We have four categories of need:
At Childwall, students are identified as having a special educational need based on one or more of the above categories. Each student is seen as an individual, as are their specific needs, which may involve additional support, interventions and a differentiated approach.
If your child has an additional need, they will be placed on the Special Educational Needs Register and will be classed under the category of SEN Support.
If your child has an Education Health Care Plan, they will be added to the Special Educational Needs register and will be placed under the category of Education Health Care Plan.
Our SEND Policy is based on the Special Educational Needs Code of Practice, 2015 and this has helped us set out the procedures that all organisations need to follow in order to meet the needs of children.
This process starts during the transition period from Year 6 to 7. Once your child has been allocated a place at Childwall, we then liaise with the primary school and yourselves to gather the relevant information we require to ensure we understand and implement the relevant support package for your child. Our transition programme promotes a positive start to secondary school, with a good level of communication with yourselves to help prepare your child for their next step in education.
We use the information transferred from your child’s primary school to decide if your child will be placed on the SEND Register. A Support Plan will then be produced and shared with teaching and support staff to ensure we have a good understanding of your child and that we are implementing strategies to ensure they are able to access learning at an appropriate level and make progress. We also ensure that any external agencies who are working with your child are included at meetings and any reports they produce are used when creating the support plan.
Childwall follow the graduated response to SEND support. We use Quality First Teaching across the Curriculum, but we do understand that some of our students require additional support to this. The graduated response ensures we follow the Assess, Plan, Do and Review process. This involves regular assessments, along with a report home and a review 3 times per year (or each term). A good level of communication between home and school is encouraged and is beneficial for staff, parents and students. Communication with school can be accessed via email and phone calls to the SEND Team. We will invite you in for a termly review meeting, plus we can meet at the Presentation of Learning evenings.
All relevant staff will be provided with a copy of the support plan specifically prepared for your child. Specific staff meet on a regular basis, so concerns/feedback and relevant information can be shared and discussed. Based on the Key Stage 2 data, targets are set for our students, with termly monitoring and assessment, so any changes to provision can be put in place. The students are involved in this process and the pupil voice is valued in all aspects of school life.
Any provision required beyond Quality First Teaching strategies can include:
On entry to Childwall, we gather the Key Stage 2 information and this helps us to place your child in the appropriate set. In addition to that, we also have screening and assessment interventions to assess specific needs, for example, for Dyslexia.
If your child has specific needs and is in a full class (up to 30 students), then there can be a Learning Support Assistant in these lessons to provide support. The teaching and support staff will have access to your child’s support plan, so they will be differentiating their approach to teaching based on the strategies and recommendations stated on this.
Quality First Teaching and Adaptive Teaching ensures a consistent approach is used in all lessons.
Teaching and support staff should differentiate the work in lessons to meet the needs of the student (as advised on the support plan).
Your child will be introduced to the Learning Support area. This is where the SEND Team are based and provide a safe environment during the unstructured times of the day.
Your child may receive 1:1 support or a small group session and they will access the Learning Support area for this.
Pupil voice is very important and your child will complete an Access to Learning Plan, where the views of your child will be sought in relation to how we can help them, their likes and dislikes, etc.
Our Learning Support Assistants can offer support in and out of lessons.
We liaise closely with our Safeguarding team and have a procedure in place to report any concerns.
We have a Student Support Officer who deals with medication/first aid/uniform and medical issues.
Support is offered by the SEND Team to help students with guidance and support for issues such as social communication difficulties.
We work closely with external agencies, such as School Counselling, CAMHS and sensory teams. They offer specific services to our students and it is our responsibility to refer and liaise with the agencies as required.
All staff at school are responsible for all our students. We also have access to specialist services:
We offer inset day and after school training for all staff. We provide training for the following:
We will meet with other schools, parents, child and services to ensure we have all the information that is required to enable your child to join our school or move to another placement.
The SEND Team liaise closely with Heads of year and pastoral staff within the school to ensure a smooth process in place for entering or leaving our school.
A transition programme is in place for our new students.
For any new admissions, we arrange a day where your child will sit assessments with us to help us determine the right sets.
Regular inclusion meetings take place between Heads of Year, senior staff, Safeguarding/Attendance Team and the SEND team to monitor and update any student concerns and progress.
Use of various assessment tools, such as Lucid Rapid Dyslexia Screener in place as required.
Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaires (SDGs).
External agency intervention as required.
We will maintain a good level of communication between home and school to ensure you are fully aware of your child’s behavioural and academic progress.
For the start of each new year, we will inform teaching and support staff of the support plans in place and any other information which will help staff understand and meet the specific needs of your child.
Transition support is offered to our Year 7 and Year 11 students to help with their new stage in education.
Based on the information we receive and the involvement of external agencies, we can gauge what additional support is required for your child. We may need to apply for High Needs funding to ensure we can implement the correct level of support, such as a Learning Support Assistant or an intervention by an external agency.
The SENCo deploys the support staff to ensure students receive the correct level of support.
The SENCo and budget holders will decide and review what interventions are required, such as literacy and numeracy interventions.
Budget decisions are made in conjunction with the school governors and Head Teacher.
School will meet with parents at specific times during the school year, such as during Open Evenings, Presentation of Learning Evenings and planned review meetings.
Regular communication will be encouraged and this can be maintained by phone calls, email and planned meetings.
We can use a home/school diary if required.
We hold parent sessions/workshops with specialist external agencies.
We do have an elected Parent Governor.
This site uses cookies that enable us to make improvements, provide relevant content, and for analytics purposes. For more details, see our Cookie Policy. By clicking Accept, you consent to our use of cookies.