Student Support and SEN

The Student Support Team at Great Marlow School has been developed to complement and strengthen existing systems in the school to enable each student to fulfil his or her potential.

The student support officers provide a robust snd comprehensive system for supporting students’ learning by developing strong links and relationships with parents, carers and services in the local community. Wherever possible the student support officers work to ensure better outcomes by creating bespoke interventions that create opportunities that lead to positive outcomes for every child.

Every Director of Learning has a student support officer dedicated to the welfare of that year group. Thus, parents, carers, students, form tutors, teachers, associate staff and leadership have a named, dedicated, specialist student support officer as a point of contact.

The student support officers use specialist programmes that challenge students, who need to modify their behaviour and deal with the root cause of the problem. Directors of Learning for each year group, together with form tutors, monitor the academic progress of students, keeping parents and carers informed regularly about their progress in relation to targets. The student support officer works side by side with the Director of Learning and all members of staff to ensure that “creating opportunity, releasing potential and achieving excellence” is achieved.

Punctuality, attendance and uniform are monitored carefully and the “Behaviour for Learning Policy” embedded firmly by all members of staff.

PASTORAL CARE

The care and development of the children are the concern of all members of staff. Each form tutor is responsible for providing pastoral support to each child in their form. In turn, form tutors receive support from the student support officer and the Director of Learning.

The Student Support team at Great Marlow School has been developed to complement and strengthen existing systems in the school. This is to enable each student to fulfil his or her potential.

The care and development of the children is the concern of all members of staff.  Each form tutor is responsible for providing pastoral support to each child in their form.  In turn, form tutors receive support from the support team and the Directors of Learning.

SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS

Great Marlow School is an inclusive school and has an excellent reputation for supporting students with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). The majority of support for students is within the class, as our role is to prepare students to become independent learners. Students are occasionally withdrawn in individual or small group sessions to provide targeted support for literacy, numeracy, social skills or to work with external agencies. The school follows the guidelines set out in the DfES Code of Practice to identify, assess and support students with special educational needs. We work closely with the family and outside agencies in order to remove barriers to learning.

The school has a Director of Learning: Inclusion and a Head of Learning Support who are responsible for the strategic development of the SEND policy and provision in the school, in order to raise the achievement of children with SEND. There is also a governor with designated responsibility for SEND. The Special Educational Needs Policy is available via the website, go to  About Us –> Policies & Documents page.

• Click here to view the SEN Information Report

THE LEARNING SUPPORT DEPARTMENT 

The Learning Support Department helps students with Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) to access the curriculum by removing barriers to their learning.

The learning support team relies on strong links with the family in order to ensure suitable tailored support is provided to meet the needs of each child.

There is in place a strong SENCO team: the Head of Learning Support has a team of learning support assistants (LSAs), who primarily assist students in lessons, in order to provide an inclusive environment in which children can learn to the best of their ability.

Students are occasionally withdrawn in individual or small group sessions to provide targeted support for literacy, numeracy, social skills or to work with external agencies.

The school wholeheartedly embraces the need to develop students as independent learners so students with SEND also need to be able to make progress in and out of school independently. Therefore, we encourage students with SEND to become less reliant on the LSA to help them complete work as they progress through the key stages. The LSA team aim to give guidance and support on how to successfully complete tasks, to help learners be ready for the demands of the work place.

It is also important to note that SEND is not fixed in its identification of students. Many students develop strategies to overcome barriers to learning and do not need ongoing SEND support. Early interventions may help students fill the gaps preventing them from making progress. Additionally, other students who had not previously displayed any SEND needs may develop difficulties in secondary school. It is for these reasons that the SEND register is regularly reviewed and updated.

Examples of the support provided by the Learning Support Department are listed below:

• In class support with a LSA.
• Group and individual work for literacy and numeracy.
• Social skills groups.
• Access arrangements for external examinations.
• Visual timetables.
• Social stories.

Teachers are responsible for the differentiation of materials and for the deployment of LSAs within the classroom. Staff are trained regularly about issues that students with SEND face and given strategies to remove barriers to learning.

GMS provides a safe and secure environment in which children are able to make excellent progress; good communication is ensured between all individuals and groups linked to the children we support.