At Ipsley CE RSA Academy, we believe every student has a right to an excellent education which enables them to achieve their full potential and become happy, successful and positive members of our local community.

For some students, this may mean receiving support from our special educational needs and disabilities team. At Ipsley CE RSA Academy, we celebrate the wonderful diversity amongst our students and welcome young people with a range of additional needs to join our school community. Our teachers are committed to reducing any barriers to learning, maximising the creative potential of our students and supporting our young people to make excellent progress. By working closely with our Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCo) and SEN team, all members of our school are committed to enabling all students to participate and prosper in our learning community.

All teachers are trained to work with students with a range of special educational needs and disabilities, and students will learn alongside their peers in the mainstream classroom.

Our specialist SEN team are as follows:

Mr Williams – Assistant Principal/SENCo

Mrs Edwards – Assistant SENCo

We also have a number of Achievement Assistants, who support students through a range of specialist SEN intervention programmes (such as phonics interventions, or a mentoring programme):

Miss Green
Miss Ellis
Mrs Ellison
Mrs Mason
Miss Morris
Miss Philpott
Mr Ward

We use a range of research and evidence to inform the ways that we deploy Achievement Assistants to support students with SEN. Research indicates that Achievement Assistants have the greatest impact on progress when supporting students through intervention groups outside the classroom. We use this model to ensure that all students with SEN are given every opportunity to make excellent progress.

Early identification of SEN is key to supporting our students at Ipsley CE RSA Academy. All teachers participate in the process of identifying students with SEN, and can raise any concerns they may have with the SENCo. There are four main areas of need. These are:

– Cognition and learning

– Communication and interaction

– Social, emotional and mental health

– Sensory and/or physical

Additionally, all students are assessed with cognitive ability tests (CATs), which are designed to identify gaps in learning. The outcomes of these assessments can then be used by teachers to identify potential SEN.

When a student is identified as potentially having an additional need, the SENCo will investigate and liaise with the family to discuss the process. This may include using a range of diagnostic assessments, observation and conversations with young people and their families.

Once a student has been identified as having a special educational need, the SENCo designs a programme of provision to support them in reducing barriers to learning. In some cases, this may also lead to entering a pathway of diagnosis (for example, of autism or dyslexia).

Students identified with a cognition and learning need will all have a pupil profile which is shared with all of their teachers. This profile provides information about how best to support the young person, and it is updated three times a year with the young person and their family.

For some students, it may be appropriate to introduce some additional intervention programmes. This could include the Fresh Start phonics programme or small-group English and Maths interventions. For a small number of students, additional diagnostic assessments may be carried out to identify specific areas of difficulty which can then be targeted more closely by our specialist SEN team.

Students identified with a communication and interaction need will all have a pupil profile which is shared with all of their teachers. This profile provides information about how best to support the young person, and it is updated three times a year with the young person and their family.

For some students, it may be appropriate to introduce some additional intervention programmes. This could include a small-group social stories session or the Talkabout programme. For a small number of students, it may be necessary to apply for additional support from a speech and language therapist who would be involved to work one-to-one or in small groups with students, in addition to providing teachers with additional training.

Students identified with a social, emotional and mental health need will all have a pupil profile which is shared with all of their teachers. This profile provides information about how best to support the young person, and it is updated three times a year with the young person and their family.

For some students, it may be appropriate to introduce some additional intervention programmes. This could include the Talkabout programme for developing social skills and self-esteem or a mentoring programme. For a small number of students, it may also be appropriate to make a referral to an outside agency such as the Children and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS).

Students identified with a physical and/or sensory need will all have a pupil profile which is shared with all of their teachers. This profile provides information about how best to support the young person, and it is updated three times a year with the young person and their family.

Our school site is fully accessible, with automatic doors and a lift. We also have a school nurse, and liaise closely with the Chadsgrove outreach service for specialist support in relation to physical and/or sensory needs. Several of our staff have also received specialist training in physiotherapy and personal care. Students are fully involved in all lessons, and reasonable adjustments are made in subjects where barriers to learning may be more pronounced, such as PE.

We are committed to developing our inclusion for students with physical and/or sensory needs, and publish our intentions in our accessibility plan which is overseen by our SENCo and senior leadership team.

In addition to a pupil profile identifying the special educational needs of the young person and how best to support them, students with autism will receive support from the SEND Supported Autism Team. This could be in the form of meetings with the young person, meetings with the family, additional training for teachers or ongoing monitoring of progress and welfare.

We always work with young people with autism to best support them with each of the four areas of difference (interaction, processing information, sensory processing and communication). For example, this could involve making changes to the learning environment, attending one-to-one sessions with our autism lead practitioner, or following a social skills development programme. Parents will be involved at every stage of the provision.

An education, health and care plan (EHCP) is a legal document which details a student’s special educational needs and the provision to which they are entitled. For students with an EHCP, we conduct an annual review of progress alongside three additional shorter meetings to discuss how students are managing.

We commit to fulfilling the legal provisions identified within EHCPs, and working with young people and their families to maximise progress against their defined outcomes.

If you would like to apply for an education, health and care plan for your child, please get in touch with the SENCo (Mr Williams).

When joining our academy in year 5, we will first visit students in their first schools in order to familiarise them with key workers and to ensure that we have spoken with their teachers about how best to meet their additional needs. Students will be invited to attend a number of additional transition days to familiarise themselves with the school site in a way that they feel comfortable. For students where more bespoke planning is required, please get in touch with the SENCo to make additional arrangements.

When leaving our academy at the end of year 8, we facilitate a number of visits to Arrow Vale RSA Academy and other local high schools across the academic year in order to familiarise students with key workers and the new environment in a way that they feel most comfortable. For some students, additional transition activities may be arranged on a personalised basis.

A provision map is used to monitor a range of data including: teacher assessments, standardised assessment data, intervention assessment data, intervention tracking, and relevant prior data.

The senior leadership team undertake regular reviews of learning across the academy for students with SEN, including monitoring teaching and learning, challenge, differentiation, use of SEN-specific strategies, deployment of Achievement Assistants and quality of written work.

A key aspect in judging the effectiveness of our provision is through strengthening the link between school and home: through regular meetings between home and school, there is an ongoing dialogue around the progress and welfare of all young people with special educational needs.

The academy’s admission arrangements operate in line with Worcestershire County Council’s procedures. Further details of this can be found in the academy’s admissions policy.

If your child has an education, health and care plan, the SENCo will liaise with Worcestershire Local Authority to ensure a smooth transition.

You can find out more about the local offer in Worcestershire at the following website:

https://worcestershirelocaloffer.org.uk/

Initially, please discuss any questions with your child’s class teacher, Standards Leader (KS2) or Head of Year (KS3). If you would like to discuss any issues further, you are welcome to contact Mr Williams (Assistant Principal – SENCo) or Mrs Edwards (Assistant SENCo) if you have any concerns. Our school telephone number is 01527 523457.