SEND/Learning Support

At Charters School we aim to support all students, within our diverse cohort, to achieve their full potential. We use the relational approach to ensure that decisions about support are based on knowing and understanding each student and what they need.

Within Charters School’s SEND Department, we support students across the four main areas of need:

Cognition and Learning – for students with specific learning difficulties, or moderate learning difficulties that affect them in a range of cognitive areas.

Communication and Interaction - for students who have a range of communication difficulties, including autism or those who struggle to engage in the social aspects of school.

Social, Emotional and Mental Health - for students who find it hard to manage and regulate challenging emotions. We work alongside the pastoral team, supporting students who’s SEMH needs impact on their ability to learn.

Sensory and Physical – for students who need support with accessing school facilities and learning due to physical disabilities or other sensory needs.

We also support students across the four main areas of need within our Learning Support Centre (LSC). This a small area within school that has resources and facilities to support SEN students to access their learning. Small group and 1:1 interventions are also sometimes located within the LSC.

Under the special educational needs and disability (SEND) reforms each school is required to provide information for parents on how they support children and young people with SEND.

There are two main sources of SEND information that parents can access from a school’s website:

Please click link to view our SEND/Learning Support Report  

Please click link to view our SEN & Disabilities - Policies - Charters School 

The SEND Admissions process informs us of those students with Educational Health Care Plans. For students with such plans, we are able to plan for as seamless a transition as possible in meeting their needs in their new secondary provision.

We also gain information about students’ SEN before they arrive, through:

Parent-supplied information on school application forms.

Shared communication between primary schools and Charters School on the specific needs of individual students, in the summer term prior to the child starting.

Close liaison with parents and primary SENCo before a student joins us in Year 7 to ensure continuity of care, especially where diagnoses exist for a child or where an EHC Plan states certain types of provision.

Year 7 students complete CAT’s and Reading assessments in the first term.

Year 9 students complete access arrangements screening assessment, in preparation of their GCSE examinations.

Once students have begun their time at Charters School, further identification and assessment can be done through:

In-class observations of all classes for the first weeks of term of Year 7

Teacher feedback and continual progress-monitoring to inform where a child may need extra support

Regular communication between each Head of Year and the Inclusion team, including the SENCo

Further specific screening tests can be carried out according to the identified need. These will be completed before and after interventions which are put in place to support your child.

In more complex cases, we feed into external services including speech and language therapy, the Educational Psychology Service, Child and Adult Mental Health Services (CAMHS) and Visual/Hearing Impairment Services.

Full details of the support available within your local authority can be found on your Local Offer website.

RBWM residents -  https://rbwm.afcinfo.org.uk

Bracknell residents – Additional Needs Info Hub (SEND Local Offer) | Bracknell Forest Council

Surrey residents - Surrey Local Offer

We liaise closely with the local primary schools to ensure we know as much as possible about the support needs of our new students. We are able to discuss with the relevant teachers any individual needs.  

We offer an enhanced transition ahead of Year 7 for students with identified needs that may make the transition into secondary school particularly challenging. These students are identified by the primary school along with our SEND team.

At Charters School, we take care to ensure that during transition points (between classes, each year and at the end of Key Stages) all staff are aware of students’ needs, learning progress and the best strategies to support their learning.

If your child has an Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan, we will participate in and/or facilitate their annual review when possible, in sufficient time prior to them moving between key phases of education.

At Charters School, all EHC Plan reviews will have a focus on preparing for adulthood, including employment, independent living and participation in society. We support students in their applications to further and higher education or training upon leaving Charters School.

If a student leaves Charters School to join another school, we will ensure all relevant information is shared, in agreement with parents.

During Year 11, the SEND team will support SEN students with applications for school, college, apprenticeships or employment opportunities.

If you think your child may have ADHD/ASC – Berkshire

There are three ways to access a referral.

• NHS Assessment Via Right to Choose
• NHS Assessment Via a School Referral
• Private Assessment

NHS Assessment Via Right To Choose

As part of the NHS Choice Framework, as long as you’re registered with a GP in England you have the legal right to choose the service you want to receive your NHS treatment from. This is true for a range of health conditions or worries, including specific services – such as an assessment for Autism and/or ADHD. Just ask your GP to make a referral under your ‘Right to Choose’ to an approved provider. We understand the current referral times are 9 – 12 Months.

NHS Assessment Via a School Referral

Please Note a support plan for the student must been in place in school for 6 months and then reviewed prior to the referral being commenced. Once the support plan has been in place for 10 weeks, further paperwork will be sent to you for completion. In total we will not be able to refer for approximately 4 months. We understand the current waiting times once a referral has been made could be up to 2 – 3 Years.

The child or young person must be registered with a GP in Berkshire.

Private Assessment

There are a range of independent private assessments available online and locally, which would be sourced via yourself.

In the meantime, GEMS is an excellent support service and can be found at this link https://www.gems4health.com/ GEMS will work with families who do not have a diagnosis.

If you think your child may have ADHD/ASC – Surrey

Charters School SENCo can make an online referral for ADHD via Mindworks, Surrey. For further information or support please visit their website: Mindworks Surrey

For further information please visit the National Autistic Website: https://www.autism.org.uk

What is Dyslexia?

Dyslexia is a common learning difficulty that mainly causes problems with reading, writing and spelling.

It's a specific learning difficulty, which means it causes problems with certain abilities used for learning, such as reading and writing.

Referrals for Dyslexia

We are not able to diagnose or refer via school, should you wish to pursue an assessment this would need to be provided by an external provider.

We use our graduated approach to support all students with identified needs, ensuring that we follow guidance set out in documentation relating to any diagnoses. We also make use of local outreach support such as the SHINE charity which works with students with an ASC diagnosis who are requiring extra support.

We also use one-page profiles to allow students, parents and staff to collaborate on a support plan that makes learning as accessible as possible for students with an identified need. Here is a copy of a blank plan. These one-page profiles are then made available to all staff so that they are equipped to tailor their teaching and support.

At Charters School, we believe that your child’s learning needs will first be met through the high-quality teaching delivered by their class teacher.

Differentiation is built into all teachers’ lesson planning and delivery. The class teacher will adapt lesson planning and teaching to match your child’s special educational needs and/or disability. Teachers use students one-page profiles to inform their planning of differentiated activities.

Additional specialist advice is sought when appropriate and, when necessary, accessibility aids and technology may be used to support your child’s learning.

We use data in order to inform our planning and to identify targets to achieve improvements. We take action to close any gaps; for example, for those making slow progress in acquiring age-appropriate literacy and number skills, we will take positive and proportionate action, such as targeted support or intervention.

Every Department in school has responsibility for ensuring that your child is able to achieve in their subject. Their progress will be closely tracked and fed back to parents throughout the year.

Some students will also have support from Teaching Assistants in class and through interventions.

External agencies and specialists may also review your child’s progress and adapt their planning accordingly.

Your child’s progress will be assessed both in terms of their regular learning within the class and with regard to specific intervention. Your child will be assessed at the beginning and end of specific interventions to ensure they are receiving the best possible support.

Every method of supporting a child in Charters School has clearly identified measures of success. This will include feedback from the child and parents, as well as the use of data to assess impact, and feedback from teachers where appropriate.

You and your child will be kept informed at all stages of this support.

All students with EHC Plans will have annual reviews to monitor progress against objectives and plan future objectives, in partnership with parents.

Information on Charters School Access Arrangements can be found on the website:

 https://www.chartersschool.org.uk/52/examinations

Educational Psychologist

Charters School has access to a designated educational psychologist. This enables us to access a range of consultation services, assessment and intervention support as well as training.

CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service)

Where necessary, we are able to refer students to CAMHS directly. Parents can also refer to CAMHS via their GP. CAMHS provide outpatient assessment and treatment for children and young people with emotional and behavioural difficulties. Team members are likely to include child and adolescent psychiatrists, social workers, clinical psychologists, community psychiatric nurses, child psychotherapists, occupational therapists, as well as art, music and drama therapists.

Social Services

If school has a concern about a child or young person, who may be suffering harm, we immediately contact the Multi Agency Team in your Local Authority for advice and support. We also liaise closely when one of our students is Looked After by the Local Authority, is subject to a Child Protection Plan or is considered a Child in Need.

Speech and Language Therapy

Your Local Authority has a designated Speech and Language Therapy Service. Following a referral process, the speech and language therapists provide specialist advice, assessment and intervention for children and young people who have difficulties with any aspect of their communication. They also offer training and support to staff on all aspects of language and communication.

Your child’s subject teacher or tutor may initially speak to you over the phone about your child’s learning. The subject teacher may also talk to you about any issues at a parent’s evening.

The SEND team or a Head of Year may contact you and arrange a telephone call to discuss your child’s difficulties with learning, and any possible support strategies school might be considering.

If your child is taking part in an intervention to support their learning, you will be informed about what this intervention is, and what the learning outcomes for it are.

The SEND, pastoral and wellbeing teams discuss the effectiveness of the interventions and provisions and prioritise an action plan, which may include additional or alternative interventions, staff training and equipment needs. This process is reviewed regularly to ensure the best possible intervention is provided to those children who require additional support to learn.

Our internal referral system means that any member of staff can bring a student to the attention of the Inclusion team, who can then assess the level of support needed.

Initially, speak with your child’s Tutor or the SEND team. Hopefully they will be able to address your concerns.

Alternatively, you can contact the Deputy Head Teacher, Mrs Henly, who may direct you to Charters School’s Complaints Policy and procedure.

At Charters School, we are very happy to speak to you about any aspects of your child’s education. It is best to speak to one of the following:

The Tutor or Subject Teacher

The Deputy Head of Year

The Head of Year

The SEND team

Charters School’s Learning Support Centre, known as the LSC, is designed to support children, who have additional needs.

Charters School has a fully equipped resource base to support students with physical disabilities. Facilities include an electric hoist, accessible toilets and changing areas, physiotherapy spaces and equipment. The resource base has capacity for six students.

RBWM Local Authority prioritise and allocate places in the PD Resource Base through their Resource Base Allocation Panel.

Class Teacher – the person responsible for teaching your child a particular subject.

Tutor – a member of staff who will see your child each day. Your child's tutor will be the first person for your child to go to if they have an issue in school, they want help with.

Teaching Assistant – a member of staff who supports the teacher to get the best learning outcomes for students in class. They may also provide focused activities, 1:1 or small group interventions to support your child.

Head of Year/ Deputy Head of Year –The Head of House has overall responsibility for all students within their Year.

SENCo & Deputy SENCO – The Special Educational Needs Coordinators (Sarah Jebb & Naomi Payne) are responsible for the overall provision of support for students with SEN.

LSC Manager– (Joanna Dean) responsible for the LSC & PD Resource Base support provision.

Hi – Hearing Impairment

VI – Visual Impairment

ASC – Autistic Spectrum Condition

ADHD – Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

SLCN – Speech, Language and Communication Need

EHCP – Education, Health and Care Plan

SEN – Special Educational Need

PD – Physical Disability

LSC – Learning Support Centre

SENCo – Special Educational Needs Co-Ordinator

EAA – Exam Access Arrangements

EAL – English as an Additional Language

CAMHS - Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service

EP – Educational Psychologist