All staff receive training in order to be able to support all students and ensure they meet the needs of SEND students within their role.

Induction PLD - All staff access a SEND Induction. SEND processes are in the teaching and learning booklet and booklet for cover staff.

INSET days – the SENDCo delivers training to all teaching staff on each INSET day. 

Trainee teachers -  All trainees access a SEND specific session around the four broad areas of need and inclusive teaching.

SEND Bulletin - The Inclusion Team share a half termly bulletin, focusing on an area of need, highlighting recent research and best practice.

SEND Shorts – Staff have access to up to date research, resources and student voice for a range of different SEND, compiled into one document which we call a ‘SEND Short’

Tell us about your concern.

Parents and carers are an integral part of the identification of SEND process, as you know will know all about your child’s history. If you have a concern, the best person to contact is your child’s Student Welfare Manager or Student Achievement Leader, as they know your child best.

We will gather information about your child.

If you raise a concern about your child, it is likely we will gather information from yourself and your child’s teachers and then discuss your concern at our Vulnerable Learners Network. We will always gather your child’s thoughts and feelings, through a variety of different methods, to ensure their voice is heard. We will then work in coproduction with you to put in suitable next steps to meet your child’s needs.  This will include clear actions and include what we would like to achieve from these actions.

We will work with you to decide on appropriate next steps.

If your child requires a special educational provision, we will discuss this with you and notify you that your child is on our SEND register.  Your child will have key worker from the SEND team, and you will be able to contact them directly on Class Charts.  Our students with SEND have an Individual Education Plan which we will write with you, your child and any other professionals who support your child. You will be able to access this plan on Provision Map. 

Interventions to support difficulties are done so in a variety of different ways and not all are exclusively for students with SEND. Many interventions are based within departments. These adaptations include:

Thrive is a key part of our targeted offer and is 1:1 and group support for students, targeted at a student’s area of difficulty.

A number of students in the academy have access Thrive support, identified through VLN, from the Inclusion Managers for a range of needs, including:

At Sir Thomas Wharton Academy we recognise that some children find it difficult to regulate their emotions and feelings. Exceed is an on-site alternative provision that provides interventions and bespoke curriculum to support children to go onto succeed in school and Post-16.

What is Exceed?

• Offers an adapted bespoke curriculum that is broad and offers a wide package of experiences
• Aims to identify unmet needs and implement emotional regulation/SEMH support 
• Key worker support, safe space and increased parental engagement
• Supports the whole school consequence system.

Aims and Objectives:

• Reduction in Fixed Term Suspension
• Increased ability to regulate emotions
• Improved attendance
• Improved engagement and progress in lessons

• Your child does not make expected progress following targeted interventions
• The special educational provision your child requires cannot reasonably be provided from within the resources normally available at the Academy

Sometimes we need extra help to offer our students the support that they need. Whenever necessary we will work with external support services to meet the needs of our students with SEND and to support their families. These include:

For more information, please use the following link: Local Offer - Specialist Education Support Services

We will evaluate the effectiveness of provision for your child by reviewing your child’s academic progress and attainment:

We will also review your child’s:

Review points including gaining student voice, parent voice, updates from key staff who work with your child and may involve updates from external agencies.  If your child has an IEP, we will meet with you three times a year.  If your child has an EHCP, we will hold an annual review.

• We know that you’re the expert when it comes to understanding your child.  We ensure that you can provide insight into what you think would work best for your child.
• All students receive Learning Cycle data at least twice a year which will inform you of the progress your child is making in each lesson. 
• You will be able to access Class Charts which provides you with a live feed of your child’s attendance and investment in learning.  You can contact staff directly through Class Charts. 
• If your child is on the SEND register, we will meet with you three times a year, at least, to review the progress your child has made towards the desired outcomes agreed on your child’s Individual Education Plan.  Two of these meetings will be with your child’s key worker and one meeting will be with your child’s teachers at Parents Evening.  

The level of involvement will depend on your child’s age.  We recognise that no two students are the same, so we will decide on a case-by-case basis, with your input.

We may seek your child’s views by asking them to:

• Attend meetings to discuss their progress and outcomes
• Prepare a presentation, written statement, video, drawing, etc.
• Discuss their views with a member of staff who can act as a representative during the meeting
• Complete a survey

If you have questions about SEND, or are struggling to cope, please get in touch to let us know. The best person to contact is your child’s Student Welfare Manager or Student Achievement Leader, as they know your child best. We want to support you, your child and your family.

To see what support is available to you locally, have a look at Doncaster’s local offer: https://www.doncaster.gov.uk/services/schools/local-offer-specialist-education-support-services

Our local special educational needs and disabilities information advice and support services organisation is Doncaster SENDIAS: https://www.doncaster.gov.uk/services/schools/sendias

National charities that offer information and support to families of children with SEND are:

• IPSEA: https://www.ipsea.org.uk/
• SEND family support: https://sendfs.co.uk/
• NSPCC: https://www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/support-for-parents/supporting-children-special-educational-needs-disabilities/
• Family Action: https://www.family-action.org.uk/what-we-do/children-families/send/
• Special Needs Jungle: https://www.specialneedsjungle.com/

Please see the Academy’s Admission information here: STWA Student Admissions

We welcome young people with SEND Support to apply for an Academy place via our normal admission process. The admission team consults with the SEND team with regards to every admission through the Vulnerable Learners Network and attends admission meetings for students with SEND. 

If a young person has complex needs, we consider admissions on a case by case basis (through an Education Health and Care plan consultation). For more information on this, please contact our SENDCo.

Please see our Accessibility Plan regarding information about how we support young people with disabilities and the steps that we have taken to prevent disabled students from being treated less favourably than other students.

The purpose of the plan is to:

• Increase the extent to which students with disabilities can participate in our curriculum.
• Improve the physical environment of the academy to enable students with disabilities to take better advantage of the education, benefits, facilities and services provided
• Improve the availability of accessible information to students with disabilities.

The Academy is funded according to the national framework. The national threshold is approximately £10k per year made up of an element for core quality first teaching for every your person and up to £6,000 for effective additional support for young people with special educational needs. It is not the case that every young person identified as having SEND has £6,000 that must be spent on them individually.

For more information regarding Academy funding and the national framework please visit: Doncaster SEND Service

The Academy will cover up to £6,000 of any necessary costs for:

• Staff training and upskilling
• Overall SEND department facilities
• Overall SEND Department Staffing
• Extra equipment or facilities
• Thrive and Exceed provisions
• SEND Administration
• SEND Department Extra Curricular Clubs and experiences
• Teaching assistant hours above statutory
• Further training for our staff
• External specialist expertise
• SEND Parent Partnership

If funding is needed beyond this, we will seek it from Doncaster Local Authority.

Transitions include:

• moving from one activity to the next within a lesson

• moving from lesson to lesson

• changing from structured to unstructured times

• preparing for weekends, the start of holidays and beginning of term

• changes of staff - permanent and temporary

• special events at the Academy

• life events

Procedures are in place for ensuring smooth progression within and between settings. At Y6, transition support includes:

• Bridging Project - 8-week transition programme for Vulnerable Learners

• Attending primary review meetings

• Primary day visits including meeting with key staff, meeting parents/carers, delivering STWA oracy lesson, student voice, nurture group work

• Transition days

• Parent/carer transition evening

At Y9, all students with SEND are interviewed by the SENDCo and Assistant SENDCo to ensure their options are appropriate.

 At Y11, all students are access a careers interview and post-16 interview with senior leaders to secure their post-16 provision.

The Designated Teacher, Student Welfare Manager and Student Achievement Leader will ensure that all teachers understand how a looked-after or previously looked-after student’s circumstances and their SEND might interact, and what the implications are for teaching and learning.

Young people who are looked-after or previously looked-after will be supported much in the same way as any other young person who has SEND.

However, looked-after students will also have a personal education plan (PEP). We will make sure that the PEP and any SEND support plans or EHC plans are consistent and complement one another. 

The mental health and wellbeing of our students is of paramount importance to us, and we do everything we can to help.

At Sir Thomas Wharton Academy, each year group receives support and guidance from their Student Welfare Manager and Student Achievement Leader. The year teams oversee the progress your child makes in lesson, their attendance, investment in learning and wellbeing.

The Academy’s Senior Mental Health Lead, Miss Dixon, oversees the offer that students receive, and all students raised as a concern or who are receiving support are monitored in weekly pastoral meetings  and in our fortnightly Vulnerable Learner’s Network. 

Our support for mental health and emotional and social development are a key part of our universal, targeted and specialist provisions.