Special Educational Needs and Disabilities

Special Educational Needs and Disabilities at BCF

All children are special! However, some children require more particular provision and may need to work in smaller groups, be provided with different resources or receive more dedicated adult support at some stage during their time at our schools.

Our Vision for Inclusion;

At the Burghfield Common Federation, we believe every child deserves to shine. Guided by our values of perseverance, kindness, respect, good manners and teamwork, we are committed to creating an inclusive and equitable environment where all pupils, especially those with SEND, are understood, supported and empowered.

We champion Community, Curiosity, Creativity and Challenge for every learner by removing barriers, celebrating individuality and ensuring equal access to tailored provision in addition to Quality First Teaching. Through strong relationships with families and professionals, we nurture each child’s strengths, promote confidence and independence and ensure they feel safe, valued and able to thrive.

Our vision is to discover every child’s sparkle and ensure that every learner, regardless of need, can flourish at the heart of our inclusive community.

All children learn in different ways and make differing rates of progress. Some children find learning harder than others, perhaps in reading, writing, maths or developing social skills and may need more help and support to make progress. If it is the case that a child has greater difficulty in learning than most of the children of the same age or needs support that is additional or different to the others in their class, then they are said to have Special Educational Needs or Disabilities (SEND).

Most children with SEND nationally, are educated in their local mainstream school and are provided with support in their learning in order for them make progress. The support they are given is called SEN Support.

Our aim is to identify areas where children may be under achieving or having learning difficulties at an early stage. We work in partnership with parents to identify areas of need and plan for their provision in class and any potential additional interventions and support. We use a range of interventions, alongside quality first teaching to support individual needs.

Interventions and targeted support may be delivered on a one-to-one basis or in a small group. Programmes and interventions are reviewed, monitored and adapted regularly by the Inclusion Manager and class teacher to make sure that they are successful in meeting the child's individual needs.

We have a range of staff who support children across the Federation.

Mrs Pickering is our Inclusion Manager and SENDCo - she oversees all of the SEND children and all of the work to support them across the Federation.

 Mrs Clarke is our Pastoral Lead - she support children and their families in many different ways across the Federation.

At Mrs Bland's Infant and Nursery School (MSB) we have the following staff:

Miss Cox is our ELSA and Learning Mentor – (Our dedicated ELSA page gives all the details of this important role), As a Learning Mentor she supports children’s social and emotional needs, but she works with children who may have specific barriers to learning, e.g. refugees or children who have newly arrived to the UK and require support with English.

Mrs Goby is our Reading Support teacher and SEN teacher

Mrs Fox is our SENCo -who oversees SEN provision. She works in partnership with teachers and teaching assistants and a range of external educational specialists as required, including Educational Psychologist, Physiotherapists, Speech Therapist, Occupational Therapist, Autism Advisory Teachers, Behaviour Support team, Emotional Health Academy, CAMHS etc

At Garland Junior School (GJS) we have the following staff:

Mrs Hopkins is our ELSA and Learning Mentor (see information above on the MSB role).

We have several Teaching Assistants who work with groups and individual pupils to support their learning and access to the curriculum.

To contact the SENCO - please email or telephone the school office.

Please see our SEND Policy and SEND Information Report below;

West Berkshire Local Offer

Click here to view our page on the West Berkshire Local Offer.

West Berkshire Directory, your one-stop shop for help and support in West Berkshire.

Garland SEND Policy and SEND Information Report