SEND in Partnership with Parents and Carers

All our teaching staff have received training on a range of SEND strategies to meet the differing needs of individual students within our school. Specific training has been given on adaptive practice, dyslexia, diabetes, specific physical disabilities, cognition and learning needs and social, emotional and mental health difficulties.  

Our teaching assistants have a lot of experience of working with children with a wide variety of SEND needs. Teaching assistants work in classrooms supporting your children and in small groups or individual interventions with specific pupils.  

As well as supporting your child with learning, the wider team provides pastoral support in a variety of different ways. This includes lunchtime clubs, outdoor learning, support with attendance, mentoring and the support provided by heads of school and Care and Achievement Coordinators.  

We cater for pupils with a wide range of special educational needs and disabilities. These include students with hearing or visual impairments; physical disabilities; specific learning difficulties; autism; speech language and communication needs and a range of social, emotional or mental health needs. 

Woldgate school has a well-established and highly effective transition programme which supports all pupils as they move into secondary school. The SENCO is present at some pupils’ Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP) review meetings in Year 5 and 6 if deemed appropriate. Where necessary, the SENCO will also meet with the Year 6 teachers and the primary school SENCOs to go through SEN information for all new starters.   The SENCO will be present at the transition evenings held in the summer for parents and new pupils.  

We use a range of data from primary school alongside information from primary school teachers gained during the Year 6 Transition process. In Year 7 all pupils take STARS reading tests, dyslexia tests, Cognitive Ability Tests (CATS). Pupils are also assessed on basic numeracy skills throughout year 7. The outcomes of these can then lead to further testing.  

The reading assessment that pupils take is used to identify pupils who would benefit from intervention support. This intervention is based on need and can take a variety of forms including phonics and paired reading. Intervention for maths is based on ongoing assessment and takes the form of maths booster sessions which have proven to be highly effective in helping pupils make accelerated progress. 

Throughout Years 7 – 11 ongoing teaching assessment is used alongside a range of other information to make judgements about whether pupils should go onto the SEND register or, indeed, move off it.  

During KS4 pupils are assessed by a qualified Access Arrangements Assessor, to ascertain if they will qualify for exam access arrangements in external examinations.  

In addition, all parents and teachers can log concerns about possible additional needs with the SENCO at any time. 

Woldgate offers a broad and balanced curriculum to all pupils including those with SEND. We believe pupils make the most progress in lessons through high quality teaching for all. All teachers have easy access to pupil passports which detail specific adaptations that should be made for your child. These passports are one-page profiles of pupil learning needs and guidance as to how best to meet these needs and overcome any barriers to learning. Passports are reviewed regularly with parents and pupils during evenings designed to ensure that quality time is spent with every family to best tailor the passport.  

Some pupils who have an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP) will receive some in-class support from teaching assistants, working under the direction of the class teacher.  

At Key Stage 3, several additional small group and individual interventions also take place in form time or in small group withdrawal from lessons for a limited time. Provisions supporting literacy include Fresh Start, Lexia literacy programme and paired reading. Numeracy interventions include a Catch-Up booster programme and individual targeted support on areas of identified weakness. 

In addition to this some pupils take part in a small tutor group contained within the learning support hub. Additional help can also be accessed with the daily support sessions run by the Learning Support team at breaks and lunchtimes.  

At Key Stage 4 a small number of pupils access bespoke packages of support which include individual personalised timetables and one-to-one or small group work providing opportunities for pre-learning and overlearning material for GCSE subjects. Additional maths and English are also offered to some pupils who will benefit from this. 

The Learning Support department has an area including a teaching space and smaller spaces used for working with pupils in small groups. There is also a small sensory room used by identified pupils.  Pupils are always able to access this space at times of crisis.  Homework support is available at break times and lunchtimes in Learning Support as well as in the homework club run after school on a Wednesday.  

The Learning Support department has several laptops available to identified pupils to use in lessons. Some pupils may also be provided with specific equipment to access the curriculum if this has been recommended through their EHCP or if it is recommended by the SENCO.  

The Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Information Advice and Support Service (SENDIASS) for the East Riding of Yorkshire provides information, advice and support to parents and carers of children and young people with special educational needs or disabilities. The school works closely with SENDIASS to ensure your child’s needs are met.  

Where a pupil is receiving support from an external agency such as the physiotherapy service, occupational therapist or speech and language therapist the SENCO will liaise with these agencies to ensure that at school we are providing the appropriate support to enable the young person to make progress in the identified areas. The SENDCO also meets termly with the Educational Psychologist. 

We have a very strong pastoral support team who work alongside the Learning Support department in supporting pupils in their social and emotional development. Our aim is that our pupils thrive emotionally and socially because of the care and nurturing approach of the teaching staff, teaching assistants and support staff who monitor activities from lesson to lesson and alert other staff to potential issues in the earliest stages.  

The school has a strong anti-bullying policy and there is a clear policy that staff follow to report any concerns. Pupils can receive pastoral support through their daily registration sessions and time with their tutors. Within school, there is additional support available in peer mentoring.  

Where necessary, the pastoral support teams in school may refer to other services within the East Riding who can support young people experiencing social or emotional difficulties.  

Pupil and student individuality is celebrated and promoted within the school. There are regular awareness-raising events and celebrations in school, and we have a pupil-run equality working party.  

Assessment data is received from teaching staff through the assessment cycles and is analysed by Curriculum Leaders, Heads of Years and the Senior Leadership Team. The SENCO also considers the assessment data for SEND pupils. When children fall behind expected progress according to their prior attainment and targets, a strategy for accelerating progress will be planned and reviewed.  

Curriculum Leaders and Class Teachers will track the progress of the SEND cohort as part of their ongoing assessment of all groups. 

Pupil and student voice and parental feedback is also used to assess pupils’ progress, particularly during reviews of EHCPs and school Pupil Passports. 

Each year training is planned that considers the needs of the pupils we support in school and how teachers can develop best practice for meeting all pupils’ needs.  

Training for teaching SEND pupils is at the heart of school CPD (continuous professional development), and whole school training has been delivered in many different areas. These include:  

• Checking whole class understanding  

• Effective modelling and metacognition  

• SEND – the 4 areas of need and strategies  

• Wellbeing and de-escalation: regulation techniques and restorative practice  

• Trauma informed practice  

• Relational approaches  

• Explicit instruction:  effective teacher led approaches for pupils with SEND  

• Approaches to scaffolding: what does effective scaffolding look like, and how can we plan to remove scaffolding over time?  

• Metacognition: helping children with SEND to plan, monitor and evaluate their Learning  

• Reciprocal reading at secondary: developing comprehension skills in all subjects  

The school SENCO presents bi-weekly SEND briefings to all staff based on the 4 areas of SEND need, updates on pupil needs and strategies for specific pupils.   

All curriculum departments at school have made SEND provision maps based on NASEN (National Association for Special Educational Needs) guidelines, so they are clear about what best practice teaching of SEND pupils looks like in their subjects. A Teaching Charter followed by all staff makes expectations around adaptive teaching clear to all and in class provision is monitored by the Senior Leadership Team, Curriculum leaders and the SENCO. All departments take part in a bi-annual departmental review process in which the SENCO participates to ensure teaching is suitable for SEND pupils.  

Core subjects such as English and Maths have specific teachers with responsibility for the teaching and learning of SEND pupils. SEND provision is also built into all subject improvement plans with a designated staff member responsible.  

All teachers at Woldgate teach with the Woldgate Learning Cycle. This provides a structure for lessons which suits the needs of all pupils but is especially useful in providing a regular and predictable experience for SEND pupils. The Learning Cycle also helps pupils remember key content via built in retrieval .

Pupils at Woldgate School achieve high and SEND pupils are no exception. In 2023, Year 11 pupils receiving school SEND support achieved an overall Progress 8* score of +0.43, and in 2024 pupils with EHCPs achieved a progress 8 score of +0.58. This means pupils with a SEND need achieve more highly than non-SEND pupils nationally.

*Progress 8 is a school accountability measure in the UK that assesses the progress pupils make from the end of primary school (Key Stage 2) to the end of secondary school (Key Stage 4) based on their GCSE results.

Teaching Assistants differentiate work, teach small groups, mentor pupils, contact parents and supervise the class to enable the teacher to focus on those with specific needs. Alongside this they will also compile evidence for EHCPs and Pupil Passports. Most importantly, they provide a warm and welcoming base in Learning Support for all children but especially those most vulnerable.  

Teaching Assistants have been trained in ELSA (Emotional Literacy Support Assistant), Phonics, EBSA (Emotionally Based School Avoidance), Mental Health First Aid and Functional Skills to ensure interventions are well planned, evidence based and high quality.    We will continue to professionally develop our teaching assistants with a focus on evidence informed strategies.

We have a Sixth Form at Woldgate School and a number of pupils with SEND join this each year and benefit from the continued knowledge of the school’s staff of their strengths and needs. We work closely with inclusion staff at local colleges to ensure that, where pupils transfer there, these settings have a full and detailed picture of what works best with this young person and what their potential barriers to learning are. All pupils participate in the extensive school careers programme which includes an interview with a Careers Advisor.

All SEND pupils can take part in a wide range of clubs, trips and extra-curricular activities. In addition, there are some specific activities in the Learning Support Department which are specifically targeted to support SEND pupils and students. 

We operate an open-door policy to the Learning Support Department and are always happy to meet with you, answer a phone query or gather some information to ensure we are working together to support your child. The school, similarly, appreciates being kept abreast of outside agency involvement and the involvement of other professionals and encourages parents to collaboratively work between professionals by asking health or social care colleagues to copy us into their correspondence. All pupils with an EHCP are supported through the Annual Review process and parental input is encouraged to inform future planning.  

We operate an open-door policy to the Learning Support Department and are always happy to meet with you, answer a phone query or gather some information to ensure we are working together to support your child. The school, similarly, appreciates being kept abreast of outside agency involvement and the involvement of other professionals and encourages parents to collaboratively work between professionals by asking health or social care colleagues to copy us into their correspondence. All pupils with an EHCP are supported through the Annual Review process and parental input is encouraged to inform future planning.  

There is also a monthly SEND article in the school newsletter, and we hold Learning Support review evenings where parents and their children come into school to review their provision alongside a senior member of staff. 

We use Pupil Voice to judge the success of our work with our SEND children, and we recognise that their opinions will help us meet their needs. Pupils will be invited to all meetings and reviews to participate in the decision-making processes and always contribute to any Annual Review, either in person or in writing. Pupils and students are encouraged to attend Parents’ Evenings with family members to have individual discussions with class teachers. These meetings may take place virtually. We also regularly ask pupils to take surveys at school on their experience of Woldgate.  

If you need advice or need to express some concerns you should make direct contact with the school’s SENCO who will endeavour to resolve any difficulties.  

If you require further assistance, you should request an appointment with the Deputy Headteacher. In the event your concerns are not resolved, you should seek a meeting with the Headteacher. Further to this, a complaint can be made to the Chair of Governors if issues still exist. Further details can be found in the School’s Complaints policy on the school website.  

If your concern remains unresolved, despite the intervention and best efforts of the school, you can pursue it through the Local Authority’s procedures, details of which are available from East Riding SENDIASS. Support and guidance about SEND in the East Riding can be found at https://www.eastridingsendiass.org.uk/