The Headteacher has overall responsibility for all pupils in the school.
The Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENDCo) and Assistant Head of Inclusion is Mrs C Bergin.
Your pupil’s class teacher is directly responsible for the progress of each pupil in their class and will have detailed information relating to each pupil’s needs.

The first type of support will be provided by the class teacher as they will adapt and adjust all teaching according to each pupil’s need.

Other types of support are available through the skilled staff in the learning support department.

All staff can be contacted using the email links on our contacts page on the website.

Each and every pupil is entitled to an education that allows them to thrive and meet their full potential. We know that all pupils are very different and need different opportunities to flourish. The support we provide our learners is provided in three tiers of support.

● Tier 1 – Quality First Teaching

The majority of children will spend the majority of their time within this tier. Here, teachers use adaptations to support all learners within their classroom. They can provide additional in-class support if needed, reasonable adjustments- for example, laptops, pencil grips, careful seating choices, extra finishing time, printed key vocabulary. Leaders in the school monitor Quality First Teaching through lesson observation, learning walks, book scrutiny and pupil voice.

● Tier 2 – SEND Support

As a pupil progresses through school, their needs may fluctuate meaning that they need more support that cannot be met through standard differentiation. These needs can include but is not exclusive to: emotional needs (SEMH), cognition and learning needs, communication and interaction needs, and physical and sensory needs.

At SEND support, pupils will be supported through a mixture of targets, specialist interventions and other services. Children may have a diagnosis which means they need additional support or equally they may just need more support than can be provided in a typical lesson. Children can work at SEND support for a short period of time or they can work at this level for a more extended period of time. For some learners we may want to seek advice from specialist teams. We have access to various specialist services, but these may be commissioned from individual school budgets. We have access to services provided by Suffolk County Council, which are: Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAHMS); Education Welfare Officer; Children’s therapy teams (Speech and Language, physiotherapy and occupational therapy), SES, Speech therapy.

● Tier 3 EHCP support

If children present with more complex needs which cannot be met with SEND support, we would create an evidence trail and make an application for an Education, Health and Care plan, (EHCP). Many children who have a diagnosis, such as dyslexia, ADHD or autistic spectrum conditions (ASC), do not need an EHCP because they are making progress at SEN support. An EHCP pulls all targets for children with SEND, from all professionals involved, into one place. Around 2% of our pupils at Sybil Andrews Academy have EHCPs currently.

The first port of call should be your pupil’s class teacher, as they will have the most knowledge and experience of the pupil. Following this, the class teacher should liaise with the Assistant Headteacher and SENDCo, Mrs C Bergin.

Please feel free to call the school, write or talk to the class teacher directly to arrange a meeting.

Your pupil’s class teacher should contact you as soon as possible if this is the case. We won’t wait for a parents evening to discuss concerns. The teacher will either call, send a note or talk to you directly to arrange a meeting to discuss their concerns. This often takes the form of a “structured conversation” where both parties can give their input and targets for progression can be agreed between parent, pupil and teacher.

All staff have different experiences of working with pupil with SEND. Some staff at Sybil Andrews have specialist qualifications in the education of pupils with special needs. All staff have a comprehensive programme of Continuing Professional Development which includes advice from specialists on the best ways to support pupil’s SEND needs.

We currently have staff trained for interventions including:

● ELKLAN
● ELSA
● Lego Therapy
● Drawing and Talking Therapy
● Numeracy and literacy intervention support
● Comic Strip Conversations
● Rapid Reading

Teaching is adapted and differentiated to meet pupil’s individual needs. Each pupil has a personalised One Page Plan detailing their likes and things they find more challenging. These profiles also advise teachers on the best way to support each pupil in their learning. They also have aspirational termly targets for pupils to achieve.

Pupils are tracked using formative and summative assessment. Early support is targeted at any area of need. The process of planning targeted provision is firmly rooted in a graduated approach with the focus on meeting the need and ensuring progress by organising provision around planned outcomes.

The school works closely with educational and health professionals who can signpost parents/carers to further avenues of support. Parents and families are invited to contact the school over any issue. A regular programme of training, workshops and coffee mornings are organised throughout the year, for example our recent Parent and Carers Coffee Morning in September.

Sybil Andrews School is a newly built secondary school. The school architecture and design has been tailored to meet the special educational needs of the pupils at the school. Some of Sybil Andrews’ pupils have physical disabilities. All areas of the school are wheelchair accessible, and lifts are available for wheelchair users. We have several toilets which have been adapted for disabled users and have disabled toilets for staff or visitors. Our school complies with the Equalities Act 2010, which stipulates that schools have in place an Accessibility Plan.

Sybil Andrews is a secondary school for pupils aged 11-16.

When pupils join the school with an education, health and/or care plan (EHCP) or are already on their schools SEND register we support those pupils in making a smooth transition. This is done by a timely exchange of information about the pupil’s strengths and needs with the curriculum and environment of the school.

Transition internally between classes is managed very carefully, especially for the Year 7s in their first year at secondary school. To prepare for transition, some pupils with SEND have transition plans, have learning support assistants and access to the wider learning support resources.

We have Safeguarding, Behaviour, Equalities, Accessibility and Anti-Bullying policies in place, these are available on our web site. We encourage collaborative learning and, when needed, prioritise a curriculum that encourages social and emotional wellbeing through subjects such as PSHE. The school offers a wide variety of pastoral support for pupils. This is overseen by the Deputy Headteacher responsible for pupil’s pastoral development Mr H Ruffell.

Learning support has a specialist room O106 and can be used as a base for pupil who find lunchtimes a challenge and there are areas and rooms set aside for times when pupils need personal space.

The school has access to the school nursing team, occupational therapists, speech and language therapists, primary mental health worker. The school also works with SES agencies and educational psychologists.

Class teachers and members of the leadership team are available for pupils to discuss any issues and concerns.

If a pupil has a medical need then a detailed care plan is compiled with health professioanls. This is done with support from the school nurse together with our Assistant Headteacher and SENDco Mrs C Bergin. Staff receive any necessary medical training such as Asthma and Epi pen training. The school has a comprehensive Medical Conditions policy.

The Local Offer was first introduced in the Green Paper (March 2011) as a local offer of all services available to support disabled pupils and pupils with SEN and their families. Sybil Andrews’s Local Offer is contained on this website and copies are available from the school. More information about Suffolk’s Local Offer can be found at:

https://infolink.suffolk.gov.uk/kb5/suffolk/infolink/localoffer.page