The Graduated Approach

At NOA we follow the SEND code of practice to ensure that best endeavours are made to ensure all children, regardless of need have access to a mainstream curriculum. Under the Equalities Act of 2010 the law states that no child should be discriminated against or have their access to education limited but that reasonable adjustments should be made to ensure students can access the education that they are entitled to.

The full SEND Code of Practice can be found here.

The Equality Act can be found here.

The SEND Green Paper highlighting proposed changes to the SEND Code of Practice can be found here.

In order to ensure the best possible outcomes for students at NOA we follow a graduated approach to provision to make sure that no child is excluded from their mainstream provision but ensuring that we support those students who may need additional to or different from the Universal Offer, to support them in being able to access the curriculum offer at NOA.

How Will School Staff Support My Child?

The class teacher will oversee, plan and work with each child with SEND in their class to ensure that progress is made in every area. There may be a Learning Coach working with your child either individually, or in a small group, if this is seen as necessary by the class teacher. This will not be at all times though to ensure we are also fostering an ability for your child to be an independent learner.

How do we know if the support or strategies used have had an impact?

We use a wide range of monitoring systems to assess the impact of all strategies. These include:

·        Provision Maps, reviewed termly by the SENDCO and Learning Coach.

·        A rank order system to monitor children’s progress.

·        Intervention assessments

·        Children may move off the SEND register when they have made sufficient progress.

How do you identify pupils with SEND?

There are a number of ways in which children can be identified as having a special educational need:

• Parental concerns.
• Teacher and Pastoral Team identification.
• Liaison with other educational professions (for example Educational Psychologists or Specialist Teachers).
• Liaison with external agencies (e.g. medical professionals, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech and language therapists etc.)
• At transition meetings with primary
• School transfer information.
• Monitoring and assessment information (tracking of progress.)
• The Oxfordshire Ordinarily Available Toolkit SEND guidance Checklist.

I am worried about my child, who can help me?

We can! The first point of contact in school will usually be your child’s head of year. They can look at your child’s behaviour, attendance and attendance and refer to the SENDCO if they feel that it appropriate.

The Welfare Team can also work with you to complete and Early Help Assessment, a process used by a wide range of professionals to identify additional support early in the development of a problem and to coordinate the support around the family.

Further information about SEND at NOA can be found on our SEND Information Report and SEND Policy document at the policies link below.

At NOA we offer a range of interventions to support students’ needs: