Supporting Every Child to Thrive
Our Three Levels of Support
Every student at St John’s benefits from high-quality, inclusive teaching in every lesson.
Our teachers use adaptive teaching strategies to ensure that all learners can access the curriculum and make progress. This universal offer forms the foundation of our inclusive approach and is available to every child in our school.
Classroom Strategies
Classroom strategies might include breaking tasks down into small steps, using clear models and demonstrations, or providing alternative ways to record information such as diagrams.
For many children, these everyday classroom adaptations provide all the support they need to fully access learning in lessons.
Graduated Response
We use our graduated response to monitor every child’s progress through a cycle of “assess, plan, do, review”, where we can continually adapt and tailor strategies to address learners’ needs.
| More information about our Universal Offer. | Examples of Adaptive Teaching Practices |
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When students need additional help beyond our universal offer, we provide targeted interventions.
This may include support from teaching assistants, small group work, specific learning programmes, or access to Learning and Support – a dedicated space where students can receive focused support.
For students receiving targeted support, we work closely with parents to create a One-Page Profile that clearly sets out the interventions and strategies in place.
For students with the most complex needs, we provide specialist support through carefully designed provision packages.
This may include support from educational psychologists, speech and language therapists, or other specialists, and is underpinned by an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) where appropriate.
Our Commitment
Our SEND Team
Support for Parents
If your child is joining St John’s, we will work with you and their previous school or setting to understand your child’s needs. We’ll gather information about what works for them and how we can best support them.
All students have transition visits, and we can arrange additional visits if needed. We also offer guided tours for in-year transfers and prospective families who have a child in Year six..
EHCP
If your child has an EHCP, your Local Authority SEND Lead Worker will consult with St John’s to secure your child’s place. This should be done following your child’s Year 5 Transition Annual Review.
FAQs
We have put together a list of the most frequently asked questions from previous Year 5/6 open evenings. SEND FAQs
We proactively review every child’s progress through standardised assessments (e.g. CATS, NGRT reading tests), Curriculum Impact Assessments (CIAs) and ongoing teacher observation and assessment, all of which are helpful in identifying possible needs.
Graduated Approach
We use a graduated approach comprising four stages: assess, plan, do and review to highlight where children may need additional support beyond our universal offer.
Identifying SEND Needs and Diagnosis
We are unable to diagnose a specific SEN in school, but we can identify needs and put in place approaches to support them. It is not necessary for a child to have a formal diagnosis to receive SEN support.
If you are unsure whether a formal diagnosis is right for your child and want more information about the options open to you, please see the following document: SEND – Identifying Needs and Formal Diagnosis.
Test Assistance and Access Arrangements help schools to offer equal opportunities to students with additional needs during tests and exams.
The main difference between these two support measures are:
• Test Assistance: offered by teachers in accordance with the student’s daily needs.
• Access Arrangements: in place as a legal requirement from KS4 onwards to enable students to access assessments in compliance with the Equality Act 2010.
Students are assessed for Access Arrangements based on teacher observation and identification of need. There are very strict eligibility criteria which are subject to regulation and overseen by the Joint Council of Qualifications.
We are committed to providing a fully accessible environment which values and includes all pupils, staff, parents and visitors and our buildings are designed to promote physical accessibility. You can find full details of how our site is accessible in our Accessibility Plan.
If you are worried or anxious about your child’s progress or wellbeing at St John’s, it is best to approach their tutor, subject teacher or key worker first. Our switchboard number is 01672 516156, or you can email us at enquiries@stjohns.excalibur.org.uk.
The SEND team will contact you to discuss your child’s progress at various points throughout the year, either in-person, by telephone or online.
We will work with you to regularly review any One Page Profile that may be in place for your child, and welcome feedback on the support we have put in place. If you need support in the interim, you can contact us at send@stjohns.excalibur.org.uk
If you have feedback on your child’s One Page Profile, or want to update us on any changes, please contact us using our Parent Feedback Form.
We will respond to all queries as soon as possible and always within 5 working days as outlined in our Communication Policy.
