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Notre Dame High School

Notre Dame
High School

Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND)

 

How will NDHS support my child?
The SEND department works collaboratively with our Progress Tutors to provide targeted intervention for both literacy and numeracy. We work closely with our feeder schools to ensure that all SEND information is transferred during the Transition phase from Year 6 to Year 7, and also Y11 to 12, in conjunction with our own testing once they begin high school or sixth form. Once specific need has been identified, we contact parents / carers and begin a programme of intervention / provide specific equipment or resources.

Where to go for advice and help:
Mrs Aldred is our SENDCo (Special Educational Needs and Disability Coordinator), responsible for co-ordinating the provision of all SEND students at Notre Dame. Please her if you wish to discuss your child’s SEND needs or if you are concerned that your child might have an SEND need.

For more information about Special Educational Needs and Disability at Notre Dame please click on the following drop down menus and the SEND Information Report below.

We also have special pages of advice devoted to the following:

Contact our SENDCo and SEND Team
 

          
SENDCo
Mrs Kelly Aldred
kaldred@
ext.1081
DEPUTY SENDCo
Ms Imogen Burns
iburns@
ext.1081
Student Support Centre Manager
Mrs Janice Murphy 
jmurphy@
ext.1029
SEND Admin
Mrs Amanda Powell
apowell@
ext. 1055

Learning Support Assistants

  • Mrs Caroline Ablewhite (Lead LSA)
  • Mr Piers Martin (Lead LSA)
  • Mrs Mary Nobes (Lead LSA)
  • Mrs Kiera Long (Lead LSA)
  • Miss Sophie Ashbourne (Lead LSA)
  • Mrs Tanya Jones
  • Mrs Fatma Karim
  • Ms Devorah Ross Carter
  • Miss Hannah Whittaker
  • Mr Jack Fossett
  • Mr Thomas Martindale
  • Ms Sabrina Martin
  • Mrs Justyna Gaber
    Mr Jheameson De Hoghton-McKay
  • Mrs Becky Collier (ABAVB Therapist)
  • Miss Emma Binks (ABAVB Therapist)
  • VSSS Support staff for the Deaf 

Accessibility 

At Notre Dame, students are not excluded from participating in the full curriculum on the basis of experiencing a disability. Accessibility means that people can do what they need to do in a similar amount of time and effort as someone that does not have a disability. It means that students are empowered, can be independent, and will not be frustrated by something that is poorly designed or implemented. All buildings have a disabled lift access and there is a designated DDA toilet in each building, as well as a 'wash / dry' toilet for specific students that can only be accessed by a pass card.  We have redesigned the Courtyard area so that a new wash/dry toilet, plinth and hoist can be accessed by our students who are wheelchair-bound. All staff training has been provided by an NHS Occupational Therapist or Physiotherapist.

What is good for students with SEND is good for all. What this means is that teaching and resources are tailored to suit all students. We try not to reinvent the wheel but to enable inclusivity in all aspects of classroom learning.

To find more information, view our Accessibility Plan by clicking on Policies.

SEND Transition
 

We offer extra transition for specific students with identified SEND to enable them to feel more confident around the site and also to introduce them to key staff. Parents Coffee Morning is extremely useful as it enables parents to meet our team and also our SEND Student Ambassadors who share their experiences and hopefully reassure both the new students and their carers. 

All information pertaining to those students with SEND is shared by the feeder schools to enable us to provide our staff with a detailed, individual advice sheet which includes area(s) of need, ways of supporting, specific resources needed and any other useful information to ensure that learning is inclusive.

  

Literacy and numeracy catch-up provision 

The SEND department works collaboratively with our Progress Tutors to provide targeted intervention for both literacy and numeracy. 

We run a range of interventions and earmark specific individuals using both feeder school information and our own initial testing and then use an 8-week period in which to work on both literacy and numeracy skills.  We are also members of 'Dyslexia Outreach' who have trained three of our team to use a bespoke intervention called ‘Precision Spelling’ for those students already noted as having dyslexia / dyslexic traits and any new additions to the register who have been identified through SENDCo or external assessments.

Numeracy intervention is split into three strands: in-class support, small group and one-to-one, depending on the level of need and reinforcement required. We are lucky to have Maths specialists as part of our SEND team and we also liaise with the Maths Department and their Numeracy Progress Tutors to ensure that the right targetted support is in place.

Language Support 

New Year 7s currently take either Spanish or French as their Modern Foreign Language (MFL) choice but in some instances students find this more challenging if they have SEND issues, specifically with literacy. We work closely with our colleagues in MFL to monitor progress and during Year 9, in some rare instances, negotiate a complete withdrawal from languages to participate in a non-language GCSE group which runs parallel with the English curriculum.

Norfolk SENDIASS Bulletin Jan 2024 

https://www.norfolksendiass.org.uk/news/newsletters/spotlightjan24/

Welcome to our latest edition of Norfolk's bulletin for the families of children and young people with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and the professionals working with them.

All the updates are short with options for more information if it’s a particular area of interest for you. You can also find regular updates on our SEND Local Offer https://www.norfolksendiass.org.uk/.

Norfolk working with the Government on special needs funding

Norfolk County Council is one of many councils currently working with the Department for Education to help with the increased pressure on our main budget for SEND in early years, schools and colleges, which is known as the ‘High Needs Block’.

The budget hasn’t been able to keep up with demand for several years, because nationally and locally there are an increasing number of children and young people with more complex needs.  We have provided the services and places needed for children and young people but this means the budget is overspent.

We have sent some initial proposals to the DfE for how we can balance our budget while delivering more support for specialist education and with a particular focus on more support for mainstream schools and for SEN Support, reducing the need for Education Health and Care Plans to access support.  We are due to have more talks with them and in October aim to submit a final plan for the way forward.

Meanwhile we have already invested £120 million in a SEND transformation programme to create at least 500 more specialist education places over five years in Norfolk to help reduce travel times and minimise spending on high-cost independent placements and transport.

 

Useful Documents and Links