Local Offer - information on local services and support for children and young people 0-25 with SEND: www.hackneylocaloffer.co.uk

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Special Educational Needs and Disability

How school gives help to children with Special Educational Needs - SEN Support

Most children and young people have their needs met by being provided with support and/or services which are available as part of the Hackney Local Offer.

All children or young people either with an EHC Plan or on SEN Support will have:

• A One Page Profile/ Individual Educational Plan containing the views of the child or young person and agreed ways to support
• Evidence of any additional support and specialist advice to meet the child or young person’s identified needs and progress against outcomes.

By using the process of Assess, Plan, Do, Review over an appropriate period of time and for at least two cycles, the support is tried, adapted as part of a ‘graduated approach’.

SEND Passports 

At Cardinal Pole Catholic School, every pupil’s learning journey matters. SEND Passports are a practical, pupil-centred tool that helps staff, parents, and students work together to ensure every learner can access knowledge, make progress and feel supported in every lesson. These are reviewed termly.

What is a SEND Passport?

A concise, confidential document for each SEND student that summarises:

•  Core needs (for example SEMH, CI, CL, PD, etc.)
•  Individual strengths and targets
•  Practical classroom strategies and adaptations
•  Key staff members (key worker and professionals)

It is designed to be quick to read and easy to act on. The passport sits at the heart of how we plan differentiation and support in every subject.

Why SEND passports are important?

For students:
Clarity: Students know what supports are available and what success looks like.
Confidence: Clear routines and expectations reduce anxiety and help them engage.

For staff:
Consistency: All teachers have a quick reference to adapt tasks and instructions.
Efficiency: One-page guidance saves time during lesson planning and delivery.

For parents:
Transparency: You can see how your child is supported and how progress will be tracked.
Partnership: Passports are co-created with families and reviewed to reflect changes as the child grows.

How SEND passports help in practice?

• One-step instructions and sentence starters to scaffold language and task completion.
• Visual prompts and templates to support literacy, numeracy, and social communication.
• Time allowances and “familiar adult” supports to reduce stress during assessments or new activities.
• Differentiated seating and grouping strategies to promote inclusion and peer learning.
• Clear progress indicators and an agreed plan for next steps to ensure steady progress.

Assess

Your child’s difficulties are assessed so that the right support can be given. This should include, for example, asking you what you think, talking to professionals who work with your child (such as their teacher), and looking at records and other information.

This is reviewed regularly so that the support provided continues to meet your child’s needs.

Sometimes advice or a further assessment is needed from someone like an Educational Psychologist, Inclusion specialist teachers or a health professional.

Plan

School agrees, with your involvement, the outcomes that the SEN support is intended to achieve, for example, how your child will benefit from any support they get.

Everyone who is involved will need to have a say in deciding what kind of support will be provided, and decide a date by which they will review this so that they can check to see how well the support is working and whether the outcomes have been or are being achieved.

Do

The school will put the planned support into place. The teacher remains responsible for working with your child on a daily basis, however, the SENDco and any support staff or specialist teaching staff involved in providing support should work closely to track your child’s progress and check that the support is being effective.

Review

The support your child receives should be reviewed at the time agreed in the plan. You can then decide together if the support is having a positive impact, whether the outcomes have been, or are being, achieved and if or how any changes should be made.

Impact of interventions for SEN students

The progress of SEND students between KS2 and GCSE was above average for SEND students when compared to National validated 2015 data. Furthermore, improved practice and targeted intervention programmes in Maths and English  enabled the progress of SEND students last year with 68% of Year 11 SEND students improving by at least 1 grade or more in a year.