Danebury school recognises the right of every student to be offered an appropriate education and aspires to ensure that, through the implementation of a whole school approach to special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), each student can reach their full potential, grow in independence and to support successful transition into adulthood whether into employment, further or higher education or training. All members of staff at Danebury school, in conjunction with trustees and local authority, have a responsibility to promote that all pupils are of equal worth and should have an entitlement to equal opportunities.

Special educational provision at Danebury school is underpinned by adaptive teaching (teaching which is adapted to meet the needs of the majority of students, including those with SEND). This is the first and initial layer of support and provision in accessing the curriculum. Students with SEND will be educated in normal classroom situations with their peers and have an adaptive teaching approach. Additional adult help may be provided on occasion within the classroom for students with high SEND needs (such as students with an EHCP).

The Learning Support department is managed by Mrs E Andrews, Assistant Headteacher for SEND and Inclusion andrewse@testvalley.hants.sch.uk .

Learning Support Assistants establish positive working relationships with students with SEND, inspiring confidence and encouraging a feeling of security to enable these students to improve their learning.

Students who require additional support are identified through liaison work with linked schools upon transition to school, identification of needs by class teachers, screening tests where appropriate and via parental concerns. Our aim in identifying students’ needs, is to support students to enable them to have access to the national curriculum through the development of recommended adaptations via SEND pupil plans (also known as Individual Education Plans).

Some students may qualify for additional support for public examinations at Key Stage 4 (e.g., reader). In these cases, essential teacher evidence of the ‘usual way of working’ is gathered and collated. For students with formal diagnoses (such as Autism), a SENDCo file letter will support the individual's required ‘access arrangements’. For students without formal diagnoses, ‘Access Arrangements’ for individual students will be applied for following testing with an external access arrangement assessor.