Special Educational Needs and Disability
All students with special educational needs or who have a disability are educated to the best of our resources ability and we ensure that SEND pupils make good progress, achieve their personal best with all the support they need.
Our school will have regular accessibility audits carried out by the Local Authority and Governors to ensure all aspects of school life are inclusive. We actively accommodate a variety of needs and add outside agency support for all its pupils in order to access the curriculum.
Our Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENDCo) is:
L. Johnson
Tel: 0151 330 5134
E: admin@leep.org.uk
Please do not hesitate to get in direct contact should you wish to discuss any aspect of a student’s specialist education.
SEND Report
Welcome to our SEND Information Report which forms part of the local offer for students with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). At New Heights Key Stage 4, we are committed to working together with all members of our school community and the report has, therefore, been developed with students, parents, carers, school governors and members of staff at New Heights High School.
The people involved in SEND at At New Heights Key Stage 4 are:
Miss J. Smith – Deputy Head teacher
Miss L. Johnson – SENDCO
Learning Support Assistants attend training courses for particular aspects of SEND, for example, working with students with learning difficulties such as ASD, dyslexia and SEMH.
Our approach to teaching learners with SEND
At At New Heights Key Stage 4, we have created an inclusive culture in our school; providing successful and challenging learning that encompasses the diversity of our students’ backgrounds, interests, experiences, knowledge and skills. In addition, we provide high quality teaching to all learners taking into account and planning for individual’s specific needs.
We aim to ensure a flexible learning environment which meets the needs of all members of our school community. At At New Heights Key Stage 4, staff continually monitors students’ progress ensuring that learning is taking place for all. In addition, regular meetings between Teaching Staff and Senior Leadership Team are held to discuss students’ progress.
How we identify students with SEND
At different times in his/her school career, a child or young person may have a special educational need. The 2014 SEN Code of Practice defines SEN as:
A child or young person has SEND if they have a learning difficulty or disability which calls for special educational provision to be made for them. A child of compulsory school age or a young person has a learning difficulty or disability if they:
- have a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others of the same age: or
- have a disability which prevents or hinders them from making use of educational facilities of a kind generally provided for others of the same age in mainstream schools or mainstream post-16 institutions.
Learners may fall behind in school for many reasons. They may have been absent from school, they may have experienced inconsistency in their education provision. They may not speak English as a first language or they may suffer from behavioural or self-esteem issues which prevents progress being made. Only those with a learning difficulty that requires special educational provision will be identified as having SEND.
Assessing, supporting and monitoring students with SEND at At New Heights Key Stage 4
Class teachers, support staff, parents and carers, and students themselves will be the first to notice a difficulty with learning.
Special Educational Needs are categorised in the 2014 SEN Code of Practice as:
- Cognition and Learning
- Communication and Interaction
- Physical and Sensory
- Social, Mental and Emotional Health
Furthermore the SEN Code of Practice describes meeting the needs of students with SEND as a ‘graduated approach’, whereby four processes take place:
- Assess
- Plan
- Do
- Review
Assess
Once a concern is raised, the SEND department have a range of SEND assessment tools available with which to identify the student’s need or needs taking into account previous experiences of the student, prior progress and attainment, and behaviours for learning. For some students we may want to seek additional help and we have at our disposal a wide range of specialist support agencies to facilitate this, many of which are provided by Liverpool City Council.
CAMHS (Children and Adolescents Mental Health Services)
Provision from Occupational Therapists.
Specialist Support Teacher/Educational Psychologist.
Plan
Before any additional provision is selected to help a child, the SENDCO, teacher, parent/carer and student, agree what they expect to be different following this intervention. A baseline will also be recorded, which can be used to compare the impact of the provision and then the necessary adjustments, interventions and support will be selected and integrated in a plan with the aim of meeting the learning outcomes where a student requires SEND support.
Strategies may include:
- Subject specific interventions, planned by Teachers.
- 1:1 assistance for students with SEND
All interventions are led by qualified teaching staff or qualified teaching assistants.
In addition, we have access to a number of intervention programmes that are delivered on and off the school premises such as:
Educational psychology and specialist support team for assessment and advice about specific barriers to learning.
Do
Every teacher is required to adapt the curriculum to ensure access to learning for all children in his/her class. The Teacher Standards 2012 detail the expectations for all teachers, and we at New Heights High School are proud of our teachers and their development. The Teachers’ Standards are available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/teachers-standards.
The classroom teacher will monitor the student closely and will work closely with teaching assistants to ensure that barriers to learning are overcome and that the student makes progress with his/her learning.
Teaching Assistants are active in delivering in class intervention programmes to individual students or small groups in accordance with skills-specific training which they have undertaken.
Review
Reviews will evaluate the effectiveness of the support given and the impact on the student’s progress; changes may be made following the review. Reviews can be formal meetings held at least once a term, where we discuss next progress and next steps. Where a student has a statement or Educational Health and Care Plan (EHCP), an additional annual meeting will take place.
Then the SENDCO will collate the impact data of the interventions and learning strategies to ensure that we are able to select only high quality provision.
Progress data of all learners is collated by the whole school and monitored by teachers, Senior Management and Governors. Our school data is also monitored by the Local Authority and Ofsted.
All the above processes are made in full consultation with parents/carers.
Provision Map
Each year a provision map is produced which illustrates the individual learning needs and then the support and interventions required to enable access to learning for students with SEND across the key stages and year groups. The provision map is updated throughout the year as our learners and their needs change. The provision map is also shared with the SEND Governor who is able to ensure that the impact of interventions on learning across the school.
Funding
New Heights High School, as a maintained school, receives funding to support the needs of learners with SEND. The school also receives funding from the Local Authority which is distributed as ‘top up’ funding for learners who require support that exceeds that available to the school.
New Heights High School is committed to working together to improve learning for all, and we are able to share resources, training and moderate provision for learners with SEND.
All staff at New Heights High School have training on the Equality Act 2010. This legislation places specific duties on schools, settings and providers including the duty not to discriminate, harass or victimise a child or adult linked to a protected characteristic defined in the Equality Act and to make ‘reasonable adjustments.’
The Equality Act 2010 definition of disability is:
‘A person has a disability for the purposes of this Act if (s)he has a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on his ability to carry out normal day-to day activities.”
Section 1(1) Disability Discrimination Act 1995.
This definition of disability in the Equality Act includes children with long term health conditions such as asthma, diabetes, epilepsy, and cancer. Children and young people with such conditions do not necessarily have SEN, but there is a significant overlap between disabled children and young people and those with SEN. Children and young people may therefore be covered by both SEN and disability legislation.
Your opinion is key
At At New Heights Key Stage 4 we can shape and develop provision for all of our learners ensuring achievement for all. This SEND report declares our annual offer to learners with SEND. Co-operation is the key – between teachers, support staff, SENDCO, parents/carers, Governors and Head teacher sharing our different experiences and expertise, in conjunction with the graduated approach ‘assess, plan, do and review’ for students with SEND.
If you wish to discuss any concerns at any time please do not hesitate to contact us. If you have any complaints please see the school complaints policy on our website.
Liverpool’s Local Offer
Liverpool’s local offer provides information for children and young people up to the age of 25 with special educational needs (SEND) their parents or carers – all in one place.
Knowing what is out there gives you more choice and control over what support is right for you or your child.
On the local offer website you can:
- Search for services from a range of local agencies including education, health and social care.
- Find out more about SEND reforms and keep up to date with the scope of the local offer as it develops and grows.
- View a range of SEND documents and reports.