Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND)

At The County High School, Leftwich we have a long tradition of promoting and achieving inclusion for all young people who join our community. 

Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.

Nelson Mandela

A child or young person has SEND if they have a learning difficulty or disability which calls for special educational provision to be made. Special educational provision is educational or training provision that is additional to or different from that made generally for other children or young people of the same age in mainstream schools.   A child of compulsory school age or a young person has a learning difficulty or disability if they:

  1. Have a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others of the same age; or
  2. Have a disability which prevents or hinders them from making use of educational facilities of a kind generally provided for others of the same age in mainstream schools or mainstream post-16 institutions.

(SEND Code of Practice, 2014)

At The County High School, Leftwich we have a long tradition of promoting and achieving inclusion for all young people who join our community.  Inclusion starts in the classroom where teachers are supported to deliver Quality First, Inclusive Teaching.  Teachers have high expectations for all students and aim to teach them the full curriculum, whatever their prior attainment, using appropriately adjusted teaching and learning strategies which take into account individual needs.

Members of the Learning Support Team work with students, parents, carers and colleagues across the school to ensure that all young people have the best learning environment to allow them to learn and develop to their fullest potential. Staff have experience of working with students with a wide variety of additional needs under the following broad categories:

  • Communication and Interaction
  • Cognition and Learning
  • Social, Emotional and Mental Health
  • Sensory and/or Physical

We have expertise within the department to ensure effective support of all students who may face barriers to learning; we aim to offer support that is student-centred and flexible to meet individual needs. We always aim to work closely with the student, parents and external agencies to ensure that the needs of the individual are met.   It may include any of the following:

  • In-class support
  • One to one support sessions
  • Small group interventions
  • Access to specialist programmes to boost reading and literacy
  • Enhanced transition from Primary School
  • Enhanced transition into Post 16 education
  • Counselling
  • After school Extended Learning support

 

The Learning Support Team work closely with wider professionals across the Local Authority to ensure that a child’s needs are addressed. Such professionals include:

 

  • CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service)
  • Community Paediatricians
  • School Nurse
  • Education Welfare Officer
  • SALT (Speech and Language Team)
  • Local Autism Team
  • MHST
  • Education Access Team

 

We have two dedicated Intervention Rooms which extend the learning of the classroom. Our KS3 and KS4 Intervention Rooms are areas where students, when appropriate, access extra support, tailored to meet their individual needs.  Communication links between all staff are used to ensure that this provision addresses the students’ needs and careful monitoring and evaluation of this provision takes place to ensure that the support develops in line with students’ progress.

At the centre of all that we do, is the student and we place a high priority on the students’ wishes and feelings about the support that they receive.

Senior members of the team are available to support with any queries; in addition to being available at Parent and Carer Forums, they can be contacted on: