Mildenhall College Academy

Support for people with disabilities

Access Suffolk

Experience of including people with special educational needs and disabilities

Academy Transformation Trust’s Offer for children with Special Educational Needs or Disability.

Academy Transformation Trust Mission statement:

The Trust is committed to providing excellence for all pupils and supporting every child within our academies to achieve. As a Trust we make every effort to be a truly inclusive. We welcome everybody into our Academy community and aim to support every child to reach their full potential.

We believe that:

• all children deserve a first class education
• all schools can be transformed to being judged as outstanding
• all pupils can and should, leave education well prepared for their life ahead academically, personally, emotionally and professionally
• all of our staff feel valued and supported in reaching their full professional potential

The Academy recognises that a child or young person has SEND if they have a learning difficulty or disability which calls for special educational provision to be made for them and, as defined in the  Code of Practice 2014, a young person has a learning difficulty or disability if they:

• Have a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others of the same age; or
• Have a disability which prevents or hinders them from making use of educational facilities of a kind generally provided for others of the same age in mainstream schools or mainstream post-16 institutions. 

The Academy makes provision in accordance with the Code of Practice [2014], the SEN and Disability Act [amended 2001], Index for Inclusion [updated 2001] the Equality Act [2010]. Our SEN policy and our practice aim to reflect these principles.

Special Educational Needs or disability is identified in terms of learning, communication, interaction, and emotional health, physical and sensory needs. The identification of SEND should be built into the overall approach to monitoring the progress and development of all pupils. The Academy believes that each child and their parents have a right to be involved in making decisions and exercising choices. The Academy is committed to working in partnership with the child, parents, carers and outside agencies to identify needs, provide support for them and monitor the progress of all students.  

The Trust’s objectives for SEND provision in all our academies is :

• To ensure pupils have access to a broad and balanced curriculum.
• To provide a differentiated curriculum appropriate to the child’s needs and ability.
• To ensure the identification of all pupils requiring SEND provision as soon as possible.
• To ensure SEND pupils take as full a part in the life of the academy as possible.
• To ensure parents are kept fully informed of their child’s progress and attainment.
• To ensure that SEND pupils are involved in making decisions affecting their future SEND provision.
• To liaise with specialists and other agencies to access specialist support for pupils and parents.

Our Academy’s Local Offer:

We aim to maximise the educational opportunities of all within our comprehensive community in a stimulating and caring environment.  We are determined to meet the educational needs of all our students.

Some students will, permanently or from time to time, have a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of children their age.  Some may have disabilities, which prevent or hinder them making the use of the facilities provided for our students.  We will give these students individual consideration and make special provision for them, working in partnership with others as necessary.  The Governors’ intention is that the needs of all students are identified and met as soon as possible.  All students whether they have special educational needs or not, must have an equal opportunity to participate in the full curriculum of the academy (including the National Curriculum) and all activities.  Students with special educational needs will be encouraged to become independent and take responsibility within the academy.

Everyone in the academy community – governors, staff, students and parents – has a positive and active part to play in achieving this aim.

The Student Support Centre:

The Student Support Centre is currently made up of an Acting SENCo (Special Educational Needs Coordinator) Miss Woods, Assistant SENCo Mrs McMullan, one SEN Administrator Mrs Goff;   2 HLTAs (Higher Level Teaching Assistants), whose main responsibilities are Maths and English and 19 TAs (Teaching Assistants).  The team benefits from a wealth of experience and a wide range of personal interests and many of our TAs have specific roles and responsibilities within the faculty.

Students who receive SEN support often have a range of needs and the Academy’s aim is to make all of the students feel included and able to access the Academy and its curriculum.

The faculty is well resourced with a base in Room 34. It has an interactive whiteboard and computers for independent study.  We try to encourage a welcoming environment where students feel safe to come and learn and improve their skills.  The TAs use this space to run a Paired Reading scheme where great successes have been seen in  improving reading ages and helping students access the curriculum generally.

The faculty runs a successful Peer Mentoring programme for those students who are more vulnerable and who need a safe place to go or an ear to listen to them.  We have also recently started a BEM (Black Ethnic Minority) mentoring programme.  We have volunteer mentors from the American Air Base working with us on this programme.

SEN support:

The Academy believes high quality teaching, differentiated for individual students, is the first step in responding to students who have or may have SEN. The quality of teaching for students with SEN, and the progress made by students, is a core part of the academy’s performance management arrangements and its approach to professional development for all teaching and support staff.

Students with special educational needs are identified as early as possible through close contact with the feeder schools and parents.  Close liaison takes place with the Primary Schools at all times and the SENCo is invited to Annual Reviews and other relevant meetings regarding students with special educational needs who are likely to transfer to the Academy.  Regular monitoring of academy students also takes place by all teaching and support staff.

Clear procedures for identification are:

• Previous teaching records
• Current teaching records
• Half yearly screening
• National recognised screening tools
• Teaching assessments and observations
• Key Stage SATs results
• Information from parents and students
• Staff discussions with SENCo
• Detailed monitoring of the One Page Profile
• Specialist expertise
• Frequent and detailed reviews of progress
• Discussions with students

The Academy follows the guidelines within the SEN Code of Practice (2014) where all teachers are teachers of SEN. However despite good quality teaching some students may struggle for various reasons to make progress in class and will need to receive further SEN support.  Their needs may be more complex and a student may require an Educational Health Care Plan (EHC)

In these cases most support is within the class but there are a variety of groups in addition to this which target identified students. On occasions some students may be withdrawn from some lessons to follow a Literacy Intervention programme to improve their communication, reading and writing skills.

There are handwriting sessions for students identified by staff, students and parents- this is usually on a 1:1 basis but is sometimes combined with work within the classroom.

We are also able to provide some Anger Management and classroom coping strategy sessions with a trained behaviour mentor on a 1:1 basis.  These students have been identified by staff and sometimes the students themselves recognise that they need some strategies for dealing and managing their anger. The Mentor is very good at recognising when students needs are not anger related and is able to mentor students on many different aspects providing them with the support they need to manage their own behaviour.

Some of our students may have a reduced timetable and we therefore have to ensure their time out of class is well used.  In some cases we can put in some additional 1:1 sessions and in others we make sure suitable and appropriate work is available for them to do independently. They also have access to SAM Learning and VLE resources on the computer to revise and prepare for future examinations.

As part of the Options in Key Stage 4, Youth Award and CoPE is available to those students who find a full curriculum too difficult.

The faculty also boasts a very successful outcome rate for students who have found just coming to the Academy is a problem. Special arrangements are made to accommodate these students until full integration is possible.

The Academy makes sure that Access Arrangements for GCSE examinations and coursework are arranged following a full assessment giving these students access to what they are entitled to.

The Special Needs faculty has its own budget which is managed by the SENCo. This is used to assist the raising of student skills, ensuring access to the curriculum and taking into account individual needs.

Some of the resources include:

• Staff expertise and time including nurture support and anger management
• Wide range of books, materials and tasks to suit students different abilities.  Reading books have been especially chosen to be at the interest level and reading level of those who receive SEN support
• Wide range of games and activities to suit emotional, behavioural issues
• Resources and equipment for specific difficulties e.g. visual impairment
• A range of information technology facilities and programs including Dragon Dictate to help pupils to record information.
• Arrangements for access arrangements for external examinations and provision of additional invigilators.
• Treatment room with specialised equipment for Physiotherapy sessions for identified students.

To be able to communicate effectively with support staff and teaching staff about students who receive SEN support from Spring 2015there will be a One Page Profile. This will be designed to have important information regarding the young person, what their strengths are, their ambitions, what they find particularly difficult and what helps them to learn.  The student and families will be involved in producing this document and it will be reviewed on a regular basis.  Students who currently are on Statements of Educational needs will be transferred onto an Education Health Care Plan (EHC) over the next three and half years and reviews will be held annually. EHC plans now go from years 0 to 25.

Students and parents will be consulted about their child’s EHC plans and One Page Profiles as their voice and opinions are an integral part of the student making progress.  Consultation will take place through annual reviews, parents’ evenings and meetings held with the form tutor.  Running alongside this students and parents will be able to track progress from regular progress and academic reports and information on GO 4 Schools.

Outside Agency Support:

There are a range of outside agencies that make frequent visits to the faculty and work with identified students.  These agencies include IYSS ( Integrated Youth Support Service), CIR (County Inclusive Resource- outreach service for students with Autism), the School Nurse,  Physiotherapist, Occupational Therapist, Advisory Teachers for Hearing and Visually Impaired students, Traveller Advisory Teacher, Educational Psychologist, SEN Advisory Teacher, EWO, Parent Partnership Advisors  and many more.

The School Nurse has a weekly drop in at the academy on a Monday lunch time at Bury Road. A series of Stress management sessions are arranged in April/May to support students through the difficulties of GCSE and A-Level examinations.  They are given advice on nutrition, relaxation and techniques to deal with those stressful moments.

Transition:

To support Transition from Feeder Primary Schools visits are made by the SENCo, Assistant SENCo and TAs to gain information and to build up positive relationships with the students.  In addition to this, extra visits to the academy are made prior to transfer to aid transition even further.  Both students and parents find this very reassuring.  Some students require extra support with transition and our TAs run a successful Social Skills group. This allows students from the feeder primary school to meet other students and spend quality time in their new academy environment.  As a faculty we work with the feeder schools and parents to try our best to tailor transition to the students’ needs to help the students have the best possible start at the Academy.

Evaluation of Provision:

The Student Support Centre is motivated by the desire to enable all students to make progress at the academy.  The support team works tirelessly to involve and include all students and ensure they leave Mildenhall College Academy with a positive future ahead of them. 

To ensure this happens there is regular evaluation and monitoring.  This takes places through work scrutiny, SEND walks, lesson observations, meetings with students and parents.  It is the role of the governors to ensure SEN provision is an integral part of the academy development plan and the quality of SEN provision is continually monitored.

How to Contact us:

Miss Woods SENCo / Mrs McMullan Assistant SENCo / Mrs Goff SEN Administrator

Mildenhall College Academy

Bury Road

Mildenhall

Suffolk

IP28 7HT

Telephone: 01638 714645 Extension 143/205

Email:    rebecca.woods@mca.attrust.org.uk

             helen.mcmullan@mca.attrust.org.uk

             karen.goff@mca.attrust.org.uk

Other Useful Contacts:

Miss McSloy - Lead Safeguarding Officer

Telephone: 01638 714645

Email:    lynne.mcSloy@mca.attrust.org.uk

Suffolk School Nursing Team - Mildenhall

Telephone:  01638 583222

Young Carers – Suffolk

Suffolk Family Carers was started in 1988 to help raise awareness of family carers, their issues and their needs.  Then, as now, our purpose wasn’t to undermine the needs of cared-for people or compete for attention or resources. It was to gain recognition of the important contribution family carers make, and support them to carry on caring so they would be less likely to need care themselves.

www.suffolk-carers.org.uk  

Telephone: 0844 225 3099  

Email: enquiries@suffolkfamilycarers.org

Children and Young People Services ( Youth Offending,  Integrated Youth Team)

West Suffolk House

Western Way

Bury St Edmunds

IP33 3YU

Youth Offending : 01284 758230

Integrated Youth Team: 01284 758610

 

 

 

Contact

Miss Rebecca Woods

Telephone

01638 714645

Email

rebecca.woods@mca.attrust.org.uk

Links

http://www.mildenhall.attrust.org.uk

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