SEND Information

At The Hollyfield School class/subject teachers monitor the progress of all pupils regularly to review their progress. If a pupil is not making progress teachers may then refer to the SENCo for assessment. The results of the year 7 CATS determines whether further literacy assessment is required. The School uses Accelerated Reader programme for all students in the lower school.

The principle of early identification and intervention underpins our approach to identifying those pupils who need extra help. This is often put in place, even if special educational need has not been identified. This extra support will enable the pupil to catch up.

Examples of extra support are;

• In class support

• Small group work, including literacy and numeracy catch-up

• Reading recovery (this includes phonics, comprehension, touch-typing and group reading)

• Speech and language groups

• Social skills groups

• Homework club

• Lunchtime social clubs, such as Film Club and Doctor Who Club

Despite high quality targeted teaching some pupils may continue to make insufficient progress. For these pupils, and in consultation with parents, strengths and weaknesses are identified and used to identify an appropriate individualised intervention programme. In many cases these underlying needs often explain inadequate progress or challenging behaviour. At times it may be necessary to consult with outside agencies to receive more specialised expertise. The school follows the Code of Practice with regard to identifying a student with SEN. The school will follow the graduated approach outlined in the Code of Practice, which draws on identification through assessment and, where a need is identified, planning of appropriate support will take place together with the parent/carer.

Support is then implemented and reviewed.

The purpose of this more detailed assessment and review is to understand what additional resources and different approaches are required to enable the pupil to make better progress. These will be shared with parents, put into a support plan and reviewed regularly, and refined/revised if necessary. At this point because the pupil requires additional and extra provision we will have identified that the pupil has a special educational need.

If the pupil makes good progress using this additional and different intervention (but would not be able to maintain this good progress without it) we will continue to identify the pupil as having a special educational need. If the pupil is able to maintain good progress without the additional and different resources he or she will not be identified with special educational needs.

We will ensure that all teachers and support staff who work with the pupil are aware of the support to be provided and the teaching approaches to be used. All SEND students have Pupil Passport which outlines the need and strategies which teachers should employ when planning for the student.

Additional SEN support can be offered to any student who has a learning difficulty of or disability, which calls for special educational provision to be made for them. High quality teaching that is differentiated and personalised will meet the individual needs of the majority of students. However students may need additional provision that is additional to or different from this.

Where students are withdrawn from lessons this is set within clearly defined parameters with the focus being on supporting achievement in mainstream lessons. Interventions are time limited. Impact of the intervention is assessed regularly.

When additional support is given by the Learning Support Department we will assess skills prior to the intervention, plan and then deliver the most appropriate intervention and then review the intervention to judge its impact.

All clubs, trips and activities offered to pupils at The Hollyfield School are available to pupils with special educational needs. For some pupils ‘reasonable adjustments’ may need to be made. This is always done in partnership with families and carers.

Parents are invited to plan support for students with extra needs for trips and extra staff are deployed should a student need individual support over and above the needs of the entire group so that they can participate.

There are specific clubs in the Learning Support Department for SEND pupils every day at lunchtime and four days each week after school. These include;

• Home learning club,

• Board games club,

• Film club,

• Sci-Fi club.

At The Hollyfield School we understand that an important feature of the school is to enable all pupils to develop emotional resilience and social skills, both through direct teaching for instance social skills groups, tutor time and indirectly with every conversation adults have with pupils throughout the day.

For some pupils with the most need for help in this area we also can provide the following list;

• Access to counsellor

• Time with member of senior leadership team 

• External referral to CAMHs 

• Time-out space for pupil to use when upset or agitated

Pupils with emotional and social needs because of their special educational needs will be supported to enable them to develop and mature appropriately.

We are interested in hearing parents/carers and pupils’ views. Pupil and parent forums are held in school to hear the views of parents/carers and pupils.

Young people with SEN may be more likely to be the victims of bullying, so it is important to ensure that they report any behaviour that concerns them. They are provided with safe, supervised places that they can go to during social time. Peer support systems are in place in addressing bullying behaviour, as well as raising awareness of SEN for everyone in the school community through assemblies. 

Specialist equipment will be considered on an individual basis.

All teachers and teaching assistants have had the following awareness training:

• Speech and Language Difficulties

• Pathological Demand Avoidance

• Dyslexia

• Autistic Spectrum Disorder

• Mental Health awareness

• Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder

Where a training need is identified beyond this we will find a provider who is able to deliver it. Training providers we can approach are, Educational Psychologist, Speech and language therapist, occupational therapists and physiotherapist and other schools within AFC and Every Child, Every Day Academy Trust.

At The Hollyfield School we follow the advice in The National Curriculum Framework on how to adapt the curriculum and the learning environment for pupils with special educational needs. We also incorporate the advice provided as a result of assessments, both internal and external, and the strategies described in Education, Health and Care Plans.

‘All pupils should have access to a broad and balanced curriculum. The National Curriculum Inclusion Statement states that teachers should set high expectations for every pupil, whatever their prior attainment. Teachers should use appropriate assessment to set targets which are deliberately ambitious. Potential areas of difficulty should be identified and addressed at the outset. Lessons should be planned to address potential areas of difficulty and to remove barriers to pupil achievement. In many cases, such planning will mean that pupils with SEN and disabilities will be able to study the full national curriculum.’ (Code of Practice 6.11).