SEND and Student Support
At Lealands High School we are driven by our core values of respect, responsibility and excellence. We aim to meet the needs of all children through highly effective teaching and learning.
There is an emphasis on early identification of need with support in place to develop skills and strategies which reduce barriers to learning. We undertake a rigorous system of monitoring children’s progress and use a wide range of strategies to foster a culture of life-long learning and independent living skills for all students.
How do we support students with special educational needs?
Through effective partnerships with primary schools during the year 7 transition process, we identify students with additional needs and comprehensively assess their needs when they join the school. We monitor students’ performance termly following assessment points and work with Directors of Subjects, subject teachers and pastoral teams to put strategies in place in order to cater for students’ additional needs.
We use information gathered from the student, their parents/carers, teachers, tutors and external agencies to identify students’ needs. The SENCO also analyses information from end of year reports and GL assessments (ICT based assessments assessing students learning strengths and areas of difficulty) in order to identify where progress has not been in line with expectations. This allows us to monitor all students’ participation, progress and attainment identifying students’ additional learning needs as early as possible.
We work in a flexible way to develop effective partnerships with children and their parents and carers. The Student Support team, specialist teaching staff and external professionals, such as educational psychologists, speech and language therapists, occupational therapists and child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) are engaged to ensure that the school can meet a broad range of special educational needs.
What is our approach to teaching students with SEND needs?
Lealands High School is dedicated to providing high quality first teaching to all students, with an ‘all included’ ethos. We have a broad and balanced curriculum, and teachers are trained to deliver ‘The Lealands Lesson’ using a range of teaching strategies to support students’ learning needs. At Lealands, we believe that your child’s learning needs will first be met through quality first teaching delivered by the subject teachers who adapt their teaching to meet children’s learning needs.
How do we adapt the curriculum and learning environment?
At Lealands, we believe that your child’s learning needs will first be met through the quality first teaching delivered by class teachers. We carefully plan our curriculum to match the age, ability and needs of all children.
Students at KS3, study the National Curriculum. Teachers are trained to adapt the curriculum by employing a number of teaching and learning approaches to enable students to make progress. A range of specialist equipment and resources are available where necessary. External agencies and specialists may also review your child’s progress and work with student support staff and teachers to adapt their teaching accordingly.
If further support is required, additional interventions are put in place to support students’ learning. These interventions will initially be for a term and then reviewed to measure your child’s progress. The school has trained intervention teachers and learning support assistants who run small group and individual literacy, numeracy, ELSA (Emotional Literacy Support Assistance), social skills and guided reading interventions as well as in class support for those who have EHCPs and/or need additional support.
These interventions will be reviewed termly through progress reports and internal monitoring.
At KS4, students with additional needs follow a personalised curriculum combining core GCSEs (English, maths and science) with options from the foundation subjects (history, geography etc) and vocational qualifications (PE VCert, health and social care, leadership etc).
What support is in place for improving students' social and emotional development?
Supporting emotional and social development is a key role of every member of staff at Lealands. The pastoral team and the SEND team work together to ensure that students are supported to achieve their full potential.
Students are encouraged to speak to an adult when they are feeling emotionally or socially vulnerable or if they are struggling with their mental health. The Pastoral Team and our in-house ELSA trained Teaching Assistant is available to guide and support your child with their social, emotional and mental health. Some students, who have been identified as having emotional and/or social difficulties, are assigned a key worker too. Vulnerable students have a safe place to go to where they can see a member of staff to talk about and share their social and emotional barriers, difficulties and needs.
How do we support students in examinations?
Pupils who are identified as having significant difficulties with reading, writing, motor skills, hearing or visual difficulties and whose cognitive abilities indicate that these difficulties are causing them to underperform, may be entitled to exam access arrangements. Throughout KS3, teachers support students with assessments in line with the strategies suggested to support the students’ needs.
At KS4, the Special Educational Need Coordinator (SENCO) will arrange for an external assessment to be completed to request this further support. If the assessment confirms the support is required, it is arranged for examinations in year 10 and 11.
Further information
This is an overview of the wide range of support we have in place currently; however, we constantly monitor the type of support a student or group of students may need and respond accordingly. Lealands High School has an ethos of a “can do” approach, and we are very proud of the efforts we make to include all students in their learning.
For more detailed information, please see the link below for our SEND Information Report. You are welcome to contact the school to speak to either our SENCO or Assistant SENCO. It is also possible to arrange visits to the school by contacting reception in the first instance.
Special Education Needs Co-ordinator (SENCO) - Mr J. Hall