Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND)

At Neale Wade Academy we support each individual learner, within a safe and secure environment, where they can reach their full protentional and become confident young adults, well-equipped and well-prepared academically, socially and emotionally for their lives beyond school. 

We are fully committed to supporting learners with a range of Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities.  We strive to accurately identify their needs and remove any barriers to learning so that they have every possible opportunity, achieve success, gain confidence and have pride in themselves as their community. 

Our support is person-centred, and we value the work we do in partnership with parents and professionals so that we can ensure that the provision we put in place will meet our learners’ needs and will cultivate confidence and pride, enabling learners to achieve success in their future ambitions and confidently reach their potential.
 

Contacts

Ms Hammond – Assistant Principal – SEND

Miss Rippington – Assistant SENDCo (Quality of Education)

Miss Johnson – Assistant SENDCo (Administration)

 

The Team

We have a team of specialist teachers and teaching assistants who offer academic, social and emotional support.  The team works in close partnership with both curriculum and pastoral colleagues across the Academy so that knowing each child is a priority.

An Overview of Special Educational Needs and Disabilities

The SEND Code Of Practice (January 2015) identifies four broad areas of Special Educational Need:

  • Communication and Interaction
  • Cognition and Learning
  • Social, Emotional and Mental Health
  • Physical and Sensory

Communication and Interaction

The profile of every child with communication and interaction needs is different and their needs may change over time. They may have difficulty with one, some or all of the different aspects of speech, language or social communication and different times of their lives (Code of Practice: 6.28)

Autistic Spectrum Disorders

Young people with ASDare likely to have particular difficulties with social interaction. They may also experience difficulties with language, communication and imagination, which can impact on how they relate to others (Code of Practice: 6.29)

 

Cognition and Learning

General Learning Difficulties
Support for learning difficulties may be required when young people learn at a slower pace than their peers, even with appropriate differentiation. Learning difficulties cover wide range of needs, including moderate learning difficulties (MLD), severe learning difficulties (SLD) where children are likely to need support in all areas of the curriculum and associate difficulties with mobility and communication, through to profound and multiple learning difficulties (PMLD), where children are likely to have severe and complex learning difficulties as well as a physical disability or sensory impairment. (Code of Practice: 6.30).

The Neale Wade Academy uses the benchmark as pupils working at a standardised score of <85 to start investigations of MLD.

  • Specific Learning Difficulties

Specific learning (SpLD), affect one or more specific aspects of learning. This encompasses a range of conditions such as: (Code of Practice: 6.31) Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, Dyscalculia.

Social, Emotional and Mental Health Difficulties

Young people may experience a wide range of social and emotional difficulties which manifest themselves in many ways. These may include becoming withdrawn or isolated, as well as displaying challenging, disruptive or disturbing behaviour. These behaviours may reflect underlying mental health difficulties such as anxiety or depression, self- harming, substance misuse, eating disorder or physical symptoms that are medically unexplained. Other young people may have disorders such as attention deficit disorder, attention deficit hyperactive disorder or attachment disorder (Code of Practice: 6.32)

Behavioural difficulties do not necessarily mean that a child or young person has a possible mental health problem or a special educational need (SEN). Consistent disruptive or withdrawn behaviours can, however, be an indication of an underlying problem, and where there are concerns about behaviour there should be an assessment to determine whether there are any causal factors such as undiagnosed learning difficulties, difficulties with speech and language or mental health issues.

Only medical professionals should make a formal diagnosis of a mental health condition. Schools, however, are well- placed to observe young people day-to-day and identify those whose behaviour suggests that they may be suffering from a mental health problem or be at risk of developing one. This may include withdrawn pupils whose needs may otherwise go unrecognised.

Sensory and/or Physical Disabilities

Some young people require special educational provision because they have a disability which prevents or hinders them from making use of the educational facilities generally provided. These difficulties can be age related and may fluctuate over time. Many young people with vision impairment (VI), hearing impairment (VI) or a multi-sensory impairment (MSI) will require specialist support and/or equipment to access their learning, or habitation support. Some young people with physical disability (PD) require additional on-going support and equipment to access all the opportunities available to their peers.

  • Hearing Impairment

Hearing impairment can range from mild through to severe and profound. They may be temporary or permanent and become apparent in many different ways.

  • Visual Impairment

Visual impairment is the consequence of functional loss of vision which cannot be corrected by glasses. There can also be temporary or permanent loss of vision.

  • Physical Needs

Physical needs can include fine and/or gross motor skills, mobility and spatial awareness.

  • Sensory Processing Difficulties

Hypersensitivity (over responsiveness) or hyposensitivity (under- responsiveness) to a wide range of stimuli.