Special Educational Needs and Disabilities

We seek to promote the academic, spiritual and social development of all students regardless of ability or additional need.

We will:

• make the curriculum as accessible as possible to meet the individual needs of each pupil
• ensure all staff are aware of the different types of needs faced by our pupils, so that suitable provision can be made in their subject areas
• implement additional support and intervention where necessary to assist pupils in overcoming learning difficulties
• work closely with parents and carers and keep them informed of their child's progress and the support in place for them.

As a parent your children are the most important part of your lives, and our SEND team understand that you are often the experts in your child’s life. We would therefore like to make communication with the SEND team as clear and easy as possible for all parents and carers by allowing you to refer your child directly to us.

There could be many reasons for referring to the SEND team including:

• Additional needs you would like to be explored.
• An existing diagnosis which has led to a lack of academic progress in school.
• Update us on medical information including changes to medication.
• Support with improving the classroom provision for your child.

We welcome referrals from parents and encourage all parents/carers to use the link below to access an MS Form where you can input details of your enquiry. https://forms.office.com/e/pjrRnP1nQr

Classroom teachers as well as the pastoral teams are responsible as the first point of contact with students for identifying needs which may be of a concern to the child’s progress at school. All members of staff have access to our Cause for Concern form to report concerns. It is important that concerns are identified as early as possible so that plans can be in place and advice sought from the SEND team.

A SEND referral may lead to in school assessment to support our investigation of type of need.

The SENCO, supported by two Assistant SENCOs has responsibility for what happens on a day-to-day basis at Oasis Academy Isle of Sheppey for pupils with a Special Educational Need - they provide professional advice to other teachers in school to help ensure all pupils make progress. They oversee liaison with outside agencies, ensure the correct provision in school and manage a team of teaching assistants.

The SENCO for the academy is Mrs Katrina Osborne. She can be contacted on: katrina.osborne@oasisisleofsheppey.org 

You may also contact the SEND Team via Mrs Fairfield and Mrs Simmance on the emails below:

martine.fairfield@oasisisleofsheppey.org

gwen.simmance@oasisisleofsheppey.org

How do we identify additional needs?

Step 1: Teacher/year lead or other professional has concerns about specific student(s). Information is collected through assessment and observation. Parents can refer at this stage even if there have been no previous concerns.

Step 2: Teacher plans with the support of the SEND team (where necessary) using whole school strategies and/or additional scaffolding to meet the identified areas of concern.

Step 3: Progress is reviewed by the teacher or other member of staff who is monitoring progress. Either the strategies have worked and there are no further concerns Or support and scaffolding needs to continue.

Step 4 – move to higher level concerns: At this point the teacher or member of staff who has identified the need(s) should have already completed a SEND cause for concern form at step 1. The following will now happen as part of the gathering of more specific information:

• Boxall Profile completed by teacher/year team member of staff.
• END team will meet with either student, class teacher, parents etc. as appropriate to the referral.
• Areas of need and specific strategies recorded on learning plan to monitor over the next 6 weeks (half term)

Step 5 – Assess, Plan, Do, Review Cycle: Student now has a learning plan which is shared with staff and their progress is being reviewed as part of this cycle. The cycle will stop if the student meets their targets and makes progress. If no progress is seen move to step 6.

Step 6 – External Support: Advice sought from external agency. Parents agree and share consent for the SEND team to seek advice. This may culminate in a LIFT referral, single point of access referral or an onward referral to an outside provider. If additional support exceeds funding allocation in school higher needs funding is applied for after three cycles of assess, plan, do, review.

We monitor the progress of all pupils four times a year to review their academic development and use a range of assessments at various points – including Cognitive Ability Tests on arrival. 

More detailed assessments will only be employed when a pupil persistently makes inadequate progress, despite high quality teaching and extra support.  These will be employed following consultation with parents, and are completed by a registered British Psychological Test user. 

This more detailed assessment will help us to understand what additional resources and different approaches are needed to help a pupil make better progress.  More information is available in our SEN Policy document and our SEND Information Report.

Oasis Academy Isle of Sheppey works to provide the best for all students, aiming for excellent outcomes regardless of starting points on entry to the school. To do this support is provided in three waves:

Wave 1: High quality teaching for all. For many students, their need(s) can be addressed by quality first teaching in the classroom using whole school SEND strategies. This should be monitored by the classroom teacher as part of the school’s assessment cycle. Wave 1 also includes monitoring as part of the first part of the identification process.

Wave 2: Additional personalised Interventions after a period of monitoring within the classroom to identify specific needs and/or barriers. Students may also be recommended for intervention through the SEND team as part of assessment analysis or because the child has received support in previous years. This is a targeted approach for students who are not making age related progress. Interventions may include:

• Our Inspire transition groups.
• Social Skills and communication programme
• Zones of regulation
• Phonics support alongside other reading strategies in the classroom
• Reading focus groups
• Numeracy focus groups
• Handwriting Intervention
• Touch Typing
• GCSE skills builder
• Sensory circuits
• Speech and language therapy provided by either speech and language therapist or trained HLTA.
• Auditory Processing
• ELSA

*This is not an exhaustive list, and some students require more specific intervention which may be recommended by an external professional. Where training is required, this is delivered by an external professional where necessary.

Wave 3: Additional highly personalised interventions usually originating from an Educational Health Care Plan. This is a specialist approach for students whose learning needs are severe,

complex, and lifelong. Students who require wave 3 intervention require more support than in wave 2 as detailed in their educational health care plan.

As part of our SEND offer, we have developed a set of transition groups from year 7 to year 11. These groups are highly supportive with only 15 students per group and our aim is to improve student reading age as well as their academic progress.

Teachers who work within our Inspire groups are dedicated members of staff who are committed to improving the life chances of students who are more than two years behind their peers.

In KS3 there are two year 7 groups, two groups in year 8 and two year 9 groups. In year 10 and 11 there is one group in each year. All our Inspire groups have TA support who get to know the students well to enabling support to be tailored to individuals so that they can flourish and grow.

For students accessing the Inspire groups our aim is to be able to reintegrate them into mainstream classes after improving their fundamental reading, writing and maths skills. We recognise that this may take some students longer than others.

Intervention is woven through our curriculum and where possible is delivered to the whole class and practised in a range of subjects so that students can relate what they have learnt in their intervention to real life learning. If necessary, some students may need additional intervention outside of the classroom which would be delivered by trained professionals who work closely with the Inspire teaching staff.

We acknowledge that parents who have students with additional needs at school can worry about their child’s progress and overall experience and our Inspire staff are committed to a high level of parent communication so that parents are informed of changes and potential next steps.

If you would like more information on the criteria for the Inspire groups, please contact Daisy.Tidman@oasisisleofsheppey.org who can send you our information pack or book a visit.

Introduction

Oasis Academy Isle of Sheppey is committed to a fair and equal treatment of all individuals regardless of disablement. The Academy will welcome applications from people with disabilities to join the Academy community as students and staff. The Academy has been designed and built to have provision and accessibility for people with disabilities so that they may be integrated fully into Academy life and has been designed to be fully DDA compliant (as expected with new school buildings). The curriculum will be designed so that it may be delivered to provide flexible and equal access to all students whether able or disabled as far as is practicable within a mainstream educational establishment. 

Aims

The aims of this statement are to ensure that: 

• Applications for admission from all potential students are considered in line with the published admission arrangements; 
• Applications for employment are considered and assessed on the basis of the applicants' aptitudes, abilities and qualifications; 
• Disabled staff and students have access to the appropriate support and adaptations to enable them to be fully included in the life of the Academy; 
• The views of individual students or staff are taken into account at all times when their requirements are being assessed; 
• All students are fully integrated into the Academy and individual needs are assessed and supported as far as is practicable within a mainstream educational establishment;  
• Staff working with disabled people, either as colleagues or as students, have appropriate information, support and training;  
• Steps are taken to enable staff and students who become disabled during their time at the Academy to continue in their chosen career or course of study as far as is practicable;  
• Disabled members of the public can fully participate in public events held within the Academy; 
• The building is being designed to be fully DDA compliant; and 
• No disabled student or staff member is treated less favourably as a result of their disability

Implementation

The Principal and the Academy Council will have overall responsibility for ensuring that this policy statement is implemented.

Environment

The buildings have been designed to ensure consideration is given to usage by any current or future people with disabilities. Any future building projects, or indeed modifications to current buildings, will be considered at the planning stage for accessibility and usability by people with disabilities.

Evacuation procedures and escape routes for students and staff with disabilities will be carefully planned and published. 

Students

Applications will be considered in line with the published admission arrangements for all students. An applicant’s disability will not prevent him/her from being offered a place and integrated into the Academy unless: 

• The content, structure and delivery of the curriculum are such that the student would be prevented from fulfilling a major part of it; or 
• The Academy would be unable to provide suitably trained staff or facilities to allow the requirements of the National Curriculum to be met.

The Academy will aim to provide students with a disability with the appropriate support to enable them to be fully integrated. The Academy will not treat a student with a disability less favourably than any other student and will make reasonable adjustments to ensure the full participation and integration of disabled students.

As far as resources allow, the needs of disabled students will be taken into account in the design, structure and flexibility of teaching methods and delivery. Where a curriculum area is organised in such a way that a disabled student cannot fully participate, alternative provision will be made.

Students with a disability or who become disabled whilst studying at the Academy will be given appropriate support from staff to enable them to have equal access to the curriculum. Individual needs will be considered and addressed by all curriculum areas in collaboration with the Lead Co-ordinator in this area.

The Academy recognises that special arrangements may be required to enable students with disabilities, including specific learning difficulties, to exhibit their capabilities and knowledge. Special arrangements will be made to enable such students to perform to the best of their ability by meeting their individual needs. The Academy will liaise with the relevant Examination Boards in such instances. Students and parents will be made fully aware of the process for making special arrangements for assessment and examinations by the Lead Co-ordinator in liaison with specific curriculum area managers and the Academy’s Examinations Manager. 

Staff

Wherever practicable, the Academy will:  

• Consider and seek to employ disabled people in jobs suited to their aptitudes, abilities and qualifications in line with the Disability Discrimination Act (2005) (see References section below) 
• Ensure that employees with disabilities are considered for promotion according to their aptitudes, abilities and qualifications. 
• Ensure that disabled employees are not disadvantaged when the renewal of fixed-term contracts is being considered. 

Members of staff who become disabled, so far as is practicable, should continue to remain employed by the Academy at the discretion of the Principal and Academy Council, dependant on their ability to carry out the duties of their post. Help from related professional organisations should be sought when considering not only the possible effects of the disability but also other consequential disadvantages, such as loss of status or financial loss.

The Academy will endeavour to make any reasonable adjustments to enable the employee to continue in post. However, options might include: 

• Continuing in the same post 
• A gradual return to work 
• A reduction in hours  
• Redeployment 
• Premature retirement on grounds of incapacity 
• Termination of employment.

In cases where a disability is a degenerative, progressive condition that develops over time, careful consideration should be given to the selection of the most appropriate option(s).

The Academy will make reasonable changes to work practices and, where possible, the workplace to enable disabled people to work successfully, including those members of staff who become disabled whilst employed.

The Academy will ensure that a programme of training is offered to staff to increase their awareness of students with disabilities and inform them of appropriate action to be taken when delivering the curriculum. Teaching assistants will support teaching staff as required to help ensure that disabled students have equal access to the curriculum. 

Monitoring, Evaluation and Review

The Academy Council will review this policy at least every two years and assess its implementation and effectiveness. 

References

The Disability Discrimination Act (1995) states that an employer must make “reasonable adjustments” to allow an individual to be employed. These adjustments may include: 

• Adaptations to premises 
• Re-allocating some duties 
• Altering hours 
• Finding alternative accommodation 
• Rehabilitation leave  
• Training 
• Modifying equipment  
• Modifying instructions or manuals 
• Modifying assessment or testing procedures 
• Providing a reader or interpreter  
• Providing supervision 

Further information

Further information can be obtained from: 

• The Code of Practice for Schools‟ (Disability Discrimination Act 1995: Part 4) 
• The Employment Service 
• The Disability Rights Commission (www.drc.org/drc/RightsAndRequirements)

We have a passion to include everyone and a deep desire to treat everyone equally. We accept others for who they are and respect differences. Our aim is to provide an excellent education for all our students. Our way of doing this is to work hard to improve students' attainment and the standards of teaching and learning continually. At the same time, we also aim to meet the needs of the whole person and the whole community because we understand that the whole of life is education and that everyone who is part of a student's life affects that student's understanding of life and, therefore, his or her education. In this sense, every person matters.

Access Programme

We provide extended opportunities for students to ensure their learning is stimulating and challenging. This may include working alongside a university to provide enrichment opportunities, visiting universities to broaden horizons and support students in eventually being able to access higher education.

Some students already receive mentoring and guidance through the Kent Academies Network, University Access Programme.