Mrs R Ketley, SENDCO
Our Special Educational Needs & Disability Coordinator (SENDCO) is Mrs Rebecca Ketley. If your child is unable to fully access the curriculum, then special arrangements can be put in place. All children with any sort of Special Need are monitored closely and have a One Page Plan. The school runs a number of intervention programmes, including reading and social skills. Our Special Educational Needs Policy is available from the school office and our website. A recent analysis of progress of students on our intervention programmes showed good progress.
The school can meet the needs of all four categories of identified need:
- Communication and interaction
- Cognition and learning
- Social, emotional and mental health difficulties
- Sensory and/or physical needs
Special educational needs (SEN)
It’s very important that students with special educational needs are properly identified, assessed and supported and that the support is tailored to each child’s particular needs. In deciding what those needs are and how we can support the student to overcome any “barriers to learning” arising from those needs, we will work closely with the student and their family. This 3-way partnership underpins all our work and is a major contributory factor to our success; it is essential in making sure that all students make the best possible progress whilst at Notley High School.For those students with more complex and specialist needs, we may also call on the expertise and experience of specialists from outside the school. These may be people who work for the SEN specialist teams in the Local Authority or specialists in children’s issues in the Health service. For students who need this extra and more specialist input, we work in close partnership with these external partners as part of an “Education, Health and Care Plan”. This provides a detailed and properly coordinated plan of action to provide additional support to the student to enable them to benefit fully from their time at Notley High School. The plan is always drawn up in partnership with the student and parents and carers and clearly identifies the contributions that each partner needs to make to help the student to progress in their learning. There are regular reviews of the progress that the student is making and the extent to which the Plan is working. Parents and students have an important role to play in helping us to review and, if needed, improve the Plan.
As an inclusive school where every student is valued, we want all students to take a full part in all lessons and in every aspect of school life alongside their peers. Our teachers plan and deliver quality lessons that are adapted so the needs of all students are catered for and all students can benefit fully from them. Sometimes though, a student’s personalised assessment shows that they would benefit from additional one-to-one tuition or to work as part of a small group.
At Notley High School, inclusion is part of a much larger picture than just placement in regular classes. Inclusion is about having access, but it is also about being welcomed and embraced as a member who belongs to our diverse community. We believe that the objective of inclusion is achieved only when a student is participating in the activities of the school and their classes with the support they need to achieve to their highest potential.
Other needs
From time to time, students may need access to additional support because of specific short-term issues. For example, if a student has had to deal with the bereavement of a close family member or friend, then they will need special emotional support. In these circumstances we will work closely with the family and other agencies to make sure that we provide the support the student needs to help them deal with their emotions and to enable them to continue to make progress in their studies.For some students, issues in the home or other external matters can affect their attendance or behaviour in school. In these circumstances, the school provides intensive support to make sure they get the help and support they need to improve in these areas and to continue to succeed in their learning.
The school’s pastoral support, including the external mentoring programme, provides specialised, individual guidance for any young person in need. Sometimes the student and family need access to more specialist help. In these cases, we work in partnership with other agencies (the Local Authority, Health Services, voluntary organisations) to plan and provide this specialist support.
SENDIASS in Essex
The Special Educational Needs and Disability Information, Advice and Support Service (SENDIASS) provides information, advice and support to young people and children with SEN or disabilities aged 0 -25, and their parents, about education, health and social care. They provide legally based, impartial, confidential and accessible information and advice. They do this through workshops for practitioners and Parents/carers, online and printed information, a confidential helpline and direct face to face work.They can also provide access to Independent Support for parents and / young people who are going through the Education, Health and Care Plan process.
In Essex parents and young people can contact their Helpline on: 01245204338. The website link is:
http://www.essexsendiass.co.uk/