Special Educational Needs and Disabilities

The aim of the SEND Team is to ensure that all pupils achieve their full potential, despite physical, intellectual, emotional or social barriers to learning.

Roles & Responsibilities within the school

Kathryn Bryan: Assistant Head Teacher Inclusion

C. Robinson: Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator

Claire Whitehead: ACE Learning Support Manager

At Royds we have a number of students with special or additional needs and employ a vast number of strategies to ensure our young people with SEND achieve their full potential. We have a Learning Support Unit (ACE) and currently employ 10 Learning Support Assistants who support young people with SEND and assist in encouraging independent learning.

If a young person is underachieving the classroom teacher will try to address the issues followed by school interventions and then in some cases outside agencies will be called upon. Students who receive school intervention for example mentoring, LEXIA, Accelerated Reader, Learning Support or Numicon are deemed as School Action. Students who receive support and intervention from an outside agency such as the ISPS service, Counselling Service, Speech and Language Service or Signpost, are classed as School Action Plus. All School Action and School Action Plus students are included in our Inclusion Register along with young people who have a Statement of Special Education Needs and the school monitors the impact of interventions in terms of progress made and achievement.

Our school is inclusive and teaching staff are trained to ensure that all classrooms are inclusive and work is differentiated according to need. Information is provided to staff regarding personalised programmes and targets for individuals and about conditions that young people at Royds have and strategies to ensure effective learning.

Securing effective relationships with parents is important to us and we operate an open door policy and encourage parents to communicate with the school in order to intervene early if there are any issues and remove any barriers to learning and progression.

We liaise with a number of agencies to support our young people with SEND including Integrated Support and Psychology Service, Speech and Language Therapy Support, Hearing Impaired Service, Visually Impaired Service, Careers Service, Children’s services Attendance, Social Services, voluntary bodies and other support agencies.