The West Park Academy

The West Park Academy caters for a wide variety of special educational needs. Including children with medical conditions such as: Autism ADHD Dyslexia Physical disabilities such as Cerebral Palsy Learning difficulties Speech and Language delay and other emotional and behavioural difficulties.

On entry and throughout the academic year we assess all the children using a variety of different assessments. This enables us to identify children who are working behind academically or children who are functioning at a lower than expected emotional/behavioural level. If you are worried that your child might have special needs you should, in the first instance discuss this with their class teacher. The teacher will be able to discuss this with you further and if appropriate will discuss further with the Inclusion Leader. Alternatively any parents are welcome to make an appointment to meet with the Inclusion Leader (Mrs J Knapp). Further details are available in the Special Needs Policy which is located on the website.

Our Inclusion team, supported by the SEN Governor regularly review the SEN support that is in place and monitor the progress of children within our school. Through monitoring, observing and assessing a child’s needs, staff work together with the Inclusion team to put in place appropriate support and provision to meet identified difficulties. We welcome parents support at all stages. Targets are set and these are recorded on an action plan e.g. in a pupil progress proforma, a Structured Conversation Proforma, or in a Behaviour Support Plan.

We have an open door policy so parents are always welcome to come and speak to class teachers or the SENco. We also arrange regular review meetings for children with additional needs to discuss how they are doing and future targets. parents are signposted to relevent support organisations if a specific need is highlighted.

We follow a fully inclusive curriculum and have high expectations for all children. We ensure that all children are given the opportunity to each their full potential. Any children (with or without special educational needs) who are not making adequate progress are targeted and appropriate interventions are put in place. We support pupils with special educational needs by:

• Specially prepared learning materials
• The use of appropriate ICT equipment
• Deployment of teaching assistants
• Individual and group teaching sessions/support sessions
• Specialist equipment/resources
• Signing and assisted communication
• Using specialist intervention programmes within the Waves of Provision
• Social skills programmes
• Seeking support and involvement from Outside Agencies.

All lessons are tailored to the children’s needs and work is planned and matched to the children’s different abilities. Care is taken to identify a child’s specific and preferred way of learning and work is planned accordingly. Where appropriate, a child might have an individual timetable and specific work or additional support depending on their additional need.

The teacher and SENco discuss together the best support to give a child in conjunction with the parent/carer. Where appropriate, individual timetables are planned for specific children. If a child requires additional one to one support with an adult, then where appropriate the school can bid for additional funding. The child’s additional needs would need to match the criteria to qualify for additional funding. This would be applied for by the SENco.

No children are excluded from any activities or school trips. If any child needs additional support of provision then this is provided.

At The West Park Academy the staff strive to ensure that the children have very positive relationships with the adults they work with. Therefore they feel they can talk to their teacher. We also have play therapy which we offer to children who we feel might need some extra emotional support. We also have assessments in school that allow us to monitor and track a child's emotional wellbeing. 

Mrs Joanne Knapp - Inclusion Leader

The West Park Academy

office@westparkacademy.co.uk

01623 460274

Staff have ongoing training and support. They have had training in working with children with Autism, Dyslexia and Downs syndrome. We also regularly do a lot of in-school training where staff share expertise with other less experienced staff. All our newly qualified staff attend training with regard to SEN which is run by the Family Senco. We now have 4 other schools within our Multi-Academy Trust and we regularly share knowledge and expertise in relation to children with SEN.

We have close links with a wide range of outside agencies who offer specific guidance and support to our school and families. These include:

• The Educational Psychology Service (EP)
• Therapists including those for Speech and Language (SALT), Occupational (OT) and Physiotherapy (PT)
• Schools and Families Specialist Services (SFSS) – includes those for Early Years, Cognition and Learning, Communication and Interaction, Sensory Impairments and Physical Disabilities
• The Personal Social and Emotional Support Team (PSED)
• Mansfield Area Partnership (MAP)
• Education (Re-thinking Engagement & Approaches to Learning)
• Health Services including School Nurse, Paediatricians, Health Visitors and Child and Adult Mental Health services (CAMHS)
• Social Care and Local Children’s Centres
• Out Reach and Voluntary Services Schools and Families Support Services:            
• Manual Handling and Disability Access support

Please refer toacademy acess plan which is found on the academy webiste. 

Parents are invited to have a parent’s appointment with their child’s class teacher twice per year. We have an open door policy so parents are welcome to speak to their child’s teacher whenever the need arises. The SENco has review meetings two or three times a year for the parents of the more complex special needs children. The SENco also arranges other meetings with parents if school are concerned about a child. Parents can make an appointment or drop in to see the SENco when they feel they would like to speak to him. We welcome the involvement of parents in their child’s education as we feel that this is essential to enable children to reach their full potential.

Children are involved with their target setting and can attend meetings if they would like. The teachers strive to find out the children’s interests and tailor the provision in school to meet these interests. The student council works hard to ensure that they have a correct representation of the children in the school and are involved in organising certain activities and in some strategic decision making.

We would always encourage parents to discuss any concerns they have with the class teacher in the first instance. Alternatively they could make an appointment to speak to the SENco. Please refer to the school complaints policy on the school website.

The SENco provides a report to Trustees and liaises regularly with the Trustee who oversees Special Educational Needs. This enables the Trustees to see the progress data of children with additional needs and ask questions to ensure that all children’s needs are being met. The Trust carries out a yearly SEN Audit.

The school SENco can signpost parents to a wide range of support organisations such as Family Support, local Support groups. The SENco will also refer a child to obtain other professional support if she feels that staff in school needs some advice or training in relation to a specific need of a child. The school website is updated regularly and is a source of information for the parents of children with Special Educational Needs.

Children who join from different areas or during the school year have their transition carefully planned to ensure that it is positive and successful.

The West Park Academy has positive relationships with our feeder schools and plan comprehensive transitions for children with additional needs when they transfer into a different phase of their education. This might include additional visits and the staff from secondary school also come to visit children. Children have Vulnerable Pupil Profiles which also are used to aid transition to their next phase of education.

We tailor the curriculum for individual children, so if we feel a child needs further support to learn essential life skills, then this will be incorporated into their learning.

Further information can be found by accessing: 

https://www.westparkacademy.co.uk/academy-information/special-educational-needs-disabilities/