stories
• Circle of Friends
• Timeout Cards

C & L Provision

• All students have access to a Chromebook
• Read and Write assistive technology
• Coloured exercise books
• Timetabled Literacy and Numeracy interventions (Years 7, 8 & 9)
• Comprehension interventions
• Phonics Interventions

Physical Disability Provision
e.g. accessible routes

• Movement Pass
• Lift Pass
• Buddy System

SEMH Provision

• Zones of Regulation
• RAG cards
• Place2Be and Place2Talk
• Talkabout for Teenagers: range of interventions through this programme
• Think Good, Feel Good
• Mental Health First Aiders
• Art Therapy

Sensory Needs

• Sensory circuits
• Sensory area in the Endeavour Room
• Fiddle Toys
• Doodle Books
• Ear defenders and Loops are allowed, and written into support plans