We are a busy mainstream school and of our children are expected to reach the standards for their age, through the use of targets.  A few our children do have special educational needs.  We have regard to the definition of Special Educational Needs and/or Disability as stated in the Government’s Code of Practice.  Children have a Special Educational Needs and/or Disability if they have a difficulty, which means they need additional support in school as they struggle more than their peers.  Although we do not have any specialist teachers in school on a daily basis, we do support our children well through a focus on good teaching and differentiation. This helps to ensure that children can take part within the mainstream mixed ability classes throughout the school.

Typically, the children with Special Educational Needs and/or Disability in our school have difficulties with reading and/or writing or social, emotional, or mental health difficulties.  A very small number of our children have sensory difficulties with sight or hearing.

There are four types of Special Educational Needs and Disabilities, decided by the Department for Education:

1. Communication and interaction (How you communication to others through language)

2. Cognition and learning (How you process and learn new ideas)

3. Social, mental and emotional health (How you cope with friendships and difficulties in life)

4. Sensory or physical (Difficulties you face with your eyes, ears, movement etc.)

If a child has Special Educational Needs and/or Disability, then their needs will fit into one or more of these categories.

We work closely with our teachers so they have a good understanding of the difficulties children with Special Educational Needs face.  Through this training, we also address the typical signs and characteristics of various additional needs.  Through our approach to assessment and reporting, the SEND Team (SENDCO and inclusion leads), works closely with teachers to monitor progress made by all children. 

Teachers will then seek advice from the SEND Team as soon as they have concerns.  The SEND Team will normally provide advice for the teacher, or will continue to gather information from all their teacher’s to give find out a whole picture of the child.  There is the opportunity for a few children to take part in additional activities and intervention programmes during registration. 

However, if the child is still not making an expected level of progress, the SEND Team may ask for advice or assessment from the AMAT specialist teachers.  The school will contact parent’s to express our concerns and hope to work closely with them to ensure that the most appropriate SEN support in put in place.  

All children with Special Educational Needs and/or Disability will be assessed the same way as their peers, which is explained in our Assessment policy.  We set individual targets for each child, to promote progress, based on their end of Key Stage 2 results. 

How your child performs against these targets, what they currently are achieving and their attitude towards their learning are reported to parents through a whole report once a year, a parent’s evening once a year and grade reports each term. 

We check how well we are supporting children to make progress through a number of ways.  We observe children in lessons to see how they are getting involved in their learning during lesson time, by looking at their exercise books and folders to see the standard of their work in class and at home, by listening to children in focus groups and by using questionnaires at parent’s evening. 

If you as a parent have any questions about the progress of your child throughout the year, you are more than welcome to contact the school either by email or telephone to speak to the Head of Lower school for children in Years 7-9 or Head of Upper school for children in years 10 or 11. 

We are a busy secondary school so we hold an annual review as the main progress check with parent’s during the year.  These meetings will be held by the SEND team, where we shall review your child’s progress; attendance; punctuality; behaviour; social and emotional well-being; and preparation for adult life. 

If you would like to meet more regularly or if you have a question during the year, please do not hesitate to contact your child’s Head of Year.  They will be happy to discuss your child and then can work with the SEND team on your behalf.

We agree with the Government that good teaching is the best way to support children with Special Educational Needs and/or Disability.  Lots of additional intervention and support cannot make up for this. 

We want all children to achieve their best, so we do not withdraw our children from lessons where possible.  All children are to attend the lessons that they have been timetabled for. 

Our teachers have the highest expectations for your child.  All teaching is based on building on what your child already knows, can do and can understand. The teachers will put in place different ways of teaching so that your child is fully involved in learning in their class. This may involve things like using more practical learning or additional writing frames. The teacher will also put in place specific strategies (which may be suggested by the SEND team or AMAT/external specialists) to allow your child to take part in the learning tasks. All children in school receive this.

Through a creative and well-developed training programme, our teachers have developed lots of ways to check the learning and progress of children.  Teachers will identify any gaps in understanding and or learning and if your child needs some additional help.

The Heads of Lower/Upper School will give you more information about what each year group is learning at the moment and how your child is being helped to make better progress. There is more information about the school curriculum on our website.  

The SENCo reports to the governors each year so they understand about the progress of children with Special Educational Needs and/or Disability; this report does not refer to individual children and confidentiality is maintained at all times.  One of the governors is responsible for overseeing support for children with Special Educational Needs and/or Disability and meets with SENCo. This ‘SEN link governor’ also reports to other governors in regular meetings to keep them all informed.

Our SEN link governor is Ms N Chowdhury and she can be contacted through the Headteacher’s PA.  

Park Hall is proud to welcome every disabled child who has been offered a place at our school via the Solihull Education Authority admissions board.

The school works hard to ensure that every disabled child joining the school has the same great opportunities and positive experiences as every other member of the class, subject of course to any health and safety considerations.

It must be noted that Park Hall is a large school.  Your child will be expected to access around 15 different classrooms each week.  Whilst it is possible for us to consider timetabling many of these lessons on a particular floor, there are certain facilities that are not accessible on lower levels.  In addition to this there are many specialist classrooms across the school that will result in your child having to walk long distances between lessons. The specialist nature of certain subjects means that the necessity to walk large distances between lessons is unavoidable.

Park Hall maintains a range of exciting extra-curricular activities that are ideal for both talented children wishing to maximise these talents and for those who simply wish to take part in an activity they enjoy.

• Extra-Curricular Sports
• Competitions, both regional and national
• School Club Links
• Charity Work
• Music
• Drama
• School Visits

The timetable for these activities is sent out at the beginning of each term. 

It is important to remember that we also want the same as parents, in making sure your child is happy and successful at school. In order to do this it is essential that we apply the same encouragement, rewards and sanctions which is consistent and well communicated.

Keeping in close contact is really important in making sure your child is happy. If any problems occur at school, at home or both, you should contact your child’s Head of Year, particularly in difficult circumstances. Nipping negative signs, however small, in the bud is best way to avoid problems growing.

Your child can only reach their best if they feel happy and safe at school.  We believe that all children have the right to education free from bullying.  We do not tolerate bullying because its effects can last a person’s whole lifetime and it is never justified. Further information can be found in our policy on ‘Anti-bullying’.  

Every school has a development plan that includes training needs for all staff to improve the teaching and learning of all children including those with Special Educational Needs and/or Disability.  This may include whole school training on Special Educational Needs and/or Disability issues or to support children in school with one particular need, such as autism, dyslexia, etc.  The purpose of whole staff training is to share knowledge, strategies, and experience, and ensure consistency of our school’s approach for children with a Special Educational Needs and/or Disability.  Teachers and support staff also attend training courses run by outside agencies that are relevant to the needs of specific children in their class.  The SENCO also works closely with specialists from external support services who may provide advice or direct support as appropriate.

If you would like to hear about current or past training undertaken by school staff, please speak to the SENCO.  

Our school has a duty to provide auxiliary aids and equipment in accordance with the needs assessed for children with Special Educational Needs and/or Disability.  This will be completed in consultation with external specialist services.

Please refer to Solihull Local Authority’s Local Offer for more information.  The link to the page is http://socialsolihull.org.uk/localoffer/

Information about the support in each subject can be discussed with teachers.  Parents can do this at parents’ evening each year, but teachers can meet with parents at any point in the school year by appointment.

In the case of individual or small group interventions, the SENCo will write to parents explaining why we are putting on this intervention and what we hope to achieve.  Emails letters or phone-calls will be used to keep parents updated on their child’s progress and discuss support in more detail, if required.

Children’s views are very important at school and we like to hear what they think about lots of different parts of school life.  We use many different ways to hear their views:

••       There is an annual child questionnaire where we find out what children think about school.  The results of this questionnaire are used by the Senior Leadership Team to improve the school.

•       If a child takes part in an intervention programme, then they will contribute their views to the review of progress at the end.

If your child has an Education, Health and Care Plan, their views will be sought before any review meetings

We work with a number of external agencies, which support both the school and your family.  They include:

• Warwickshire EIS (Teaching and Learning) Support Service
• Warwickshire Autism Support Service
• Solihull SISS HI, VI and PI Service
• Solihull SISS Autism Service
• Engage
• Children Mental Health Services (Solar and Forward Thinking Birmingham)
• Solihull SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disability) Information, Advice and Support Service for Parents
• Service for children not currently accessing education
• School Nurse 

If you have any queries about these external agencies, please do not hesitate to contact your child’s Head of Year.  However, please note that many of these external agencies are purchased on a year-to-year basis, and may change to reflect the majority of needs in the school.

In the Summer Term of Year 6, our SEND team will visit primary schools to collect all appropriate information from your child’s junior school SENDCo and class teacher. 

Our transition process ensures that we have a detail overview of our children’s needs prior to them starting in Year 7.  

On the first day of term in September, all of our staff are issued with support notes to inform them of children in their classes with additional needs.

We liaise with external services to ensure that all notes are passed on to us.

Primary SENCo’s contact us or invite us to join review meetings near the end of Year 6.

For Years 10 and 11 children choose from a range of GCSE courses, which help to prepare them for the next steps in their education, be that college, apprenticeships or work.  Children and parents are offered advice and careers guidance at the appropriate time to help make these important decisions.

The school arranges visits to open days and further education fairs for all children.  Help with finding and applying for apprenticeships is also available.

Children are encouraged to consider attending university in the future and the school works with higher education establishments to provide experiences for children to inspire them.

All children in year 11 are provided with 1-1 careers advice to help them plan what they want to do after they complete their GCSEs.

Children with an Education, Health and Care Plan will begin discussing this from their Year 9 Annual Review. 

All information relating to a child’s exam dispensations and required support is passed on to college or training provider during the summer term of year 11, when college places have been confirmed.

All children who join the school after the official start of the year in September are screened on entry, to check for any areas of need and to provide information to staff about their strengths and additional needs. 

A ‘student buddy’ is chosen to support your child for the first few days of being at Park Hall.  The buddy takes your child to lessons, introduces them to other children, answers questions and lets teachers know how well your child is settling into school

We always make contact with your child’s previous school to ensure the transfer of information and your child’s school file.

We always make contact with your child’s previous school to ensure the transfer of information and your child’s school file.

Our aim is to help all children to become independent in their lessons and provide them with the life skills and strategies to leave school to confidently face the world of work and/or further education.

If you would like to find out any more information please contact your child’s Head of Year first. 

Head of Year 7 – Mr D Cox
Head of Year 8 –Mrs C Wakefield
Head of Year 9 – Miss L Traynor/Miss R Newlands
Head of Year 10 – Mr A Williams
Head of Year 11 – Mrs J Percival

Head of Lower School - Miss S Hadley

Head of Upper School - Mr T Robinson

Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCo) - Mr Jones, who is an Assistant Headteacher and a Teacher of PE too.

SEN Link Governor – Ms N Chowdhury

We try to do our best for all children but if there are any concerns we encourage those concerned to approach your child’s Head of Year in the first instance and a response will be made as soon as possible.  If you are still unhappy, please approach the SENCo. 

Please read our complaints' policy for further information

We support the use of Solihull SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disability) Information, Advice and Support Service for Parents.  Additional service information will be sent home, as and when we become aware of them. 

Here is a link to their website:  https://www.family-action.org.uk/solihullsendias/

You can email them with this address: solihullsendias@family-action.org.uk

There is further information available in Solihull Local Authority’s Local Offer.   The link to the page is http://socialsolihull.org.uk/localoffer/

The Solihull Local Offer website has information about the services that are available.   The link to the page is http://socialsolihull.org.uk/localoffer/

A range of policies underpin our offer; in particular, these are our;

• Admissions Policy
• Anti-bullying Policy
• Attendance Policy
• Behaviour Policy
• Drugs Policy
• Health and Safety Policy
• Safeguarding Children Policy
• Equality Policy
• Special Educational Needs Policy
• Teaching and Learning Policy

To view any of these, please go to our Policies section. 

We welcome your thoughts on our Information Report.  Many parents have found our Information Report to be detailed and answered many of their questions. 

Based on parent feedback, we have:

• Tired to simplify the wording of the report, avoiding words only those in schools understand and the use of abbreviations, such as SEN and HOY. 
• We have made the Information Report easier to read, by reducing the reading age to 9 years.
• We have tried to make the report more personalised to you and your child and avoided calling them different names such as ‘pupils’ and ‘students’.
• Uploaded more contact details for the Solihull SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disability) Information, Advice and Support Service for parents
• Tried to avoid unnecessary confusion by using the word ‘school’ rather than ‘Academy; throughout the report

If you have any further comments or ideas, please contact the school office.