SEND

SENCO – Mrs H Burgess
Contact details – SEND@hthacademy.org.uk

At Hull Trinity House Academy, students with Special Educational Needs are fully included within our academy. Furthermore, we ensure that any student who requires additional support, for whatever reason, will be recorded according to the Code of Practice as K SEN Support, or EHCP so that every student in the academy is fully supported to achieve their potential. 

The SENCO and the Support team are responsible for providing support to other staff in the academy for students’ needs to be met. The nature of this support is specifically tailored and determined by the needs of the individual student or teaching group. The support may involve: Teaching Assistants support in lessons, preparing differentiated resources, or advice from the SENCO. The SENCO will involve the students, their parents/carers, their teachers, and other necessary professionals in the planning of support.

In addition to quality first teaching and classroom support, the academy offers a range of provisions and bespoke interventions to fully support pupils with additional needs in the Support Department, Bridge and the Personalised Learning Centre.

We communicate with parents regularly through professional meetings, 1-2-1 meetings, via our Support team, through school parents’ evenings and via School Comms. All students on the SEND register have a learning passport which is shared to all staff to ensure that all staff are involved in supporting our students. 

The SENCO also works closely with the local primary schools and the local authority to ensure that students are appropriately transitioned to us from our feeder schools.

Aims

The academy believes that all students, whatever their needs, should receive the best possible education and thereby develop their academic and social potential to the full.

Objectives

  1. For all students to be able to read, write and comprehend to a level that will allow them to cope with everyday life both inside and outside the school environment.
  2. For all students to have a working knowledge of basic mathematical principles which would allow them to transfer this knowledge to real life situations
  3. To foster in students a sense of self worth which will enable them to cope with a variety of social situations
  4. To provide students with a secure learning environment in which they can develop positive patterns of learning, behaviour, socialisation and confidence

Quality First Teaching

Many of our teaching and learning principles actively support students with SEND:

Communication & interaction: Pupils have difficulty in communicating which can include expressing themselves or understanding verbal speech and etiquette. Every profile is unique as pupils may have difficulty with one, some or all aspects of communication to varying degrees at different stages of their lives. 

  • Collaborative learning structures like active listen and four times better, allow pupils to gather, listen to and record information before sharing and communicating. 
  • The random name generator involves all pupils in questioning and allows pupils to plan their answers – it is also a good way to challenge more able pupils with SEND by weighting the random name generator.  
  • Scaffolding questions and answers in lessons using the talk toolkit improves confidence when speaking out loud. Watching pupils model good communication and interaction in lessons, then trying it for themselves helps to improve communication & interaction. 
  • The Drill can be a good way to assess pupils who have difficulty verbally communicating their understanding. Past drills can be used as a scaffold to help pupils verbalise responses. 
  • Teacher feedback from Demonstrate tasks allow pupils who struggle to communicate their understanding to visualise next steps.  We must make sure positive feedback is included. 

Cognition & learning: This refers to the thinking skills and thought processes that a pupil has acquired through their prior experience. Difficulties can be general or specific, related to one or more areas of the curriculum and can be short term or long term.  

  • Strategies such as learning journeys map out content so pupils can visualise and understand how topics link together.  
  • Small steps are important when teaching pupils of all abilities with cognition and learning needs. Breaking down large pieces of information that can be challenging for pupils to process, helps improve working memory over time.  
  • Scaffolds equip pupils to become more independent. 
  • Planning for errors helps pupils recognise that making mistakes can provide an opportunity for deeper learning and understanding. Questioning pupils about the processes in which they arrive at an answer, whether it is right or wrong, challenges pupils to reflect on their own learning using metacognitive practices. 
  • Pupils often struggle to retain information unless it is repeated and assessed regularly. Connect activities, The Drill, Demonstrate and formal assessments allow pupils to show what they know and can do with independence. 

Social, emotional & mental health: Pupils find it challenging to manage emotions and behaviour, often resulting in inappropriate responses to situations and difficulty in building and maintaining relationships, meaning they can struggle to learn and cope emotionally without interventions. 

  • Using strategies such as The Drill, Demonstrate, small steps, scaffolds empower pupils of all abilities to be more independent and reduce anxiety in the classroom. 
  • Pre-loading vocabulary and sentence stems allow pupils to develop their oracy skills and confidently participate in class discussion.  
  • Modelling questioning and answers helps pupils confidently respond. 
  • RAG rating of Demonstrate tasks means that pupils can confidently reflect and build on prior knowledge without feeling anxious. 
  • Connect provides adequate time for pupils to reflect on their learning, to build confidence and self-esteem.  More able pupils use the RAG rating to plan for improvement and extend their learning. 
  • Using the Academy’s reward system recognises and rewards positive behaviours. 

Physical health & development: This encompasses needs relating to physical growth, motor development, nutritional choices, self-care, and health and safety practices. These needs must be met as healthy children learn more effectively.  

  • The curriculum offer supports the progress of pupils. For example, EPC, RSE and PE. 
  • Seating plans consider the position of pupils who have visual or hearing impairments. 
  • Pupils who need physical adaptations, such as learners with visual impairments, have access to differentiated resources.  

Supporting Individual Needs

The Bridge is a provision in the academy where pupils suffering from physical or mental health difficulties can be taught in a smaller setting.  Pupils working in The Bridge follow their normal timetable and work is provided by their subject teachers. 

The Personalised Learning Centre is a provision which supports pupils with behavioural, emotional and social difficulties.  Pupils in the PLC also follow a broad curriculum but access more personal development opportunities in order to support their return to the mainstream setting.

We have eight learning support assistants and are in receipt of inclusion funding from the local authority to provide additional staffing which enables pupils with SEND to follow a full curriculum pathway in a mainstream setting.  In addition to this we have used a temporary leadership allowance to work with pupils in the lowest ability groups running a rewards and recognition system which is bespoke to their class and more immediate than the whole school system.

Our Designated Safeguarding Leader provides pupils with access to a range of external agency support. These include; CAMHS, Early Help Service, Family Support, Thrive, The Risk & Vulnerability Team, Prevent/Channel, BASE, Social Care, Educational Psychiatrist and Youth Intervention Team

“All children and young people are entitled to an appropriate education, one that is appropriate to their needs, promotes high standards and the fulfilment of potential. This should enable them to:

  • achieve their best
  • become confident individuals living fulfilling lives, and
  • make a successful transition into adulthood, whether into employment, further or higher education or training”

(SEN Code of Practice, 2015)

Our SEN Policy and SEN Information Report is available on the Statutory Information https://www.hthacademy.org.uk/statutory-information page of our website.

Our SENDCo is Mrs Helen Burgess, and she may be contacted via the academy telephone number (01482) 326421, or via email SEND@hthacademy.org.uk

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