At Longdean, we believe that every pupil, whatever their abilities, should receive the best education possible and receive the support they need to make the most of school life – and this includes pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). SEND areas of need (as outlined in the government's SEND Code of Practice) are:

• communication and interaction
• cognition and learning
• social, emotional and mental health
• sensory and/or physical needs.

Depending on the level of need, as established by information received from the pupil's primary school and outside agencies, as well as Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATS) and Academic Review Team (ART) data, pupils on the SEND register are initially placed into one of the three categories of support – Universal, Targeted and Specialist. We understand that the level of need can and will change throughout pupils’ time at Longdean, so our Inclusion team monitors pupils closely, reacts accordingly and alters the support given.

Universal support – pupils’ needs are met through Quality First Teaching where the focus is on progress for all, high quality, effective differentiation and responding to the needs of students in the classroom. Support can include:

• well-considered seating plan
• writing frames
• targeted questioning
• differentiated dialogue and communication with students
• allowing additional time for processing, writing or reading
• providing a laptop
• visual support
• differentiated tasks, resources or texts
• positive reinforcement.

Targeted support – pupils’ needs are met through targeted, measurable and time-specific intervention. Their progress is monitored by our Inclusion team. Intervention can take the form of:

• in-class support
• additional intervention, for example, vocabulary building, pre-teaching, SEMH support, etc
• small group intervention, for example, literacy and numeracy programmes, SEMH support
• pastoral support

Specialist support – pupils’ needs are met through specialist support and intervention. Specific strategies are shared with class teachers in the form of a Student Passport to ensure support is continued and impactful for the student across the curriculum. In addition to all interventions mentioned previously, pupils in this category are supported by a key worker from the Inclusion team.

Our Inclusion Team also currently works with a number of external specialists including :

• Hertfordshire County Council SEND Team
• educational psychologists
• speech and language therapists (NHS)
• a qualified teacher for the visually impaired pupils (QTVI)
• a specialist advisory Teacher (hearing impairment)
• physiotherapists
• occupational therapists
• Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) therapists.

Releveant Policies

Remote Learning Policy

Supporting Pupils with Medical Conditions

Inclusion Policy and SEND Information

 

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