How we try to make the information about your child clear and easily understood:  ​

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Parents of students will have termly academic reports to show progress across all subjects.  Parents can contact their son's Head of Year if they have any concerns these can then be raised with the SENCO.  In addition parents of students with a Special Educational Need or Disability can request or will be invited into school to discuss any concerns and how we can best help your son to make progress, we will then:

• put in place strategies to support your son

• provide information about any intervention strategies that are being used

• re-assess progress and determine if further intervention is needed

• We will arrange for external agency support if appropriate progress is still not being made

 

How we ensure the necessary people know about your son’s needs:

 
The SENCo, Mrs. Beesley will make sure that all necessary school staff are aware of your child’s needs and worries.   If your son has been identified with extra educational needs, a tailor made passport will be created and used by the teacher to plan a lesson that enables your son to access the curriculum. If he reacts to situations in an emotional way, we will put in place a student profile which will include suggestions and strategies to enable teachers to work with your son effectively.

 

What about when things change:  

 

• Your son’s progress will be reviewed regularly and if there are any concerns you will be invited in to meet with the SENCO and any other Pastoral staff to review and plan any support the students might need. Your child’s views will also be listened to.  If your child is High Focus Special Needs and we put in place a Passport Plan to support his learning and we will invite you into school to discuss his progress at regular review meetings. 

• Sometimes students no longer need to be on the SEND Code of Practice anymore because they have caught up with national benchmarks, we will let you know if we decide this.

• Sometimes we involve outside agencies, such as Pupil and Support Service, the Communication and Autism Team or an Educational Psychologist to support us in making our assessments and supporting your son's progress in school and these agencies offer advice to school and parents.  We will ask for your permission before referring your child to any of these services.  

 

Transition:

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• If your son is on the SEND Code of Practice or has an Educational Health Care Plan and you move your child to another school, the SENCo’s at both schools make sure that information is shared.  

• When your son transfers from Primary School in year 7 we will either visit or arrange to collect information before they start.  This will include any targets and paperwork or agencies which might have been involved in supporting your son; this will help us to ensure that the correct level of support is in place when he gets here.  Some students are also invited to our transition programme in the Summer Term to support the students with the change.  

• When your son moves from Year 11 to Further Education we will ensure that all information regarding your son’s special educational needs are passed on to his college.  Extra visits to colleges and Pathway to work is also provided for some students. We have a Post 16 careers adviser Mr D.Tehan who is available to support with transition to Further Education and is available to discuss your concerns. 

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Which agencies might become involved:  
 

• Pupil and School Support 

• Communication and Autism Team 

• Educational Psychologist 

• Speech and Language Services

• Physical Disability Team

• Forward Thinking

• ADHD Team

School also provides services such as mentors and counseling services.  All information about what Birmingham City Council can offer in terms of supporting your son’s needs can be found on the website.  If your child requires support from these services, school will always consult you and request written permission.

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How we train staff to support the needs of your child:

All school staff will receive appropriate training so they have the knowledge and confidence to support children’s needs.   At Turves Green Boys’ School we have a weekly staff meeting and planning sessions twice a week, plus any other training days. These are used to ensure staff have up-to-date knowledge to teach children of all abilities. Sometimes training is run by specialists e.g. Epipen training or training by a member of the Communication and Autism Team.  Our Teaching Assistants and Raising Achievement Assistants also have specialist training.  Our TAs have up to date training to support SEND students.

 

How we ensure good teaching for your child and how we give extra support if your child needs it:

  
We identify the students by looking closely at their progress and what we can do to support them.  Teaching and support staff will be able to accurately assess the level children are working at and differentiate the curriculum:  We use a range of criteria and evidence to help us identify the level/grade students are working at. This might include: 

• Checking the words children can read and spell independently

• Moderating writing together 

• Making observations, particularly literacy, communication skills and numeracy 

• Use of tests, where appropriate. This helps teachers to plan work for all children to make progress.

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The work and support will be different for different groups of students. We use the following to support students with additional needs to become independent learners:

• Passports to support Quality First Teaching in the classroom 

• Interventions

• One to one or group support

• Learning mentors 

• Adapted tasks and resources 

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Where necessary, resources will be available to support the learning of students who have significant social and/or communication needs.   We work with the Communication and Autism Team. Members of the team observe, assess and offer advice on ways to support students with autism. We can provide a quiet place for students that need time out.

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How we ensure that parents and children with additional needs are fully included in all school activities:

 
The school will try to make sure that children with additional needs and their families are able to take part fully in school trips and social events.  Our school is ‘An Aspirational Learning Community’ This statement underpins our ethos of inclusion at Turves Green Boys’ School.   Students with additional needs participate in after school clubs such as: workshops, games clubs and homework support. The school curriculum includes trips out to enrich the experiences students have. We also have trips for students whose attendance is one hundred percent and whose punctuality is outstanding. Students with additional needs are often in this group. Our risk assessments are inclusive of SEND children and small group supervision can be given when necessary.   Parents are consulted regarding specific needs, including those students with medical needs, so that all students have a safe and enjoyable experience

 

How we ensure that your child has work pitched at the right level to make good progress:  

Turves Green Boys’ School uses a range of strategies to monitor the progress of students and to ensure that good teaching is in place for all students, regardless of their ability. We do this through:   

• Tracking your son’s progress and holding teachers to account through termly pupil progress meetings. 

• Half-termly book scrutiny for all classes and constructive feedback to teachers. 

• Classroom observations and learning walks, including monitoring the learning environment. 

• Individual passport to support teachers with planning for SEND students

    

How we will work with you to identiy your child’s needs:  

We will work in partnership with you to identify the needs of your child and put in place the correct support including family support if you need this.  

 

The governing body has a duty to ensure that the school adheres to the new Code of Practice under the Children and Families Act 2014. This means that the school governors hold the Headteacher and SENCo, Mrs Beesley to account for this.   The governing body appoints a governor who is specifically responsible for special educational needs to ensure that the school and the SENCo carry out their duties. This governor is Mr Hosfield. 

 

One of the key responsibilities of the governing body is to make sure that the school’s policy for children with disability and special educational needs (SEND) is published on the school website. The information on the school website must be reviewed annually by the governing body. The governing body also has a responsibility to ensure that appropriate safeguarding procedures are in place for all pupils, including those who are at risk. The Headteacher works with Mr A.Inglis (Deputy Head), S.Arshad (Assistant Head) and the Head of Pastoral Mrs Boyce on this. 

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What resources does the school offer if my child has significant social and or communication needs:  

We have our own qualified support staff to work with students in small withdrawal groups to develop social and/or communication needs.  We offer social skills group work and one to one mentoring, cognitive behaviour therapies and conflict resolution. If your son needs these additional resources to support his learning, we will ask for your permission for him to be withdrawn from some subjects, sometimes it will be short time; sometimes we may have to follow up with further support or seek external agency support:

 

• Educational Psychologist

• CAT-Communication and Autism Team

• Forward Thinking
   

If your son needs the support of these agencies, we will either provide information about services available or ask for your permission to refer to a service.  We can also support referrals for medical needs + diagnosis if necessary.

 

What sorts of learning resources are available for my child:  

We have specialist intervention and withdrawal groups to support students that are not making the required progress in a specific aspect of cognitive learning and development, this is identified through the monitoring progress:

 

• Every teacher will differentiate their lessons according to the needs of the individual students.

• Fresh Start/ Accelerated reader/Booster reader/ Literacy progress – to support with literacy

• Specific literacy support – for students that show signs of dyslexia traits e.g. spelling errors, muddling words up – handwriting skills for fine motor problems 

• Matheletics and Numeracy programmes  

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If your son does not respond to interventions we will request an assessment through Pupil Support Services, who will do further cognitive assessments and recommend strategies and further interventions to support learning.  We can also refer to the Speech and Language team.  We will then put in place recommended strategies to support learning.

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What if things go wrong?

If you are unhappy with the provision your child is getting you should first speak to his subject teacher, Head of Year or the SENCO Mrs Beesley who is responsible for ensuring that students' SEND are met in school.  If your problem is not resolved you should speak to Mr Franks the Head Teacher.

If an issue is still not resolved you can write to the governing body, address your concerns to Mr Hosfield, you can also send a copy of your letter to the director in charge of local education services (children's services) and your local M.P.