At Ark Boulton, we genuinely believe that SEND is a whole-school approach. This means we aim to provide a learning environment where students with special educational needs make exceptional progress. We recognise the skills students bring to the school and ensure that they have quality access to the whole curriculum so they can build on these skills as they develop into young adults ready to face the world outside of the academy.  

We strongly believe it is our duty to be accessible and inclusive for all pupils and therefore, we live this through our day to day practice, in every classroom across every faculty in the academy. Supporting students with SEND does not just sit with the SENCO or our Enhanced Provision Faculty, it sits with everyone. As an academy, all our teachers understand that as practitioners, we are teachers of character, literacy, subject and SEND. All lessons are fully inclusive and teachers are trained on how to support our SEND students so that they can fully participate and experience success.  

We passionately believe that the students’ learning needs will first and best be met through high quality teaching delivered by mainstream subject teachers. There is no replacement for Quality First Teaching therefore, our approach centres arounds: 

1.                   Clear routines and high expectations for all. 

2.                  High quality Professional Development for teachers. 

3.                  A consistent structure in the delivery of lessons so that all students, especially those with SEND know what to expect from one lesson to another. 

4.                  Specific targeted support for students through One Page Profiles and individualised interventions. 

Together with Quality First teaching, we support students’ individual learning requirements using the graduated approach of the ‘assess, plan, do and review’. Every student with additional needs has a One Page Profile that is written together with the student and parents so that everyone has an input. This profile is used by all teaching colleagues to plan and support students in lessons. When difficulties or concerns arise, we ensure that early intervention is put in place to close gaps in learning, provide appropriate emotional support and ensure full access to the curriculum.

Please see our policies page for more in-depth information about our SEND provision.