Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND)

“A community of staff and students working together to remove barriers to achievement and further excellence through support, encouragement and the creation of an inclusive learning environment”

At The Langton, we are committed to providing an inclusive and supporting environment where all students, including those with Special Educational Needs (SEN), can thrive. The Faculty’s aim is to help to remove barriers and enable students to reach their full potential. Our SEN department is dedicated to working closely with students, parents and professionals to ensure that all students receive the best possible support and empower them to flourish. Through our knowledge and understanding we can support students to become independent and confident learners, who can develop academically, socially and emotionally.

To achieve this, we provide appropriate provision for students requiring additional support, whether for AEN, SEND or EHCP. The Faculty will continue to make specialist provision for students with Education, Health and Care Plans for ASC within the school’s Specialist Resourced Provision (information to be found below). The provision for each student is considered on an individual basis, but all support offered is underpinned by Quality First Teaching and close links with the pastoral team.

All teachers at The Langton are teachers of students with special educational needs and therefore all have a responsibility and duty of care. Teachers are confidentially informed of the student’s needs and learning profiles to ensure they can best support the student. CPD is regularly given, to ensure staff are trained on the range of needs within the class.

We recognise that early identification is crucial to providing the right support for students with SEN. We use a range of methods to identify needs, including regular monitoring of student progress, teacher observations and assessments, parental feedback and concerns, and specialist assessments. We follow a graduated approach based on four stages: assess, plan, do, and review. This process ensures that support is tailored to the child’s specific needs and that their progress is closely monitored.

All students identified as having SEND are placed on the school’s SEND Register and on Arbor.  The register is used to ensure that appropriate provision is made in planning and delivery of lessons and pastoral support.

The Specialist Resourced Provision (SRP) is an educational provision for academically able students who have a diagnosis autism, which came into operation in September 2005. The SRP is specifically set up to support students within the school that have Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCP).

The school has a set number of places, that are allocated by LEA, for students who have Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) indicating that they have a diagnosis of Autism. However, it is acknowledged that there may be boys who would benefit from the programme, but who do not have EHCPs.  In such cases the decision to admit a boy to the programme will be made by the LEA and the school working together to consider the best interests of the boy and the availability of places on the programme.

Students within the SRP can access the provisions physical ‘Base’ – a specific area of the school which is used daily by staff and students within the provision.  ‘Base’ is so named because it is from here that students supported by the provision can access the wider school – it is a safe environment where students can routinely ground themselves, and a place that they can return to for support if challenges should arise.  This area is used as a daily touchstone for students within the SRP, as well as an academic workspace when withdrawal from timetabled curriculum lessons is deemed necessary or beneficial, whether that be as a temporary measure or as part of a longer term planned intervention. The SRP is also able to provide space to help deal with parts of the school day that students with autism may find overwhelming; there is a space for students within the SRP to eat lunch and socialise, separate toilet and changing

The school’s SRP Lead is responsible for liaison with the LEA when discussing possible applicants for the programme and is responsible for co-ordinating all contacts with parents and outside agencies. The SRP Lead will also arrange for appropriate assessments of the needs of each boy on the programme and will consider the most appropriate educational support. This support may involve in-class support through a Learning Support Assistant, and possibly partial withdrawal from the national curriculum. The SRP Lead is also responsible for arranging additional support for the boys on the programme, for example social and communication skills counselling, possible emotional counselling and speech therapy. The SRP Lead will also be responsible for providing support and professional development to the teaching and support staff.

The Local Authority’s basic entry criteria for the provision are:

• That the prospective pupil should have an EHCP with a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Condition
• That he has passed the Kent Test.

However, to ensure that we are playing to our pupils’ strengths and not putting further barriers in the way of their learning, experience shows us that prospective pupils needs to demonstrate the potential to:

• produce the volume of work demanded by a high-achieving grammar school.
• be comfortable in assimilating a lot of information quickly and confidently.
• communicate successfully with the adults who are supporting their learning.
• be willing and able to participate in the social and emotional support and development offered by provision staff.

All teachers at Simon Langton Grammar School for Boys are teachers of students with special educational needs and therefore all have a responsibility and duty of care. The specialist staff are:

Assistant Head (Mental Health & Wellbeing): ASD Specialist Resourced Provision Coordinator & Pupil Premium Coordinator: Mrs C. Speed cspeed@thelangton.kent.sch.uk

SEND Coordinator: Miss S. Harvey sharvey@thelangton.kent.sch.uk

SEND Manager: Mrs N Hatton nhatton@thelangton.kent.sch.uk

Specialist assessor and exam arrangement coordinator: Mrs J Barnes

6^th Form Learning Mentors

A team of Learning Support Assistants

Student Mentors

PD LSA/ Carer as required

Please click on the links below which you may find useful: