BISU SEND Information Report for 2021

• As a prestigious British International School to promote, develop and celebrate achievement.
• To be a centre of excellence for every child.
• A happy environment, high achievement, student discovery, commitment of staff, pupils and parents and a school that takes a British approach.

We strive to ensure that all students achieve their potential personally, socially, emotionally and academically in all areas of the curriculum.

This document is intended to give you information regarding the ways in which we ensure we support all our students, including those with SEND, in order that they realise their full potential.

It may not list every skill, resource and technique we employ to achieve this as these are continually developed and used to modify our provision to meet the changing requirements of our students.

1. The kinds of special educational needs for which provision is made at the school.

We are a high achieving British International school. We aspire for all of our students to achieve their potential, including those with SEND. Students are identified as SEND when their progress has significantly slowed or stopped, and the interventions and/or resources based on Quality First Teaching that we normally put in place do not enable improvement. A student may also be classed as SEND where there are external agencies involved with the child.

2. The school’s policies for the identification and assessment of students with special educational needs.

Our teachers closely monitor the progress made by all students and ask advice from the SENDCO as soon as they have concerns about any student. Class teachers are encouraged to refer any students they may be concerned about to the school SENDCO using the official referral form. The SENDCO can also help teachers to plan activities such as small group work or special programmes to help the students.

If these activities don’t help the student to make better progress the SENDCO might suggest other programmes or temporary additional support or ask for advice or assessment from an external specialist service. If the student still does not make improved progress, the SENDCO, form tutor or subject teacher will meet with parents/carers and student and together agree that additional SEND support will be put in place.

We will inform all parents if your child has been placed on the SEND register. We will also inform parents if your child has made necessary progress and no longer needs to remain on the SEND register. Exam concessions will be put in place for those with need. As soon as a child’s SEND has been identified we will contact parents and invite them to come into school to discuss plans to support the child (and parents as necessary).

3. The school’s policies for making provision for students with special educational needs.

Our policies on SEND provide information about how we make provision for all students with SEND. These policies are available to view on the school’s Parent Portal.

• a) How the school evaluates the effectiveness of its provision for such students. We regularly review data for all students and the impact of interventions is measured and evaluated. Subsequent interventions will then be put in place if needed. All parents receive termly reports. The SENDCO, alongside class teachers, will assess and review the progress of all students with SEND at key data points in the year. This includes academic progress, attendance, behaviour, readiness for learning and self-esteem. The outcomes of these reviews will be shared with parents at parents’ evenings or review meetings with the Class Teacher, who will liaise with the school SENDCO.
• b) The school’s arrangements for assessing and reviewing the progress of students with special educational needs. Parents are central to the planning and intended outcomes of the plan. Parents are welcome to bring a person to support them, for example a family member/ friend or parent partnership representative. However, parents do not need to wait for these meetings if there is a concern, a meeting can be arranged with key staff to discuss concerns.
• c) The school’s approach to teaching students with special educational needs. As a school we have the highest possible expectations of your child and all students in his or her class. All teaching is based on building on what students already knows, can do and can understand. Teachers will personalise learning and differentiate work to ensure that all students are able to access the curriculum and are fully involved in learning in class. This may involve using more practical learning or providing different resources adapted for your child, including ICT. The teacher will also put in place specific strategies (which may be suggested by the SENDCO or specialists from outside agencies) to enable a child to access the learning tasks. We always teach to the top and scaffold down, to ensure students achieve their full potential.
• d) How the school adapts the curriculum and learning environment for students with special educational needs. Teachers regularly check and report on student progress. If there are gaps in understanding and/or learning, teachers will identify what extra support is necessary to close the gap in progress between individual students and other students of the same age. Interventions might include small group sessions or 1:1 support for students. Intervention sessions will identify specific targets for improvement. These interventions may be led by either a teacher, assistant teacher or a Higher Level Teaching Assistant (HLTA) working to plans produced by a teacher. The interventions will be monitored so that the impact and effectiveness can be tracked. The Form Tutor, Head of Key Stage or SENDCO can provide information about what individual year groups are learning and how students are being helped to make better progress. There is more information about the school curriculum on our website.
• e) Additional support for learning that is available to students with special educational needs. Support is given to students in a variety of innovative ways, ranging from access to ATs, EAL intervention coordinators or Higher-Level Teaching Assistants (HLTA) in lessons, to peer mentors and external agency liaison.
• f) Activities that are available for students with special educational needs in addition to those available in accordance with the curriculum. Students with SEND are fully included in our extensive COL enrichment programme, with some activities aimed specifically for them. Where adjustments or specialist risk assessments are needed for a student to access an activity, the SENDCO will involve parents/ carers. This includes residential and educational visits.
• g) Support that is available for improving the emotional and social development of students with special educational needs. We have a range of programmes within school to support the emotional and social development of students. We do respond to the needs of the individual, tailoring an individual programme of support if needed. We utilise many agencies for support if we need expertise beyond our own staff. All students access a tutor programme with PSHE (Personal, Social, Health Education) themes at the forefront.

4. The name and contact details of the SEND co-ordinator.

Mr Gavin Guest is the school’s qualified SENDCO and Whole-School Designated Safeguarding Officer. There is a team approach to Special Educational Needs and inclusion at British International School Ukraine. If a child is already at British International School Ukraine, then parents can make contact with the Class Teacher or at the campus front desk.

5. Information about the expertise and training of staff in relation to children and young people with special educational needs and about how specialist expertise will be secured.

At British International School Ukraine we pride ourselves on innovative and current practice. Therefore, the training of all adults in the school is paramount to the success of all learners. Regular and appropriate staff training takes place, both of a generic and child-specific nature.

Whole staff training shares knowledge, expertise and experience in order to gain an outstanding, consistent approach to supporting SEND learners. Examples include Autism training and training for teachers to enable them to support students with hearing and visual impairments. Training is delivered by experts.

6. Information about how equipment and facilities to support children and young people with special educational needs will be secured.

Buildings may undergo ‘reasonable adjustments’ to ensure that they are accessible for all of our students. We have designated ‘safe’, supervised areas that students can access during break and lunch times to lessen anxiety, building and promoting confidence and friendship.

7. The arrangements for consulting parents of children with special educational needs about, and involving such parents in, the education of their child.

At British International School Ukraine we value all our parents and truly believe in working in partnership to get the best possible outcomes for our students. Target setting/ reviews, emails, texts, SEND meetings are all good ways to communicate and plan for SEND support.

8. The arrangements for consulting young people with special educational needs about, and involving them in, their education.

Students are at the forefront of everything we do at British International School Ukraine. Their views are very important to us. This takes a variety of forms: involvement in reviews and meetings; student voice surveys; self-assessment and through the School Parliament where students are represented across the school to give their feelings and viewpoints about different aspects of school life.

9. Any arrangements made by the School Advisory Group (SAG) relating to the treatment of complaints from parents of students with special educational needs concerning the provision made at the school.

The school will give careful consideration to all concerns and complaints and deal with them fairly and honestly. At BISU we aim to encourage resolution of problems by informal means wherever possible. We will provide sufficient opportunity for any complaint to be fully discussed and aim to resolve it through open dialogue and mutual understanding. Our complaints procedure is available to view on the Parent Portal.

10. The school’s arrangements for supporting students with special educational needs in transferring between phases of education or in preparing for adulthood and independent living.

All students will receive support, if needed to the next phase of their learning journey. There is an extensive primary to secondary transition process, with an enhanced programme for the more vulnerable learners.