Supporting pupils with special educational needs

At Bedford Free School we want to ensure all pupils are able to flourish and thrive.  We know that some pupils may need different or additional support at specific points during their education to achieve this goal.  Our school SENCo works closely with teachers to identify pupils’ needs and assess which interventions or specialist support may be required.  We monitor pupils’ progress using the “assess, plan, do, review” model which ensures support remains pitched at the current needs of the child.

We want pupils with additional needs to receive the high-quality teaching input from a class teacher as their peers. Therefore, our first priority is to aim for excellent classroom teaching that enables pupils with SEND to achieve success alongside their peers.  Our classroom expectations and routines are designed to reduce distractions, maximise learning time, and break learning down into small steps, all of which enable pupils with SEND to focus and make progress. 

Our teachers are supported to understand how best to teach responsively and will adapt explanations and resources to support the learning of individual pupils as necessary.  We know sometimes pupils may need additional intervention to support them to keep up or catch up with their peers.  We manage this carefully to ensure pupils have maximum contact with skilled teaching staff and minimise time away from the classroom, which can cause them to fall behind in other areas of the curriculum or feel a disconnect from their peers.

Our school provision is designed to educate the whole child.  This means that alongside academic intervention and support, we offer an enrichment curriculum and take a strong focus on developing social and emotional skills, emotional regulation, resilience, self-esteem, life skills (such as organisation, self-care and time management) and wellbeing.

DRAFT-BFS-SEND-information-report-2024-25.docx

SENCo - Zoey Diemer

Email - zdiemer@advantageschools.co.uk

Tel - 01234 332299