SEND

Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND)

Our Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Department is dedicated to ensuring that every student with additional needs receives the support they require to thrive. Our knowledgeable and passionate team, composed of specialist teaching staff and Teaching Assistants, work closely with students, parents, carers, staff, and other stakeholders to ensure that each student's unique learning needs are fully met. Our goal is to ensure that all students can access the curriculum and achieve their full potential.

How Do We Identify Students Who Need Support?

What we do as a school

The SEND Department is committed to identifying and addressing the specific needs of each student. Whether a student has a SEND, is learning English as an Additional Language (EAL), or faces challenges in accessing the curriculum for other reasons, we provide specialised and targeted support. Examples of our targeted support could include:

What to do if you have a concern around your child's learning

Step 1: Contact the school SENDCo. 
You can request a meeting to talk through your concerns and share any examples or observations from home. Email the SEND team:send.admin@chssouth.org.uk.

Step 2: We will gather evidence in school 
Staff will observe your child in different lessons and settings to understand strengths, needs, and any patterns of difficulty. We may also look at learning progress and behaviour records. Please be aware that this process can take a few weeks. 

Step 3: Support will be put in place where needed. 
Your child does not need a diagnosis to receive help. We will provide appropriate support strategies and reasonable adjustments while we monitor progress. 
 

If you feel your child may have Social, Emotional and Mental Health Needs (such as ADHD) or social communication difficulties, please follow this process (step 1 – step 2 – step 3) as CAMHS will require evidence of what support is being put in place in school and the impact of this.

A Collaborative Approach to Success 

Students receiving SEND support will have a One Page Profile which outlines their area of need and is shared with all relevant members of staff. These are regularly reviewed and updated when areas of need or support strategies change. We design and monitor all our interventions to ensure that each student's needs are met effectively. Our collaborative approach ensures that every student has the opportunity to achieve their best.

We are committed to creating an inclusive environment where every student can succeed, regardless of the challenges they face.

How do we meet the needs of our students?

Students who have or may have SEND are added to the schools SEND support register in one of three cohorts:

SEND Monitoring: these students are monitored to find out if they need SEND provision. The monitoring cohort is reviewed regularly, and students are moved up to SEND Support or taken off the Monitoring list.

SEND Support: these students are identified as needing SEND provision which is additional to or different from the support generally made available to students of the same age. 

SEND Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP): Students with an Education Health Care Plan have specific outcomes and provisions defined by the local authority in which they live. These students have a key worker who regularly checks their wellbeing and annual reviews led by the SEND team.

Graduated Approach to supporting SEND 

The work of the SEND Department is guided by the Special Education Needs and Disabilities Code of Practice (2015) published by the Department for Education. The Code of Practice advises all school to use a graduated response to SEND. This means that barriers to learning should be addressed gradually, starting with measures in the classroom and building towards more personalised measures. The graduated response is sometimes described as a Waves approach. It begins with high quality teaching in the classroom which is supplemented by further waves when needed. 

Wave 1 – High quality teaching and learning for all pupils by teachers who adapt their teaching to address and support needs.  

Wave 2 – Targeted interventions based on the development of specific skills. Usually delivered by the SEND Department or Pastoral Teams as part of a small group. 

Wave 3 – Personalised assessment or intervention. These may be delivered by specialists such as an Educational Psychologist or Speech and Language Specialist. 

More information on waves:

Useful Links:

Manchester Local Offer

SEND Information Report and Policy