Special Educational Needs and Disabilities

Offer of Special Educational Needs and Disability Provision at Comberton Village College for 2024-25

SENDCo – Emily Oakley-Pullen

The Cabin Head (Enhanced Resource Base)  – Jane Hylton

What is Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND)?

A child or young person has SEND if they have a learning difficulty or disability which calls for special educational provision to be made for him or her.   A child of compulsory school age or a young person has a learning difficulty or disability if he or she:

• has a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others of the same age, or
• has a disability which prevents or hinders him or her from making use of facilities of a kind generally provided for others of the same age.

Vision for SEND at Comberton Village College

The special educational needs and disability (SEND) vision and values of Comberton Village College (CVC) are as below.

CARING

Comberton students care for and aid each other, the school and their wider environment. They understand, value, and respect their own and each other’s place in our community. Our SEND students have a sense of belonging within the main school and further within our SEND provisions this enables them to be open-minded individuals being kind to others and themselves as they move forward in their life.

Our entire school community is made up of individuals and all are expected to be caring towards each other, celebrating differences, including those with SEND, creating a wholly inclusive safe environment both within and outside the classroom.

CONFIDENT

Comberton students are individuals who become confident, creative, interested citizens, with the character, resilience and well-being to make and grasp new opportunities. Students feel confident in their contributions to the school & their community and feel this throughout their time at school & beyond. Students are expected to encourage each other. Teachers within school are confident at teaching students with SEND. Staff working with SEND students are passionate in their abilities to communicate with students, enabling the students to build their confidence within lessons.  

CAPABLE

Comberton students follow a broad and balanced curriculum enhanced with interventions appropriate to individual need. This curriculum equips them with the powerful knowledge and skills necessary to express informed opinions, to make safe choices, build resilience and to live a flourishing life in changing times.

Staff are able to make adaptions to ensure all students feel capable within lessons and extra curriculum activities, ensuring students leave Comberton with a confidence in their capabilities to succeed in life after school. 

Please see the report to the left of this page for full details of our offer. 

Range of Provision

We believe that CVC can offer an exceptionally good range of provisions/resources and are confident that our approach of treating every student as an individual means that we can provide tailored support for students with SEND and provide bespoke support and resourcing to specific need.

Our offer is overseen by the SENCo, Emily Oakley-Pullen and comprises of the following:

• The Centre for those students who have a specific or moderate learning disability, or a physical, sensory or medical condition (managed by Sarah Carter)
• Key Stage 3 and 4 Support for those students who have social, emotional and mental health difficulties or behaviour challenges (managed by Steph Wright and Sharon Baker, Oversight by Deputy Principal, Sean Sycamore)
• Specialist support in the sixth form for students with identified SEND (managed by Laura Peacey)
• Provision for those students across the school identified as Most Able and Talented (managed by Eleanor Norman) 

Within the school site there is an Enhanced Resource Base for students with autism & an EHCP, The Cabin  is managed by Jane Hylton. This is accessed via application to the Statutory Assessment and Monitoring team within the Local Authority. More information can be found here.

Further resources available

The range of support offered to students will depend on the needs presented and if the student has an EHCP or is able to have their needs met through quality first teaching. Please see the OAP document on the left hand side

The School Site

We ensure that the school site is fully accessible for wheelchair users, those with mobility issues and visually impaired students. We do this by having lifts, ramps, disabled toilets, a therapy room for physiotherapy, specialist equipment and equipment such as talking scale and calculators, adapted tools and sports equipment. Braille signs are installed on all of our classroom doors. 

Other policies

As with all students in the school, other policies which help us work effectively with those who have SEND areas below. Please see:

The Cam Academy Trust Cabin Policy can be found here

https://www.combertonvc.org/parent-and-student-information/policies

https://www.catrust.co.uk/key-information/policies

Health and Safety Policy to ensure that the school is fully accessible to all disabled students

Disability Equality Policy and Accessibility Plan

Equality and Diversity Policy 

Safeguarding Policy

Positive Behaviour Policy

Further Information

If you think your child has SEN please see our Special Educational Needs Policy Click here 

The member of the school’s governing body with responsibility for SEND is Mrs Janet Banks.

The Local Authority Local Offer can be found at the pages below: 

About Cambridgeshire's local offer - Cambridgeshire County Council

If you have any complaints about the school arrangements for SEND then please look at the complaints policy on CAM Academy Trust website.