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SEND

Introduction

Hodge Hill College SEND Offer

Who are the best people to talk to in this school about my child’s difficulties with learning/ Special Educational Needs or disability (SEND)?

Head Teacher (Mrs H Herrmann) is responsible for:

The day to day management of all aspects of the school, this includes the support for children with SEND.

AHT Inclusion and class teachers but is still responsible for ensuring that your child’s needs are met.

Making sure that the Governing Body is kept up to date about any issues in the school relating to SEND.

SEN Governor (Mrs Y Begum) is responsible for:

Making sure that the necessary support is made for any child who attends the school who has SEND.

The Director of Inclusion (SENDCO) (Mrs C Southern) is responsible for:

Coordinating all the support for children with special educational needs or disabilities (SEND) and developing the school’s SEND Policy to make sure all children get a consistent, high quality support in class as and when necessary.

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Ensuring that you are:

Involved in supporting your child’s learning

Kept informed about the support your child is getting

Involved in reviewing how they are doing as and when necessary.

Liaising with external agencies coming into school to help support your child’s learning e.g. Behaviour Support Service, Communication and Autism, Educational Psychology Service, The Hearing Impairment support team and The Visual Impairment support team.

Updating the school’s SEND register (a system for ensuring all the SEND needs of pupils in this school are known) and making sure that there are excellent, thorough and up to date records of your child’s progress and needs.

Updating the school database regularly with SEND information and data to ensure teaching staff are well supported in providing high quality lessons and teaching on a day to day basis.

Providing specialist support for teachers and support staff in the school so they can help children with SEND in the school achieve the best progress possible.

Arranging and providing staff training sessions in order to ensure that staff are confident and well informed with regard to what constitutes good practice for SEND students and are updated on new legislation and legal developments.

Form Tutor/Achievement Co-ordinator/ Assistant Achievement Co-ordinator and Subject teacher is responsible for:

Checking on the progress of your child and identifying, planning and delivering any additional help your child may need (this could be things like targeted work, additional support) and letting the AHT Inclusion know as necessary.

Contributing to forward-planning, sharing of information relevant to pupil SEND, reviewing support offered and working collaboratively with the AHT Inclusion.

Ensuring that staff working with your child in school is supported to deliver appropriate planned work/programme for your child, so they can achieve their personal best. This may involve the use of additional adults, outside specialist help and specially planned work and resources.

Ensuring that the school’s SEND Policy is followed in their classroom and for all the pupils they teach with any SEND.

What are the different types of support available for children with SEND?

Class teacher input via excellent targeted classroom teaching also known as Quality First Teaching. For your child this would mean:

That the teacher has the highest possible expectations for your child and all pupils in their class.

That all teaching is based on building on what your child already knows, can do and can understand.

Different methods of teaching are in place so that your child is fully involved in learning in class. That teachers are responsive and adapt teaching to suit the needs of all students.

Specific strategies (which may be suggested by the SENCO or outside staff) are in place to support your child to learn. Lessons are regularly quality assured to ensure that SEND students are fully included and that lessons and the curriculum in general are accessible to your child.

Your child’s teacher will have carefully checked on your child’s progress and will have decided that your child has gap in their understanding/learning and needs some extra support to help them make the best possible progress. All children in school should be getting this as a part of classroom practice when needed.

Specific group work with a small group of children:

This type of School Support is called ‘Intervention group work’. This may take the form of the following approaches:

Lessons with a specific focus on improving student access to the curriculum and literacy, taught within the classroom by teaching staff or delivered by a member of the Inclusion Team.

A session provided by a teacher in delivering a curriculum based functional skills qualification in Literacy or Numeracy.

Also, this means that the young person has been identified by the subject teacher as needing some extra support within the learning environment.

For your child this would mean:

He/ She will engage in group sessions with specific targets to help him/her to make more progress.

An Inclusion Assistant/teacher or outside professional (Communication and Autism Team) will run these small group sessions.

This type of support is available for any child who has specific gaps in their understanding of a subject/area of learning.

School Support:

This means that they have been identified by the AHT Inclusion as needing additional support within school from the Inclusion Faculty. This may include guidance from:

The Local Authority central services such as the Educational Psychologist, Communication and Autism team, Pupil Support Services, COBS for behavioural support or the Sensory Team for students with a hearing or visual needs.

For your child this would mean:

Your child will have been identified by the subject teacher/AHT Inclusion (or you will have raised your concerns) as needing more specialist input in addition to quality first teaching and intervention groups.

You will be asked to come to a meeting to discuss your child’s progress and help plan possible ways forward.

You may be asked to give your permission for the school to refer your child to a specialist professional e.g. Educational Psychologist. This will help the school and yourself understand your child’s particular needs better and be able to support them to a higher standard in school.

The specialist professional will work with your child to understand their needs and make recommendations, which may include: Making changes to the way your child is supported in class e.g. some individual support or changing some aspects of teaching to support them in a more suitable manner.

Support to set better targets which will include their specific expertise.

A group run by school staff under the guidance of the outside professional e.g. a social skills group, a learning mentor or a trained outside agency specialist.

The school may suggest that your child needs some targeted individual support in school. They will tell you how the support will be used and what strategies will be put in place.

This type of support is available for children with specific barriers to learning that cannot be overcome through Quality First Teaching and intervention groups.

Specified Individual support:

This is usually provided via the Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP).This means your child will have been identified by the AHT Inclusion as needing a particularly high level of individual or small group teaching which cannot be provided from the budget available to the school.

Usually your child will also need specialist support in school from professional/s outside the school. This may be from:

Local Authority central services such as the ASD Outreach Team or Sensory Service ( for students with a hearing or visual impairments)

For your child this would mean:

The school (or you) can request that the Local Authority carry out a statutory assessment of your child’s needs. This is a legal process which sets out the amount of support that will be provided for your child.

After the school have sent in the request to the Local Authority (with a lot of information about your child, including some from you), they will decide whether they think your child’s needs (as described in the paperwork provided), seem complex enough to need a statutory assessment. If this is the case they will ask you and all professionals involved with your child to share viewpoints outlining your child’s needs. If they do not think your child needs this, they will ask the school to continue with the support at K code within which additional in-class support can be provided.

After the reports have all been sent in the Local Authority will decide if your child’s needs are severe, complex and lifelong and the level of support in school to make good progress is not deemed sufficient, an EHC Plan will be created to support the long term needs and ambitions of your child. If this is not the case, they will ask the school to continue with the School Support to ensure your child makes as much academic progress as possible.

The EHC Plan will outline how the support should be used and what strategies must be put in place. It will also have long and short term goals for your child and your child may receive additional TA support in class.

The additional adult may be used to support your child with whole class learning, run individual programmes or run small groups including your child.

This type of support is available for children whose learning needs are:

Severe, complex and lifelong and those that have received a statement of needs from the local education authority.

FAQs

How can I let the school know I am concerned about my child’s progress in school?

If you have concerns about your child’s progress you should speak to your child’s Achievement Co-ordinator initially who will then refer any issues on to the AHT Inclusion when appropriate. If you are not happy that the concerns are being managed and that your child is still not making progress you should speak to the AHT Inclusion and contact the school through its main office number. If you are still not happy you can speak to the Head Teacher and then the school SEND Governor.

How will the school let me know if they have any concerns about my child’s learning in school?

If your child is identified as not making sufficient academic progress, then the school will set up a meeting to discuss this with you in more detail and to: Listen to any concerns you may have. Plan any additional support your child may receive. Discuss with you any referrals which may need to be made to outside professionals to support your child’s learning

How is extra support allocated to children and how do they move between the different levels?

The school budget, received from Birmingham LEA, includes money for supporting children with SEND. The Head Teacher decides on the budget for Special Educational Needs and Disabilities in consultation with the school governors, on the basis of needs in the school. The Head Teacher and the AHT Inclusion discuss all the information they have about SEND in the school, including the children getting extra support already. The children who have been identified as not making as much progress as would be expected and decide what resources/training and support is needed. All resources/training and support are reviewed regularly and changes made as needed.

Who are the other people providing services to children with SEND in this school?

AHT Inclusion/SENCO Inclusion Assistants External Agencies available to support the needs of SEND pupils: Autism Outreach Service Educational Psychology Service Sensory Service for children with visual or hearing needs COBS (Behaviour, Emotional and Social Needs) Pupil Support Services (for assessment of literacy and numeracy needs) Physical Difficulties Team’ (Please note that the school has restricted accessibility for students with severe physical difficulties) Provided and paid for by the Health Service but delivered in school: School Nurse INSET training for staff to support students with Medical needs e.g. Asthma, Epilepsy

How are the teachers in school helped to work with SEND children and what training do they receive and have?

The AHT Inclusion’s job is to support the class teacher in planning for children with SEND via a team of Inclusion assistants. The school has a training plan for all staff to improve the teaching and learning of children including those with SEND. This includes whole school training on SEND issues such as ASD and literacy difficulties via external agencies. The Inclusion Assistants team attend bespoke training courses run by outside agencies that are relevant to the needs of specific children e.g. from the Communication and Autism team, Sensory or Pupil Support Services.

How will the teaching be adapted for my child with SEND?

Class Teachers plan lessons according to the specific needs of all groups of children in their class, and will ensure that your child’s needs are met. Specially trained support staff can adapt the teachers’ planning to support the needs of your child where necessary. Specific resources and strategies will be used to support your child individually and in groups. Planning and teaching will be adapted on a daily basis if needed to meet your child’s learning needs.

How will we measure the progress of your child in school?

Your child’s progress is continuously monitored by his/her subject teachers, Head of Faculty, Achievement Co-ordinator, Assistant Achievement Co-ordinator, AHT Inclusion and AHT Teaching and Learning. His/her progress is reviewed formally every term and a Curriculum Assessment Level given in each subject. Children with an EHCP (Education and Health Care Plan) will have more tailored support in line with their EHCP document and what it states must be provided for your child. This document will be reviewed with your involvement annually during which time forward-planning will take place with yourselves, the SENCO and relevant external agencies in order to inform our provision for your child.

What support do we have for you as a parent of child with an SEND?

The Form Tutor and Subject teacher is regularly available to discuss your child’s progress or any concerns you may have and to share information about what is working well at home and school so similar strategies can be used. The AHT Inclusion is available to meet with you to discuss your child’s progress or any concerns/worries you may have. All information from outside professionals will be discussed with you with the person involved directly, or where this is not possible, in a report. Appropriate homework will be provided and adjusted accordingly to meet your child’s individual needs.

How is Hodge Hill College accessible to children with SEND?

How is Hodge Hill College accessible to children with SEND? The school was built in 1950’s on a physically challenging site as it is on a hill. The school consists of a range of buildings on various parts of the site which can be a challenge to access for pupils with mobility issues due to significant changes in levels and the large numbers of steps & stairs both inside and outside which require navigation. West Building is partly accessible to all children including those with SEND as it has a lift to some floors on the front of the building. Whilst the ground floor of East building is fully accessible for children with SEND access difficulties externally between East and West building may mean that it is inaccessible to pupils with mobility challenges. After school provision is accessible to all children including those with SEN. Extra-curricular activities are accessible for children with SEN.

How will we support your child when they are leaving this school? OR moving on to another class?

We recognise that transitions can be difficult for a child with SEND and take steps to ensure that any transition is a smooth as possible. If your child is moving to another educational setting e.g. college. We will contact the SENCO and ensure he/she knows about any special arrangements or support that needs to be made for your child. We will make sure that all records about your child are passed on as soon as possible. When moving between sets/classes in school, information will be passed on to the new subject teacher IN ADVANCE and in most cases through Faculty meetings.

What does the school do to support KS2-KS3 Transition?

The school is in close contact with our multiple feeder schools and during the Summer Term, annual transition visits are arranged within our network in order to ensure that SEND pupils are provided with opportunities to visit the school site and familiarise themselves with the setting and key staff attached to their new year group including: Achievement Co-ordinator, SENCO and members of the Inclusion Team.

Workshops