Special Educational Needs and Disabilities
At The Charter School Bermondsey we are committed to ensuring that all students make good progress, regardless of their starting point.
"Creating an inclusive environment is the most important thing a school can do. An inclusive culture is a prerequisite for an effective school: it brings happiness, a feeling of safety and belonging, and impacts positively on learning both in and beyond the classroom."
Education Endowment Foundation
Great teaching is our first line of support.
Where pupils need more, we offer targeted group-based interventions run by teachers and teaching assistants.
For pupils with more complex needs, we put in place a highly individualised approach informed by external professionals including Educational Psychologists, Speech and Language Therapists and other specialist services.
Working With Other Agencies
We work actively with Southwark Local Authority, health services and specialist agencies to ensure that education, health and care for pupils with SEND are joined up and effective. Where external input is needed, we coordinate referrals and keep families informed throughout.
Our SENDcO
Our SENCO is Ms Hayward (chayward@charterbermondsey.org.uk). Please contact Ms Hayward if you have any questions about this report or our Inclusion and SEND policy.
SEND Information Report
Our Provision
The Charter School Bermondsey is a mainstream school and part of The Charter Schools Educational Trust (TCSET). We have classes of up to 30 children led by a class teacher. Through a 3-tiered approach to SEN support (See SEN Provision section), we make all reasonable adjustments possible to support a range of special educational needs (SEN) across 4 broad areas:
Cognition and Learning (C&L):
This might include difficulties with reading and spelling, learning new information and concepts, working with numbers, working memory and concentration. Such difficulties might include ‘Specific LearningDifficulties’ (i.e. dyslexia, dysgraphia) and moderate learning difficulties.
Communication and interaction (C&I):
Difficulties might include understanding or using language and communicating socially with others. This might include conditions or disorders such as: Specific language impairment, autism (ASD/ASC) and speech sound disorders/delay.
Social, Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH):
This might include difficulties such as experiencing trauma, anxiety, stress, distress or anger that have an impact on accessing education.
Sensory and/or physical (S/P):
This might include sensory processing differences affecting movement and co-ordination, physical disabilities, sensory sensitives and sensory impairment (i.e. Hearing Impairment)
It is common for children to have special educational needs that span two or more of these areas. If this is the case, SEND support is designed to best support your child’s need using the resources available.
Assessment and Identification
For your child to access the best possible support, i tis important that SEND differences are identified early through appropriate methods of assessment. At The Charter School Bermondsey, our objective is to understand exactly what support individual children require using age and stage appropriate strategies.
Dependent on a child’s specific areas of need, assessment can take place in many ways, through different members of staff or external professionals (for example, Educational Psychologist,Speech and Language therapist and community paediatrician). Assessments and screening activities are always developmentally appropriate and we work closely with families to agree assessment methods.
Support in school
We have a 3-tiered approach to SEND support across the school. Depending on children’s strengths and differences, support will look different for individuals.
Is Charter Bermondsey the right school for my child?
We pride ourselves on providing high quality SEND support for our children through our tiered approach. We work with Southwark Local Authority and as a network of schools across the trust, to provide the best possible support for children with a wide range of difficulties across the 4 broad areas of need.
We use our access to the specialised resources available to us carefully and according to need. This includes deployment of teaching assistants and referral to external professionals. We have clear, internal criteria for the process of referral and escalation/de-escalation for children moving through the waves of SEND support. Access to specialist resources will be determined on a child-by-child basis and requires clear evidence that strategies at each wave have been exhausted before escalating further. If you have questions about type of support your child might require, please contact the Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENDCo) to discuss provision.
Class Sizes:
Charter Bermodnsey is a mainstream school, from Year 7 to Year 11, with up to 60 children in each year group, 30 children in each class.
