News from SEND
As many of you know I was appointed as SENDCo last June and have been settling into the role over the last few terms. I am delighted to say that Hayley Kelly has since been promoted to Deputy SENDCo.
It has been a busy few months. Our new student group NASA (Neurodiversity And SEND Awareness) has become established and has been making suggestions to Senior Leadership on lots of things from the bells to the paper we use. They have also been making posters to celebrate neurodivergent icons. These will go up around the school to show the gifts neurodivergences can give as well as ways to manage the challenges.
NASA also conducted an interview with the wonderful artist Kai Syng Tan, who spoke about how having ADHD enables and empowers her work and also had some advice for staff and students about managing the challenges. This was recorded and all students will get to watch it in tutor time.
One last piece of news is that I have recently become aware of changes to the referral criteria for ASC and ADHD/ADD assessments by the NHS. I have copied the link to these here:
https://sirona-cic.org.uk/children-services/resources/community-paediatrics-referral/
This will mean we can process far fewer referrals that we have up to now. Of course, support for students is not dependent on a diagnosis however, so please continue to get in touch if you have concerns. Families can book a phone call with the team using the link below:
Kate Smee, Director of SEND