Special Education Needs & Disability (SEND) Information Report
The Regis Academy is a fully inclusive Independent School for KS2 pupils, which ensures that all pupils achieve their potential personally, socially, emotionally, and academically in all areas of the curriculum. This is regardless of their gender, ethnicity, social background, religion, sexual identity, physical ability, or educational needs. This report aims to give you information on the ways in which we support all our pupils, including those with SEND. It may not list every skill, technique, or resources we use at Regis, as these are constantly and continually developed and modified to ensure we are meeting the needs of all of the individuals we support. If progress slows down or stops, this will be supported with intervention, resources, and extra support. When this is not successful, we will identify SEND needs. We keep parents/carers and referring schools fully informed throughout the child’s placement with us.
The universal offer – What the Regis Academy provides for all children:
As a parent/carer or young person, you can expect that:
- We will encourage you to familiarise yourself with our policies and approaches to learning.
- We will welcome you and your child into our school, and we invite you to discuss your child’s needs before they start school.
- The teachers and support staff who teach your child have continual professional development and training so that they know about how children learn, including those children who have difficulty in learning.
- Our school provides a variety of teaching and learning programmes to meet the individual learning needs of each child. (See Whole School Provision Map – shown on the website)
- We will accurately assess the level at which your child is learning. This informs what and how we teach. Our teachers differentiate (i.e. plan tasks for children at different stages of learning in the same class) so that your child is given work to do at an appropriate level.
- We will use a range of resources, strategies and teaching methods to take account of any barriers to learning, this may include offsite educational visits. The resources are matched carefully to suit your child and their abilities.
- We will keep you informed about how your child is progressing at least twice yearly and through written annual report detailing progress (if this falls within a placement at Regis). Additionally, we will invite you into school if we feel new issues present themselves so that we can discuss this with you face to face.
- The school will put in place a range of short term, small group or individual programmes (interventions) that may help your child to ‘catch up’.
- If further adaptation needs to be made, e.g. the physical features of our school environment, we will endeavour for this to be completed promptly.
Your ongoing support is essential to ensure that the placement with us is successful for your child, and we want to develop a strong partnership between school and home. We therefore encourage you to make an appointment to come into school if you, or your child, have concerns at any point during the placement. We also ask that you keep us up to date with any information, positive or negative, that is likely to have an impact on your child. This helps us to prepare for your child's arrival at school on a daily basis and make any reasonable adjustments that will keep them settled in order to have a productive day.
Identification of SEND
Any intervention a child receives will be monitored and evaluated to enable us to make accurate assessments to ensure this support is helping your child to make progress. If concerns persist, a member of staff will contact you to discuss this and agree a way forward.
If your child does not make progress despite numerous interventions, it may be that there are unidentified special educational needs present. These concerns will be shared by the class teacher with our Special Educational Needs and Disability Co-ordinator (SENDCo) who will request a discussion with referring schools and parent/carers to formulate a more intense or individualised intervention to support learning. We may also seek support from referring schools or external agencies to support your child. We will also signpost you to agencies that can advise and support you. Some may be able to offer extracurricular activities for your child.
If you feel, at any point, that your child is experiencing difficulties, then please do not hesitate to contact your child’s teacher or the SENDCo. You do not need to wait for us to approach you. Staff are always happy to discuss any concerns you may have.
Effectiveness of provision
At Regis we are constantly monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of our provision through:
- Monitoring – The SENDCo and other members of the Senior Leadership Team observe interventions, whole class practise and monitor work produced by children. They meet frequently to discuss children’s progress and how this can be further supported on both a formal and informal level.
- The governing body – Our Governors support us to ensure we are meeting the needs of all of our children, including those with SEND.
- Evaluation – We are constantly evaluating our practice to ensure we are providing all of our children with the best possible provision. We celebrate and share our strengths and provide a flexible approach to meet the needs of each pupil.
- Feedback - we welcome feedback from all those who work in partnership with us (i.e. parents/carers, referring schools, the outside agencies we work with and, of course, our pupils). This helps us to identify areas we need to develop, as well as helping to highlight what we do well.
Additional SEND Support Offer – those with SEND who don’t make expected progress
If your child has a special need or a disability, we will:
- Talk to you about your child’s difficulties in learning or disability so that we can understand their needs.
- Make an assessment of your child’s learning, so we know which skills they need to learn next.
- Provide support from our SENDCo, who works closely with our teachers to ensure that your child can learn in the best way that is suited to them.
- Have a range of programmes to help children who need extra support to read, write, learn maths or manage their behaviour. (See our Provision Map, shown on the website)
- Check on pupil progress at least once a term.
- Work with, and seek advice from, external agencies and referring schools to support your child’s progress.
- Tell you how to get in touch with your local Parent Partnership Services, who can offer advice and support if this needed.
- Talk to you if we think we need to consider requesting that the local authority carries out a Statutory Assessment to determine if your child needs an Education, Health and Care Plan (ECHP).
Mentoring
Our Pastoral Lead offers a mentoring service that children can be referred into by teachers. Here they are supported to develop their social, emotional and mental health to support their learning and reintegration back into school. These sessions are very person centred and will be lead by teacher specific targets or areas that a child has identified that they wish to work on. All children have access to the Pastoral Lead and Pastoral Room to use as a safe space to take time out when needed.
Education Health and Care Plans (EHCP)
Children who have severe levels of physical, learning, communication or emotional/ behavioural difficulty, that are lifelong and complex, may need an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP). In such cases, schools, or parents/carers, apply to the child's Local Authority (LA) to request that a Statutory Assessment is undertaken to determine if this is needed. If an EHCP is agreed, this will identify the range of support that is needed and names the provision child or young person will attend. The document s formally reviewed annually up to the age of 25.
A statutory timeline applies throughout the process, with the LA having 13 weeks to complete the formal assessment, followed by 26 weeks to complete the EHCP if the assessment determines that one is necessary. Throughout this time, your child will continue to be supported from the school’s SEN resources. School staff will access additional professional development in order to ensure that they have the skills to teach and support your child. Our role at Regis to support the referring school if this process has already commenced, in order to ensure that the LA has all the information required to successfully complete the application. In other cases, Regis may recommend that this route is explored. Our role will, again, to support the referring school.
Many children who require an EHCP are educated in mainstream schools. However, some benefit from a special school or focus provision placement. The options will be discussed with you as the plan is developed. School will keep you informed about the progress your child is making through assessment and termly reviews, along with the formal Annual Review of the EHCP if one is in place.
Additional activities which are available for pupils with SEN
Regis is a fully inclusive school, which ensures that all pupils achieve their potential. We believe that additional experiences, provided by offsite educational visits, enhance the learning and social experience of the child. We endeavour to ensure that all children regardless of their SEND are able to participate.
If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Below are details of Local offers
Sandwell - https://fis.sandwell.gov.uk/kb5/sandwell/directory/localoffer.page
Dudley - https://www.dudley.gov.uk/residents/dudleys-local-offer/
Birmingham - https://www.localofferbirmingham.co.uk/
Wolverhampton - https://win.wolverhampton.gov.uk/kb5/wolverhampton/directory/localoffer.page?localofferchannel=0