SENDCo Mrs Faye Bunn fbunn@ 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

• 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
• Mr Jack Fossett
• Mr Thomas Martindale
• Ms Sabrina Martin
• Mrs Riham Abdou
• Mr Dylan Rowe
• Miss Trin Macqueen
• Mrs Becky Collier (ABAVB Therapist)

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.

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.

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.

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.