Special Education Needs

 

High School & Sports College welcomes students with many different special educational needs, such as learning difficulties, dyslexia and dyspraxia.

All students are in mainstream classes, with support and specialist teaching as necessary. The learning support department co-ordinates provision for these students.

 

Identifying Needs

We visit feeder schools to find out about SEN students.

We give standardised literacy tests to Year 7. Teaching assistants, teachers and Heads’ of Year tell us if any students are struggling. We encourage parents to contact us and many do so.

 

Providing information 

Through the IEPs, we provide information to teachers and parents. We also put details of meetings, provision and difficulties into students' virtual files.

 

In-class support

Teaching assistants support in many lessons each week. Statemented students are our highest priority, then those on School Action Plus and those on School Action.

 

Specialist Teaching 

We teach a number of students each week, individually, in pairs or groups. We appreciate how disruptive it can be for a student to miss a lesson, so we only do it when absolutely necessary.


Individual Education Plans

An Individual Education Plan helps teachers, teaching assistants, students, parents and outside professionals work together to help each SEN student make progress.

For teachers, the learning support department has developed a system of IEP summaries, but what does the IEP mean?

 

SEN Stage

Statement:

For students with the greatest needs, there is a legal agreement to provide a specified amount of support, to meet agreed targets. These students have the highest priority for support.

School Action Plus:

These students' needs are so great that they need help from other professionals, such as a specialist teacher, an Educational Psychologist or an Education Welfare Officer, as well as different ways of teaching or extra resources.

School Action:

These are students who need different ways of teaching or extra resources (e.g. different worksheets or LSA support in some lessons)

A few students do not have a stage next to their name. These students are not officially on the SEN Register, so they won't have full IEPs, but teachers need to follow the advice given in their summary.

 

Class Teachers

The 2001 Code of Practice says that class teachers are largely responsible for meeting the diverse needs of SEN students in their classes. They should this by using the suggested strategies for class teachers.

However, differentiation is the key to meeting students' needs. It is having a variety of books, worksheets, teaching and assessment methods in a class. National guidelines (OFSTED, the Code of Practice and Inclusion legislation) say that this is what should be in place, even in classes set by ability. The learning support department is happy to advise.

Finally, when teachers write reports for SEN students, they need to refer to the IEPs.

 

Teaching Assistants

Students with Statements are legally entitled to extra support. Most get about five hours extra support per week, in subjects where the need is greatest. We nearly always support in class rather than withdrawing students, so that they get extra help to access the curriculum, without missing lessons.

After Statemented students, our next priority is students at School Action Plus, then those at School Action stage on the SEN Register.

 

 

Useful Links

Asperger Syndrome - go to www.asperger.org.uk for more information

Asthma - go to www.asthma.org.uk for more information

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) - go to www.pavilion.co.uk/add/english.html for more information

Diabetes - go to www.diabetes.org.uk for more information

Dyslexia (Specific Learning Difficulties) - go to www.dyslexiaaction.org.uk/ for more information

Dyspraxia - go to www.dyspraxiafoundation.org.uk for more information

Epilepsy - go to www.epilepsy.org.uk for more information

Hearing Impairment (HI) - go to www.britishdeafassociation.org.uk for more information

Language Processing Difficulties - go to www.ican.org.uk for more information

Moderate Learning Difficulties (Global Learning Difficulties) - go to www.learningdisabilities.org.uk/ for more information