SEND
“Disadvantaged pupils and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are well known and suitably supported. The school is inclusive and focused on ensuring that all pupils have access to the full curriculum.” Ofsted 2023
Miss A Jackson, SENCo
aja@ifieldcc.co.uk
Ifield Community College is a comprehensive school and our objective is to address the needs of all students with special educational needs and disabilities to help every child maximise their educational development, as set out in our curriculum policy statement. In this regard we will do our best to secure the necessary provision for any student who has Special Educational Needs, within the limitations of our resources. The SEND Policy is reviewed every year by the Governing Body.
The SENCO has a critical role to play in ensuring that we meet the individual needs of all students who require additional help.
The SENCO has an important role to play with the Principal and governing body in determining the strategic development of SEN policy.
The type of responsibilities a SENCO have are:
- Supporting the identification of children with special educational needs
- Co-ordinating provision for children with SEN
- Work with parents of children with SEN
- Work closely with other providers, outside agencies, educational psychologists and external agencies
- Ensuring that the school keeps the records of all pupils with SEN up to date
Working together is important for your child’s success.
What is an Early Help Plan?
The Early Help Plan (EHP) is the common process in West Sussex for supporting children, young people and families with additional needs through early identification, swift intervention and a planned, coordinated response. The aim is to consider the needs of the child or young person in four key areas:
- Health and Well-being
- Development needs, educational attainment and achievement
- Parenting/caring
- Family and Community
The intention is for all children and young people, irrespective of their circumstances, to have the best start in life, to grow up safe, stable and healthy, to fulfill their potential and make a contribution to their community.
Single Assessment
The Early Help Plan is the first part of the process that aims to empower children, young people and their families and provide a timely, seamless service. The Single Assessment supports families through from early help to escalating complex and urgent needs that require a statutory response from children’s social care (See West Sussex LSCB Multi – Agency Threshold Guidance).
How Does the Process Work?
The practitioner who identifies the needs gains consent from the young person, parent or carer to undertake an assessment, following which he or she coordinates an Early Help Plan and initiates, if appropriate, a Team Around the Child and Family (TAC/F) meeting.
The purpose of the TAC/F meeting is to bring together practitioners with the appropriate skills to meet the identified needs of the child and develop a support plan. The parents and practitioners concerned will agree the most appropriate person to undertake the Lead Professional role. Goals will be identified and regular reviews undertaken, with the focus on a child-centred approach, positive engagement with the family, increased community involvement and collaboration between agencies.
Early Help Record and Plan Documents
The Early Help Record and Plan have been updated from feedback received from practitioners to make it more user friendly.
The information the family provide will be passed on to the relevant professionals that can help. They will work together to provide the support the child/family needs. Only professionals who need to know about the family will share the child’s information and only when we have consent to do so. However, should a child or other person be considered to be at risk of significant harm then professionals have a duty of care to share the relevant information to the required services.
FAQs & Other Information
There are well established links with the feeder primary schools. Information concerning all students with special needs is collated and disseminated to staff. .
Parents/carers of pupils with SEND are welcome to visit the school on an individual basis through contact with the SENDCo prior to making their selection in the autumn term of the school year preceding transition.
When a student is transferred from a mainstream or a special school, liaison takes place with parents, staff, the educational psychologist and any other relevant agencies. The SENDCo disseminates regularly updated information to keep staff fully informed about the needs of all students with special needs.
Initial identification is via the information received by the SENDCo from the pupil’s primary school. On arrival at the school, screening tests take place to ensure that all those pupils needing support are identified. After that, teachers make referrals to the SENDCo with their concerns about individual pupils they teach. The driving force behind the identification process by teachers is the fact that a pupil is not making adequate or expected progress despite the teacher delivering lessons with differentiated tasks which should make tasks accessible to all pupils.
A wide range of support is available to support pupils with SEND. The range of support is constantly monitored in terms of effectiveness and appropriateness to meet the needs of pupils.
As well as parents evenings, parents/carers can arrange to see the SENDCo for additional meetings if they require one. Those pupils with EHCPs have annual reviews which are attended by the SENDCo and any outside agencies who work with the pupil. The purpose of these meetings is to ensure that the provision made by the school is meeting the child’s needs and that details of the pupil’s difficulties are still accurate. The views of both the pupil and parents/carers are included in this review.
Any concerns parents/carers have should be addressed to the SENDCo.
Ifield Community College will make all reasonable adjustments to enable all pupils to participate in additional trips and activities unless there are serious health and safety issues.
A range of specialist services is used by the school to address the problems faced by pupils with SEND. School staff work with and liaise with outside agencies such as physiotherapy, occupational health, SALT and the Educational Psychology Service on a regular basis.
Staff receive regular training on aspects of SEND by means of INSET days and twilight INSET. Additionally the SENDCo holds regular meetings with representatives of each subject in which extra training, particularly on differentiation, is covered.
The Collegiate Trust works closely with employers and colleges to ensure that all relevant information, subject to consent, is shared to ensure a smooth transition from Woodcote. We provide careers interviews and invite representatives of LEAs to attend meetings with parents as appropriate to offer the best advice so that the most suitable choices are made by pupils for life beyond Woodcote.
To ensure all pupils, whatever their degree of difficulty, achieve their best possible results in public examinations the SENDCo collects information from teachers and carries out assessments. Following these all children who require special exam concessions such as :-
- Reader
- Scribe
- Extra time
- Rest breaks
- Use of a word processor
will have applications made to JCQ (Joint council for Qualifications) and if granted they will receive them in internal and external examinations/assessments.
Useful Links
Local Authority Information
Local authorities are responsible for publishing a Local Offer and ensuring it is available for everyone to see. This is important to ensure that children and young people with special educational needs or disabilities and their families are given information about support services the local authority think will be available in their local areas.
Please click on the links below for further information.
Compass Card
Young people and children with special educational needs can access a leisure discount scheme compass card.
The Compass Card is a free app that is managed by the Brighton based charity, Amaze. Amaze hold and manage the disability registers for West Sussex and Brighton and Hove and, alongside this, run the Compass Card scheme – all children and young people on the disability register receive a Compass Card, which gives them pre-agreed discounts to local leisure organisations and/or events throughout West Sussex, Brighton & Hove and the surrounding areas. To be eligible for a Compass Card children and young people must be in receipt of DLA or PIP or have an EHCP in place.
You can see all about the Compass Scheme by clicking the link below:-
Disabled Access
The school is housed in modern buildings constructed in 2005. There is full access for disabled students and other users of the school with level floors and lifts giving access to all classrooms and offices. There are disabled toilets available on each floor
We work with students who have particular needs to ensure that these are addressed on an individual basis.
