We are a large school-wide team consisting of our SENDCo, Simon Dobson, our Assistant SENDCo, Mr Jonathan Lawes, and a team of Teaching Assistants (TAs) who support access to education for our pupils. We have subject-specific TAs for English, Maths and Science as well as a number of TAs working across year groups and with individual pupils. Our TAs also function as Key Workers for EHCP pupils and a small number of SEND pupils to facilitate regular conversations between school and home.
Our team are based in the Hub, a neurodiverse and exciting space within the school.
Interventions inlcude:
- Zones of Regulation to support Emotional Regulation as well as Social, Emotional and Mental Health
- Speech, Language and Communications support
- LEGO Therapy to support Social language and communication
- Literacy
- Numeracy
- Referral to Dr Penny Moore, Trumpington Community College's Mental Health Practitioner, who has been trained to support children with emotional difficulties.
- Group Therapy for older pupils
- Dyslexia support
- Preparation for Adulthood for Years 10 and 11 SEND pupils
- Bespoke small group support
- Metacognitive intervention
- Inference skills
- Training in using adaptive technologies
- Touch-typing
We work closely with a range of external agencies who provide specialist support and advice for individual students depending on their needs. These agencies include:
- SaLT (Speech and Language Therapy)
- Educational Psychologist
- Community Paediatrician
- Occupational Therapist
- CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service)
- Centre 33
- Romsey Mill
- Physiotherapist
- Hearing and Vision Support Services
- Local Authority SEND Team
- Local Authority Education Inclusion Officer
- Early Help
- Social Services
Assessment and Monitoring:
All students who enter Trumpington Community College complete baseline testing. This information is used alongside methods of data-tracking to identify students who may require additional support. A robust system of teacher-led referral also operates. When need is identified via testing and referral, teachers will seek to make adaptations within their delivery of the curriculum to support learning. When this becomes further individualised as a pupil is deemed to have needs that can only be met by measures which are ‘additional to’ or ‘different from’ their peers, that student is placed, sometimes temporarily, on the school’s SEND Register. Preferably via co-production with the pupil the family and teachers, the SENDCo will produce a Personalised Educational Need Plan (called a PEN Portrait) for the pupil. Intervention sessions are provided to target specific developmental needs and the progress of each student is monitored closely and further interventions may be offered using an Assess-Plan-Do-Review model and using the Graduated Approach (SEND Code of Practice 2015). The SEN register is reviewed on an ongoing basis to ensure that students are moved through the SEN stages of the Code of Practice in an accurate and timely manner. Throughout this process the SEND Department uses quantitative and qualitative pre-and post-baseline where possible testing to measure the effectiveness of these interventions.
Support from Teaching Assistants:
Classroom teachers and Teaching Assistants ensure that support is effective and builds upon learning in lessons. Teaching Assistants often work with small groups of students to develop specific skills and regularly make use of multi-sensory teaching to pre and post teach basic skills and concepts, that are intended to enable the student to make progress in mainstream lessons. Our Teaching Assistants also offer subject-specific support, playing upon their degree-level areas of expertise. They participate in regular Continuing Professional Development such as SLCN training via the Local Authority, in-house CPD around Autism Spectrum Condition or via the Higher Level Teaching Assistant Apprenticeship offered by United Learning.
Inclusive education:
We seek to be an Autism Education Trust friendly school, while having the highest of expectations about our SEND pupils' abilities. We pride ourselves on being fully inclusive and SEND students attend mainstream lessons with their peers, to ensure they gain the highest specialist subject knowledge from their teachers. Staff at Trumpington Community College access a rolling programme of Continuing Professional Development on how to support a variety of additional needs, in line with the SEND Code of Practice (2015), Quality First Teaching is at the heart of support for SEND students.
If you have further concerns about your child, then please contact us as follows:
Our SENDCo, Simon Dobson, can be emailed at simon.dobson@trumpingtoncc.org.uk or by calling 01223 551621.
Trumpington Community College SEND Information Report.
Coronavirus and isolation have hit the mental health of our young people. In Cambridge, Cambridge Mind and Centre 33 will be more than happy to offer young-person-friendly support.
If you seek to learn more about your child’s SEND needs and how to support them, then the PINPOINT charity in Cambridgeshire offers a rolling programme of webinars to support parents in need. Their Information Hub can signpost you to local support groups, benefits you may be entitled to, information about the statutory duties of schools and diagnostic support and advice. Just visit: https://www.pinpoint-cambs.org.uk/
If you think your SEN child may need additional support in the form of an Education, Health and Care Plan, then EHCP Journeys website is a great parent-friendly resource (although it is not Cambridge-specific).
Should you have SEN concerns about your child, and would like strong, impartial, parent-friendly advice, then the Send Information, Advice and Support Service (SENDIASS) team at Cambridge Local Authority can support you. They also provide informative videos about Special Educational Needs and statutory support on their website. SENDIASS are based at SENDIASS, Cambridgeshire County Council, SH1212, Shire Hall, Cambridge, CB3 0AP. You can email them at sendiass@cambridgeshire.gov.uk and they operate a confidential helpline, open during term times: 01223 699 214.
For legal support and advice, contact IPSEA, the Independent Provider of Special Educational Advice. They also offer training to parents around SEND legal issues – some trainings are means-tested and, as such, can be free. IPSEA can facilitate contact with an appropriate lawyer should you need legal aid. Visit them on https://www.ipsea.org.uk/
If you would like to know more about Cambridgeshire County Council's Local Offer for children and young adults with SEND, please visit:
About Cambridgeshire's local offer - Cambridgeshire County Council
Local offer - Preparing for adulthood (14-25) - Cambridgeshire County Council