SEN

Special Educational Needs and Disabilities

The SEND/Student Support Faculty

Teaching and Learning

At Gordano School, we understand that high quality teaching is essential for all students, and that every teacher is a teacher of SEND. We aspire to provide inclusive learning opportunities for all our students first and foremost within the classroom and the pastoral experience of our school provision. The Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCO) works closely with senior leaders, academic leaders, teaching staff, pastoral staff and support staff to ensure that the school provides high quality experiences and support for all students in line with the SEND Code of Practice (2014) and The Equality Act (2010).

The Student Support Team’s primary function is to identify SEND needs, to communicate and support staff and students to establish an effective way of working together. Therefore, the SEND team work closely with teaching staff to monitor student progress and to provide specialist SEND support where appropriate, in a time-specific way.

Where students are not making progress despite high quality teaching and support, there is a referral system in place which ensures students can access additional support when it is necessary. The SEND team works collaboratively and reflectively with every team in the school, in order to enhance the school experience for our amazing students.

Student Support Faculty

The Student Support Team is a specialist SEND team, based in the heart of the Inclusion Area of Gordano School. As described above, our primary function is to identify the strengths and needs of students for whom there may be a barrier to learning, communicate information to key staff in the academic and pastoral teams and to provide evidence-based SEND intervention as part of a whole school response to needs. We support academic and pastoral teams (including the Inclusion Team) to monitor the progress of students, where appropriate.

Put simply, this means we use a range of qualitative and quantitative information to establish whether a student has a profile which is consistent with a significant and persistent SEND need. Once we understand more about students’ profiles, we put necessary support in place and review as appropriate to establish how best to support confidence in progress and independence in learning. All of our work is guided through relationships with students, parents and staff as well as with agencies supporting the young person and/or family.

We have a warm and welcoming Student Support Area, where we work with students in small groups or a 1:1 basis. We provide key support throughout the school day and during social times, in addition to structured SEND classes, mentoring and advocacy services. We provide targeted specialist support, which is detailed in our SEND Information Report.

The SEND Team work closely with the Local Authorities to support and promote best practice with regard to the graduated response to SEND and Education, Health and Care Plan applications and reviews. Please read our SEND Information Report, and the Local Authority website for more information: North Somerset SEND

The SEND/Student Support Team:

Deborah Mc Mullin - SENCO & Head of Student Support

Shleah Joseph - Assistant SENCo

Helen Bailey - Teacher of Student Support, Key Stage 3

Lucie Broad - Teacher of Student Support, Key Stage 4/Specialist Assessor

Rachel Rogers - Student Support Worker – Cognition and Learning (Specific Learning Differences)

Jane Hendricks - Student Support Worker – Communication and Interaction (ASC)

Lorna Moss - Student Support Worker – Social, Emotional and Mental Health

Sarah Illes - Student Support Worker – Physical, Sensory and Medical Disability (job share)

Kate Parsons - Student Support Worker – Physical, Sensory and Medical Disability (job share)

Jacqui Garland - Student Support Worker – Transition

Linda Rigby - Student Support Worker – EHCP/Complex Needs (Outcomes & Provision)