12 November 2024
Georgia Hamilton, SENCO
Dr Rob Legg, Deputy Headteacher
SEND Information Report to Governing Body
12 November 2024
1. Context
This report should be read in conjunction with the local offer made by Oxfordshire County Council and this overview of government advice relating to SEND
2. About our school
Icknield Community College is a mainstream school providing for students with a wide range of special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) including those in each of the four categories set out in the SEN Code of Practice (2014):
• students with communication and interaction (C&I) needs, who, for example, have speech, language and communication difficulties, difficulties with social interaction, or who have autism spectrum conditions;
• students with cognition and learning (C&L) needs, who have generalised learning difficulties, or specific learning difficulties such as dyslexia, dyspraxia and dyscalculia;
• students with social, emotional and mental health (SEMH) needs; and
• students with sensory and/or physical needs, who have visual or hearing needs, for example, or a physical disability that affects their learning.
SEND has been a focus for school improvement in recent years resulting in changes set out in Section 5.
3. Social model of disability and difference
At Icknield, our reading of the Code of Practice (2014) is informed by a social model of disability and difference. This model recognises that individuals and groups of people have different characteristics, and that society creates more barriers for some learners than for others.
Fundamental to our understanding of the social model of disability and difference is the notion that some students – we describe them as students with SEND – face barriers in mainstream schools that manifest themselves as learning needs. These needs – created by tensions between individual students’ learning profiles and the mainstream school system in which they are educated – require us to make adjustments, and to implement evidence-based strategies, in order to maximise the available learning opportunities
At Icknield, we have high expectations:
• of the progress that students with SEND make;
• of the attitude that students with SEND bring to their learning;
• of the support that their teachers and TAs provide our students with SEND in the classroom; and
• of the engagement that all stakeholders will show to setting and achieving personalised targets for students with SEND through our SEND review meeting structures.
4. Key contacts
Our Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Co-ordinator (SENCO) is Ms Georgia Hamilton. She, and the SEND Administrator, Ms Alex Wood, can be contacted using the email address SEN@icknield.oxon.sch.uk. They can also be contacted by phone at 01491 612691.
Our SEND Governor is Mrs Kate Bodle.
5. What has been achieved through recent system changes?
Establishment of a vision for the SEND area of work
Attitude to Learning systems launch
1-to-1 device scheme in place
Routines established for sharing SEND updates with staff
Detailed clarification of roles and responsibilities
Creation of five-year SEND review meeting route-map
Implementation of coded system of communicating needs and strategies
Systematic QA of accuracy of SEND register
Improvements to SEND review meeting protocols
Year 6 transition systems overhauled
Expansion of team: Deputy SENCO
First removal from register of students no longer meeting criteria
EHCP digests published
Implementation of new system for making additions to SEND register
Implementation of new system for managing EP referrals
First impactmeasuring methodology implemented
Implementation of Provision Map information management system
Whole-school monitoring exercise focused on implementation of coded strategies
Diagnostic assessment report digests published SEND Charter aligns with school values
Expansion of teaching assistant team
Provision Map training
Second impactmeasuring methodology implemented
6.
How do we identify and give extra help to students with
SEND?
We use Oxfordshire County Council’s guidance ‘Identifying and supporting Special Educational Needs in Oxfordshire schools and settings’. The guidance sets out:
• How we identify if a student has a special educational need or disability
• How we assess students and plan for their special educational needs or disability
• Ways in which we can adapt our teaching and school environment to meet each student’s needs
• How we review progress, agree outcomes and involve parents/carers and students in the decisionmaking processes.
Additions to our SEND register are made following the processes set out in Section 9.
7. Joining the school and moving on
We encourage all prospective students and their parents/carers to visit the school before starting. For students with SEND we:
• work closely with primary (catchment) partner schools, so that students and parents/carers can visit the school to observe a usual school day and meet relevant staff;
• organise additional tours of the school where required;
• hold meetings with the SENCO and other SEND and pastoral staff, allowing time for parents/carers to talk through the specific needs of their child; and
• encourage parents/carers to visit a variety of schools, to ensure a balanced perspective.
We prepare students for transition to the next stage of their education or training through their CPE lessons and in a number of additional ways:
• offering visits to post-16 providers;
• providing support for choices at GCSE and post-16 courses;
• providing careers information, advice and guidance from a specialist careers coordinator;
• through an annual Careers Convention;
• through a mock interview programme; and
• through ‘Moving On’ plans for all students with an EHCPs.
8. What expertise can we offer?
All staff within the core SEND team have training at county and national level on a variety of topics that affect children with SEND, including the conditions affecting students currently in school.
Our team of teaching assistants has received a breadth of training to promote the progress of all children with additional needs, including in how to support young people with autism spectrum conditions, pupils with literacy needs, and those who need interventions to boost self-esteem and confidence.
As shown in Section 5, all teaching and support staff have received training in delivering high-quality teaching to students with a range of SEND. In 2023-24, the focus of the development was the provision of certificated training in partnership with University College London’s Centre for Inclusive Education
9. Additions to the SEND register
The flowchart on the next page shows how additions to Icknield’s SEND register are agreed.
Concerns are raised directly by the student about the possibility of having an SEND
Concerns are raised by a parent or carer that the student may have an SEND
Concerns are raised by a class teacher that the student may have an SEND
Student is identified as possibly having an SEND through SENCo’s routine data review
Initial conversation held between SENCo and stakeholders to determine the precise area of need
SLCN
Stakeholders informed that secondary-school age SLCN identification is rare
OCC’s C&I Team discusses and/or observes student with a mem ber of the SEND team
If SEND confirmed, the student is coded as C&I – SLCN ASD
OCC’s C&I Team discusses and/or observes student with a member of the SEND team
If ASD is considered likely, the student is coded as OTH – PND – ASD
Needs and strategies selected from C&I – ASD and a GP referral is recommended MLD
SEND Team reviews student’s KS2 data – alongside the teacher judgements and standardised assessment scores recorded to date – and discusses the student’s learning difficulties
If SEND confirmed, the student is coded as C&L – MLD SpLD
SEND Team conducts diagnostic tests with student and seeks teacher feedback
If positive identification likely, stakeholders informed how to seek a formal identification
CDD
MH
AD(H)D
SEND Team seeks teacher feedback and reviews student’s behaviour record
SEND Team seeks teacher feedback and reviews student’s safeguarding record
OCC’s C&I Team discusses and/or observes student with a member of the SEND team
Attachment Disorder
SEND Team seeks teacher feedback and reviews student’s safeguarding record
If positive identification likely, stakeholders informed how to seek a CAMHS referral
If positive identification likely, stakeholders informed how to seek a CAMHS referral
If ASD is considered likely, the student is coded as OTH – PND – ADHD
If positive identification likely, stakeholders informed how to seek a CAMHS referral
If SEND confirmed, the student is coded as C&L – SpLD
If SEND confirmed, the student is coded as SEMH -- CDD
If SEND confirmed, the student is coded as SEMH – MH
Needs and strategies selected from SEMH – ADHD and a GP referral is recommended
If SEND confirmed, the student is coded as SEMH – AT
✓ Student is added to the SEND Register and coded appropriately on Bromcom
✓ Reviewer selected in consultation with LT
✓ Student and parent/carer invited to meeting at the next appropriate point in the review cycle
10.
How do we work with parents/carers and students?
We always contact parents/carers where we have a concern that a child may have a special educational need or disability. We work closely with students with SEND and their parent s/carers to agree outcomes, how we will all work towards these and how we will review progress. We do this by holding annual review meetings, thrice-yearly SEND review meetings, and parent/carer consultation evenings, as well as through phone calls and email contact where appropriate.
There are also opportunities for parents/carers and students to contribute to our policies relating to SEND. We do this via:
• discussions between parents and staff in the SEND team; and
• listening carefully and responding to suggestions made during SEND review meetings
Governors also play an important role in reviewing SEND-related policies.
11. We utilise a range of specialist support services as appropriate
These include:
• Educational psychologists
• Oxfordshire’s Special Educational Needs Support Services (SENSS), which supports students with communication and language needs, sensory, and physical needs
• Various NHS therapy services including child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS)
• The Oxfordshire Hospital School
• School and college health nurses
12. What do we do to support the well -being of students with SEND?
All SEND students have the opportunity to share their views through:
• conversations with their tutor and from teaching and support staff;
• school council representation
SEND students’ needs are also considered as part of our wider pastoral strategy, which is detailed here. We take bullying very seriously. Where bullying is related to a protected characteristic described in the Equality Act (2010), this is monitored formally through the annual Equality Duty Report.
13.
How are students with SEND helped to access activities?
All students are included in activities and educational visits (with appropriate risk assessments, where needed) in accordance with our duty under the Equality Act 2010. We talk to parents/carers and students when planning educational visits so that everyone is clear about what will happen and offer support when needed.
14.
Adapting our teaching and curriculum
We offer a broad and balanced curriculum at KS3 and KS4 for all students, including those with SEND. The vast majority of student need is met through high-quality teaching and in-class support from the teacher. The main ways in which we adapt our provision for students in each broad category of SEND are illustrated on the following pages, and can be viewed in higher resolution online
15. How do we know whether our SEND provision is effective?
The progress of all students with SEND is tracked via progress reviews held three times each year. In these meetings, relevant data are considered, and targets are agreed and evaluated, based on feedback from the student, parents, and relevant staff. Each student’s progress is also monitored by the Progress Manager for the year group in question, who analyses progress data at the cohort level.
Through these processes, we review each student’s progress towards agreed outcomes, assessing whether the support that has been put into place has made a difference and what we need to do next. Subject leaders monitor the progress of students with SEND as an identified group after each grade collection, and individual class teachers track the progress of the students with SEND that they teach. Where we run special intervention programmes for groups of students we assess how successful they have been and use that information to decide on how best to continue with support in the future. Interventions are analysed in this way by the SENCO regularly across the year.
16. What progress do our SEND students make?
Progress 8 aims to capture the progress that students in a school make from the end of primary school to the end of KS4. It is a type of value-added measure, which means that students’ results are compared to other students nationally with similar prior attainment. Every increase in grade a student achieves in their Attainment 8 subjects counts towards a school’s Progress 8 score.
Analysing the progress made by the cohort of 2024 shows that students who received the SEND provision described in this information report made faster progress than their non-SEND peers:
* Four students designated with SEND were excluded from this analysis since their poor attendance meant that they were unable to benefit from the quality of education made available to them.
17. SEND at Icknield, in numbers
18. SEND at Icknield, in words
Acting with INTEGRITY in relation to our students with SEND means
ensuring their needs are accurately identified, using robust measures and reliable tools
providing exemplary systems for describing and reviewing their provision operating processes to organise their provision that are dynamic, timely and responsive
using external support where appropriate to guarantee the quality of their provision sharing appropriate information effectively between relevant professionals
minimising barriers to success in public examinations in line with regulations
CARE for our students with SEND means
helping them and their families to feel safe, happy, accepted and valued
listening to their opinions, and the opinions of their families investing significant time in understanding their needs, through a system of weekly student action meetings
training their teachers and TAs in the delivery of evidence-led practices
evaluating the effectiveness of their provision regularly and robustly
challenging students to develop, to learn and to make a positive contribution
COMMITMENT to our students with SEND means
committing to providing them with high-quality teaching across all subjects
committing to supporting them to achieve their potential
committing to supporting them to build their resilience
committing to improving wider professional networks through system leadership
