SEND Special Educational Needs & Disabilities

Some SEND parents and carers have come together to work as a sub-group. This SEND group can be very wide, including mental or physical health, and can include children not on the SEND register even. A strength of KES is that they take our word and don’t demand a diagnosis.
**RULE: Due to highly sensitive and private subjects of issues facing the wide SEND group, we ask parents to not divulge shared personal details/experience of children outside this group.

SEND Pupils’ Experience Of KES

Forced academisation has been of particular concern to parents of pupils with SEND (Special educational needs and disabilities), and indeed to the children themselves. So strong was the feeling about that effect of academisation on SEND child that families came together to form a SEND group within the KES The Future umbrella. The SEND Whatsapp group now numbers 50 parents.
Many parents, though not all, had a very positive view of the support their child received at KES. A number of parents stated that they had chosen KES because they felt the ‘traditional liberal’ ethos of the school would align with their child’s SEND needs. Parents with children who had SEND but were also very academically able/interested were particularly satisfied with the school.
During discussion parents identified 4 themes, which they thought supported their child’s SEND.

1. Nurturing individuality within a supportive school community:

At King Edward’s children are encouraged to be themselves. For example, the school has a dress code rather than a uniform. Lots of children find the dress code supports their sensory needs and need for self expression, which can be critical for good mental health of neurodiverse children.
Parents valued that staff seek to engage pupils though their interests, particularly though after school clubs and creative options and sports. Where possible flexibility in timetabling. Parents felt that the school actively supports children in finding peers with similar interests.

2. The KES pastoral system:

KES has pastoral managers who stay with the same year group throughout their time at the school. This helps children build trusting relationships and is a quick way to provide extra support without the need to establish a particular diagnosis, this is particularly relevant because the wait times for diagnosis are so long.
Parents really valued the pastoral managers as a route to get, for example 5 minute early passes, or pass on information when children were struggling.

3. Proactive approach to mental health:

In our group we have a parent who is a mental health professional, working across South Yorkshire. He told the group that KES is regarded as a model of good practice in mental health. Myself and other parents who have children with mental health problems value the school’s input with our children. The school recognises the need to reduce a child’s stress before it becomes toxic. Flexibility is shown to pupils under stress and well-being is valued more highly than conformity.
Many parents in the group specifically stated that they had chosen KES because it had a traditional liberal approach as a SEND need, rather than a ‘warm/strict minor compliance’ approach. Many feared that academisation might mean a change of behaviour to a compliance, no excuses model which they felt would be damaging to their child.

4. Effective co-production with parents:

Many parents particularly valued being treated as the experts on their child by staff at the school. In other schools parents described being told their child is ‘fine in school’ and their concerns are unwarranted. For those parents who were happy with the support available feeling ‘believed by staff’ was very important.
Some parents reported that they had significant input to the support documents for staff and that parents’ suggestions of helpful interventions were often taken up.
Many parents felt that the current ethos and ecosystem of KES is the most important part of the SEND support their child receives. Under current SEND legislation it would be extremely difficult to protect families from radical changes of ethos. However, at least 10 families in this Whatsapp group are considering applying for an ECHP in order to protect their child’s support.

If you would like to join this Whatsapp group please visit https://kesthefuture.org/small-groups-to-join-about-kes-the-future/ .
Once you have joined the announcement group for the “KES The Future” Whatsapp community you can then access all the sub-groups.