Special and Additional Educational Needs
Heston Community School recognises that students may be vulnerable if they have greater difficulty accessing education than the majority of their peers. This is particularly important for students with special and/or additional educational needs and we will endeavour to do our very best to ensure that all students enjoy and achieve. Outlined below is a brief summary of Special and Additional Educational Needs and our provision, a more detailed version of how we meet students needs is to be found in the Special and Additional Educational Needs Policy which can be found on this website under School Policies.
Special Educational Needs
Students have special educational needs if they have a learning difficulty which calls for special educational provision to be made for them.
Students have a learning difficulty if they:
- have a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of children the same age; or
- have a disability which prevents or hinders them from making use of educational facilities of a kind generally provided for children of the same age in school within the area of the local authority.
Special educational provision means:
For children of two or over, educational provision which is additional to, or otherwise different from, the educational provision made generally for children of their age in schools maintained by the Local Authority, other than special schools in the area. (SEN Code of Practice)
Additional Educational Needs (AEN)
Children have additional educational needs if interventional strategies are required to enable them to at least make as much academic and social progress as their peers. Looked After Children, Young Carers and students for whom English is an Additional Language are examples of those who have AEN.
Special Educational Needs Provision
Support for students with SEN is delivered through differentiation within the classroom specifically targeting students who are on the SEN register. The School also deploys timed managed interventions which enable students to return to their mainstream lesson after a brief time with a specialist teacher. This boosts literacy levels and enables students to have increased confidence and self esteem. The curriculum focus for withdrawal sessions and/or timed managed intervention is to improve literacy and/or numeracy at KS3. Strategies include Successmaker, weekly paired reading schemes, multi-sensory teaching and specific 1-2-1 tailored interventions.
In Key Stage Four the School offers Experience of Work and Life Skills which are ASDAN qualifications. In supporting our Specialist Arts Status we also provide Arts Award which is run by the Arts Council England. Some students also benefit from small group sessions which allow them to continue to build literacy and numeracy skills and to obtain help and guidance with coursework.
We aim to ensure that all students, including Hearing Impaired students, have access to a broad curriculum, including the National Curriculum. Any withdrawal is sensitively managed to ensure students retain breadth and balance. Student timetables are analysed and negotiations with teachers, students and parents contribute to this balance.
All students are encouraged to participate in all aspects of school life. All clubs and societies are open to all students. Every student is a member of a tutor group and works within that group on a programme of Social, Personal and Citizenship Education.
Statement Provision
The Annual Review of the Statement of SEN provides the focus for a student's targets in the year ahead. Annual Reviews are conducted in accordance with the Code of Practice.
SEN Staff are deployed by the SENCO to:
- Provide appropriate levels and type of support as indicated at the most recent Annual Review and in line with funding allocations
- Draw up an Individual Education Plan
- Provide specialist resources to meet the needs identified in the Statement
- Co-ordinate and monitor the students' progress throughout the year and advise the SENCO of any significant changes
English as an Additional Language
Heston Community School recognises the cultural and language diversity of our students. The majority of our students are bilingual, some are multi lingual. A full time teacher is responsible for ensuring that students who are EAL are identified as such and that staff are aware of their needs in order for them to plan and prepare lessons for them.
- The EAL teacher places Stage One and Two learners where possible in the same tutor group so that he/she can support their class in English lessons at Key Stage Three.
- For Stage One Learners it may be more appropriate for the EAL teacher to withdraw students from their English lessons in order to provide better support and then reintegrate when appropriate.
- It is important that the identification and assessment of special educational needs of young people whose first language is not English is given particular care. It is necessary to consider the young person within the context of their home, culture and community.
- Students who are new to entrants to the country will be offered a specific programme run by the Learning Mentors in order to help them settle into their new school.
Specialist SEN Provision (Hearing Impaired)
Heston Community School is home to the London Borough of Hounslow's Hearing Impaired Centre for secondary students. Please see the Hearing Impaired Centre page to be found in the Curriculum Area of this website.
Looked After Children (LAC)
Children and young people become ‘Looked After' either if they have been taken into care by the local authority or have been accommodated by the local authority. Most LAC will be living in foster homes but a smaller number may be in a children's home, living with a relative or even be placed back at home with their natural parent(s). The Children Act (2004) places a duty to safeguard looked after children, to promote their educational achievements and to ensure that they are able to ‘achieve to and reach their full potential'. Heston Community School is very proud of the achievements of this very vulnerable group of students and we are exceptionally pleased that OFSTED (2008) found our provision for them to be excellent. A more detailed account of our provision for LAC is to be found in the Special and Additional Educational Needs Policy which can be found on this website under School Policies.
