SEND

A child or young person has special educational needs if they have a learning difficulty or disability which calls for special educational provision to be made for him or her. This is outlined in paragraphs xiii to xvi of the Code of Practice, 2014, as follows:

A child of compulsory academy 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 educational facilities of a kind generally provided for others of the same age in mainstream academies or mainstream post 16 institutions A child under compulsory academy age has special educational needs if he or she is likely to fall within the definition in paragraph xiv when they reach compulsory academy age or would do if special educational provision was not made for them.

The Code of Practice defines special educational provision in paragraph xv as follows:

• Special educational provision for children aged two and over is educational provision that is additional to or different from that made generally available for other children or young people of the same age by mainstream academies, maintained nursery academies, and mainstream post 16 institutions or by relevant early years providers. For a child under two years of age, special educational provision means educational provision of any kind.

National figures indicate increased SEND across mainstream academies. This means that mainstream academies will always be required to employ a range of strategies to support the progress of individual or groups of children.

Although the needs of children and young people often co-occur across more than one ‘area of need’, the Code of Practice uses four main categories of need:

• Communication and Interaction (C&I)
• Cognition and Learning (C&L)
• Social, Emotional and Mental health (SEMH)
• Sensory and/or Physical (S&P)

At The Sutton Academy, we meet the needs of all our students by using the graduated approach, the advice and support of other specialist professionals and practitioners and by ensuring that we have appropriate resources available.

The identification of SEND is built into the overall approach to monitoring the progress and development of all students.

The academy assesses each student’s current skills and levels of attainment on entry through baseline tests building on information from previous settings and key stages where appropriate.

Further assessment and screening may be necessary for some students. 

The academy also considers information provided from a previous setting.

Parents, the class teacher or other professionals, within or outside the academy, may also express concerns which trigger further investigation, observation and/or assessment. These may refer to a child’s difficulties in coping with the normal demands of the academy. For example, attendance; punctuality; social concerns; medical concerns; speech and language; learning; behaviour; and possible neglect or abuse. Where a student routinely demonstrates challenging behaviour, the possibility that poor conduct is being driven by an underlying unmet special educational need must be fully explored.

Class and subject teachers, supported by the Senior Leadership Team, make regular assessments of progress for all students. These seek to identify students making less than expected progress given their age and individual circumstances.

The academy is also alert to other events that can lead to learning difficulties or wider mental health difficulties, such as bereavement. Where there are long lasting difficulties, the academy will consider whether the student has SEND.

When identifying SEND, the academy is mindful of the following:

• Slow progress and low attainment do not necessarily mean that the child has SEND
• Attainment in line with chronological age does not mean there is no learning difficulty or disability
• Students with English as an additional language who require support should not be regarded as having SEND unless assessment shows that they have learning difficulties in addition to second language support
• Persistent disruptive or withdrawn behaviours do not mean that a student has SEND

Where it is decided that a student does have SEND, the student is added to the SEND Register and parents are formally informed that the academy has decided to provide SEND support and the academy will arrange to write a Student Profile to support the child.

Robust transition systems are important for students with SEND to ensure that appropriate provision and support is in place when students move between different phases of education.

We request specific information from the previous setting and all documentation about special educational needs included in a student's record is transferred between academies when a student moves setting.

The Sutton Academy values the partnership between home and school and is committed to developing supportive dialogues to address any concerns.

In the first instance, parents and carers are encouraged to contact the Head of Year or subject teacher to discuss any concerns.

If you still have additional concerns please email Mrs Herron SENCo, or Mrs C Ward if your child is in Gold, to discuss further.

To ensure early identification of need and to support students with identified SEND, the academy follows a cycle of ‘assess, plan, do, review’ which leads to an ever-increasing understanding of needs and how to address them. This is known as the ‘graduated approach’. The examples below are designed to illuminate the process but are not exhaustive in how the graduated approach may be used.

The teacher may notice that a student is not accessing the lesson or making progress as they might expect.

The teacher should observe and assess the student and should document their observation of distinct behaviour or responses to tasks or activities in the classroom. If the student has a Student Profile, the teacher should assess whether the adaptive strategies are supporting desired outcomes.

If the student has already been identified in a previous cycle of the graduated approach, the SENDCo, or other external professional, may assess a specific aspect of progress by observing or assessing the student.

Plan

If the student is not already on the SEND Register the teacher should consider the student’s presentation of need and consider which adaptive strategies would be most effective in supporting the student.

For students on the SEND Register, the teacher views and observations will feed into the Student Profile review process. Intervention or programme outcomes will also be taken into consideration as the Student Profile is reviewed and updated.

The SENDCo will review progress of any specific intervention programmes and feed the outcomes into the next graduated approach cycle.

Most students’ learning needs are met through quality first teaching where class teachers use a range of evidence-informed adaptive teaching strategies. The table below demonstrates the overarching strategies that teachers at our academy apply flexibly depending on a student’s need:

Vision for implementation

Teachers personalise their teaching for students with SEND by using the Student Profile to inform their planning and delivery for individual students.

Teachers provide opportunities for students with SEND to experience success by:

• Ensuring that support from learning support assistants and other professionals is planned and targeted and never used as a replacement for high-quality teaching
• Adapting lessons while maintaining high expectations for all, so that all students have the opportunity to experience success
• Making reasonable adjustments, and implementing structured academic or behavioural interventions that are well-matched to students’ needs before seeking a diagnosis or specialist support

Teachers adapt their teaching to different student needs by:

• Sharing effective approaches for scaffolding new content and removing scaffolds over time
• Using different forms of assessment
• Seeking advice when teaching children with special educational needs and disabilities, particularly the SENDCo

In order to ensure a smooth transition to and from our academy we have the following in place:

Teachers receive a variety of training via a range of providers including external agencies, the local authority SEND team and via CPD and coaching.

We do not expect all teachers to be experts in every area of SEND but where there is a prevalence of need on the academy SEND register, we will provide targeted training in specific SEND needs and the strategies that support progress. We may also provide specific training for groups of teachers on one student’s individual needs if their needs require it. Training may be delivered by appropriate providers including:

• The academy SENDCo or senior team
• Advisory teachers from the Local Authority or Educational Psychologist from the Local Authority
• Speech and Language therapist
• Private training provider
• SEND briefings are delivered on a regular basis to meet needs identified by staff

A SEND Register is stored centrally as well as the student’s support plan, known as the ‘Student Profile’. This contains all relevant information to enable all teachers and support staff to support students appropriately.

Specific interventions to support barriers to learning are offered to students as part of the ‘Panel’ process and graduated approach.

The academy’s ‘Panel’ responds to increasing need for pastoral care and emotional support for learners. The Panel holds a risk register of the most vulnerable students who require sustained pastoral support and provides a comprehensive support package to meet these needs, drawing on external provision where required. To ensure the needs of students with SEND are fully understood, the academy SENDCo is a member of the Panel.

We use a range of data including attendance, behaviour and learning assessments to determine whether a student may benefit from a short term intervention to support their learning, behaviour or emotional health.

Interventions are evidence informed and tracked via a baseline and exit assessment.

Table 7: Intervention Programmes

For those students with physical disabilities necessary adaptations are made to enable full access to the curriculum and learning environment. These may include:

• Use of lifts and ramp where required
• Changes to classroom layout and seating plans
• For children with sensory and OT needs we provide equipment such as writing slopes, pencil grips or fidget toys
• Specialist physio equipment
• Use of ancillary aids and assistive technology

The pastoral system aims to ensure effective pastoral support to all our students. A Senior Leader responsible for pastoral, inclusion and safeguarding matters ensures there is an integrated approach to dealing with the social and emotional development of all students within the academy.

The pastoral system incorporates year teams with members of the senior leadership team linked to heads of year, achievement leaders and a team of form tutors.

Students are allocated to a form class led by a form tutor. The form tutor sees students daily and liaises with the head of year, assistant head of year, member of the senior leadership team and parents if there are any concerns or issues.

The academy’s student code of conduct and behaviour policy make clear our expectations for students and the ways in which we promote outstanding behaviour and marginalise poor behaviour. The academy sets high expectations for behaviour. It encourages students to behave well through rewarding positive behaviour and deals effectively with unsatisfactory behaviour.

For students with SEND there will be a personalised approach to behaviour management which makes reasonable adjustments to the general guidance set out above. Teachers and senior leaders within the academy must be aware of the content of the Student Profile for students whose special educational needs might be manifested in challenging behaviour.

The academy will always consider whether they have made the required reasonable adjustments prior to a behaviour incident under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 and the Equality Act 2010 when considering the use of sanctions. The type and severity any sanctions should be clearly justifiable in the context of the student’s individual circumstances. Following a behavioural incident, the content of the Student Profile should be reviewed to establish whether lessons can be learned which would prevent a similar occurrence in the future.

In some cases, outside professionals from health or social services may already be involved with the child. These professionals should liaise with the academy to help inform the assessments. Where professionals are not already working with academy staff the SENCO should contact them if the parents agree. Code of Practice 6.47

The academy is committed to working with other professionals and practitioners to maximise the learning opportunities and well-being of our students. We ensure that we always seek the expert advice of education and health professionals to ensure the maximum impact of our interventions whilst minimising duplication and disruption for students, families, and practitioners. 

To do this, we:

• Listen to parents to ensure we know which services they use and are valued by them
• Ensure that we contact all practitioners working with our students to invite them to relevant meetings and reviews
• Use person centred approaches with all our students who have SEND to ensure that interventions are coordinated and so add extra value
• Value the contribution of all
• Engage with local authority services in a timely and professional way

The SENDCo and relevant staff meet regularly with external stakeholders including advisory teachers from the local authority inclusion team. External engagement includes:

Table 8: External Engagement

To ensure equality of access for examinations, the SENDCo oversees the process for access arrangements for examination in line with the statutory guidance issued annually by the Joint Council for Qualifications

Funding to support the majority of SEND students is delegated to the academy’s budget. It is the expectation that mainstream academys provide support to their students with SEND from their notional SEND budget. Where the academy is not able to meet the needs of a student from its budget, we will seek top-up funding from the local authority via an application for an EHCP.

Where a student is in receipt of additional funding allocated via an EHCP the academy will use its best endeavours to ensure it is spent effectively to meet the needs of the student and to deliver the outcomes as set out in the EHCP. If the funding attached to the EHCP is not adequate to meet needs, we would request that the Local Authority review and increase the funding.

Code of Practice guidance states that: Education, health and care plans are required by those students:

• Where the resources required to meet their special educational needs, cannot reasonably be provided from the resources normally available to mainstream providers; and
• Who have a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others of the same age

Low attainment does not automatically indicate a need for an education, health and care plan needs assessment as the progress made may still represent adequate progress relative to the child/young person’s ability.

Parents and the student will always be consulted prior to any application for an education, health and care plan assessment of needs.

We encourage parents or prospective parents with specific questions to get in touch with our academy and we will endeavour to answer these.

We know that all parents want the best for their child, and we will always seek to resolve any concerns quickly. Where parents have a concern about the provision being made, they should contact the SENDCo who will try to resolve the issue.

Any individuals wishing to raise a formal complaint relating to the support provided for students with special educational needs should follow the academy’s complaints policy.