Using information about each child from their Primary School, targets are set for new entrants to school. We track your child’s progress towards these periodically throughout the year, and a Parent’s Evening.  If your child is identified as working significantly below their expected level of progress, we will take appropriate measures to address this.

The first response is high quality teaching targeted at areas of weakness. Where progress continues to be less than expected, the class or subject teacher, working with the SENCO and Assistant SENCO, will assess whether the child has a special educational need. We may then provide extra teaching or rigorous interventions designed to secure better progress as appropriate. A student’s response to such support can help to better identify their particular needs. Indicators we may use to identify difficulties with accessing learning are:

• Significantly less progress than that of their peers starting from the same baseline.
• Failure to match or better the child’s previous progress.
• Failure to close the attainment gap between the child and their peers.
• Needs outside agency involvement.
• Needs an Education, Health and Care plan.

We provide our Step Up provision for those students who have no formative KS2 assessment outcomes or have been identified as needing further support. More information about this provision can be found in the Curriculum section on the school website.

We use the information gathered and, as appropriate, work with outside agencies, e.g. Hearing Impaired Service, Visually Impaired Service, Autism Communication Team, CAMHS and Psychology Direct, to plan appropriate provision for an individual.

Services we regularly liaise with are:

Assessing and Reviewing the Effectiveness of Provision

We monitor the quality of the provision received by all students (including those with SEND) as part of the school’s Quality Assurance after each assessment point. Assessment formally occurs periodically over the year.  This rigorous process enables us to identify areas where the provision requires adaptation to ensure the best academic outcomes.

If a student participates in an intervention programme, the impact is measured (where possible) by testing the skill on entry and exit. The impact of some interventions is not quantifiable, although we always evaluate how the students feel the intervention has enabled them to make progress.

Communicating with Parents

All assessment data is shared with parents/carers by posting home the results of assessments. This data includes targets to aim for throughout the year. We also give an indicator of attitude to learning through our Investment in Learning scores. All parents/carers are invited to attend an annual parent’s evening to discuss their child’s progress with individual subject teachers. Pastoral staff have an overview of all students’ data and are available to discuss any academic concerns throughout the year.

Parents/carers of students identified as having a special educational need are informed of the support or intervention their child has received on a regular basis.

Learning is planned by individual departments to meet the needs of all students.  Departments follow Schemes of Work that differentiate between the needs of different learners to ensure that progress is made at the required level by all. Individual Education Plans are written to identify barriers to learning, strategies to use to help support students and what the desired outcome will be. The learning in school is supported by parents/carers, ensuring that independent tasks and homework are completed to a good standard and that their child is equipped and ready to learn each day. Home work is available on Show My Homework.