Special Educational Needs
Who should I contact to discuss the concerns or needs of my child?
Thomas Becket aims to deliver a child-centred education where we approach each child’s needs on an individual and tailored basis.
Class Teacher
Should you have any concerns regarding your child or their needs, please contact your child’s class teacher through the school admin office admin@thomasbecket.croydon.sch.uk
SENCO
Our SENCO (Special Educational Needs Coordinator), Mrs Lorimer, will support class teachers to assess what is necessary for your child to reach their learning potential.
How will teaching be adapted to meet the needs of my child?
Teachers deliver quality first teaching where all children benefit from being taught through different approaches and techniques, to incorporate different learning styles.
Having explored different techniques and advice, we work as a teaching team to use those which best suit your child to adapt the curriculum, so that all pupils can access the broad and balanced curriculum that our school provides. We aim for the highest standard of provision that we can provide, using our skills and training.
Daily planning to incorporate the needs of all children in the class, underpins our ability to differentiate our approach and tailor our teaching to maximise learning opportunities for all children.
Where appropriate, support may be given in the form of interventions by teachers, support-staff, speech and language therapists and school counsellor. We will aim to continue to preserve independent learning in line with the support given, so that our pupils with SEND are given independence for life, starting with their move to secondary school.
How skilled are staff in meeting the needs of my child?
We have a workforce of highly skilled, competent staff who are empowered through their training and support from the SENCO, to meet the needs of the children they teach.
We have a continuous and robust training programme for the staff at St Thomas Becket, intended to provide teachers and support-staff with the training they require. This can vary from internal training where skills and knowledge are shared, or when required training through external training providers.
We have our own onsite Child Counsellor and Nurture Support, who are highly trained and skilled in managing the wellbeing needs of children.
We have our own Speech and Language therapist who provides early speech intervention and direction for staff working with the child.
When necessary, we seek advice from local specialist schools and external agencies to enhance the provision we provide.
There is a variety of training programmes that staff are trained in including:
- ELKAN training
- Read Write Inc Phonics
- Mental Health First Aid Training
- BRAILE training
If you would like further information please follow the link to the SEND Information Report.
How can I help my child?
At St Thomas Becket, we recognise and value the importance of a united approach between parents/care givers and the school.
Support from parents can range from reinforcing learning in class, through to emotional wellbeing support, depending on your child’s needs.
You may be required to attend meetings to discuss your child’s progress or attend appointments where services are outsourced.
Please contact your child’s class teacher, through the school admin email admin@thomasbecket.croydon.sch.uk for how you can support your child.
At St Thomas Becket Catholic School, we believe that all children are entitled to receive a high -quality, broad and balanced curriculum. A curriculum that is relevant to them and incorporates their cultural differences. The curriculum is designed to meet the needs of all our pupils regardless of their Special Educational Needs (SEN) or disabilities. Our intention is that all learners will reach their potential.
Early identification is the key to understanding each child's individual needs. This is an area we have developed by working closely with the parents, outside agencies and across the school as a teaching team. Teachers are supported and given the tools to implement a learning environment that develops all learners and especially supports the children with SEN to achieve to the highest standard.
We believe our pupils with SEN should be given the skills and experience to go on to secondary school as independent learners who have felt valued and included in all areas of our community.
For more information on our policies and reports please click on the links below. These can also be found listed under our Statutory Information page: page:
Locality SEND Support in Croydon
Our school continues to be part of a service provided by Croydon Council to improve support for children with special needs or disabilities (SEND) who live in Croydon.
We are working with a cluster of local schools, who together are given advice and resources to provide early intervention and better targeted help to support children and young people with SEND. This work covers children from nursery to year 11. It will enable our special needs staff to work closely with our partner schools and nurseries, to quickly get the necessary support and help for pupils who are beginning to demonstrate that they have additional needs, which cannot be met through our own school SEND resources.
This early help may be in the form of advice, school to school support, referral to specialist services, or additional resources, including early years special needs funding (SENIF) or Locality funding for older pupils. The support can be put in place rapidly without unnecessary delay. This is because our group of schools manage the resources between us, so we can direct this to the most suitable children in an efficient targeted way. If, despite this rapid support, it is thought that a child would still benefit from an Education and Health Care Plan, the local group will work together to ensure that the application to assess is appropriate, submitted promptly with all the relevant information including from outside professionals.
The initiative is called “Croydon Locality SEND Support” and will continue throughout this academic year. We will of course monitor the outcomes closely and we will always involve parents and carers in any decisions made and review the support regularly. Presently the scheme is only for Croydon residents and will not impact on students who already have an Education & Health Care Plan or those in Enhanced Learning Provisions or special schools.
If you want to learn more about this scheme, please contact our SENDCo and we will be happy to provide you with further details.