William Brookes
School
SEN Information
Report & Policy
This policy should be read alongside the
Equal Opportunities Policy and the
Accessibility Plan.
William Brookes School Support Policy is based on
the following principles from the SEN Code of
Practice 2014:
• Involving children, parents and young people in
decision making; that children, young people and
their families are given sufficient information and
have a say around their SEN provision is a priority;
• Collaboration across education, health and social
care, should be led and co-ordinated by the Local
Authority;
• How we can help in supporting transition to
adulthood; the SEN code now extends to 25 for
those remaining in education or training.
We also embrace these principles from the
guidance from Shropshire Council (July
2014):
All children and young people are entitled to an
education that enables them to make progress so
that they:
• achieve their best;
• become confident individuals, leading fulfilling
lives;
• make a successful transition into adulthood,
whether into employment, further or higher
education or training.
William Brookes School is committed
to Student Support.
We have roughly 1000 students on roll
and we want all our students to make
good progress.
We believe that all teachers are
teachers of students with SEN Support
/Disability (SS/D).
William Brookes endeavours to identify,
monitor and put interventions into place
to foster student support in the 4 areas of
need:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Communication and Interaction;
Cognition and Learning Difficulties;
Social, emotional and mental health;
Sensory and/or physical development.
William Brookes School believes in
equal opportunities and aims to meet
the physical, emotional and
intellectual needs of ALL students.
ALL students are fully integrated into
the life of the school, both in lessons
and other activities; we recognise
individuals’ strengths as well as their
support needs.
We absolutely believe in these principles from
Section 100 of the duty to support pupils with
medical conditions:
• Pupils at school with medical conditions should be
properly supported so that they have full access to
education, including school trips and physical
education.
• Governing bodies must ensure that arrangements are
in place in schools to support pupils at school with
medical conditions.
• Governing bodies should ensure that school leaders
consult health and social care professionals, pupils and
parents to ensure that the needs of children with
medical conditions are effectively supported.
As of September 2014, we have 45
students on the list of those with
Support Needs or Disabilities at SEN
Support
32 of our students have Statements of
SEN.
100 of our students are being monitored
extra-carefully by teachers due to some
barriers to learning.
While all teachers are teachers of
students with support needs, we also
have a lot of in-house expertise upon
which to draw:
• 2 specialist teachers,
• 1 trained counsellor,
• 2 HLTAs,
• 4 student support officers,
• 8 departmental teaching assistants,
• 8 Special Support Assistants
William Brookes consults with parents and
carers of students with support needs before
they start at secondary school:
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We can arrange private consultations on our Open
Evening in October;
Our staff attend Year 6 annual reviews;
We arrange meetings to liaise with Class Teachers of
children with SEN in Year 6;
We arrange additional visits as necessary for students
in Year 6 before the 2-day induction visits in July;
Key workers meet intensively with parents of highneeds children and also spend time with the children
themselves at primary school.
We are also committed to consulting with
parents and carers when their children are
at William Brookes.
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The SENCO attends all parents’ evenings;
Target Setting Evenings;
We meet with parents of students with SEN
Support 3 times per year;
Our Key workers send regular emails;
We hold options pre-meetings;
We hold transition meetings for post-16
provision for individual pupils;
We are hoping to establish a parents’ working
party to discuss SEN termly.
William Brookes School also consults
with students themselves:
• Through individual interviews for
annual review meetings;
• Small social skills groups;
• Informal feedback at lunchtimes in
Games/ Homework Club;
• Through keyworkers;
• Review meetings do not take place
without the student present.
William Brookes School supports YR 6 students with
support needs as they start secondary school:
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We allocate tutors and keyworkers to match the specific needs
of the students;
During the 2-day induction, teaching assistants observe the
students and then meet to feedback what they have seen;
Staff have up-to-date information from their Yr 6 teachers;
Our Junior Sports Leaders work with the primary schools and
local primaries are invited to our Sixth Form panto so the new
students will have some familiar faces;
There will be teaching assistants in every lesson for the
student’s first day at secondary school;
After two weeks, classes may be redistributed to meet needs
that have become apparent;
Interventions will be established quickly and students’ progress
in these will inform their SEN status.
William Brookes School is committed to supporting
students with support needs during the transition
between Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4:
• All year 9 students with statements/ EHCPs have a
careers interview before their annual review;
• For students without statements, options premeetings with the SENCO are held where
necessary;
• All year 9 students who have been on the SEN list
are tested during the academic year for extra help
during exams such as readers, scribes, using a
laptop and extra time;
• A differentiated Key Stage 4 curriculum may give
additional time for overlearning or 1:1 support.
We are also committed to supporting our
students with support needs as they move to
post-16 provision:
• All Yr 11 students with statements / EHCPs have a
careers interview before their annual review;
• Representatives from local colleges/ training
providers are invited to Yr 11 annual reviews;
• Information about support needs and exam help is
emailed to colleges;
• Time is given in school to complete application
forms with support;
• Extra visits can be arranged to look at post 16
providers.
Students who have statements, EHCPs or are SEN
Support have 3 meetings per year with parents,
students, a teacher and a member of the SEN staff.
The discussions should include whether more or
less support is necessary to make sure a student
feels safely supported, without becoming overdependent upon support.
For instance, wherever possible, we would move
from 1:1 SSAs to departmental TAs when a student
moves into Year 10.
What training has been provided for our staff?
Loss & Bereavement
Anxiety
Self harm
Anger management
Social stories
Attachment disorder
Hearing Impairment
Elklan (language)
Visual impairments
Occupational Therapy
Specific Learning difficulties such as dyslexia,
dyspraxia and dyscalculia
Working with Autism/ ASD
Providing readers and scribes for exams fairly
From which external agencies do we seek advice?
Educational Psychologist
Woodlands Outreach
EnHance
DIVERT
Speech and language
CAMHS
Targeted Youth Service
Sensory Inclusion Service
Autism West Midlands
Shropshire Youth
Future Focus
Early Help Team
School Nurse
Woodlands Outreach
Education Welfare
Relateen
Red Cross
Gender Matters
Complaints.
We hope that you can discuss issues with the
SENCO and come to a mutually-satisfactory
conclusion, lravenscroft@williambrookes.com
However, in the event of a dispute that cannot be
thus satisfied, please follow the link from our
website to the school complaints procedure.
We currently don’t have any knowledge of
where Shropshire is publishing its ‘Local Offer, ’
but the websites for SEN Reforms are here:
https://www.shropshire.gov.uk/specialeducational-needs-(sen)/send-reforms
http://new.shropshire.gov.uk/get-involved/thelocal-offer/
Similarly, we don’t know how the personal
budgets will be allocated. These are only
available if your child has a Statement/ EHCP for
very high needs.
There are organisations that will help parents make their
way through the ‘local offer’ and School SEN Information
Reports.
Parent Partnership is a great service. Their web page is at
http://www.parentpartnership-shropshireandtelford.org.uk/
Their telephone number is 01952 457176.
Their email is info@pps-shropshireandtelford.org.uk.
“We are here to give you help so that you can feel much
more confident in being able to take an active role in
making sure your child’s educational needs are being
met.” (from their website)