SEND

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.

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. At New Heights School, we are committed to working together with all members of our school community and this report has been developed with students, parents/carers, school Governors and members of staff.

How we identify students with SEND

At different times in their 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 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.

Students 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.

Students will often be placed on a SEND register for different amounts of time but will be taken off when the expected progress has been made. At New Heights School, students remain on the SEND register for the duration of their stay with us, highlighting the need for additional support to address the reason they have been referred to us in the first instance. This allows students to receive personalised learning within the normal differentiated curriculum, with the intention of overcoming the barrier to their learning.

Assessing, supporting and monitoring students with SEND at New Heights School

Class teachers, support staff, parents/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

Assessment on entry

Prior to joining, the SENDCo carries out the following assessments with the student:

Key Stage 2

• • Salford reading test

  • Classroom monitor assessment/Optional SATS

  • GL Assessments are completed on arrival at school and at the end of the 12 week placement.

Using the information from these assessments and any additional information provided from the student’s previous school, a ‘Student Information Profile (SIP) is created and shared with staff. The information is also shared with their ‘new’ school when they leave us, and supports any applications for EHCP assessments.

The SIP forms the basis for staff to plan and adapt to the individual’s needs. 

If a concern is raised about potential difficulties a student may have in addition to those already identified, we have additional SEND assessment tools available with which to identify the student’s need or needs, considering previous experiences of the student, prior progress and attainment, and behaviours for learning.

Each student receives an end of placement review, giving information on the returning school or new placement for the student to see what has been achieved over the 12 week placement.

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.

• The Peace Foundation.
• CAMHS/Seedlings (Children and Adolescents Mental Health Services)
• Provision from Occupational Therapists
• Specialist Support Teachers, e.g. EAL service
• Educational Psychologist service
• YPAS (Young Person’s Advisory Service)
• SENISS (Special Educational Needs Inclusion Support Service)
• We Are With You
• EMTAS (Ethnic Minority and Traveller Achievement Service)

Key Stage 3

Key Stage 4

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:

• Dyslexia Screening and intervention programmes.
• Numeracy  intervention.
• Phonics intervention.
• Rapid plus/Project X reading intervention.
• Subject specific interventions, planned by Teachers.
• 1:1 assistance for students with SEND needs in the areas of Social Emotional Mental Health (SEMH), autism, speech & communication.
• Thrive approach interventions.

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.

Plan

We share information with parents/carers in the admission meeting that should we identify any additional support required, we will inform them, and talk to the student about what we think may be a barrier to learning and how we plan to overcome/support them. 

We can, where required, complete a baseline to support in monitoring the impact of any additional intervention we put in place.

Strategies may include:

• Dyslexia Screening and intervention programmes.
• Numeracy intervention.
• Phonics intervention.
• Rapid plus/Project X reading intervention.
• Subject specific interventions, planned by Teachers.
• 1:1 assistance for students with SEND needs in the areas of Social Emotional Mental Health (SEMH), autism, speech & communication.
• Thrive approach interventions.
• ELSA referral (Emotional Literacy Support Assistant)
• Literacy intervention

Interventions are led by qualified teaching staff, trained LSA’s (Learning Support Assistants), or external staff such as YPAS mental health practitioner, etc. 

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 School are proud of our teachers and their development. Quality First Teaching is the first line of support for our students.

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 Learning Support Assistants to ensure that barriers to learning are overcome and that the student makes progress with their learning and/or emotional development.

Learning Support 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.

Our programme of CPD (Continued Professional Development) allows staff training on aspects of SEND support with a particular focus on SEMH (Social, Emotional and Mental Health).

Review

As an assessment driven provision, we are continually reviewing the provision and support our students get. Daily de-brief meetings allow staff the opportunity to raise any concerns they may have, and all staff have regular conversations with our SENDCo’s to identify any concerns. Where a student has an EHCP (Educational Health and Care Plan) an additional annual meeting should take place, however as we are a short-term provision, we should not be named on an EHCP and as such there will be no annual reviews taking place.

Progress (both academic and emotional) data of all students is collated by the whole school and monitored by Teachers, Senior Leadership, and Governors.

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 also shared with the SEND Governor who is able to ensure that the impact of interventions on learning across the school. It forms part of our SEND register and is updated throughout the year as our students and their needs change. The SENDCo’s at our different sites manage their own provision map.

Funding

New Heights School, as a maintained school, receive 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 School is committed to working together to improve learning for all, and we are able to share resources, training and moderate provision for students with SEND.

All staff at New Heights School receive 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.

Transition

When joining New Heights School, students and families have an induction meeting with a member of the safeguarding team. Students also meet with the SENDCo when they visit to complete their initial assessments.

When required the SENDCo will sit in during the induction meeting if it is apparent SEND may be a significant factor. These meetings provide both parties with the opportunity to get to know each other, and questions the student may have can be answered. A booklet specifically aimed at students is provided to try and alleviate/answer any concerns they may have, and give them advance notice of what it will be like at New Heights School, should their SEND require this approach.

Your opinion is important

At New Heights School 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 make an appointment to see the SENDCo at the provision your child attends.  If you have any complaints please see the school complaints policy on our website.

This is the link to Liverpool’s Local Offer, a site which provides additional SEND information that you may find useful.

https://fsd.liverpool.gov.uk/kb5/liverpool/fsd/service.page?id=NrdLMe26qto