1. What kinds of special educational needs do we provide for in our academy?

At Co-op Academy Priesthorpe we are firmly committed to helping all students succeed and achieve excellent outcomes whilst ensuring that they have a positive and fulfilling experience at the Academy. Every student is valued and treated as an individual taking into account their personal learning style or additional learning needs. At the Academy we have many students who may have a ‘Special Educational Need and/or Disability’ (SEND). This may mean that they require additional help and support to other students in order to enable them to achieve and to be a fully integrated member of the Academy community. All students with SEND are accommodated in line with the Equality Act 2010 and provision is available for all 4 areas of need outlined in the 2014 SEND code of practice.

The Academy supports all students with special educational needs or disabilities which may include one or more of the following needs:

• Cognition and learning
• Communication and interaction (this includes students with autism)
• Social, mental and emotional health
• Sensory and or physical

We are currently catering for students with a wide range of needs including autistic spectrum disorders (ASD), dyslexia, attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), Global developmental delay, literacy and numeracy difficulties, visual impairment, hearing impairment, cognitive difficulties and speech and language delay.

Last academic year 204 students were on the SEND register (a list of students who need additional and specific support with their learning, which is above that which can be offered by good quality teaching and differentiation) which was 20% of the Academy’s population. Students are only put on the register if their needs require something different or additional to the quality teaching taking place in the classroom. The register is reviewed during the year and students may be added or taken off if their needs can be met with the universal provision that exists for all students. We had 47 students with EHCPs (Education, Health and Care Plans) in 2023-2024 and all EHCPs are reviewed at least annually, in line with the Code of Practice.

2. How do we know if a child needs extra help?

We make visits to the childrens’ primary settings in Year 6 to gather information about the students’ learning needs from class teachers and Primary SENDCOs. We hold transition days for all the Y6 children due to come to Co-op Academy Priesthorpe. On those days the children have a chance to experience typical lessons and to take part in team building activities. All students take an online reading comprehension test which acts as a baseline measure, which together with their SATs results enables the teachers to match their work more precisely to individual needs whether the student has SEND or not. The assessments help to determine which students will benefit from literacy interventions.

Where parents have concerns about their child’s learning and think that there may be an unidentified SEND reason for this, they can contact the SEND Leader to ask for this to be looked into.

At any point teachers can seek advice from the SEND Leader and SEND team if they have any concerns about a child they think may have SEN.

The progress of all students toward their targets is checked by Faculty Leaders, Subject Leaders, Year Managers, Key Stage Leaders, Senior Leaders, and the SEND Leader at regular assessment points and this may lead to some being identified as needing additional help. Teachers seek advice from the SEND Leader and wider SEND team staff throughout the year. Where there are particular concerns with a student’s progress, a parent may be asked for consent for an Educational Psychologist, Speech and Language Therapist, STARS (the Leeds autism support service) or the SENIT team (The Leeds complex needs assessment and advisory team) to carry out an assessment in order to look more deeply into the reasons for the student’s difficulties.

Parents are kept informed of the results of specialist assessments and of any particular intervention that may be offered.

3. Who to speak to at the Academy if a parent/carer thinks their child might have special educational needs

In the first instance, parents/carers should discuss their concerns with their child’s teacher, coach or contact the SEND Leader directly by phone, letter or email. We pride ourselves in building positive relationships with parents/carers and are transparent with the support we offer.

The SEND Leader is also present at all parent’s evenings and open days in order to discuss SEND concerns.

The Academy’s support is overseen by the SEND Leader, Mr Randell, supported by a team of 2 SEND HLTAs and 18 Progress Assistants and is coordinated from the Oasis block of the academy. The Academy has a partnership with the West SILC (Specialist Inclusion Learning Centre) and hosts 30 students and 10 staff within this block, working in Partnership with Priesthorpe students and staff.

Following consultations with parents/ carers and the young person, the SEND Leader will gather further evidence from staff supporting the child to ensure appropriate provisions and support is put in place.

Where there are more serious concerns around a child’s progress, a detailed assessment of need may take place to gain a full understanding of particular strengths and weaknesses. This may involve referrals to external agencies including: Educational Psychologists, specialist teachers, speech and language therapists, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) or through the SENIT team. Where external referrals are made, prior consent will be requested from parents.

It is important to note that slow progress and low attainment; or persistent, disruptive or withdrawn behaviours do not necessarily mean that your child has SEND. However, it may be an indicator of a range of learning difficulties or disabilities.

• 4. How we consult with young people with special educational needs and involve them in their education

All students with statements or Education Health Care (EHC) Plans are involved in agreeing their desired outcomes and in planning the provision to meet those outcomes. In any meeting to discuss a child’s progress or behaviour the child is invited to attend so their voice can be heard. The SEND Team gathers the views of students as they compile the Pupil Passports. An example passport can be seen at the bottom of this report.

The SEND Leader and SEND team regularly speak to SEND pupils to ascertain the impact of interventions and to review their experiences of education at Co-op Academy Priesthorpe. This allows us to ensure that our support is working for children and gives them opportunities to raise their views and have an influence on how they are supported.

5. How we help parents/carers to support their children’s learning

There is an open line of communication between the Academy and parents, if we have concerns regarding a child before adding them to the SEND register we would first arrange a meeting with parents/Carers to discuss our concerns and the way forward. A child will only be added to the SEND register with parental knowledge and permission.

We meet regularly with parents of children on the SEND register to discuss progress, share information and offer advice.

Parents/carers can get advice and support in filling in paperwork or other matters relating to SEND from the SEND Leader. They can access this by emailing Mr Randell or speaking to their child’s Year Manager or Coach.

In some cases we will refer to Pudsey Cluster Services (who are based on the school site) for assessments, family support or counselling.

6. How we know what progress your children are making and how we keep you and them informed

All the students have individual targets for each subject and they are regularly assessed to see if they are working on, below or above this target.

If a student receives a particular intervention outside the class, then baseline (start) and exit (end) data are used to judge progress and the impact of the intervention such as an improvement in reading age or decrease in behaviour codes.

All parents/carers receive two flight path reports (A report showing a students current level and whether they are above, on or below target) per year indicating current levels and target levels. Throughout the academic year, there are also various opportunities for parents/carers to discuss their child’s progress. These may be through meetings with coaches and/or teachers..

For pupils with EHCPs they will have an annual review in which we will discuss and review the provisions being made for them. The SEND Leader is present at all parent’s evenings and events for parents and carers to raise queries, concerns or discuss provisions with. Also, some of our SEND pupils have a named key worker who communicates regularly with parents and carers regarding progress and support.

The communication link between the Academy and home is paramount to our students’ success. The Academy prides itself in having an open door policy and encourages regular contact from parents/carers. The initial point of contact is a child’s coach, Year Manager or subject teacher, depending on the query. Parents/carers are expected to check their child’s Arbor account on a regular basis to monitor their progress through house points and codes.

In addition, if any parent/carer of a child on the SEND register desires further information or has questions about their child’s progress they should contact the SEND Leader.

• 7. How we have supported young people with SEND and adapted teaching to best support them

Every student with SEND is treated as an individual and has a unique set of needs. Therefore our provision is tailored to give each student specific personalised support. All teachers are informed of the students’ needs and for many students with SEND the teachers’ quality teaching, modification of tasks (differentiation where the work is matched to the students’ abilities) and awareness of individual issues such as weak literacy skills or difficulty in processing multi-step instructions is sufficient to allow the student to thrive in their lessons.

All the teachers are responsible for the progress of all the children in their lessons. They provide high quality learning experiences and take account of individual needs. All staff in the Academy support the children to become independent learners by building up their resilience, sense of responsibility and resourcefulness.

Students not making the expected progress are given additional support from the class teacher. If despite the teacher’s differentiation and additional support the student is still not making expected progress then there will be further investigation from the Head of Faculty or Key Stage Leader to assess what the barriers to learning are. The student may then be given an intervention to address a particular need. In the rare cases where a student with SEND is not making the expected progress in a number of subjects the SEND Leader will investigate and additional support from the SEND Team will be offered.

Some students have had support from a Progress Assistant in many of their lessons. These Progress Assistants support the teacher to differentiate learning and prompt and support pupils to access the learning. They work extensively to develop students’ independence and assist them to develop strategies to overcome their difficulties.

Some of our students with more severe needs have been taught in the partnership classes alongside pupils from the West SILC. These classes have between 7 and 14 students in them and are taught by a specialist teacher supported by two Progress Assistants (one from Coop Academy Priesthorpe and one from the West SILC). In 2023-2024 there were 68 students within the partnership provision.

Alongside the in class support we have also run a number of groups for small numbers of students at a time. These have included a puberty group for students with ASD; literacy intervention groups; Speech and Language support groups; Dyslexia support groups; Autism support groups; and numeracy support groups.

Some students have had a one to one mentor who they see once a week for specific intervention; and others have had weekly guidance and support from our Emotional Wellbeing Officer.

We have accessed support from Speech and Language Therapists, Counsellors, a Dyslexia specialist teacher and the complex needs service for a number of students and put their advice and actions into practice.

We are committed to ensuring that all students receive the support that they need and are able to succeed in their learning and as such our support is flexible and changes regularly to meet the changing needs of our pupils.

8. How have decisions been made to adapt the curriculum or change the learning environment to best meet your children’s needs?

Whenever the Academy receives specialist advice from external agencies, or needs are identified from an Education Health Care Plan; advice from previous settings; or in communication with parents/carers, we do our best to make the recommended adaptations. Examples of this include:

• students using laptops in lessons due to difficulties with handwriting;
• students leaving lessons 3 minutes early to avoid the business of corridors;
• students using coloured paper and overlays due to visual stress or Irlens;
• students being entered for Entry Level and ASDAN qualifications rather than GCSEs where they are unable to access mainstream qualifications.

Students who the Academy believe require additional access arrangements for examinations are assessed to check their eligibility. This year students were eligible for extra time, readers, scribes, prompts, bilingual dictionaries, rest breaks, laptops and quiet rooms as required. In total there were 32 students eligible for adjustments in the 2023-24 examinations.

9. How are staff in the Academy supported to work with young people with special educational needs and what training do they receive?

All staff have been made aware of the needs of all SEND pupils and given guidance on how to support them. Teachers regularly seek advice and support from the SEND Leader and SEND team.

Regular SEND training has taken place in staff INSET sessions to ensure all teaching staff are fully aware of a range of SEND needs and given strategies to support learning and progress across the curriculum. For example the SEND team have created 1 page ‘SEND in a Nutshell’ guides to 16 of our most common areas of need which have been shared with all Academy staff.

The SEND Team have regular training on a range of needs and are equipped to support all pupils in the Academy, whatever their needs.

This academic year we have had whole staff training delivered by the SEND Leader team around autism and the SEND team have shared resources and videos with teaching staff to help them develop their knowledge and expertise.

10. When we have needed expert advice and support how have we secured that and what services have they provided?

The Academy regularly works with a range of outside agencies to secure their services. This year these have included:

Special Education Support and Inclusion Services including VI and HI specialist support

Educational Psychologists,

CAMHS support for students experiencing mental health difficulties.

Speech and Language therapists to assess, advise and support students with language, speech and/or social difficulties.

SENIT team therapists to assess, advise and support students with complex learning needs.

STARS to support students on the autistic spectrum and advise the academy as to what reasonable adjustments may be required.

Occupational therapy for support on physical adaptations for students

Health care professionals for advice, training and support on medical needs.

Pudsey Cluster for family support and additional support for vulnerable pupils.

Impact North for counselling and support with mental health and wellbeing.

Referrals to these services are made by the SEND Leader and HLTAs as directed by the SEND Leader. Consent from parents will always be obtained prior to a referral to any of these services.

11. How we check how well we are doing in meeting the needs of students with SEND

The trust has commissioned an annual external review of SEND within each academy from SEND experts. Our most recent review took place in March 2023 and looked at the progress made since the previous review in January 2022.

The SEND Leader attends ALT meetings half-termly to update on SEND and to be scrutinised by the leadership team. The SEND Link governor also makes half termly visits to undertake joint observations and ensure that there is robust scrutiny of provision from the governors.

At each data point, and after summer exams, the data is analysed to ascertain the impact of our provision for our students with SEND. In 23-24 the academy’s external examination results were significantly above both local and national figures again (this has been the case for the past 6 years).

12. How we ensure that your children are included in activities outside the classroom, including physical activities and Academy trips

The academy ensures that no child misses out because of their SEND needs. All our SEND pupils are given the opportunity to attend after academy provision and trips. We have an extensive extra-curricular program which is inclusive to all pupils.

All staff are required to complete a relevant risk assessment before any trip takes place, if a pupil with SEND wants to attend the trip, discussions with the class teacher/trip leader and SEND Leader will commence and a thorough and detailed assessment of need will take place including costing and staffing. For example, this year we have sent key workers with some pupils on trips to enable them to access the experiences.

Where necessary a member of the SEND Team will support pupil(s) on extracurricular activities to ensure inclusivity.

13. How we provide for your children’s overall wellbeing

Our student’s wellbeing is extremely important to us and we ensure this is something that is monitored carefully.

All medication is stored with one designated person in the Academy reception. Where necessary medical care plans are created and distributed to all staff. All staff are made aware of the relevant procedures that will be followed. Pupils will be given a relevant pass to have access to their medication.

If there was a medical emergency within the academy we would follow the Academy’s first aid procedures. On the child’s return to academy we would conduct a full risk assessment ensuring all relevant staff are kept up to date with any changes. It is vitally important that we have the correct contact details for all parents/carers should there be a medical emergency and these contact details are checked regularly.

We have first aiders who are readily available at all times during the Academy day. We also have a number of specialist trained staff to deal with specific health needs of students. 

When a pupil arrives at the Academy and we do not feel we have the necessary training, we will seek advice and guidance from the relevant professionals and arrange the relevant training for the appropriate named staff.

Where a student requires emotional or mental health support that is beyond what we can offer, we will refer through Cluster Services, Mindmate or CAMHs for counselling and guidance.

14. How accessible is our academy both indoors and outdoors for young people with special educational needs and/or disabilities (our accessibility plan/policy)?

The Academy is a large building with 4 different floors in places. The academy grounds and ground floor (which is where the vast majority of lessons take place) are fully accessible.

 All students are required to move around the building however if a student has mobility difficulties we ensure the necessary adaptations are put in to place (such as moving all lessons to the ground floor) to ensure that they can access all lessons just as all other students.

When a pupil arrives at the Academy there is adequate disabled parking which is situated directly in front of the Academy which makes it easy accessible.

If a pupil is ambulant or has complex disabilities and they find it difficult to negotiate the doors they will be provided with a buddy or member of staff to help them negotiate themselves around the building and given additional time for movement between lessons.

The Academy has a specially adapted room which is used for physiotherapy sessions and to provide oxygen for a student with specific health needs.

There are disabled toilets located around the Academy.

Some of our SEND pupils, whose main area of need is cognitive and learning, are given visual timetables which use pictures and colours to show them what lessons and rooms they are in. The Academy is also divided into 6 very straightforward and colour coded areas with the relevant colour on each door to assist pupils to find their way around.

Where pupils or parents require an interpreter the academy is committed to provide one.

15. What are our admission arrangements for young people who are disabled and how do we prepare and support your children when joining the academy and moving on from the academy?

The Academy follows the Leeds admissions policy and protocols. Please refer to website http://www.leeds.gov.uk/residents/Pages/Admissions-Secondary-Academy.aspx

If a parent/carer of a child with SEN /disabilities chooses Co-op Academy Priesthorpe then the SEND Leader will meet with the Primary SENCO to discuss the child’s needs, their support at Primary settings and the support they will need with transition and once at Co-op Academy Priesthorpe. If parents wish to meet with the SEND Leader to discuss arrangements then this will be arranged. The SEND Leader will attend any EHCP/ISAR/PEP reviews between a child being allocated a place at the Academy and them starting. The Year Manager and Key Stage Leader will visit the child at their primary academy and there are two transition days and a parents’ evening to help make the transition as smooth as possible. If any parent/carer feels that an extra visit is needed these can be arranged by contacting the SEND Leader.

Where a parent/carer of a child with SEND makes an application for a mid-year transfer to the Academy the parent and child will meet with the SEND Leader and Year Manager to discuss the child’s needs, any previous support the child has received and how the Academy can support the child to realise their potential.

The Academy offers extra transition visits if any parent feels their child is particularly anxious and would benefit from more familiarisation with the academy setting.

In Year 10 all the students have a one week work experience. For students with SEND, the work placements are carefully chosen to ensure the student will cope and find it a rewarding experience. Extra visits are made so that the student can familiarise themselves with the work environment and know how to get there. In Years 9- 11 students with SEND have the opportunity to have extra meetings with our Careers Advisor to discuss the options open to them for the following years ahead. Students with statements/EHC plans have termly review meetings to discuss their aspirations and hopes for the future. The students are also supported with their college or apprenticeship applications.

 Where needed, students are supported in learning life skills such as handling money and using public transport.

The Academy passes on all relevant information, such as SEND assessments, details of support given, and exam access arrangements to the student’s next place of study or work.

16. Where can you find the Academy’s SEND policy and who can you contact for further information?

The Academy’s SEND policy is published on the academy website and can be found here.

For further information contact the SEND Leader:

Mr N. Randell (prie-send.leaders@coopacademies.co.uk)

17. What are our arrangements for handling complaints from parents of children with SEND about our provision?

If you have any worries or concerns, or you wish to make a complaint, then please contact the SEND Leader in the first instance. Often an early conversation can resolve concerns swiftly.

If the SEND Leader is unable to resolve the situation then the Academy’s complaints policy can be found on the Academy website.