SEND

Our school recognises there are particular groups of pupils whose circumstances require additional consideration by those who work with them to support their SEN.

At Sedgefield Community College we have appointed a Designated Teacher for Looked after Children, who in our case is also the school SENCO, who is there to ensure all teachers in school understand the implications for those children who are looked after and have SEN.

At Sedgefield Community College we ensure that all pupils, regardless of their specific needs make the best possible progress.

Types of SEND at the School:

At Sedgefield Community College, we have experience of supporting children and young people with a wide range of needs.

There are now four broad areas of SEND, these are:

Communication and Interaction

This area of need includes children with Autism Spectrum Condition and those with Speech, Language and Communication Needs

Cognition and Learning

This includes children with Specific Learning Difficulties, Moderate Learning Difficulties, Severe Learning Difficulties and Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulties

Social, Emotional and Mental Health Difficulties

This includes any pupils who have an emotional, social or mental health need that is impacting on their ability to learn.

Sensory and/or Physical Difficulties

This area includes children with hearing impairment, visual impairment, multi-sensory impairment and physical difficulties.

Please see the tables below for our current data regarding SEND at our school:

At Sedgefield Community College we are committed to the equal inclusion of all pupils in all areas of college life.  We recognise the diverse and individual needs of all of our pupils and take into account the additional support required by those children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND).  We recognise that all pupils are entitled to a quality of provision which will enable them to achieve their potential and enjoy well- being as enshrined in the outcomes of ‘Every Child Matters’ (be healthy; be safe; enjoy and achieve; make a positive contribution and achieve economic well-being).

We believe in positive intervention; removing barriers to learning; raising expectations and levels of achievement and working in partnership with other agencies in order to provide a positive educational experience for all SEND pupils.

Arrangements for ensuring access to a broad and balanced curriculum

All pupils follow the National Curriculum at a level and pace suitable for their ability.  Our SEND philosophy places SEND children at the heart of personalised learning and we endeavour to make our curriculum appropriate for all needs. 

At times modifications to the curriculum may be implemented.  To successfully match pupil ability to the Curriculum, Sedgefield Community College continues to be committed to:

• A range of teaching and learning styles.

• Differentiated materials (both for reinforcement and extension).

• Access to ICT.

• Additional in class support.

• Additional out of class support.

• Flexible groupings (including small group work).

• An innovative and supportive curriculum – including an integrated literacy-based curriculum at KS3.

• The appropriate use of rewards and consequence sanctions.

• Mentoring and counselling

• Assessment procedures that emphasise pupils’ strengths and achievements.

• Applications to examination boards to obtain access arrangements as appropriate.

SEND provision is an integral part of our overall school provision. Teachers use the SEND data we collect from primary schools, parents/ carers, outside agencies and our own information and assessments to plan lessons and differentiate provision for students with SEND.

The provision may be in the form of:

• extra classes
• specifically designed extension opportunities
• specific support
• self-supported study
• literacy enhancement programmes
• numeracy enhancement programmes
• one to one tuition
• Mentoring

We aim to identify under-achievement quickly and address it at individual or group level.

We also offer in-class support with a team of highly dedicated Enhanced Teaching Assistants. In class support is allocated at the start of the academic year. We are an inclusive school and the SEND Team support students across the 11 – 16 age range; working closely with other departments to personalise their learning and maximise learning opportunities.

The department policy reflects current best practice in line with the Code of Practice for Special Educational Needs and other relevant legislation.

All pupils with a medical need will be picked up at the start of the year, a document will be sent out to parents/ carers asking for home to declare if their child has a medical need that needs enhanced support or to be monitored in school. Once this document is returned a care plan will be created in consultation with home and health care professionals involved. Any change to medical needs during the academic year need to be reported to the SENDCo, Amy McGowan or the year manager.

Social Support within the school is monitored by a number of people, depending on the level of need. The following people who can be contacted in school are:

Mrs E Reed - Pastoral Lead (Safeguarding and Student Support)

Mrs A. McGowan – SENDCo

– Year 7 Manager - Dave Bowden

– Year 8 Manager – Chris Doyle

– Year 9 Manager – Gillian Bowman

– Year 10 Manager – Andrea McMenam

– Year 11 Manager – Daniel Magson

School Counsellor
 

Meeting the Medical Needs of Students and First Aid Policy  

Identification of SEN pupils, Referrals and Assessment Procedures

We are committed to meeting the needs of all children, including those with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities. We would ask parents to discuss or ensure that their child’s primary school share the identified needs with Sedgefield Community College prior to starting so that appropriate intervention and support can be planned and implemented. Advice from the Local Authority or other agencies may be requested to ensure any the school can meet any needs appropriately.

Full details of the admission arrangements can be found in the Secondary Admissions brochure produced by Durham County Council.

A copy of our Admissions Policies can be found here:

Admissions Policy 2023-2024

Admissions Policy 2024-2025

A link to the LA Admissions page is available here

Applying for a school place if your child has an Education, Health and Care Plan

Children and young people with an Education, Health and Care Plan follow a different admission and transfer process for a new school.  Please continue to complete Durham County Council’s parental preference form, as part of the admission process to a new school.  You continue to have a right to request a particular school and this will be considered alongside the information that we have about your child’s special educational needs or Disabilities.  The information would have been provided as part of the Education, Health and Care assessment or following the review meeting.

Pupils are identified from information supplied by:

• Primary Partner Schools.
• Standardised tests, (including literacy/numeracy tests, ‘value added’ measures reading age test and SATs results).
• Individual teachers and departments.
• Parents.
• Outside Agencies.
• Pupils themselves.
• In-College monitoring.
• Year Leaders
• SEND Team

In regards to SEND, any member of staff, parent, or outside agency can make a referral to the SEND Team regarding a pupil at Sedgefield Community College. Please look at the quality first teaching expectations before making a referral; these can be obtained from the SENCo, Amy McGowan.

Please see a copy of the referral form.

Other Colleges and Schools

When pupils with SEND are transferring to or from other educational establishments, the Year Leader and the SEND Manager will liaise with all parties concerned to ensure that the transfer is for the benefit of the pupils and disruption to the pupil’s education is kept to a minimum. An early review of progress is arranged and parents are invited to join the review.

KS2 to KS3: Sedgefield Community College promotes links with their partner primaries to ensure early identification of pupils who will be moving to our college. We encourage this link to start from as early as year 5 depending on the level of need and current SEND support that they require. This link can be done through liaising with the school SENDCo, Amy McGowan.

Contact Details:

01740 617777

a.mcgowan@sedgefield.cc

Transition:

At Sedgefield Community College, we are aware how overwhelming transition to secondary school can be, especially for a young person with Special Educational Needs. To support our young people and their families, the SEN team will be providing key dates each half term where families can book a meeting, organise a tour of the school, meet key staff or ask any questions about their child’s transition to secondary school. To book onto these afternoons please email Mrs Straughan: h.straughan@sedgefield.cc.

Please see a list of these dates below:

Changes between academic years are supported in close liaison with the SEND department, year managers and the form tutor. Our small teaching groups will maintain a similar timetable throughout their time at Sedgefield and therefore have as unsettled transition as possible. Again, strong relationships with parents/ carers are promoted to make sure the support can be offered where concerns may be arising.

KS3 – KS4: Options time can be difficult, especially for pupils who have a SEND. Parents are welcome to contact the school to discuss the options booklet and a parent’s information evening will be available to allow any concerns or queries may be discussed. This is also a crucial time for the SENDCo to identify Access Arrangements in an official capacity, through testing and JCQ approval documents.

KS4 –KS5: SEND Support Plans will be amended to allow the information being shared with the pupils’ future educational setting be up to date and portray a clear picture of any objectives that may need to be transferred on.

If you have any questions around transition, you may find the answer in our FAQ document below.

Y6-7-Transition FAQs

A positive and supportive relationship with parents is one of our most powerful resources and has a significant impact upon pupil progress.  All Parents are actively encouraged to be involved in their children’s education.  Parents are informed as their child is registered on the Code of Practice and are asked to be actively involved in their child’s educational journey here at Sedgefield Community College.

Additional support can be obtained from the SENDIASS team at Durham Authority:

https://durhamsendiass.info/

Durham SEND Information Advice and Support Service is a statutory service supporting parents/carers of children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and children and young people with SEND.

Teachers/SENDCO and Support Staff will work with children and young people to identify the support needed to meet agreed outcomes.  The provision is planned and interventions are allocated to individual needs. The children take an active role with setting their outcomes, discussing them with the class teacher/SENDCO. 

The children have regular meetings with support staff to discuss their progress and support.

Partnerships

The SEND Team work closely with the following professionals in order to provide the highest levels of support for pupils with SEND.

• SEND Team Durham County Council
• Educational Psychologists.
• Educational Social Workers.
• The Service for the Hearing Impaired.
• The Service for the Visually Impaired
• Cognition and Learning Team
• Social communication Team
• Emotional Wellbeing Team
• The Health Authority, in particular the College nurse.
• The Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMH’s).
• Neurological Pathway Team
• Governors’ Pupil Welfare Committee.
• Learning Mentors.

Pupil Assessment is an on-going process and forms an intrinsic part of the teaching cycle, designed to promote the raising of achievement.  Pupil assessment may be used as a basis for an initial referral to the SEND Team.

The team may also use assessment (reading, writing, numerical) to further assess a pupil’s Special Educational Need.

It is important to note that not all pupils referred to the SEND Team will be SEND pupils; and any support and guidance given may be short, medium or long term. Support is tailored to the individual.

The following are the main contacts for Special Educational Needs and Disability at Sedgefield Community College:

Mr Paul Fleming - Headteacher

Mr John Robinson - Designated SEN Governor

Mrs Amy McGowan - Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Coordinator

Mr Thomas Williams - Link Governor for SEND

It is the SENDCO’s job to: 

1. Oversee the day-to-day operation of the school’s SEND policy
2. Liaise with the relevant Designated Teacher where a looked after pupil has SEND
3. Advise teachers on using a graduated approach to providing SEND support
4. Advise on the deployment of the school’s delegated budget and other resources to meet the pupil’s needs effectively
5. Liaise with parents/carers of pupils with SEND
6. Liaise with and be a key point of contact for external agencies
7. Ensure that the school keeps the records of all SEND pupils up to date
8. Work with the head teacher and school governors to ensure that the school meets its responsibilities with regard to reasonable adjustments and access arrangements.

Staffing

The teaching and learning requirements of all children with SEND is primarily the responsibility of the class teacher with support from their curriculum area.  This reflects the principle that SEND is a whole college matter and a recognised aspect of all curriculum planning.  All staff at Sedgefield Community College will expect to teach pupils with SEND. 

The SEN team is made up of the following:

SENDCo

Assistant SENDCo

A team of Enhanced Teaching Assistants

Sedgefield Community College was part of the Building Schools for the Future initiative and moved into its new building in January 2011 this building has improved access for children and young people with a disability in our school, through the development of provisions and services and by improving access to the curriculum and the physical environment in school. We have increased our capacity by building an additional building that includes the same accessibility as the main building.

Improving access to the curriculum, physical environment and information for children and young people with a disability is a continuous process. 

Both school buildings have a lift so that all pupils, no matter what level of mobility, can move around the college freely. When organising the layout of the building, special attention was paid to the width of the corridors to allow pupils to move about in a comfortable and spacious manner. We are fortunate enough to have a hygiene room in school. This room means we can provide flexible facilities that meet the needs of our pupils. The hygiene room also improves independence of our current and future students; an issue which is of great importance to our SEN pupils.

Accessibility Plan

This section is in conjunction with our Equalities Policy:

Legal framework

1. We welcome our duties under the Equality Act 2010 to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations in relation to age (as appropriate), disability, ethnicity, gender, religion and sexual identity.
2. We welcome our duty under the Education and Inspections Act 2006 to promote community cohesion.
3. We recognise these duties are essential for achieving the five outcomes of the Every Child Matters framework, and that they reflect international human rights standards as expressed in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities, and the Human Rights Act 1998.

All learners are of equal value.

We see all learners and potential learners, and their parents and carers, as of equal value:

• whether or not they are disabled
• whatever their ethnicity, culture, national origin or national status
• whatever their gender and gender identity
• whatever their religious or non-religious affiliation or faith background
• whatever their sexual identity or orientation.

We recognise and respect difference.

Treating people equally does not necessarily involve treating them all the same. Our policies, procedures and activities must not discriminate but must nevertheless take account of differences of life-experience, outlook and background, and in the kinds of barrier and disadvantage which people may face, in relation to:

• disability, so that reasonable adjustments are made
• ethnicity, so that different cultural backgrounds and experiences of prejudice are recognised
• gender, so that the different needs and experiences of girls and boys, and women and men, are recognised
• religion, belief or faith background
• sexual identity or orientation

We foster positive attitudes and relationships, and a shared sense of cohesion and belonging.

We intend that our policies, procedures and activities should promote:

• positive attitudes towards disabled people, good relations between disabled and non-disabled people, and an absence of harassment of disabled people
• positive interaction, good relations and dialogue between groups and communities different from each other in terms of ethnicity, culture, religious affiliation, national origin or national status, and an absence of prejudice-related bullying and incidents
• mutual respect and good relations between boys and girls, and women and men, and an absence of sexual and homophobic harassment.

Our Accessibility Equality Strategy will:

• promote awareness and positive cultures for the inclusion of children and young people with disabilities;
• promote access, opportunity and inclusion in order to raise standards;
• ensure that with the right training, strategies, resourcing and support most children with special educational needs can be successfully included in mainstream education, taking a full part in the life of the school;
• promote partnership working with parents/carers, schools and other agencies to support greater accessibility;
• promote on-going dialogue with children and young people to involve them in further developments with the Strategy;
• ensure that children and young people with disabilities are identified as early as possible in order to ease transition, through improved sharing of information across agencies;
• actively seek to remove barriers to learning and participation.

Equality and Diversity Policy

The budget allocation is agreed between our school and the Local Authority at the beginning of each financial year. Detail of how this money is used to support children and young people with SEND is shown below. This is monitored each term by the Governing Body.

Full details about the way in which funding is allocated to schools for special educational needs provision can be found here:

At Sedgefield Community College, our notional SEN budget amounts to £317,345.63.

This is used to support children and young people with SEND by:

• An innovative and supportive curriculum
• Small academic pathway
• Wellbeing rooms for social time
• Training to ensure quality first teaching
• Group Interventions: LEXIA
• Specialist group support from outside agencies
• Specific individual support for children whose learning needs are severe and/or complex
• Ensuring a range of teaching styles are used
• Specialist equipment to support and enhance learning
• Mentoring and counselling
• A broad range of extra-curricular activities
• Differentiated materials.

If a child has complex special educational needs, we could also receive additional funding from the Local Authority to meet the agreed outcomes. 

A Costed Provision Map will be developed in liaison with the child, young person, parent or carer.   An example of a costed provision map can be found here.

Accessibility PlanAnti-Bullying - School Guidance

Equality and Diversity PolicyMeeting the Medical Needs of Students and First Aid PolicySpecial Educational Needs and Disability Policy

Link to Durham County Council Local Offer:

http://www.countydurhamfamilies.info/kb5/durham/fsd/localoffer.page?localofferchannel=0

Link to Durham SEND Information Advice and Support Service:

https://durhamsendiass.info/

With regards to SEND, if you would like to pay us a compliment, or make a complaint, you can contact us at: school@sedgefield.cc

Direct email: SENTeam@sedgefield.cc

Link to the SEND Information, Advice and Support Service.

http://www.durham.gov.uk/article/2991/Special-Educational-Needs-and-Disability-Information-Advice-and-Support-Service

This section of the website has been produced to meet the criteria outlined in section 69 of the Children and Families Act 2014 and contains SEN information specified in schedule 1 of the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Regulations 2014 contained in paragraphs 6.79 to 6.82 of the Special Educational Needs and Disability Code of Practice: 0 to 25 years.