Inclusion and SEND
Please see our policies and documents regarding inclusion and special educational needs and disabilities below:
Special Educational Needs and Disabilities
Mary Kirby is our Special Education Needs Co-ordinator (SENCO) and Assistant Headteacher responsible for Inclusion.
Mary's role is to make sure that students with Special Education Needs or Disabilities are identified and receive appropriate additional support to allow them to participate in school, and to regularly review this to ensure we continue to meet their needs as they move through the school in order for them to achieve. If you have any concerns you are welcome to contact Mary either by calling reception on 0115 916 8900, or by emailing her directly at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Information Report | 2023-2024
At Bramcote College, we take pride in the inclusive and supportive nature of our learning environment. Each student is challenged and supported to achieve their personal best; different gifts are recognised and diversity is celebrated.
If you have any concerns or queries regarding your child’s progress or well-being, then please speak to your child’s tutor or the school Assistant Head Teacher/ SENCo Mary Kirby.
1. What kinds of special educational needs does the school make provision for?
Bramcote College makes provision for all types of SEND.
The four broad ‘areas of need’ are:
*Communication and Interaction
*Cognition and Learning
*Social, Emotional and Mental Health Difficulties
*Sensory and Physical Needs
(It is worth being mindful that the school site is on several different levels it might make it difficult to make provision for pupils with significant physical disabilities)
At Bramcote College (14.3) % of all students are known to have Special Educational Needs or specific learning difficulties.
7 students have an EHCP
(10.6%) of all those students are receiving SEND support at K.
2. How does the school know if my child needs extra help and what should I do if I think my child may have special educational needs?
At different times in their school life, a child or young person may have a special educational need. The Code of Practice 2015 defines SEN as follows:
A child or young person has SEN if they have a learning difficulty or a disability which calls for special education provision to be made for him or her. A child of compulsory school age or a young person has a learning difficulty if he or she:
a) has a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others the same age, or
b) has a disability which prevents or hinders him or her from making use of facilities of a kind generally provided for others of the same age in mainstream schools or mainstream post-16s institutions.
Bramcote College welcomes parents/ carers to contact Mrs Kirby (SENDCo) or their child’s Head of Year or Tutor if they feel their child has a special educational needs and/ or disability. Members of teaching staff have received training in their identification of SEND and know to inform the appropriate member of staff where there are concerns.
To contact the SENDCo please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Once a concern has been raised Mrs Kirby will then collect information from your child’s teachers and any external services/ professionals who may have been previously involved in supporting them. This may involve analysis of their work and/ or lesson observations. Based on the information obtained, there may be no further actions required or light touch support strategies agreed. Equally, we may screen for learning difficulties or request to raise the child at the termly SEND meeting with our family of schools called Springboard.
Information is passed on from our feeder primary schools and we have termly meetings with all the SENDCo’s in the family.
Your child will complete a National Reading and Numeracy test as part of their induction; results analysis may lead them to receive literacy support during Year 7 and possibly Year 8 to reduce the barriers to learning in the future.
Bramcote College strives to communicate effectively with parents/carers, students and staff throughout these initial stages and thereafter. We believe it is of utmost importance that the voices of the parents/carers and students are heard.
3. How will the curriculum be matched to my child’s/ young person’s needs?
If a child is identified as having an SEN need, we will provide support that is additional to or different from the learning arrangements normally provided as part of the high quality, individualised teaching intended to overcome the barrier to their learning.
When providing support that is “additional to” or “different from” we engage in a four-stage process:
Assess – this involves taking into consideration all the information from discussions with parents/carers, the child, the class teacher and assessments.
Plan – this stage identifies the barriers for learning, intended outcomes, and details what additional support will be provided to help overcome the barriers. Decisions will be recorded on an SEN Support plan and will form the basis for review meetings.
Do - providing the support – extra assistance for learning – as set out in the plan.
Review – measuring the impact of support provided, and consider whether changes to that support need to be made. All of those involved – learner, parents or carers, teacher, SENCO and outside agencies contribute to this review. This stage then informs the next cycle.
Staff value pupils of different abilities and support inclusion. There is flexibility in approach in order to find the best provision for each child.
4. How will both you and I know how my child/young person is doing and how will you help me to support my child’s/ young person’s learning?
In addition to the normal reporting arrangements, there will be the opportunity for parents to meet termly with the SENDCo and/or key worker to review short term targets and discuss the progress their child has made.
Where further communication might be helpful this will be agreed individually with the SENDCo and/or keyworker.
5. How will school staff support my child?
Each pupil with identified learning needs will have a pupil profile/ passport which highlights their barriers to learning and strategies for support. All teachers will be expected to follow the guidance and advice suggested by the SENDCo and other professionals on this document.
Additional support is considered on an individual basis in response to every individual student’s needs.
6. How is the decision made about what type and how much support my child will receive?
Support at Bramcote is based on need not diagnosis. The majority of pupils in school will be able to have their SEN needs met through Quality First Teaching and suitable scaffolds.
Children’s reading age and thus access to the curriculum are checked termly via the Accelerated Reader programme and then interventions are targeted moving forwards.
Pupils with more complex needs may need additional funding which will be moderated through the family of schools Springboard process. Once funding has been agreed it will be up to the SEN team to consider the best reasonable adjustments to support the pupil, whilst also maintaining a degree of independence.
7. How will my child/ young person be included in activities outside the classroom, including school trips?
We endeavour to take all pupils on school trips. The only exception to this is if we feel pupil’s behaviour may put themselves or others in danger, in which case individual risk assessments will be completed and a plan made. Pupils with SEN have taken part in school productions, D of E, sporting competitions and clubs and gone on a range of trips.
8. What support will there be for my child/ young person’s overall well-being?
The pastoral team of tutors and Heads of Year are responsible for the overall well-being of all pupils. If there are issues of well-being directly linked to a pupils SEN then the pastoral team will seek the advice of the SENDCo and keyworker and outside agencies where appropriate.
9. What specialist services and expertise are available at or accessed by the school?
As a school we meet termly through Springboard with our family of schools to discuss the needs of pupils and identify possible supports.
We have links with a wide range of outside agencies who offer specific guidance and support to our school and families.
- Educational Psychologist
- Therapists including those for Speech and Language, Occupational and Physiotherapy and the Physical Disabilities Service
- Local Authority Advisors including those for; Cognition and Learning, Communication and Interaction and Sensory needs including Hearing impairments and visual impairments
- Health Services including School Nurse and Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS)
- Social Care
- Outreach services including voluntary organisations
- Mental Health Support team
We seek support from outside agencies for staff and families whenever it is needed.
Staff training is ongoing to ensure the school is kept up to date with any changes and priorities. The training needs within our school reflect the needs of the staff and children we work with.
10. What training have the staff supporting pupils with SEND had?
Training of specific SEND happens regularly in school and is reviewed to meet individual need.
Training will sometimes take the form of whole school training and also occur with small teams who are working with individuals and whom need a more targeted approach.
In 2022-23 the school has received in house training on:
- Cognitive Load – June 2022
- Scaffolding and Quality First Teaching at BC (September 2022)
- The role of the TA (September 2022)
- Supporting behaviours that challenge (Jan 2023)
- Supporting HI needs – specific training (Jan 2023)
- Trauma informed training March 2023
- Adaptive teaching Sep 2023
- Effective TA supports in the classroom
All teachers and TA’s CPD is reviewed regularly and training is individually planned to support the cohort of SEND pupils at Bramcote.
11. How will equipment and facilities to support pupils with SEN be secured? How accessible is the school?
Most equipment is bought through the SEN department budget e.g. IT programmes, coloured overlays and exercise books. If more expensive equipment is required it may come through health or local authority funding.
Whilst the school is not suitable for a pupil with significant mobility difficulties we do have disabled access at the front of the school. There are meeting rooms close to both entrances and the school is happy to make any other reasonable adjustments for anybody with physical disabilities wherever possible.
12. What are the arrangements for consulting young people with SEN and involving them in their education?
Each pupil at school SEN support will produce a one-page profile which give staff information about their likes, dislikes aspirations and how to help them move forward. They are also encouraged to be at review meetings.
13. What do I do if I have a concern or complaint about the SEN provision made by the school?
In the first instance please contact Mary Kirby (Assistant Head/ SENCO) at Bramcote (see question 2 for contact details).
Should a parent feel that his/her complaint has not been dealt with satisfactorily by the SENCO he/she has the right to refer the matter to the Headteacher. Should a parent feel that his/her complaint has not been dealt with satisfactorily by the Headteacher he/she has the right to refer the matter to the Governing Body by contacting the Chair of Governors through the school.
14. Who can I contact for further information?
Members of staff you may wish to contact:
- Your child’s Form Tutor
- Your child’s Head of Year
- Mrs Mary Kirby: Assistant Head SENCO
- Mrs Jenny Read: Assistant Head (Curriculum and Careers)
- Mrs Heidi Gale: Headteacher
15. How will the school prepare and support my child to join the school, transfer to a new school or the next stage of education and life?
All Yr 6 pupils from our feeder primaries will be invited for transition visits and pupils with SEND will be offered additional visits and individual meetings arranged to discuss the specifics needed to support the change.
The SENCO liaise with the school’s Careers advisor to support pupils with SEND to move into post 16 education. She also liaises with local schools and colleges to pass on relevant information to post 16 providers e.g. areas of need and access arrangements.
16. Where can I access further information?
The school’s SEND policy.
