SEND
Special Educational Needs support at Bridgwater College Academy
Bridgwater College Academy has made a sustained contribution to the education of its students since 1961. We are underpinned by our values and ethos and remain committed to our duty to ensure that every individual child is given the best possible chance of achieving their potential.
At Bridgwater College Academy, we are ambitious for all our students. We follow the Somerset Graduated Response which enables us to support a broad range of needs within our mainstream setting, with the student voice being central to this approach.
Academy Lead for Inclusion
At Bridgwater College Academy, Miss Sarah Wharton, is the Academy Lead for Inclusion and the Autism Condition Centre Lead for the Polden Centre. She is joined by Mrs Claire Groves Secondary Phase SENCo and Mrs Amanda Shipton as Primary Phase SENCo.
Sarah began her teaching career in 2000 in Bristol, where she trained at the University of the West of England and taught in inner city schools for 5 years. She moved back to her 'home' in Somerset and continued teaching until 2018. Sarah had a particular interest in Special Educational Needs and after gaining her NASENCO qualification,
Mrs Claire Groves B.A (Hons) QTS, NASENCo (pending)
Claire started her teaching career in Somerset in 2007 after studying at the University of Brighton. She has taught in both the independent and state sector and was a Housemistress of a busy girls' boarding house for over 6 years. Claire's dedication to SEND has always been at the fore front in all that she does and was delighted to take on the role of Secondary SENCo in June 2024.
Mrs Amanda Shipton B.Ed (Hons) QTS (NASENCo) NPQSL, Primary SENCo
Amanda started her teaching career in North Somerset in 1999 in a large First school. She has taught in all Primary year groups and has been part of the Senior Management Team in Primary schools since 2005, holding a variety of roles including that of Assistant Headteacher in a large Primary school with an Autism base and a Hearing and Language provision.
SEND has always been at the heart of Amanda’s passion for teaching and provision for the best outcomes for pupils. She welcomed the opportunity to come to BCA as Primary SENDCo in September 2022.
Polden Autistic Condition Centre
Miss Sarah Wharton is the Autism Condition Centre Lead (Polden Centre) at Bridgwater College Academy. Sarah began her teaching career in 2000 in Bristol, where she trained at the University of the West of England and taught in inner city schools for 5 years. She moved back to her 'home' in Somerset and continued teaching until 2018. Sarah had a particular interest in Special Educational Needs and after gaining her NASENCO qualification, Sarah joined BCA, where she has been Polden Centre Lead for two years.
Quality First Teaching:
At Bridgwater College Academy we want all of our children to reach their full potential. One of the ways we do this in ensuring that all our children are given Quality First Teaching. This means that our teachers employ methods and strategies to help all children to overcome any barriers to their learning. Some of the ways we do this are:
- all our classrooms are organised and resources are well labelled
- all lessons have a clear structure and children are made aware of their learning objective at the start of the lesson
- all lessons are differentiated to ensure that children are learning at their appropriate ability level
- instructions are given in small chunks and supported by visual clues
- any new vocabulary is introduced with the aid of visuals
- students are asked to demonstrate what they have learnt in a variety of ways, e.g. drama, mind-mapping, drawing, ICT recording
- students work in mixed groups, pairs and individually
- students are taught different ways to remember important information – highlighting, 5 step planning, mnemonics etc
- students’ effort and achievement in their work is celebrated using reward points and certificates.
- learning is re-visited throughout the year in order to ensure that students are able to consolidate their learning
- teachers ensure that learning is fun and that students are excited about what they are doing
- staff are trained in all areas of SEN to ensure they are using the appropriate techniques and resources to support any student with Special Educational Needs
- staff track each child’s progress to ensure that they are able to reach their full potential
- staff meet regularly with parent and carers to discuss their children’s progress.
Once students have begun to settle into life at Bridgwater College Academy and have enjoyed experiencing the wealth of Quality First Teaching strategies from our teachers, we then like to gather a complete picture of the student’s strengths and difficulties. The diagnostic assessment trackers guide us to create bespoke programmes so that we can offer support that is meaningful and enabling. These programmes mean that we can give students our best efforts to encourage and nurture their own self-belief, such that they can reach their maximum potential.
Intervention Opportunities
We have well trained support staff who are able to offer a range of up to date interventions including:
Individualised Literacy Intervention (ILI) - To make double current rate of progress in reading and spelling. This follows a 10-week cycle of 3x30min sessions using familiar books as well as new books to build the pupils’ confidence as well as reading fluency. It supports children by developing new reading strategies whilst sustaining their comprehension skills and bespoke letter/sound work to encourage decoding of unfamiliar words and support spellings too.
Catch Up® Numeracy - Catch Up® Numeracy is a structured one-to-one intervention for learners who find numeracy difficult. It enables learners who struggle with numeracy to achieve more than double the progress of typically developing learners. It involves 15-minute individual sessions delivered twice a week. It is grounded in academic research and addresses 10 key components of numeracy.
Lexia – This is another reading intervention on computers. Students work independently to develop critical reading and language skills through individualized, motivating learning paths. All students, regardless of their skill level, can each work at their own pace which is overseen by a teacher or teaching assistant.
Thinking Reading – A unique and powerful approach equipping schools with the ability to resolve even the most serious reading problems children are having. The students that you didn’t think could learn to read will learn to read. They will catch up rapidly and completely with their decoding and comprehension skills. The programme is rigorous, research-based and systematic. It teaches more in less time using age-appropriate books and expert teaching methods. Highly detailed assessment tracks progress in every aspect of the customised, one-to-one lesson.
Guided Reading (comprehension) – A wide variety of age appropriate books are used to develop children’s reading comprehension skills including inference, predicting, summarising, questioning, visualising as well as retrieval skills with quotations. This can be delivered in a small group or on a 1:1 basis depending on each individual case.
Working Memory - Working memory is a cognitive skill that is strongly associated with attention and language skills. There has been speculation that working memory training, embedded within typical educational activities, may improve children’s working memory skills and produce transfer effects to real-world skills such as attention and language. At BCA we use working memory games and activities across 6-weeks, it is 1:1 intervention targeting working memory, attention and language skills in 11-16 year olds.
Sounds-Write (Phonics) - Sounds-Write is a quality first phonics programme. Its purpose is to provide classroom professionals with a comprehensive system with which to teach reading, spelling and writing. Ideally it will be introduced in YR, taught in KS1 and fine-tuned throughout the rest of Key Stage 2.
To support Social, Emotional and Well-Being needs, we offer programmes, such as:
ELSA - ELSA is an initiative developed and supported by educational psychologists. It recognises that children learn better and are happier in school if their emotional needs are also addressed. ELSA supports pupils who are experiencing temporary or longer term additional emotional needs. The majority of ELSA work is delivered on an individual basis, but sometimes small group work is more appropriate, especially in the areas of social and friendship skills.
Forest School - Forest School is a child-centred inspirational learning process, that offers opportunities for holistic growth through regular sessions. It is a long-term program that supports play, exploration and supported risk taking. It develops confidence and self-esteem through learner inspired, hands-on experiences in a natural setting.
Mentoring - Mentoring at BCA involves pairing young people with a trusted adult, who acts as a positive role model and is an empathetic listener. Our mentoring intervention aims to build confidence, develop resilience and character, raise aspirations, rather than to develop specific academic skills or knowledge directly.
To support Communication & Interaction needs, we offer programmes, such as:
Talkabout - Talkabout is a series of social communication programmes. It is a practical resource which is aimed at improving Social Communication Skills such as: listening, conversational skills, body language, awareness and assertiveness.
Social Stories – Our social stories are individualized short stories that depict a social situation that your child affected by autism may encounter. These social stories are used to teach communal skills through the use of precise and sequential information about everyday events that your child may find difficult or confusing, thus preventing further anxiety on the part of your child.
SALT - The principal aims of our Speech and Language provision are to: complete individual speech and language assessments, as well as deliver and monitor speech and language therapy programmes advised by trained Speech and Language Therapists in/around Somerset, which may include vocabulary and theory of mind focused groups.
Word Power - The programme is aimed at increasing reading and spelling and uses the primary high frequency words. These words are grouped by selecting those that visually look different to each other. The programme approaches literacy acquisition at the word level and addresses the gaps in phonics knowledge through the application of analytic phonics.
To support Sensory and/or Physical needs, we offer programmes, such as:
Gross motor skills - involve control of the arms, legs, head, and trunk. Our PE Coaches can help children develop gross motor skills by building in opportunities for children to run, jump, hop, throw, and catch, climb up, down, over, under and through things, pedal tricycles or other ride-on toys, push and pull, dump and fill. Specific activities that we deliver to support gross motor development include running at different speeds, jumping rope, playing hopscotch, tossing and catching balls of different sizes, pitching bean bags, climbing in many different directions, pedalling riding toys, pulling wagons or toys, pushing toy strollers or brooms, and filling and emptying buckets and other containers.
Fine Motor Skills - Fine motor skills involve the use of the smaller muscle of the hands. Our TAs help the children practice common activities like scribbling, colouring, drawing, writing to develop their pencil control; cutting for scissor use; construction skills with Lego or Duplo or doing up buttons and opening lunch boxes.
Handwriting support - Handwriting is a complex skill of using language by pencil grip, letter formation, and body posture. There are many skills involved in handwriting which we help develop at BCA including vision, eye-hand coordination, muscle memory, posture, body control, as well as pencil grasp and letter formation.
Access Arrangements for exams
Towards the end of Year 9 all students will complete a benchmarking assessment in order to identify specific needs regarding future exam support. Relevant support is put in place to ensure students are not disadvantaged in exam conditions and the right Access Arrangements are sought to support our students.
Assessments used at Bridgwater College Academy:
Some examples of what our assessments test for are:
- Visual spatial memory
- Auditory sequential memory
- Phonic decoding skills
- Phonological processing ability
- Single word reading
- Reading Comprehension speed and accuracy
- Non-verbal intelligence
- Typing and writing speeds and accuracy
- Social/emotional skills
- Numeracy ability
- Speech, Language and Communication skills