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Curriculum
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The Centre |
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| Special Educational Needs
at Comberton Village College |
| The Centre currently has a teaching staff of 4,
all of whom also teach in mainstream areas as well as in Special
Educational Needs. |
Mrs L Davies, SENCo
Mrs L Stewart, Assistant Senco
Mrs I Owen, Assistant Principal (Line Manager for SEN)
Miss R Lewis, Head of Work Related Learning |
| Currently there are 20 statemented pupils in the
school and a team of 24 Teaching Assistants working part or
full time to support their allocated hours. In addition 3 pupils
receive medical hours. In total nearly 500 hours of Teaching
Assistant time are delegated by the Centre team to support pupils
with Special Educational needs at the College. We currently
have approximately 250 pupils on the Special Needs register.
The Centre is supported administratively by Ms D Bach, who is
also a member of the Teaching Assistant team and therefore well
placed to meet the department's needs. |
| The Centre also has responsibility for Child Protection
issues within the college. There are four trained members of
the Child Protection team - the first three Centre teaching
staff as listed above and Mrs A Lyons, Head of Student Guidance.
The team are responsible for providing Child Protection training
to the college staff. Child Protection is line managed by Mrs
I Owen. Mrs L Davies is the designated person for Child Protection
in the college and any concerns of this nature should initially
be raised with her. |
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The department is responsible for writing and updating the
four school policies on Special
Educational Needs, Child
Protection, English
as an Additional Language and Pupils
Away from School on Medical Grounds.
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| Responses to Special Educational needs |
| We firmly believe in a whole school approach to
meeting Special Needs at Comberton. Every department has a representative
who sits on the 'Links' group. This group meets once each half
term with the Centre teaching staff to exchange information
about pupils of concern, to share good practise and to discuss
issues of national and local interest. The department representatives
report back to their department team regularly and all departments
are encouraged to have SEN as a standing item on department
agendas. |
| In addition, mainstream staff plan together with
Teaching Assistants to achieve the very best support possible
for pupils. Each Teaching assistant/staff pairing will formally
meet once a term to discuss pupil needs, but will also work
as a team in each lesson. On the training day in April this
year a session on working together effectively was run by a
member of teaching staff and two Teaching Assistants and was
very well received by the staff attending. |
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| How does the Centre support pupils? |
| The majority of our support to pupils comes through
in class support from Teaching Assistants, as described above.
However we also have a wide range of support options available
above and beyond this which may be offered to pupils as appropriate
during their time with us, as decided by the SENCo. |
| The Centre offers a range of extra programmes
for pupils to meet varying individual needs. They are allocated
as a totally personalised programme for each pupil and change
according to pupil need and progression. |
| Currently we offer the following support programmes
to pupils |
 Breakfast
numeracy - to develop basic numeracy skills
Breakfast
literacy - to develop basic literacy skills
Sports
Skills - for pupils with motor difficulties
Spelling
Club - extra boost for weak spellers in years 7 and 8
Social
skills lunchtime clubs for year 7 and 8 - run by Centre teaching
staff
Individual
tuition in the Centre - from teaching staff or a teaching assistant
Small
group tuition in the centre - from teaching staff or a teaching
assistant
Touch
typing tuition - overseen by Mrs Davies
Organisation/Time
management
One
to one pupil support for emotional difficulties - from trained
Centre staff
One
to one anger management - from trained Centre staff
A
Lead Professional scheme for pupils with complex needs - one
member
the Centre team will take responsibility
for co-ordinating all aspects of the
pupil's care |
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| In addition we offer services in the
Centre run by outside agencies |
One
to one support from Mrs L Peglar, from Student Support
One
to one and family support from Mrs S Rose, the Youth and Family
guidance worker
One
to one support from Mrs P Howells from the Visual Impairment
service
Regular
visits to pupils from Mrs L Donnelly from the Hearing Impairment
service Assessment of pupils for exam
arrangements by the CAIST team
Support
from Occupational therapists and the Child Development Centre
Individual
careers advice and support from Charlotte Read, the Connexions
Intensive Support worker
Individual
music therapy sessions from Mrs K Nall from CIMA |
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| The changing role of the Teaching Assistant |
| We are very proud of our team of highly skilled
and committed Teaching Assistants, who are taking on an ever
wider range of duties as we aim to provide the best support
possible to each pupil. Therefore as well as in class support
they may also be involved in a range of the following: |
Supporting
individual students closely
Running
many of the support programmes listed above Differentiating
work
for use in mainstream classes
Taking
small groups out of mainstream classes as 'mini classes'
Mentoring
year 7 pupils in a new mentoring trial
Supporting
a particular year team
Supporting
the department administratively
Organising
cover within the department, so that pupils with specific needs
are supported whenever possible, even
when staff are absent
Running
the induction programme for new Teaching Assistants
Running
the highly successful Sports Skills group in collaboration with
a member of the PE department |
| Our TA team receive ongoing professional development,
which this year has included input from the Local Authority
Behaviour unit on managing teenagers, child protection training
and an inspirational session on 'Thinking outside the box' from
the deputy head of The Windmill special school. |
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| Where are we? |
| The Centre is based on the ground floor of the
English block and comprises two large teaching rooms, two small
tuition rooms and two offices. This sums up our physical space
- but as a department we like to feel that we are at work everywhere
within the college! |
| Beyond this we work closely with our feeder primary
schools, the Local Authority, local Special Schools and Sixth
Form colleges to provide a smooth and co-ordinated passage through
the school for any pupil with Special Educational Needs. |
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This page was last updated on: Tuesday 24 October, 2006 |
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