SEN Local Offer

Longbenton High School Local Offer for Students with Special Educational Needs and / or Disabilities Longbenton High School is a fully inclusive School which ensures that all students achieve their potential personally, socially, emotionally, physically and educationally.

Our Local Offer lets you understand how we support students with special educational needs and disabilities.

We consult with students and their families on our local offer by:      

Parents Evenings Open Days Telephone contact Review meetings Letters Website

Supporting Students With Special Educational Needs / Disabilities and Their Families We are a welcoming School who welcome parents approaching us to share their concerns about their child. Equally, we will let families know about any concerns about a student’s learning by:  

Informing all Year 7 students’ parents of their child’s SEN needs and the support that can be provided during their time in School.

Contact home to highlight any concerns, with follow-up meetings as appropriate.

When a student is identified as having special educational needs, we support their development and progress by ensuring that an appropriate personalized curriculum, flexible and tailored to meet their needs, is in place. In addition, by: 

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Informing and involving all staff of each child’s individual needs.

Liaison and training with staff and external agencies on what strategies can be used to support progress.

Providing relevant intervention as appropriate; whereas some intervention will be undertaken at School, this can additionally be provided for home.

Monitoring and reviewing each child’s progress through use of data, SEN Support Plans and teacher feedback.

Providing access to Homework Club.

Providing a Time-Out card when this is appropriate.

The other people / agencies and teams providing services to children with a special educational need / disability in School include:             

Dyslexia Team Language and Communication Team Speech and Language Therapy Physiotherapy Occupational Therapy Educational Psychology Service Hearing Impairment Team Visual Impairment Team SEN ICT Team CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service) School Public Health Nurse Children’s Services TRAX

We will work in partnership with other education providers to ensure that students make a successful transition to the next stages of their learning, through careful and coordinated planning of the transition. We provide the following support to students when they are leaving the School:   

Ongoing involvement with a Connexions Personal Advisor.

Support and liaison towards transition visits.

Ensuring that all relevant information related to a student’s individual needs are shared and disseminated promptly.

Support staff are placed where they are needed throughout the School to ensure student progress, independence and value for money. This support may include:    

In-class support.

Small group support.

1:1 support.

Extra-curricular support such as: Reading Club, Literacy Club, Social Connect Group, Reading Club, Numeracy Club, Handwriting Club, Homework Club, Peer Mentoring, Key Worker Mentoring.

Staff Training All staff have completed, and will continue to receive, ongoing training in special educational needs and disabilities. Our Learning Support Team is recognized for it’s commitment, dedication and excellence, and has a high level of expertise in working alongside students with special educational needs and disabilities. In addition to all of the continuous professional development training undertaken by the team, members of the team hold further qualifications in: Inclusion and Differentiation; Dyslexia; Autistic Spectrum Disorder; and ADHD. Our fully qualified / trained Special Educational Needs Coordinator provides advice and guidance to staff.

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Annual training is delivered on SEND and Disability Discrimination Act. Annual training is delivered on differentiation.

Annual training is delivered on ASD (Autistic Spectrum Disorder.)

We regularly facilitate training from external professionals who work alongside individual students; this ensures that further expertise is disseminated to our staff.

Supporting Families The School works in partnership with families to help them support their children’s learning outside of School.

Families are also signposted to services/organisations through the Local Offer.    

Special Educational Needs and Disability Information, Advice and Support Service (SENDIASS).

Disability Network.

CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services.)

Connexions.

Further Information Behaviour and anti-bullying policies are regularly reviewed with a focus on how they affect students with special educational needs or disabilities.

Other useful documents such as our Special Educational Needs and Inclusion Policy are also available on the School website.

The School’s self-evaluation process will look at teaching and learning for students with special educational needs and disabilities.

All School-related activities are evaluated in terms of their benefit to the learning and inclusion of students with special educational needs and disabilities.

If you would like further information about what we offer here at Longbenton High School then please contact the Special Educational Needs Coordinator on: (0191) 2189500. Ext 206.

There are currently 29 students with Statements of Special Educational Needs or Education, Health and Care Plans within the School; 19 of these are in the Melrose Centre, and 12 are in mainstream.

School entitlement offer to students with special educational needs or disabilities Support Available Within School Communication and Interaction Needs:

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Visual timetables

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Areas of low distraction

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Support/supervision at unstructured times of the day.

e.g.   

Autistic Spectrum Disorders Speech, Language and Communication Needs Social communication difficulties

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Social skills programme/support including strategies to enhance self-esteem.

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Small group work to improve skills.

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ICT is used to support learning where appropriate.

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Strategies/programmes to support speech and language development.

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Strategies to reduce anxiety/promote emotional wellbeing.

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Where appropriate we will use support and advice from other partners to meet the needs of students.

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Planning, assessment and review.

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Work with students, parents, carers and staff to develop and review plans based on the need of the student.

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Teaching resources are routinely evaluated to

ensure they are accessible to all students.

Cognition and Learning Needs:

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Differentiated curriculum and resources

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Strategies to promote/develop literacy and numeracy.

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develop independent learning.

e.g. 

Moderate Learning Difficulties

Provision to support access to the curriculum and to

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Small group targeted intervention programmes are delivered to students to improve skills in a variety of areas, i.e. reading skills groups etc.

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ICT is used to reduce barriers to learning where possible.

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Support and advice is sought from outside agencies to ensure any barriers to success are fully identified and responded to.

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Planning, assessment and review.

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Access to teaching and learning for students with special educational needs is monitored through the School’s self-evaluation process.

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Teaching resources are routinely evaluated to ensure they are accessible to all students.

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Work with students, parents, carers and staff to develop and review plans based on the need of the student.

Social, Emotional and Mental health

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Differentiated curriculum and resources

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The School ethos values all students.

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Behaviour management systems encourage

e.g.

students to make positive decisions about

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behavioural choices.

Behavioural needs Social need Mental health needs Emotional Health and Wellbeing

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The School’s behaviour policy identifies where reasonable changes can be made to minimise the

need for exclusions. 

Risk assessments are used and action is taken to increase the safety and inclusion of all students in all activities.

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The School provides effective pastoral care for all students.

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Support and advice is sought from outside agencies to support students, where appropriate.

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Small group programmes are used to improve social skills and help them deal more effectively with stressful situations.

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Outdoor learning is used to offer a different approach to the curriculum.

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There is a peer mentor room available at lunch times to support students.

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Information and support is available within School for behavioural, emotional and social needs.

Sensory and Physical Needs:

e.g.   

Hearing/Visual Impairment Multi-sensory impairment Physical and Medical Needs

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Support and advice is sought from outside agencies to support students, where appropriate.

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ICT is used to increase access to the curriculum.

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Support to access the curriculum and to develop independent learning.

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Advice and guidance is sought and acted upon to meet the needs of students who have significant medical needs.

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Access to Medical Interventions.

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Access to programmes to support Occupational Therapy/Physiotherapy.

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Support with personal care if and when needed.

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Staff receive training to ensure they understand the impact of a sensory need upon teaching and learning.

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Staff understand and apply the medicine administration policy.

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The Special Educational Needs Coordinator completes any necessary training in order to offer advice and guidance to staff about the needs of students.

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The School has toilets/facilities which are accessible for students with disabilities.

Extra-Curricular Activities:

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Enrichment activities are offered each Tuesday at the end of the School day.

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Peer Mentoring.

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Homework Club.

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Social Connect Group.

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Literacy Club.

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Numeracy Club.

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Reading Club.

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Handwriting Club.

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Twitter Club.

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Art Club.

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Residential visits – eg. High Borrans, Sailing Trip, Duke of Edinburgh, Ski Trip, History Trip.

Melrose Centre:

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Staff are trained to meet the specific needs of students with autism spectrum. Communication and Interaction are a key part of our work.

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We receive support and guidance from a Speech and Language Specialist one day per week. Staff follow guidance and work with targeted students on a daily basis.

In addition to their ASD many of our students have additional difficulties. Plans are written to address these needs.

Communication and interaction needs

Cognitive and learning needs

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The staff have experience of a range of learning difficulties.

Social, Emotional and Mental health

Sensory and Physical needs

Extra – Curricular

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The curriculum is modified to meet the cognitive and learning needs of students.

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In addition to communication this area is. fundamental to our work with our students.

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Great emphasis is placed on the development of self-esteem.

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Individuals receive additional guidance and support at need.

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We recognize the pressure that the wider family has upon them. We will assist with advice and support including home visits if needed.

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We offer a ‘Time for Parent’ meeting once per half term to enable parents to offer mutual support. This could be more frequent if parents wished it.

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We have a specialist School Nurse attached to us who will advise on a range of problems.

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We have close links with the CAMHS services.

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This is recognised as another key area of difficulty for many people with ASD

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We have support from an Occupational Health Therapist one day per week who offers advice and guidance with regard to Sensory programmes.

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A member of the support staff has oversight of the Sensory and Physical needs of the students and liaises with OT.

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Sensory and Physical needs programmes are carried out on a daily basis for those identified by OT as needing support.

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Mon – Weds a small number of students stay after school to be picked up by parents later, (up to 5.30).

This is to help with childcare arrangements.

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Each October the students have the opportunity to spend a week at Bendrigg Lodge outdoor education centre in South Cumbria. There is a cost but it is a

very valuable week.

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We have mainstream students who read with some of our students to develop not only reading but social skills.

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We liaise with respite care services to help ensure a positive experience for the students who attend respite.

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For students with no respite care or play schemes in the summer holiday we offer some days out run by our staff for a small daily cost

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As mentioned above we have ‘Time for Parents’ in which parents can share or organise out of school activities.

If you have any concerns about your child’s special educational needs or disability, their progress or the support you receive, we would ask that you to come into School and discuss matters further with your child’s class teacher and / or the Special Educational Needs Coordinator.

Although School complaints procedures are in place and can be accessed through our website we would always hope to resolve any issues or concerns informally by working in partnership with parents.

Note Parents can contact the Special Educational Needs and Disability Information, Advice and Support Service (SENDIASS) for impartial information, advice and support in relation to their child’s special educational need and/or disability on tel.0345 2000 109 or e-mail SENDIASS@northtyneside.gov.uk .