School Profile 

The percentage of pupils on the SEND register is 34.6%. This is higher than the national average of 12.6 % but is in line with the demographic profile of the school including FSM and deprivation indicators.

We note that a high proportion of in-year transfers include children with SEND, and we receive many EHCP preference placement requests. 

This may be because our school has a reputation for working successfully with parents of pupils with SEND and are therefore choosing to send their children to our school.

In addition, since September, the school has received 15 requests to place children with EHCPs in the last 6 months. 

 We currently have 15 plans with 2 plans under assessment and 4 new children joining in reception

PYRAMIDS OF NEED and Pupil Passports 

In line with the new Code of Practice we have developed a process of engaging both parents and pupils in their learning.

Our pupil passports help capture the meaningful outcomes we are hoping to achieve. These are personalised for each pupil. 

See example

Provision is individualised to meet need and recorded on the passport

Provision Map

All our provision is recorded through our electronic Provision map which can detail provision both current and past.

Where a pupil may go forward for statutory assessment, or to support transition, records are readily available on edukey and cpoms 

All our TAs have attended training on working with pupils with SEND and regularly meet with the SENCO to ensure that the pupils they support are having their needs met

When new staff are appointed  they undertake an induction which is clearly set out including Attachment and Trauma Training, an overview of the Graduated Approach and sharing Pyramids of need

We are proud of the intensive support our teachers and TAs can provide whilst being acutely aware of the need to develop the independence of the pupils.

A number of children have allocation of additional staff support (High Needs Funding) 

Excellent Teaching

The effectiveness of Inclusive High Quality Teaching is monitored by regular learning walks and  involvement in subject monitoring

Key aspects monitored are set out below

The SENCo is accessible daily to talk through Inclusive Practice

We use the CUSP curriculum - their inclusion statement is below:

The composite goals of any curriculum should be the same for all pupils. For those who require additional support, they will take several smaller steps towards these. The goals only change when children experience cognitive impairment which makes the content inaccessible even with scaffolding. Truly ambitious inclusive practice starts with taking consideration of the needs of the most vulnerable learners through quality first teaching.

A curriculum which is knowledge-rich, which has clearly identifiable cumulative learning and vocabulary instruction and which is built on the principles of cognitive and neuroscience enables teachers to be ambitious about making learning accessible for all. The ambition in our curriculum doesn’t change for the first 20% - we simply offer more scaffolding to ensure that every pupil succeeds within it. The single most important factor in this is the carefully chosen language which frames the concepts that we want to teach and this should be rich, coherent and systematically revisited.

This along with the practical scaffolds built into the CUSP curriculum for teachers such as editable knowledge notes, dual coding and clearly identified connections, are supportive of our inclusive ambition for all pupils to thrive and become a little more expert! In addition, the clear lesson structures, routines and predictability which underpin the CUSP approach are supportive of all vulnerable learners, including the neurodiverse and those with SEMH needs. 

Alex Bedford, Lauren Meadows, Marie Beale

Key Supporting documents we use at Whitefield 

Aspects to consider:

◼ Is this the best possible individual outcome for this pupil?

◼ Are there effective systems in place that lead to timely and accurate identification of starting points and support needs?

◼ Is the curriculum effectively developed and its implementation adapted for pupils with SEND?

◼ Does the curriculum fully prepare pupils with SEND for their next stage?

◼ How effectively do leaders assess, plan, do, review their provision?

◼ Are pupils with SEND included in all aspects of school life?

Progress Tracking

The SLT review the progress of individual children and cohorts termly. This information is discussed at pupil progress meetings with class based staff and appropritate actions put in place to support children,. This might be involvement of parent, additional class based support in class etxc