Special Educational Needs (SEN)
At the Piggott School we welcome students with special educational needs as part of our community and we aim to ensure that all students have an equal opportunity and access to engage in a broad and balanced curriculum. We celebrate the success of all our students and OFSTED have noted that those students with a statement or on School Action Plus achieve beyond the national average.
Some of our students will need additional support to ensure access to the whole curriculum. To achieve this we work in partnership with parents and carers, valuing their views and contributions and keeping them fully involved in their child’s education. The child is also involved, where possible, in decision making about their support. We believe that the effective education of students with SEN can only be achieved through a whole school approach endorsed enthusiastically by all staff.
Learning Support Assistants
Some Learning Support Assistants are linked to departments – this happens mainly in Maths, English and Science. Others are generalists who work across the curriculum. All of the team support a range of Special Educational Needs and work with both Key Stage Three and Four students.
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Most of the twenty three Learning Support Assistants are part-time and cannot be allocated to the same student for all their lessons in a given subject or exclusively to a department. In terms of fostering independence being supported by a variety of staff is a good practice for an individual student.
The Learning Support Assistants team attend a briefing every Tuesday and go to two Pupil Review Training sessions each term. At these concerns around two students are discussed and various strategies suggested by the team and Learning Support Manager. They also attend in-house and external training too.
Access Issues
The Piggott School is the preferred secondary school in WBC for students with a physical disability.
In recent years many improvements have been made to make the school more accessible:
- Each departmental area now has an external ramp entrance.
- There is an automatic door opening system to all of these main areas for students with mobility problems.
- Most departments and the Library have adjustable furniture for use by those in a wheelchair.
- Benches have been put around the site to provide resting points for these and other students.
- We have a new physiotherapy room.
- An extra disabled toilet has been built.
