SEN Information Report and Local Offer

What kinds of special educational needs are provided for at Hardwick House School?

All children and young people have a diagnosis of Autism or associated difficulties with social communication, learning and sensory needs.
Provision for pupils’ individual medical and health needs (e.g. epilepsy, diabetes) is agreed on an individual basis and is supported within their Education Health Care Plan.

Arrangements for consulting parents of children with SEN and involving them in their child’s education include:

Termly Progress Meetings scheduled for each child and their family (also attended by the child or young person wherever relevant and meaningful to do so) in which progress is reviewed.
Regular home-school book or email communication describing learning focus, progress and any challenges faced during the day.
The offer of home-visits or community visits with the family and their child in order to support learning across settings.
Termly curriculum progress report.
Frequent phone calls and ‘ad hoc’ opportunities for families to meet with members of the school team.

Arrangements for consulting young people with SEN and involving them in their education include:

A child-specific transition is planned to support each child or young person to have the best possible start at Hardwick House School. This includes an admissions assessment at Hardwick House and, where relevant, a visit to the child’s current school or home. The admissions process includes seeking the views of the young person about their admission to Hardwick House School.
An emphasis on teaching choice-making and communication skills runs through the entire school curriculum.
All behaviour is understood to be a form of communication. Staff understand the ‘function’ or purpose of a child’s behaviour and this informs the teaching and behaviour support strategies included within a child’s individual Learner Profile and personalised curriculum.
Learners complete a ‘One Page Profile’ submission at their Annual Review. This includes their views on what they enjoy, their strengths, what support they need, who their friends are, and any future hopes and aspirations.
Patterns in behaviour data are analysed to support learners who may still be developing the communication tools they need in order to make themselves understood in a socially appropriate manner e.g. where high instances of behaviours that challenge are found in one lesson but not others, staff analyse the data to understand the purpose of the behaviour in that lesson and to adjust the environment accordingly so that the learner can access learning and have their views understood and needs met.

Arrangements for assessing and reviewing children and young people’s progress towards outcomes, including the opportunities available to work with parents and young people as part of this assessment and review include:

Daily updates in the home-school communication book or via email.
Termly reports showing progress
Baseline assessment on entry to the school includes: academic assessments, parental views, Sensory Processing Measure, The Children’s Communication Checklist.
‘Formal’ termly meetings and ‘ad hoc’ meetings between families and school staff are scheduled – these include the Annual Review in which longer term outcomes and shorter term goals are agreed between the young person, school and family.

As young people prepare for adulthood, outcomes should reflect their ambitions, which could include higher education, employment, independent living and participation in society.

Arrangements for supporting children and young people in moving between phases of education and in preparing for adulthood include:

A personalised curriculum offer that includes the opportunity to work towards recognised qualifications.
Careful handovers and preparation for transition between classes each year.
Timetabled Key skills / Community Skills, PSHCEE and Social Communication.
A rich, broad, balanced and relevant curriculum offer that includes a variety of community-based sport and leisure opportunities including team sports, horse-riding, climbing, and golf, that ensure that learners have regular opportunities to develop their community living skills and interests.

Person-centred transition planning in all years and accompanied visits to prospective future educational settings.
Teaching and behaviour support strategies that place an emphasis on increased independence.
One-page Profiles completed with each learner to support their transition to their next setting.
Teaching and behaviour support strategies that place an emphasis on increased independence.
Regular meetings with a specialist independent Careers Advisor for all pupils from Year 9 upwards.
Regular careers-based events to ensure that all learners have meaningful interactions with a range of employers.

The approach to teaching children and young people with SEN is:

Person-centred. Each child or young person is at the heart of decision making about the approach/es taken to support their learning and to meet their diverse needs
A partnership between home and school, with an important focus on a child or young person being able to learn and generalise their learning across home, school and in the community.
Informed by the knowledge and expertise of an on-site multi-disciplinary team including Qualified Teachers, Behaviour and Intervention Leads, Speech and Language Therapist, Occupational Therapist and Counsellor who assess and plan together.
Underpinned by a whole-school behavioural approach that informs all teaching and behaviour support strategies
Guided by research evidence of strategies that are known to be effective. Day-to-day planning is always informed by reflection of whether a teaching strategy or behavioural intervention is making a positive difference to a child’s progress

How are adaptations made to the curriculum and the learning environment of children and young people with SEN?

Our Curriculum Policy describes in detail how the curriculum and learning environment is adapted to meet the needs of each learner.
The curriculum is personalised to the needs of each child or young person using the following principles:
- varying the frequency of parts of the curriculum, for example, a higher proportion of time each day is allocated to English Basic Skills (with an emphasis on expressive and receptive Communication and inference); Mathematics Basic Skills;
- weekly time is allocated to other important areas of the curriculum such as PSHCEE, PE, Social Communication and Science and life skills.
- recognising out-of-class time as contributing to aspects of learning that are important for learners with learning difficulties, for example, planning, recording and monitoring learners’ progress with behavioural issues.
- linking parts of some subjects in themes, for example, ‘topic’ units of work that bring together a range of different subjects so that learning is contextual.
- an emphasis on teaching and promoting choice-making by learners throughout their school career, from choice of enrichment activity, to making an informed choice about life beyond Hardwick House School.
- Individual choice about which qualifications to pursue in Key Stages 4 and 5.

Hardwick House School is a small and friendly school set within large grounds. Facilities include:

spacious and naturally well-lit and ventilated classrooms;
a counselling and therapy room;
a well resourced teaching kitchen;
a science laboratory;
written and visual aids including individual learner laptops.

What is the expertise and training of staff to support children and young people with SEN, including how specialist expertise is secured?

The staffing structure includes Qualified Teachers, Behaviour Leads, Speech and Language Therapist, Occupational Therapist and Counsellor. The school also has both a Clinical Psychologist and an Educational Psychologist. We work closely with CAMHS and Social Services.
All staff are trained using the Autism Education Trust’s programmes.
We offer a comprehensive induction programme, including Safeguarding training with a specific focus on understanding the signs and indicators of safeguarding and child protection concerns for children and adults with autism and associated communication difficulties.
We offer all staff a rich programme of weekly Continuing Professional Development and additionally regular line management meetings and regular individual coaching.
We support a number of staff each year to complete training programmes through which they can gain Qualified Teacher Status.
A number of support staff are working towards the Level 3 Specialist Support Teacher qualification.
We offer year-long training placements to psychology students from Loughborough University.

How are children and young people with SEN enabled to engage in activities available with children and young people in the school who do not have SEN?

All learners at Hardwick House School have SEN.
We support families through home-visits and an open-door policy, to enable Hardwick House learners to engage with their siblings and the family to enjoy their time together.
In all years, children have opportunities to learn beyond the classroom, for example through regular community trips and community-based leisure activities. These are activities which many children also then enjoy with their families.

How are children supported to improve their emotional and social development?

Children with autism may find it more difficult than others to understand and self-manage their emotions and associated behaviours. Like all children, they first need to learn how to recognise and label the emotions they are experiencing before going on to learn how to manage these, and they may need more support than some to learn effective strategies. Before children develop these strategies, they may use behaviours that challenge (e.g. task avoidance, aggression, property destruction, self-injurious behaviour) to express themselves. Therefore each child at Hardwick House has their own Learner Profile. Each profile includes suggested techniques to be used with the individual.
Social Communication sessions, led by the Speech and Language Therapist are included in the curriculum for all learners.
Learners enjoy their break and lunch times together as a whole school. They are encouraged to communicate with each other during these important parts of the school day.
Morning and afternoon registration times include opportunities for learners to interact with each other, plan ahead for the day together and reflect on how a day has gone.
Hardwick House School has a counter-bullying policy.
The school PSHCEE curriculum includes a focus on bullying, including cyber-bullying.
Hardwick House School has a School Council aimed at increasing the voice of young people in the school so that issues such as bullying and school routines are addressed in the most supportive way to learners.
All children are encouraged to speak with their teacher or a trusted adult about any matter that concerns them.

How does the school involve other bodies, including health and social care bodies, local authority support services and voluntary sector organisations, in meeting children and young people’s SEN and supporting their families?

All adults working in the team around each child are invited to attend each child’s Annual Review each year.
As and when required, we co-ordinate overlaps and joint observations with other professionals either at school or in the child’s home or other setting.
We work closely with CAMHS and other Health Professionals to ensure that a robust Health Care Plan is designed and carried out for any child requiring one.
We provide placements for university students. These increase the trainees’ knowledge and understanding of autism.
Where applicable, we maintain close relationships with social workers.
Arrangements for supporting children and young people who are looked after by the LA and have SEN take the same personalised approach and include liaison with staff at the child or young person’s residential settings as well as with the Virtual Head.

What are the school’s arrangements for handling complaints from parents of children with SEN about the provision made at the school?

If a child or young person has a concern about the SEN provision, they are encouraged to first speak with their form teacher or Behaviour and Intervention Lead to express their concerns. Our commitment is always to working with young people and their families and in most cases, when highlighted early, it is possible to address the problem informally. Where the young person or carer remains dissatisfied with the provision they are receiving, they are encouraged to make an appointment to speak with the Headteacher who will make every effort to listen to the concern and to work with the family and colleagues to resolve the issue.
Should the informal approach to resolving a concern not result in a satisfactory conclusion, details of our school’s Complaints procedure can be found on our website.

How does the school contribute to the Local Offer? Where is the Local Offer published?

Hardwick House School is an Independent Specialist Provision located in the county of Leicestershire.
Children are placed at Hardwick House School by a number of Local Authorities. Hardwick House School is included in the Local Offer of each of those Local Authorities.