Special Educational Needs

At King Solomon Academy, we know that the best approach for most pupils is excellent universal teaching and learning. Where children need more or different to ensure barriers to learning are anticipated and removed, we carry out regular cycles of Assess, Plan, Do, Review to understand and plan for what targeted or specialist intervention they may require to succeed.

Wave 1: Universal

At King Solomon Academy, we believe every minute matters to promote your child’s learning and wellbeing.

We invest heavily in high-quality, consistent practice in every classroom

Teachers are given weekly Professional Development to deepen and extend their expertise on a range of school priorities

Teachers are supported by weekly meetings with Senior leaders and colleagues to identify next steps and develop practice further

Before we go to Wave 2, we check our practice of relevant universal strategies to promote a secure, consistent climate for learning

Wave 2: Targeted

Where a member of staff has a concern for a pupil’s learning, they share the concern with their line manager and will refer the concern to the school Inclusion Team

A school SENCO will then consult with teachers and agree on appropriate strategies to support the pupil

We will share these concerns and steps with parents promptly and openly

Wave 2 (targeted) interventions will be recorded on provision mapping software to track how we are supporting a child

Every child’s progress will be monitored every term and shared with parents

Wave 3: Specialist

In some cases, it is appropriate for King Solomon Academy and parents to seek external advice and support

We enjoy established relationships with a wide range of specialists, including:

• Early Help for early intervention with families
• Bi-borough SEN and Inclusion Team
• Bi-borough Educational Psychology Service
• Child Adolescent Mental Health Service
• Bi-borough ASD Advisory Service

At King Solomon Academy, we understand you may have questions about your child’s learning and wellbeing. That’s why we prioritise early, open conversations with you.

• Every term our Parents’ Listen Share Group meet to share their experiences of being parents of children with additional needs. All are welcome to join this group, no booking needed. If you would like to find out more, please email ksaparents@kingsolomonacademy.org.

We will:

• Listen to your queries and concerns
• Answer questions about your child’s learning to the best of our ability
• Share openly with you our observations about your child’s learning and wellbeing
• Support you, where appropriate, to make contact with external organisations (such as the NHS) to understand and meet your child’s needs better
• Meet you every term formally in Parents’ Evening to share how your child is progressing and agree next steps for their learning.
• Parents of pupils with SEND are invited to an extended Parents’ Evening appointment in autumn and spring terms to learn more about their child’s progress
• We run termly coffee mornings with a SEND focus and invite external speakers to join us (for example, from the Local Authority to talk about their SEND Offer). All parents are warmly invited to these events.

Where a pupil requires long term external support, King Solomon Academy will support your application for an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCPs).

When a young person has an EHCP, their parents or carers will be invited for a formal Annual Review to hear about the young person’s progress with their outcomes. Where appropriate, new outcomes will be proposed.

More information

• We know the importance of listening and learning from our pupils at King Solomon Academy, especially for those with additional needs.
• Our SENCOs meet pupils every week – in lessons, playtimes, interventions and drop-ins – to ensure we are providing the best possible care and education to our community.
• In Parents’ Evening, you will be invited to an extended meeting to discuss your child’s progress.
• We run termly pupil focus groups to promote pupil voice across the school.

We are proud to use Zones of Regulation to promote emotional self-awareness and regulation among our pupils.

Zones of Regulation is a strategy to help us identify how we are feeling and learn to develop coping strategies to manage our emotions.

For some people, it can be difficult to use adjectives to convey our emotions. Zones of Regulation instead uses four ‘Zones’ – blue, yellow, green and red.

• Blue Zone is when we might feel low, or slow
• Green Zone is when we might feel calm and ready
• Yellow Zone is when we might feel excited or ‘on edge’
• Red Zone is when we might feel angry, or lose control

In all Primary classrooms, pupils ‘check in’ with their Zone every morning and afternoon. This helps children become more self-aware of their feelings and helps adults to support them. Zones of Regulation also helps us become more resilient when facing difficult times.

In Secondary, Zones of Regulation is used to support pupils’ self-expression and self-regulation. This is especially true for pupils with Social, Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH) needs.

We Talk Speech and Language Therapy

Emma Fortune is a Speech and Language Therapist working at King Solomon Academy three days a week across both sites.

She is registered with the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapy and the Health and Care Professionals Council.

She is also a member of the Association of Speech and Language Therapists in Independent Practice.

Place 2 Be At KSA
we take the mental wellbeing of our pupils and staff seriously. That is why we are proud to work with Place 2 Be, a leading charity that offers counselling to pupils and staff who would like to speak to a counsellor.

AllChild
We enjoy a partnership with West London Zone, supporting pupils across both our Younger and Older Years Site who benefit from work promoting good mental health.

Mind
We are delighted to continue working with Mind. Trainee Educational Psychologists come to KSA to meet with young people with mental health difficulties and provide them with a space to talk and reflect.

We are proud of our experienced team of professionals working with pupils all-through KSA:

• In Primary, our Assistant Principal Inclusion and SENCO is Polly Swindells (p.swindells@kingsolomonacademy.org)
• In Secondary, our Assistant Principal Inclusion and SENCO is Elizabeth Idowu (e.idowu@kingsolomonacademy.org)
• If you would like to speak further with us, please don’t hesitate to be in touch.

Early Years Practitioners
EYPs work in our Nursery to support the first steps our pupils take on their educational journey at King Solomon Academy. They work alongside Senior Early Years Practitioners, our Head of Early Years and SENCO to help achieve Early Learning Goals.

Learning Support Assistants
Learning Support Assistants work in Primary to support interventions designed to help pupils with additional needs make progress with their learning and development.

Tutor Fellows
Across King Solomon Academy we have a team of Tutor Fellows to support teachers and Inclusion leaders working with our pupils. Tutor Fellows are often exploring a career in teaching. They gain excellent frontline experience and rapid development with weekly support from leaders. Tutor Fellows work closely with teachers and assist with small group interventions across the school.