Aspirations Faculty - Send
Our Values
Pupils to have the life skills for adulthood.
Pupils to become independent lifelong learners.
Pupils to have the resilience to achieve their aspirations.
Pupils to experience and celebrate their successes.
Our Ethos
To Shape Resilient, Independent, and Skilled Pupils for a Successful Future.
INTENT
At Woodlands, we want all our students to learn important skills for their future, become independent learners, be resilient in pursuing their aspirations, and celebrate their achievements. We believe that everyone is unique, and we embrace and value those differences because life would be boring if we were all the same.
The Aspirations Faculty helps our staff provide an inclusive education for all students, no matter their abilities or disabilities. We identify students who face challenges in learning and give them strategies to overcome these challenges. We also make necessary reasonable adjustments and use different approaches to support their education and well-being. We work closely with families and regularly meet with students on the SEND register to involve them in planning and implementing support both in and out of school.
IMPLEMENTATION
The Aspirations Faculty staff will communicate with your child's primary school to understand their needs and ensure we can fully support them at Woodlands School. We offer specific interventions to our students based on their needs. These interventions may include.
- Extra support in class from Co-Educators
- Individual pupil passports
- Help with literacy and numeracy
- Social skills groups
- Learning about emotional regulation
- On-site counselling
- Speech and language therapy
- Clubs during breaks and lunchtime
- Homework assistance
- Mentoring
- Extra support in the curriculum
- Improving handwriting
- Touch typing
- Exam access arrangements
- Tools like timeout cards and laptops
- Support with attendance
- Referrals to specialists like Educational Psychologists and Occupational Therapists
- Referrals to external support
The progress of your child will be monitored by tutors, class teachers, the head of year, and the SENDCo, who will provide feedback through phone calls, emails, meetings, or annual reviews.
Enhanced Provision for Speech and Language
Woodlands School has an onsite Enhanced Provision for students with speech, language, and communication needs. Click here for more information
IMPACT
We strongly believe that with the right support and guidance, all our students can achieve not only their potential. Our goal is to prepare students for adulthood by helping them reach their aspirations. We take pride in creating an inclusive environment where every child is included and where we maintain high standards for work, attendance, and behaviour. We want our students to become lifelong learners who can make positive contributions to society. Many of our students have successfully continued their education in colleges, apprenticeships, and universities, thanks to the strong foundation they built at our school.
Our SEND Policy can be viewed on our Policies page under the Key information tab above.
Aspirations Faculty – Key Contacts
Mr Dean O’Connor: SENDCo
Miss Billie Coates: Assistant SENDCo
Mrs Sam Heley: Speech and Language Therapist
Mrs Jo Mason: Aspirations Faculty Coordinator
Mrs Nicola Moran: Aspirations Faculty Administrator
Mrs Wendy Rouse: Assessment Lead
Miss Maisie Metcalf: Numeracy & Literacy Intervention Lead
Miss Madeline MacLeod: Wellbeing & Attendance Lead
Contact email: SEND@woodlandsschool.essex.sch.uk
Special Educational Needs Support for Parents
https://www.essexsendiass.co.uk/
SEND Information, Advice and Support Service (SEND IASS)
Autism
https://www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance
Dyslexia
https://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/
ADHD
https://adhdfoundation.org.uk/
Speech, Language and Communication
https://www.afasic.org.uk/about-talking/what-are-speech-language-and-communication-needs-slcn/
Emotional and Mental Health
https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/for-children-and-young-people/
https://healthyyoungmindspennine.nhs.uk/resource-centre/external-links/kooth/
Parental Referral
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. A child of compulsory school age or a young person has a learning difficulty or disability if he or she:
- has a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others of the same age, or
- has a disability which prevents or hinders him or her from making use of educational facilities of a kind generally provided for others of the same age in mainstream schools or mainstream post 16 institutions.
If you believe that your child has SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) needs and you would like to get in touch, please complete the questionnaire below or click here.
The following documents can be downloaded by clicking on the link:
- SEND Information Report
- Special Educational Needs Information Report COVID Addendum
- Speech and Language Enhanced Provision
- SEND Code of Practice
- SEND Parent Guide
- To view our SEND Policy, please visit our Policies page under the Key Informtaion tab.
Equality Act
Woodlands School is committed to meeting its responsibilities in relation to the Equality Act of 2010. In all we do we endeavour to ensure that the 3 aims of the act are upheld and that we:
- Eliminate discrimination, harassment and victimisation and any other conduct that is prohibited by or under the Act.
- Advance equality of opportunity between people who share a relevant protected characteristic and people who do not share it.
- Foster good relations between people who share a relevant protected characteristic and those who do not share it.