SEN & Disability Provision

A special educational need is defined as ‘a learning difficulty or disability that makes learning a challenge for a child’. Children with SEND have greater difficulty learning than other children of the same age.

Kingsdown School aims to ensure that appropriate provision is available to champion each and every student to have equal access to curriculum opportunities and to ensure that the curriculum is accessible to every individual learning need.

The Inclusion team at Kingsdown School has been developed so that it meets all the needs of our students. Inclusion is divided into different hubs, each catering for a different barrier to learning including The Resilience Hub (attitude and engagement), The Thrive Hub (anxious and vulnerable), The Platform (low attenders), The Literacy Hub (low literacy levels, dyslexia support and English as an additional language), The Student Focus Hub (supporting students with an Educational, Health and Care Plan). The hubs work closely with their mainstream colleagues to offer supplementary support to the regular curriculum, or work with identified students who need specific intervention for a fixed period of time. Targeted intervention programmes include for example Freshstart, Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, ELSA support and access to agencies such as TAMHS, Trailblazers and the Educational Psychologist.

At Kingsdown we support some students in groups where the curriculum and teaching strategies have been specially adapted to meet their needs. These classes are supported by additional staff members and offer consistent teaching by a team of highly trained and experienced teachers who know the students, and their learning needs well. Working with the Literacy and Student Focus Inclusion teams, we ensure all students raise their attainment, literacy skills and enhance their social skills and understanding of the wider world.

Kingsdown has much of its teaching and learning space at ground floor level, and some access ramps and toilet facilities have been installed in those areas. Kingsdown has two lifts providing access to the Virtual Learning Centre (ICT) and to some science laboratories; however, wheelchair users would not be able to gain access to some upper floors.

Kingsdown has an Autistic Spectrum Condition Centre, which was opened in 2003; it has the capacity for 15 students and each year is oversubscribed.  It is designed for pupils who are academically capable of accessing the mainstream curriculum but need more support than can be offered in a totally mainstream environment. Admission to the centre is through the decision of a panel of professionals at the SEN Assessment Team and is not controlled by the usual channels of application. All students admitted to the Centre have an EHCP with Autism named as their primary need. Students follow the mainstream curriculum and attend classes with Educational Support Champions. However, all students are withdrawn from certain lessons so they can complete home learning and also work on developing their social communication and interaction, personal development and life skills in addition to receiving a wealth of other targeted interventions.

Anxious and vulnerable students across the school have daily access to ‘The Haven Club’ in the ASC Centre, which enables them to have a safe space for unstructured, busy times of the day. We provide resources to support the learning of those who will benefit from them and constantly monitor, support and intervene when any individual is falling behind with their attainment.

Related Documents

SEND_Report_to_Governors_2020-21.pdf
SEND_Report_to_Governors_2019-20.pdf