SEND

Here at St Bede’s, we have a highly skilled team of Teaching and Learning Mentors who support the children in all areas of their development, providing advice and support where needed but also encouraging independence. 

We are an extremely approachable and positive team who will listen to your concerns and questions carefully – your knowledge in supporting your child is extremely important to us. â€‹ Form Tutors, Subject Teachers and our Pastoral Team work closely with the Learning Support Team to monitor their social, emotional and mental health development child, ensuring they enjoy school and make exceptional academic progress in their lessons.

We take time to understand the needs of your child and to maintain a consistent approach.  Key information is disseminated to staff so that strategies and appropriate support can be put into place at the right time. 

St Bede’s have children within school with a broad spectrum of Special Educational Needs - inclusion is extremely important to us as we know that children with additional needs achieve great things.  As Staff, we undertake regular training in all areas of SEN and reasonable adjustments are made on a daily basis so that your child can succeed in all areas of their school lives.

During playtimes, we have a range of activities and clubs available for children with Special Educational Needs as we know that playgrounds and unstructured times can cause anxiety in some children.  We also provide a range of short and long-term specific interventions - these include Lego Therapy to help develop social skills, Lexia to help develop reading and spelling skills plus motor coordination programmes to develop core strength.

Occasionally and with your consent, if we need further support (for example for differences/difficulties associated with neurodiversity) we may seek advice from a range of external specialists such as our Educational Psychologist, Learning Support Team or Sensory Impairment Team.  

We have recently been awarded ‘Inclusion Centre of Excellence’ by Inclusion Quality Mark, of which we are extremely proud.

On 1st September 2014, new legislation came into effect for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities [SEND]. The SEND Code of Practice: 0-25 years (DfE, January 2015) provides schools with statutory guidance to ensure that the right provision is provided for all pupils with SEND so that they succeed with their education and make a successful transition to adulthood.

What Does It Mean If My Child Is Identified as Having SEND?

If your child is identified as having a special educational need, you will be informed by our Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator [SENCo], Mr West. With your consent, your child will be added to our school SEND register at ‘SEN Support’. An Individual Provision Map and Pupil Passport will be created for your child, relating to their personal area/s of need.

What Are The Different Areas of SEND?

The needs of a child with SEND will fall under one or more of these four areas, as outlined in the SEND Code of Practice:

• Communication and Interaction
• Cognition and Learning
• Social, Emotional and Mental Health difficulties
• Sensory and/or Physical needs

What Support Will My Child Get In School?

Every child at St. Bede’s receives quality first teaching within the classroom but for those pupils who may require further support, additional help may be provided through individual or group interventions. Resources may also be provided to support your child with their learning in the classroom.

A referral may also be made to an outside agency to seek further advice and support for your child. Parental consent is always gained before any referral is made. 

Intent, Implementation and Impact

Curriculum for Pupils with Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities

Intent:

At St. Bede’s Catholic Middle School, we strongly believe that every pupil including all pupils with Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities (SEND) have an equal right to an education, that enables them to develop fully, and which values them as individuals.

We are committed to offering an inclusive curriculum to ensure the best possible progress for all of our pupils, whatever their background, needs or abilities.

We have the same high expectations for pupils with SEND as we do for all pupils in school. Through our high-quality provision, we aim to ensure that pupils with SEND:

• Are identified early.
• Are at the centre of discussions and decisions.
• Have access to a broad, balanced, and ambitious curriculum through quality first teaching.
• Feel valued, included, and motivated to learn.
• Enjoy school.
• Make progress to achieve their personal best.
• Are equipped with tools to become more independent learners.
• Develop as rounded individuals with high aspirations, who are able to make a contribution to the community.
• Experience a range of successes and develop a positive sense of self.
• Within our setting, we aim to.
• Minimise barriers to a child’s participation in all aspects of school life.
• Build positive, trusting partnerships between school, pupils, home, and external agencies.
• Regularly adapt and personalise teaching approaches, learning environments and resources to meet the changing needs of our pupils.
• Provide high quality training to all staff as well as those supporting pupils with SEND.
• Regularly monitor the progress of pupils.

Implementation:

Supporting pupils with SEND is a whole-school responsibility; every teacher is a teacher of SEND at St. Bede’s. We ensure that inclusion remains at the forefront of practice across school through:

• All children receiving quality first teaching as the ordinarily available offer, with all staff having ambitious expectations and making the necessary adjustments needed in order to offer a full and balanced curriculum to every pupil.
• Assess-plan-do-review cycles being embedded in daily practice with teachers understanding the importance of early identification through observations, monitoring of progress and close liaison with the SENCo and Inclusion Team.
• Personalised resources being in place to overcome an individual child’s barriers to learning and to enable more independence in the classroom.
• Specific 1:1 or small group intervention to further support pupils within any of the four areas of special educational need (Communication and Interaction, Cognition and Learning, Social, Emotional and Mental Health [SEMH] and Sensory and/or Physical). These may include Phonics, Precision Teaching, Speech and Language programmes, Building Together Club (Lego-based Therapy), Thrive, Smart Moves.
• Individual Provision Maps and pupil passports are in place for all pupils on the SEND register which document their needs, personalised targets and support they have received. Targets are reviewed with parents at the end of each term using progress data, observations and external agency reviews with new, smart targets set using agency recommendations.
• Close collaboration with a number of external agencies including our Educational Psychologist, Speech and Language Therapists, the Learning Support Team, the Complex Communication Needs Team, the Behaviour Support Team, family support worker and mental health worker.
• Regular training led by the SENCo, pastoral team, subject leaders, and external professionals, with support and advice provided where necessary.  Drop-ins for staff with agencies and termly Pupil Progress Meetings to discuss each individual pupil with SEND. 
• Carefully planned transition during the summer term at all levels; for those joining school, those moving year groups, those moving key stages and those moving to high school. Our school transition days see all pupils spend time with their new teachers and teaching assistants in their new classrooms for at least two days. Enhanced transition is put in place for those with a higher level of need or anxiety, which may include extra visits to the new classroom, a photograph transition book to take home over the summer holidays and extra opportunities to meet staff and engage in a fun and relaxed activity with them.

Impact:

As recognised during our Inclusion Quality Mark [IQM] external assessment,

“Inclusion permeates every aspect of school policy and practice.  A lot of thought and consideration is given to ensuring that inclusion is a whole school priority. Children matter here and this is clearly a child-centred school where children come first. Everybody I met at the school expressed their commitment to inclusion.  They are well aware of the barriers that children face, and they do everything in their power to remove those barriers.”

 

As a result of this:

• · Pupils with SEND make good progress from their starting points, both academically and with their social and emotional development.
• · The strong partnerships and respect between teachers, teaching assistants, external agencies and parents ensure that pupils with SEND are provided with quality first teaching in accessible, welcoming, and engaging learning environments, with reasonable adjustments made to the curriculum and learning activities tailored to the child’s individual needs so that they can access their year group curriculum in the classroom with their peers.
• · Regular monitoring of the progress of children with SEND ensures that intervention is purposeful and matched to the child’s specific area/s of need.
• · Carefully implemented teaching approaches, resources and experiences enable pupils to develop independence, whilst ensuring that they still feel safe, secure, and cared for.
• · The focus on the development of character and self-esteem supports pupils to build self-confidence, resilience, and independence in the classroom, developing important life skills to support them beyond their time at St. Bede’s and into their adult life.
•  · Good quality, relevant training is provided for staff to develop specific targets and programmes of support tailored to the child’s individual needs. Strategies, advice, and regular reviews contribute to the assess-plan-do-review cycle, ensuring that pupils’ Individual Provision Map targets are reviewed accurately and that Annual Reviews for those pupils with an Education, Health, and Care Plan [EHCP] are a true reflection of the pupil’s continuing strengths and needs.
•  · Parents feel supported and listened to, trusting that the best possible educational experience is being provided for their child.
• · All pupils from Year 5 through to Year 8, regardless of need or disability, are provided with a range of exciting opportunities and varied experiences. They enjoy coming to school and they thrive.

Parents and Carers Information

Please click on the link below to see all the information parents and carers will need about inclusion.