SEND
Welcome to West Park School's SEND information page, including our report for learners with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND).
All governing bodies of academy schools have a legal duty under the revised Code of Practice (2014) to publish information on their website about the implementation of their policy for students with SEND. If there is any aspect of this that you are struggling to access or understand, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us.
West Park School is committed to giving all students every opportunity to achieve the highest standards. We have an ever-developing inclusive ethos across all areas of the school, shared by all staff, with the highest of expectations, meaning everyone can achieve their full potential.
We hope that this area of the school website offers you useful and timely advice and guidance on support and systems in place to ensure your child can reach their full potential at West Park. Additionally, sharing local offers of support and signposting you and your family to a range of assistance and expertise within the community, we hope you feel help for your family is broad and robust.
Useful Information
West Park is extremely proud to be a Derby City Inclusion Charter school, remaining committed to: inclusion development; building positive relationships with all pupils and families; embedding quality first inclusive teaching and best practice and in ensuring the right support is given at the right time, in the right place. Ongoing, reflective and bespoke training of staff is in place to ensure that all teachers and support staff have appropriate skills and knowledge to support provision for students with SEND. Reflecting on practice, having secure cycles of support in place for pupils and actively seeking developmental opportunities, West Park is proud that all teachers are teachers of SEND united in their inclusive vision.
Teaching and associate staff are supported by an ever-broadening Inclusion team.
- Mrs F. Hawkins - Assistant Head, Head of Inclusion and Inclusion Charter Leader
- Ms C. Lupton - SENCo
- Mrs P. Flewitt - Access Arrangements Assessor
- Ms C. Harahan - Access Arrangements Co-Ordinator
- Mrs D. Tunley - Head of Literacy Unit and Dyslexia Specialist
- Mrs J. Stringer - Thrive Practitioner and Learning Mentor
- Advanced Skills Teaching Assistants
- Subject Specialist Teaching Assistants
- Teaching Assistant for Looked after Children
The school is also extremely proud to work closely with local special schools and other relevant agencies to help school staff meet the needs of your child in reviewing, evaluating and developing provision for students who have needs beyond universal and targeted provision.
As per the SEND Code of Practice, all teachers at West Park are teachers of SEND. Form tutor should always be your first point of contact if you have any concerns regarding your child. If you have a worry about an individual subject or lesson, please get in touch with the class teacher for that subject. Any teacher will be able to discuss your concerns, offer reassurance and put a plan of action in place. Quality First Inclusive Teaching in the classroom remains our most beneficial resource and we hope that this universal inclusive support should be sufficient, in most cases, to ensure your child can thrive, feels safe and engaged in the classroom and can access lessons successfully. Staff will regularly seek guidance and advice from the Inclusion team along the way!
Should there still be concerns after cycles of support, intervention and provision at department / classroom level, it may be that staff then have evidence to refer your child to the SEND department for further investigation into a specific learning need and to look at more targeted or specialist support, potentially making a referral to outside agencies or to our Access Arrangements Assessor.
It is norm at West Park for pupils to be given additional support, intervention and booster sessions throughout their time with us. There is no stigma attached to these sessions, in fact all pupils will receive this at some point! Morning interventions take place each day, for pupils across all ages, covering a wide range of areas including: literacy, numeracy, spelling, handwriting, touch-typing and GCSE boosters. Attendance at these sessions is very good and prove very successful in supporting the work which goes on in the classroom. And if we need to, we will create a fine motor skills intervention according to need, we are happy to think outside the box with regards to what your child may need. We recently created a fine motor skills intervention for example, to meet the needs of just two pupils. If we have resources and can do it, we will help! Other timetables and interventions take place where necessary throughout the day and more after school between 3pm - 4pm.
Neurodevelopmental concerns should always be discussed with your GP first. ASD and ADHD are health conditions, assessed and diagnosed only by health professionals. Please keep your child's form tutor up to date with this journey however so that we can fully support you along the way. We know that, sadly, current waiting lists for children and young people to be assessed and potentially diagnosed by health professionals, can be in excess of four years so anything we can do in the immediate, we will do without delay. We do not require a formal diagnosis to support a pupil, providing we have the resources and capability(with exception of exam Access Arrangements, where we are bound by certain JCQ regulations).
Your GP may suggest you complete a SPOA referral and West Park will fully support you with this and we will even collate and submit the referral for you, if you choose to proceed. Just let us know and we are only too happy to help you during the unsettled time you may be experiencing.
We are extremely busy teaching your children, in addition to running a school of over 1400 pupils, but never too busy to help you when you need us. Please never suffer alone and if you need to come and meet with us (even if it is just for a cuppa and a chat) we are here for you.
The following links may offer additional support for you, beyond the walls of West Park School:
Latest News
SEND School Information Report
SEND School Information Report