SENCo: Mr N Jackson
Email

Mission

Our mission in Learning Support is to give every young person the opportunity to achieve success at their level. For some, this will mean high academic performance; for others it will be demonstrated by their progression into adulthood and their ability to live fulfilled, independent lives as part of the community.

Support

We are a fully inclusive school and the majority of our support is delivered through informed, high-quality teaching as part of the mainstream curriculum. Teachers are kept informed about the students in their classes who may need extra support through the use of Pupil Profiles, one of which exists for every student on the SEN Register. Each profile lists what the student has difficulty with, along with a list of teaching strategies to address these difficulties. In addition, every day a different Student Snapshot is sent out to all staff. Introduced with the aim of keeping pupils' needs front-and-centre in teachers' minds, the snapshots are highly visual to increase impact and aid memory.

Most students thrive in this system and no further intervention is required. There are some, however, who require a more comprehensive package of support. The 3 levels of support available at Poynton High School, Universal, Targeted and Specialist, are outlined below.

Universal support refers to the provision that every student can expect. As outlined above, teachers are kept informed of any pertinent information about certain students through the use of Pupil Profiles. This knowledge enables teachers to adapt their lessons where required so that the vast majority of students can access the broad, academic curriculum on offer, and prosper without the need for further support.

Targeted support involves additional measures, beyond the classroom, on top of the universal provision. Every student on the SEN Register is assigned an Academic Mentor. They will meet with their mentor, one-to-one, once a fortnight, and set targets for the upcoming period. At the following meeting, progress towards the targets will be reviewed, whereupon support will be given if required. The nature of the targets will vary from student to student, dependent on their needs, but the focus will be on academic progress. The mentor will coach the student to overcome their barriers to learning and may contact individual teachers to extend the support. As well as in-class strategies relating to the standard of a student's work, targets could have an organisational focus, such as completing a home learning task, or they may have a behavioural bias, linked to reducing the number of C-points received during the week, for example. This year, we have also introduced a designated SEMH team within the department to support students with their social, emotional and mental health needs.

Specialist support is the highest level of intervention. As with those receiving Targeted support, a student receiving Specialist support will be assigned a mentor. At this level of support, the student will usually have regular contact with their mentor, as well as other members of the Learning Support Team, throughout the day. Students with this level of provision usually have an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) and may receive any of the following: one-to-one sessions, specialist literacy tuition, specialist numeracy intervention or emotional support. There is also support available from professionals outside the organisation.  For example, every Friday the Family Liaison Officer from Cheshire East Autism Team, Ryan Geoghegan, is based on-site.  As well as being able to signpost parents to other relevant agencies, where a young person has a diagnosis of Autism or is on the pathway for an Autism diagnosis, Ryan can support directly with behavioural techniques in the home and can help where a student is struggling to come into school.

Looking for more information?

Below you will find a link to the SEND Information Report, as well as some short guides to the most common difficulties faced by students at Poynton High School.

The SEND Information Report tells you everything you need to know about how we operate, both internally as a school, and externally as part of a wider network of organisations and services.

Each of the '5-Minute Guides' gives a little more insight into a common area of need at Poynton High School. As well as a brief explanation of the barriers to learning that a student might face, you will find the strategies that teachers at Poynton High School will adopt to remove or reduce these barriers.

For Cheshire East’s Information, Advice and Support service please see Home (cheshireeast.gov.uk)