Special Educational Needs and Disabilities

John Clifford School has a reputation locally for being an inclusive and diverse school, especially in relation to how it tries to meet individual needs.

We live by the mantra that ‘at the heart of the school is the individual, and the individual is the heart of the school.’ This manifests itself in our commitment to provide teaching, learning and assessment that meets the needs of individual children with special educational needs and disability.

Our provision for children with special educational and disability needs has included the categories of Cognition and Learning, Communication and Interaction, Behaviour, Social and Emotional, Sensory and Physical and Anxiety Related Needs. We have worked with many children who are autistic, or who experience visual or physical impairment or other specific learning difficulties.

We have a large inclusion team that includes the SENCO lead (Kayley Allcoat) and 15 Teaching Assistants. The school also benefits from the support of outside agencies including the educational psychologist, speech and language therapists, school nurse and our Family SENCO.

Most support for children with moderate or specific learning difficulties is provided in class through Quality First Teaching but on occasions we use intervention strategies in a wide variety of school settings; our nurture room, ‘The Beehive’, the Community Room, our intervention room and the school library.

We communicate with parents on a regular basis and children with specific needs are often met at the beginning of the day by a teaching assistant to ensure the school day starts in a happy and secure manner. Parents are consulted about any additional provision or support from an external agent.

Our governors have published the John Clifford School Special Educational Needs Policy and the John Clifford School SEND Information Report  (see below). The school adheres to the code of practice and ensures that procedures are in place so that children are offered full access to a broad, balanced and relevant education at school.

 SEND code of practice: 0 to 25 years | Guidance on the special educational needs and disability (SEND) system for children and young people aged 0 to 25.

Policy and Supporting Documents

Nottinghamshire County Council's Local Offer

 Nottinghamshire SEND Local Offer

The Local Offer brings together useful information across education, health and social care within one website where you can find information, advice, guidance and a range of provider services listed who support children and young people with SEND.

External SEND Review

Wednesday, 21^st March 2024

On Wednesday, 21^st March 2024, Jamie and Lyndsey came over from Foxwood Academy to conduct an external review of SEND Provision. This was an excellent exercise for reflection and challenge and one that helped to highlight the strengths of SEND practice and provision. The review took place over three separate communications; two on Teams (Leadership and Curriculum) and one full day. The strengths of SEND provision at John Clifford School were summarised in the reports as:

• Leadership
• Understanding and identification of need and record keeping (EHCP, SEND support, SEND concern).
• Culture of inclusion – you are an inclusive school.
• Knowledge and understanding of support staff, including communication between support staff and teachers.
• A clarity that the most expert adult in the room has ownership of most of the content and delivery of the learning.

The SEND Review also served to recommendations and those named in the report were:

• Encouraging wider responsibility for 1:1 TAs (funding allowing)
• Reviewing marking to ensure that it focuses on guidance for improvement
• Reintroducing performance management for TAs

The report is lengthy and includes specific detail and reference to identifiable children so will remain for staff only. However, here are the overall considerations from each section of the RAG rated report.