Shirebrook Academy's SEND Vision:

Our vision and mission at Shirebrook Academy is to ensure that every child accesses learning in a way that supports them.  We firmly believe in:

“A whole-school approach to SEND where no child is left behind.”

We believe that all of our young people are entitled to an education that enables them to make progress.  To support this, we commit to:

• providing young people with consistent, high-quality learning experiences and teaching
• having high expectations and ambitious outcomes so that each young person has the best chances of reaching their potential in all aspects of their education
• ensuring that intervention provides a wide range of whole-school and targeted support spanning the broad areas of need; promoting inclusion and accessibility
• ensuring learners develop skills for adulthood through planned provision and tracked outcomes
• ensuring learners are given the best possible opportunities for employability through meaningful work experience, facilitated careers' support, rigorous transition planning and greater options for recognised end-of-key stage 4 qualifications to support wider employability and Post-16 options
• supporting the development of independent learners who can transfer skills to future life
• assessing young people’s data regularly and providing appropriate support where it is needed in line with APDR cycles (Assess Plan Do Review). Effective assessment and provision will be secured in partnership with parents/carers, children and external agencies.
• developing the love of lifelong reading and functional literacy and numeracy skills enabling access to wider employment opportunities and post-16 options, as well as greater independence and social inclusion

The effectiveness of provision is measured against whether students are making progress and meeting the five outcomes of Every Child Matters:

• • stay safe
  • be healthy
  • enjoy and achieve
  • make a positive contribution
  • achieve economic well-being

Shirebrook Academy SEND Objectives:

• Our curriculum is well-designed and implemented for all learners. We build opportunities to develop fluency and automaticity for all learners – this is particularly helpful for SEND learners i.e. suitable retrieval practice.
• We understand student needs using Grids for Learning (G4L)- these capture students’ needs and strategies needed to support them to make progress. Faculty and Pastoral leaders champion the use of G4L with their teams, ensuring that strategies are followed - with the support of the Inclusion team. 
• We know that SEND is not a homogenous group and not synonymous with Low Prior Attainers - our approach to identifying and meeting need is personalised- our pedagogy and practice responds to individuality.
• We believe in a curriculum that is adapted and personalised. We aim to achieve this by being student-need focussed; using personalised and relevant information from the Inclusion team. Needs are met through quality-first teaching, with needs-led adjustment.  We use skilled pedagogy, including direct questioning and scaffolded resources.
• We do not use withdrawal, we believe all students have the right to expert teaching in the classroom with their peers. We do not see Teaching Assistants as solely teachers of SEND students; their support is personalised to intervene with any/all learners.
• We use a Graduated Response approach to ensure we achieve the right support and intervention for a student.