SEND Provision – Leigh Academy Blackheath

Special Educational Needs and Disabilities – SEND

The Vision

“We believe that every learner is entitled to an enriching, varied and personalised education; delivered through a broad and balanced curriculum that provides challenge, irrespective of need, starting point or background. Our commitment to maximising the potential of every child; teaching them the skills they need to be successful and nurturing a desire to be a lifelong learner, will prepare them for whichever career path they choose to follow. At Leigh Academy Blackheath we inspire our learners to go beyond what they are taught and seek what they do not yet know.”

The Process

The SEND Code of Practice 2014 explains the need to offer an Assess, Plan, Do, Review approach to schools managing students with SEND. Here at LAB we use this process across the whole school and track this on our provision mapping proformas.

Assess --> Plan --> Do --> Review

We use the Graduated approach to SEND in terms of Universal, Targeted and Specialist as defined in the diagram below;

Specialist

SEN support/intervention for children with identified Special Educational Needs.

Targeted

Support/intervention for children to plug the gaps.

Universal

Quality first teaching for all pupils.

Our robust SEN register is divided into 3 main categories, EHCP , support and monitoring and is reviewed regularly. Through lesson observations, work scrutiny, parents meeting and the referral system new SEND can be identified, supported and reviewed. If needed we have a wealth of interventions to support all aspects of need as defined by the 2014 code of practice; Communication and interaction, Cognition and learning, Social, Emotional and mental health and Physical and sensory. Alongside staff training and quality first teaching in the classrooms our extensive range of targeted interventions aim to support and allow for the growth of our pupils so that barriers to education are removed.

The Team

The SEND team at LAB sits at the heart of our inclusion provision and comprises staff with a broad range of specialist skills and knowledge, led by our SENDCo, our Assistant SENDCO and our LSA team, supported by all staff within the school, notably our VP for Inclusion and our SEN Governor. LAB is fortunate enough to have strong relationships with external professionals including an Educational Psychologist, Speech and Language therapist and ASD outreach, to name just a few.

The team have a wealth of short and long term roles they are involved in including supporting students and families, measuring progress and assessing impact. Fundamentally the goal is to ensure the triangulation of home, school and pupil can work together to maximise the person centred approach to SEND support here at LAB.

The Support

The LAB SEN teams aspire to be a sign poster to ensure our pupils overcome barriers in school and in life. There is a wealth of support available and here are some suggestions for you to look into to support your child, family and yourselves.