Our approach
A child with a special educational need is a child first. They belong in the same classroom, learning the same curriculum, taught by the same teachers, with whatever adjustments make that possible. We do not run a separate track.
Being a small school helps here more than any system could. Class sizes are small, every member of staff knows every child, and a difficulty is usually spotted by someone who has taught that pupil in two or three subjects. Concerns rarely have to travel far to reach the right person.
What we are not is a specialist setting. There are needs we are not equipped to meet well, and we will say so honestly at the point of admission rather than accept a child and discover it later. That conversation is always better had early.
How needs are identified
- Information you give us before your child starts, including anything from a previous school or nursery.
- Teachers noticing that a pupil is not making the progress their work in class suggests they should.
- Assessment data reviewed each term across the whole school.
- You telling us. Parents are usually first to know that something is wrong.
Where we need a clearer picture we will discuss an external assessment with you. We will not begin that process without talking to you first.
Passports
Every pupil with an identified need has a Passport rather than an individual education plan. It is deliberately short: one page that any adult can read in two minutes before teaching that child.
A Passport sets out what the pupil is good at, what they find hard, what helps, what does not help, and the specific adjustments every teacher is expected to make. It is written with the pupil and with you, and reviewed each term.
What support looks like in a lesson
Most support happens in the ordinary classroom, delivered by the ordinary class teacher. That is deliberate: the evidence is consistently that high quality teaching, adapted well, does more for pupils with additional needs than withdrawal to a separate room.
- Adjustments to how work is presented, broken down and modelled.
- Scaffolds and resources that are removed as the pupil no longer needs them.
- Learning support assistants working alongside the class, not tethered to one pupil.
- Targeted small group work where a specific gap needs closing.
- Access arrangements in internal and public examinations where a pupil qualifies for them.
Pupils with education, health and care plans
We admit and teach pupils with EHC plans. Where a pupil has a plan, the provision specified in it is delivered, reviewed annually with you and the local authority, and reflected in the pupil’s Passport so that it shapes daily teaching rather than sitting in a file.
Annual reviews are arranged by our SENDCo when they fall due, together with the local authority.
English as an additional language
Pupils who are learning English alongside the curriculum are supported in class, with attention to the vocabulary a subject assumes rather than only to general fluency. A pupil who cannot access a history lesson because of the language of the source, not the history, needs the language taught.
Pupils who need more
Additional need runs in both directions. Mixed-age classes make it straightforward for a pupil who is ready for harder work to be given it, without moving year group or being made conspicuous.
Accessibility
Our accessibility plan sets out how we improve access to the curriculum, to the physical site, and to information, for pupils with disabilities. It is reviewed on a three year cycle as required by the Equality Act 2010.
Our accessibility plan is published with our other policies. Read the accessibility plan.
Working with you
You should never be surprised by what is in a report. If we are worried about your child you will hear it from us early, in person or on the phone, not in writing at the end of term. In return we would ask that you tell us what you are seeing at home, including the things that are hard to say.
Talk to our SENDCo
Libby Harris is our Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Coordinator. If you are considering the school for a child with additional needs, an early conversation is genuinely worth having — before an application, not after.
