At Millais, all students, whatever their needs or abilities, are valued and encouraged to develop confidence in themselves as learners and to have high aspirations for themselves.
Support is provided for any student who at any time in her school career is identified as requiring additional or different provision to help her to make progress.
We believe that all teachers need to have training and expertise in Special Educational Needs and Disability. We also promote an ethos of positive partnership between our staff and the parents/carers of our young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities.
Our SEND Team (comprised of SENDCo, Deputy SENDCo and Learning Support Assistants) work in close collaboration with the Inclusion Manager and Learning Mentors, colleagues and parents/carers in order to overcome barriers to learning and progress.
Support strategies and interventions vary across the key stages and are tailored to meet the needs of students identified as being in need of support. These include:
- Support for transition from primary school including special taster activities at Millais for Year 6 children (the Millais Moving On Groups), visits to the primary schools by the Director of Year and the Director of Learning for Specialist Intervention (SENCO) and individualised support for Year 6 students needing extra transition support.
- ‘Wave 1’: full access to the National Curriculum suitably differentiated to take account of each individual’s needs and taught in classes by subject specialist teachers.
- ‘Wave 2’: literacy and numeracy intervention, including the use of Lexia ‘Power Up’ in Year 7 English lessons for students with the weakest literacy skills and small group numeracy intervention during Key Stage 3 for targeted students.
- ‘Wave 3’: personalised literacy/numeracy teaching is offered to students in Years 7, 8 and 9 if their SEND is a particular barrier to learning. This is usually those with an Education Health Care Plan (EHCP).
- A ‘Study Support’ option at GCSE, for students who would benefit from taking Entry Level English and Maths.
- In-class support from Learning Support Assistants with expertise in both curriculum subjects and individual needs.
- Social and emotional nurture group work focussing on social skills, friendship etc. for targeted individuals at transition and throughout Key Stage 3.
- Bespoke individual support and mentoring for students’ social and emotional well-being for targeted students.
- Advice and support to subject teachers from a Dyslexia specialist teacher.
- Access to key staff with whom trusting relationships can be developed so that students can share their concerns.
SEN Information Report | PDF | 281KB
Inclusion - Student Support
For additional information regarding student support, please view - S - self and wellbeing - supporting our students' wellbeing tab.
The Inclusion Team work to provide support and guidance to individual students who need to overcome specific barriers to their learning, and to help them develop strategies to cope better with life’s challenges, develop resilience, and engage fully with the opportunities offered at Millais. The Inclusion Area is a recently refurbished, multi-purpose space which can provide a quiet learning environment, with dedicated areas for private conversations, to enable students to feel secure and to receive appropriate support. There are areas for self study, and support for young people who need to calm and ground themselves to enable them to rejoin their classes and focus on their learning. The investment in this area really shows the importance that the school places on being inclusive, and the commitment to provide targeted support to the mental health and wellbeing of our whole community.
We are fortunate to have experienced Learning Mentors who are able to offer one-to-one intervention to students, and liaison with family members and external professionals. The team encourage students to find the grounding and coping strategies that work best for them. We are also able to offer group interventions to support resilience and improve relationships. The team supports students to reintegrate to learning after extending periods of absence in a stepped manner that suits their individual needs. The Learning Mentors typically deal with improving mental health and wellbeing, overcoming anxiety and developing self esteem. Other students need academic support, anger management, help improving attendance and EBSA (Emotionally Based School Avoidance), bereavement, behaviour, family relationships, friendships and social skills, medical issues and Post 16 options.
The Inclusion team are a key part of the school’s commitment to safeguarding, and we are fortunate to have a dedicated team of external counsellors who typically offer a series of 6-8 counselling sessions to students who are in need of therapeutic support. We are able to signpost and support vulnerable students and families to access the most appropriate services, most of whom are able to support our young people within the Inclusion area.
Some of the outside agencies who the Inclusion team are pleased to work with to offer our students’ support include:
- CAMHS
- Youth Emotional Support
- Dialogue Counselling
- Stepping Stones
- Fegans
- Beacon House
- Children’s Services
- Early Help team
- School nursing
- Young Carers
- Allsorts
- Winston’s Wish
- Change, Grow, Live
We have strong relations with alternative education providers from West Sussex APC and Brinsbury and Crawley Colleges for the small number of students who need targeted support off site.
Our main goal is to provide our students with the tools they need, and the space and support when necessary to get them engaging with all the opportunities on offer at Millais.
