Abbey Hill Academy Sixth Form
Local Offer
How we know if young people need extra help and what parents/carers should do if they think their young person may have special educational needs:
- Students at Abbey Hill Academy Sixth Form are assessed on entry and are placed into ability groups dependent on their particular needs. Each group has its bespoke curriculum reference elsewhere on this website
- All young people attending the Sheraton Building have an Education and Health Care Plan - EHCP.
- An annual review of the EHCP is held for each student.
- The review is a good opportunity for all parents and carers to discuss the young person’s progress and the update the EHCP.
If you feel your young person’s special educational needs have changed or are not being met then please get in touch with either your young person’s class teacher or the principal, Kathryn Thompson.
How our school staff support young people:
- All of our staff are highly skilled and will be aware of your young person’s needs and will ensure that you are kept fully involved if there are any changes to that plan.
How the curriculum will be matched to your young person’s needs:
- We ensure that all young people follow a curriculum that is compliant with the Post 16 Study Programme.
- We have several differentiated curriculum models that are designed to accommodate young people who are working around P4 to those who we would expect to attain around 8 GCSEs and other Level 1 and 2 qualifications.
- The programme offer includes academic and vocational qualifications and opportunities for work experience programmes.
How we tell you how well your young person is doing and what support we have put in place to help your young person:
- We encourage parents and carers to have regular contact with school.
- In addition to the regular reports parents and carers receive, each young person will have their EHCP reviewed annually, parents and carers are encouraged to attend the review.
- There are two further opportunities to talk to your young person’s teacher about their progress – at the start and end of the academic year.
- You will receive annual progress reports
- Some young people will have a home school book
- Support we will provide to ensure your young person’s overall wellbeing.
- Each young person will have a personal tutor and special needs assistant attached to his or her tutor group who ensures that they are happy and secure
- The tutor is the first point of contact with any queries or concerns you may have.
- We have many years of experience ensuring that young people with learning difficulties are safe and thus we follow safeguarding and child protection protocols rigorously.
- Specific services and expertise available and accessed at your young person’s school
- We have highly skilled specialist teaching staff.
- Where it is appropriate, young people have access to educational psychologists, speech and language therapists, occupational therapists, physiotherapists and specialist resources i.e. hydrotherapy
- Other services that may be involved are Youth Direction, and Social Care.
How our staff are trained to support young people with their special educational needs:
- All staff follow a comprehensive Professional Learning programme which is tailored to the special educational needs of the young people.
- We have members of staff who have received a high level of autism awareness training.
- Staff have attended British Sign Language, specific SEN teaching and learning, safeguarding, and first aid courses.
How we tell you how well your child is doing and what support we have put in place to help your child:
- We encourage parents and carers to have regular contact with college.
- In addition to the regular reports parents and carers receive, each student will have their EHCP reviewed annually; parents and carers are encouraged to attend the review.
- There are regular opportunities and events to talk to your son/daughter's teacher about their progress.
- You will receive regular progress reports in the form of a full yearly report. The reports detail what your son/daughter has been learning to date and what they will be expected to learn in the future. Each student also receives targets in core subjects which are reviewed on a regular basis.
- If you have any concerns about your young person, staff want to hear from you. Whatever the problem, large or small, please do not hesitate to get in touch.
Opportunities for parent meetings include:
- Meet the student's tutor - early autumn term
- EHCP Review - late autumn / early spring term
- End of Year Progress Review - summer term
How we include all young people in activities outside of the classroom and on school trips:
- All young people will have the opportunity to take part in activities, whatever they are, outside of the classroom.
- We have an inclusive approach for all young people regardless of their disability or special educational needs.
- All activities and school trips are designed to enhance a young person’s life skills.
How accessible our school environment is:
- The Sheraton Building is a purpose build college for young people who may have mobility problems and SEND.
- All teaching rooms are situated on the ground floor with wide easy to navigate corridors.
- We have disabled toilets and full changing facilities with hoists.
- We have adaptable furniture within both practical and traditional teaching rooms that allow students with mobility issues to take a full and active part in lessons.
How school will prepare and support your young person to join the school, move to a new school and move onto their next stage of education or life:
- We have comprehensive transitions packages in place at all key stages.
- We have teachers who as part of their remit have responsibility for transition.
- We have a record of successful transition to further education or training.
- We start planning the young person’s next placement almost as soon as they join the Sixth Form.
- We will begin to discuss their future placement in their first review that occurs within six months of joining us.
- We work closely with Youth Directions and social workers to ensure the next placement is appropriate and will continue the young person’s journey into adult life.
- We facilitate, along with colleagues from Youth Directions, the young person’s transition with day visits and if required further time to settle as the transition date approaches.
- We have established links with a number of further education provides who we meet with prior to the young person’s start date to pass on key information.
How we allocate resources to meet your young person’s special educational needs:
- Each young person has allocated to them a budget that will meet their specific educational needs which will be outlined in their EHCP
- If we feel that a young person’s needs have changed then we will talk to you about this.
- We may need to ask for additional support for your young person, you will be involved in all decisions about support.
SEN Information Report
Please see the Trust's SEN Information Report
This will provide you with more information on how as a Trust we support children and young people with special educational needs.
Who you need to contact if you need further information:
Kathryn Thompson
Principal
Tel: 01642 677113
