Internal Alternative Provision

Lord Derby Academy approach to SEND.

At Lord Derby Academy, we are committed to delivering a personalised education that ensures each pupil makes strong progress and meaningful life outcomes.  We approach SEND support using the graduated approach in compliance with the Code of Practice 2015 and we are committed to trying every strategy we possibly can, using strong multi agency approaches to support all. At all points, we include the pupil and their family in decision making. The guiding principle to our approach is always to ensure the pupil’s best interests.

What is SEN?

“A child or young person has SEN if they have a learning difficulty or disability which calls for special educational provision to be made for him or her.” (CoP 2015)

Special educational provision – additional to or different from that made generally for other children or young people of the same age by mainstream schools. (CoP 2015)

Our Vision

At Lord Derby Academy, our vision is for all children and young people to have the best start in life, thrive, aim high and achieve their potential.

Knowsley’s SEND Strategy 2018-2021 sets out how it intends to support schools in the Local Authority in this vision by working in partnership with children, young people and their families. This will be achieved by addressing five key priorities:

• Joint working across all SEND services, partners and families
• Co-production with children and young people with SEND and their parents / carers
• Improve education, health and care outcomes for children and young people with SEND
• Ensure all young people with SEND make a successful transition to adulthood
• Improve the quality of Education Health and Care Plans

In January 2021, the school was inspected for the second time as part of the Inclusion Quality Mark award.  The assessor expressed that “Having discussed the progress made since the last IQM review and the school’s plans for the future, I am of the opinion that the school should continue to hold Centre of Excellence status and be reviewed again in 12 months’ time”.

The assessor also quoted in her report a comment from Knowsley Education Improvement Officer-SEND Education Improvement and Inclusion: “this is a school and a team that really have the young people at the heart of everything they do…once a pupil is a Lord Derby pupil, they are nurtured, they are nurtured, cared for and looked after and they are supported until they leave the school”.

The Inclusion Department

The Inclusion department provides academic, behaviour and wellbeing support service to pupils across all year groups at LDA.

Our Inclusion packages share the following aims and purpose:

• To support emotional wellbeing and resilience and identify learning differences and barriers.
• To support pupils’ behaviour and progress.
• To provide welfare / pastoral support to all pupils through personalised targeted support interventions.
• To provide academic support
• To maintain our extremely low number of fixed-term / permanent exclusions
• To reduce pupils educated in off-site Alternative Provision
• To provide advice, support and training to all staff in relation to pastoral support, emotional wellbeing and behaviour management.

All pupils identified and referred receive a 1:1 support and advice session during their stay. This is used to determine the support package required.  Individuals are assessed in an initial 1:1 session or through Inclusion meetings to determine an ongoing programme of support.

• Bespoke Teaching Assistant support
• Bespoke timetables
• Homework Club
• Lunchtime club
• Dyslexia support
• Multi Agency Intervention:
  – CYPMHS
  – ASC Specialist Teacher
  – Hearing Impaired Service, Visually Impaired Service etc.
  – Social Care
  – Family First
  – Early Help Team

The Well-being group provides support for pupils who are experiencing difficulty accessing their education in the main building due to emotional/mental well-being issues.  This provision takes place five days per week for 5 hours per day and lasts for a half term when a placement review takes place to plan for next steps.  A range of needs are addressed during these sessions including, anxiety, depression, self-harm, anorexia etc.

The PDI intervention provides support for pupils who are experiencing difficulty accessing their education in the main building.  This is a weekly provision that lasts for a half term.  Pupils access one to one sessions throughout the week to address the barriers that they are experiencing in order for them to access their learning and thrive in a main stream setting.

• Literacy Intervention:
  – Comprehension boxes
  – Lexia
  – Bedrock
  – MSL
  – Dyslexia Stile
  – Ruth Miskin

• Numeracy Intervention:
  – Maths boxes
  – Mathswatch
  – eMaths master
  – Collins connect – linked to textbooks used in Maths
  – Method Maths

• Other interventions:
  – Emotional regulation
  – Social skills
  – Anxiety
  – Anger
  – Confidence building
  – Well-being
  – Raising self-esteem

The Personalised Learning Environment supports pupils who, for a range of reasons, have barriers to their learning.  This provision takes place five days per week for 5 hours per day.  As well as delivering the curriculum, we look to identify the barriers and address the reasons behind their behaviour to provide them with the skills that they need to succeed in a mainstream environment.

We offer a number of intervention packages, each offering bespoke flexible support for the individual learner.

The aim of the PLE team is to create a happy and harmonious environment which encourages engagement of learning and allows pupils to make their expected progress. Working with parents, carers and teaching staff from the main school and the pastoral team, it is always the intention that pupils return to the mainstream school lessons when they are ready.

Why are pupils referred to the PLE?

Pupils are referred to the department when a graduated and thorough package of pastoral support has been exhausted and pupils continue to have barriers to their learning.

How are pupils referred to the PLE?

A panel made up of year managers, pupil support managers, SENDCO, attendance, safeguarding officer and the inclusion manager meet fortnightly to allow the team to discuss the next steps for each pupil who has been identified as needing further intervention.

Once a referral has been made at the Inclusion panel meeting it is discussed with Inclusion leaders when the best interest of the pupil is given great consideration before a decision is made.  The aim is always to ensure that the provision has the pupil’s best interest at heart.

Parental Engagement

It is important to us to work in partnership with the parents and carers of our pupils. Regular communication takes place in the form of meetings both face to face, virtual and telephone calls. Parents are kept informed of their child’s progress and behaviour on a daily basis via a home/school report card and Class Charts. Parents are consulted via a questionnaire throughout the academic year in order to gather their views, enabling us to improve our service and meet the needs of their children.