SEN Policy and Handbook

Monday, 30 November 2009 08:14

The school has a written policy relating to Special Educational Needs. Please refer to 'SEN Policy' for further information. The school's SEN Handbook is also available for reference.

Start of Year in The Learning Zone

Thursday, 26 November 2009 00:00

The start of year is always a busy time for the Special Needs department: new pupils have to be assessed, looked after and supported; information distributed to staff; new parents met and reassured - while we continue to support our existing students. The situation has been even more frenetic this year as we have had more needy students joins us in Year 7 than ever before – an unprecedented 15 children with Statements (compared to 7 who moved on from Year 11 last year). The increase in numbers has resulted in a significant increase in work imposed on the department. The support team has had to grow and the support timetable is therefore significantly more complex.

 

New Additions to the Team

Despite a long wait for CRB checks to clear, we welcome new members of staff who have joined the LSA team. They are Mark Johnson, Miranda Shaw, Emily Vince, Amy Bedder and Natasha Lee - A warm welcome to them all from staff and students alike.

 

Identifying Needs

 

A draft SEN Alert for year 7 and updated Alerts for years 8, 9, 10 and 11 were prepared in July ready for distribution to all staff at the beginning of term. There will no doubt, be several amendments to the Year 7 Alert to be made over the next few weeks in the light of our enhanced knowledge of the children as we get to know them better.

Pupil Profiles have been written and distributed to all relevant staff for Year 7 statemented children and for some children without statements. Those for young people in years 9, 10 and 11 are in the process of being updated, re-written and distributed. We have also assessed all the pupils in year 7 for reading and spelling attainment and are putting in place literacy intervention programmes where appropriate.

Pupil Progress

 

Summer 2009 GCSE results for ex-Y11 pupils with statements demonstrate good progress for most students and clearly show that our students have achieved, or bettered their target grades in many cases:

 

Pupils with a Statement	Number of subjects at or above target	% of subjects at or above target
Student 1	6	75%
Student 2	3	42%
Student 3	11	91%
Student 4	1	14%
Student 5	4	80
Student 6	12	100%
Average		67% at or above target

Chris Davies
SEN Coordinator
November 2009

Learning Zone Colleagues Moving on to Pastures New

Monday, 13 July 2009 08:14

The Learning Zone says a fond farewell to Mr Moore, Mr Smith and Miss Dixon.  At the end of this term three members of our team will be moving on to pastures new.

Mr Moore has been successful in gaining a place on the Graduate Training Programme.  He will no doubt be remembered for his wicked sense of humour.  In the classroom, he was in his element sharing his passion for literature and inspiring many of our young students to give classic novels a second look, as well as to enjoy writing themselves.

Mr Smith is also leaving the develop his skills as a teacher.  He has shown great sensitivity to the needs of our children and helped the department enormously.

Miss Dixon leaves the Learning Zone, but continues at Sprowston in the role of Instructor of Food Technology.  She has devoted much time and effort into the development of our lunchtime club to provide the highest standard of pastoral care for our children.  With her wealth of experience in the catering industry, her winning smile, energy and enthusiasm, the school has quite wisely snapped her up as a member of the teaching staff!

We have enjoyed working with such talented colleagues and wish them every success.

The Learning Zone Formally Welcomes Mrs Parker

Wednesday, 10 June 2009 08:05

The Learning Zone team are pleased to formally welcome a new member of staff into the department: Mrs Parker has been a member of the Learning Zone staff for some time already and, as well as her duties in the classroom, she also contributes to the running of the lunchtime clubs. She has also taken the initiative to set up a card making club in the mobile adjacent to the Learning Zone, and can be found there with paper and glue every Tuesday lunchtime.

The Learning Zone Lunchtime Club Needs Donations of Old Toys, Games and Comics

Wednesday, 10 June 2009 08:03

The Learning Zone needs your help! The lunchtime club is always looking out for old toys and games and things for the children to do – and charitable donations would be very gratefully received. If anyone out there has an old board game, or jigsaw, or tub of lego bricks that is sitting, unloved, in a corner of your garage, then please, please, please think of us.

The club runs with almost zero funding, and much of what we have has been built up by the charitable donations of the Learning Zone staff… but we could always use a little more. Anything in reasonable condition would be hugely appreciated… and if anyone has an old Buckaroo lying around, we would very happily bring it out of retirement. The one we have is wearing out faster than Mr Moore’s knees. Similarly, the children would be very grateful to see any old comics or magazines you may have cluttering the place up, or heading for the bin.

Thank You For Completing The Recent Learning Zone Questionnaire

Wednesday, 10 June 2009 07:54

The staff of the Learning Zone would like to express a huge thank you to all of those parents who returned the recent questionnaires regarding their children’s relationship (both academic and pastoral) with our department.

Thank you, also, to those people who took the time to address any potential concerns they may have had – and also to those who used the opportunity to pass on a kind word. All comments (and criticisms) are gratefully received and the department remains keen to foster and maintain valuable, positive links with the children and the families we serve.