Students with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND)

At The Deanery, we value and celebrate each individual, and we believe that each member of our school community is created by God: our aim is to help all students flourish and achieve their full potential.

The Deanery has an inclusive approach to education and personal development, and we openly welcome students with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities.  We are passionate about providing opportunities and new experiences for all students in our care, for them to have the understanding of who they are, but most importantly, who they can become. 

A child of compulsory school age or a young person has a learning difficulty or disability if he or she:
(a) has a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others of the same age, or
(b) has a disability which prevents or hinders him or her from making use of facilities of a kind generally provided for others of the same age in mainstream schools or mainstream post-16 institutions. 

Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) will affect a child's abiltity to learn and to develop. They may broadly affect the following: 

• the ability to understand or process information socially and in learning
• reading, writing and numeracy skills
• the ability to concentrate and focus on a task
• emotional or mental health
• self-regulation- learning to regulate emotions and social interaction
• sensory and physical ability, including visual, hearing, motor coordination, spatial or medical. 

Children may also have other learning needs such as English as an Additional Language or having learning gaps in education due to medical or other reasons.

Inclusion at The Deanery includes The Inclusion Team (academic support, interventions) and The Well-being Team (pastoral and behaviour support). We also provide a support structure for our students who are Looked After Children and those with significant medical needs. 

At The Deanery, we believe that Quality First Teaching will empower most our students with SEND to make at least expected academic progress and to develop important life skills in the classroom. However, a minority of our students will require more targeted and tailored interventions. All our programmes are delivered by enthusiastic and qualified Higher level Teaching Assistants and Teaching Assistants.

If at any point you have concerns about your child's academic progress, you can initially speak to your child's Tutor or Head of House/Year. 

If you are concerned that your child is still not making expected progress despite Quality First Teaching, you can contact Mrs Astrid Fox, The Deanery's SENDCo (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Coordinator), or another member of the Inclusion team, at:

enquiries@dcea.org.uk

To find out more about Swindon Borough Council's Local Offer for SEND, please go to https://localoffer.swindon.gov.uk/ for care, support information and guidance. 

 

Glossary-of-SEND-terms.docx

Statutory-Annual-Report-September-2021-2.docx