Parent/Carer Frequently Asked Questions
You can contact the SEND team by email: SENDCO@bradfordacademy.co.uk, or via 01274 256789. You can request a meeting at any time; to avoid disappointment, please do ensure you have an appointment if you wish to speak to the SEND team.
Miss Libby Butterworth-Smith (Associate Assistant Principal -Senior SENDCO) leads SEND and inclusion at Bradford Academy, her full timetable is dedicated to this role. She is a qualified teacher, SENDCO and access arrangements assessor and has 10 years’ experience as a SENDCO.
Bradford Academy have two additional Deputy SENDCOs: Mrs Tanyha Roberts (10 hours dedicated to the role) and Mrs Susan Riley (full-time within SEND). Both are qualified teachers and SENDCOs and deliver targeted cognition and learning interventions and oversee the planning and quality assurance of our suite of interventions. Mrs Riley is also a qualified access arrangements assessor and is also qualified to administer psychometric testing; she has 5 hours per week dedicated to this.
Ms Katie Sharp is our Resource Provision Manager for children with Physical Disabilities and/or medical needs who have an EHCP, her full timetable is dedicated to this role.
Ms Katrina Astley is our Resource Provision Manager for our A-Space provision which is accessed by children who have a diagnosis of Autism and have an EHCP. She is a qualified teacher, and her full timetable is dedicated to teaching within and managing this provision.
Our on-site Local Authority-led SEMH (social emotional and mental health) provision is led by Mrs Lisa Connor.
These documents are updated at least annually and can be found here:
SEND PolicyChildren are placed on the SEND register if they need provision which is additional to and different from their universally available curriculum offer (extra interventions). This is where their difficulties are significant and ongoingafter short, targeted intervention and high-quality teaching has not been able to fill gaps in learning. This is where the intensity and frequency of intervention is great, and makes up a significant part of their timetable.
Children with a diagnosis do not automatically get placed on the SEND register if they do not need ongoing intervention which is additional to and different from their mainstream timetable.
Children with English as an additional language where there are no SEND needs in their first language are not placed on the SEND register.
Children with low-prior learning or have gaps in their learning may access intervention without being placed on the SEND register if they make expected rates of progress.
Bradford Academy have a series of screening tests to check for both low-prior learning and learning gaps as well as if these issues could be because of a SEND need.
Children who are ‘flagged’ as having potential needs are first placed on a ‘monitoring’ list by the SENDCO whilst further assessment, observation and tracking takes place
The SEND team will contact you to let you know of any concerns, and if we feel we need to place your child on the SEND register. Some children arrive at Bradford Academy with a ‘historic’ SEND code from their previous school.
A Pupil Passport is your child’s SEND support plan in school, however children on the ‘monitoring’ support list can still have one so that needs are communicated effectively to staff in school.
It contains the following information, which is shared with class teachers:
- Key background information
- How I communicate best
- Strengths and interests
- Difficulties
- Linked support strategies
- History of professional involvement
- Reasonable adjustments/passes
- Normal modes of working/access arrangements
- Diagnoses
- Areas of need
They are reviewed at least annually, but at any time there is a parent/carer meeting and in response to any changes or new information such as a new letter from a medical professional. If your child has an EHCP they will also be reviewed as part of the annual review process.
You can request a review meeting at any time by contacting us by email SENDCO@bradfordacademy.co.uk. Please include the name of your child, year group and what you would like to talk to us about. We will get back to you to you to offer a meeting/phone call appointment within 7 days.
As part of the Pupil Passport reviews cycle, parent/carer and student views are collected and recorded on the meeting log, and agreed amendments are then made directly to the Pupil Passport and reshared with parents/carers and teaching staff. Parents/carers can request review meetings at any time, but these are done at least annually.
Key information such as passes, reading ages and if the child is SEND/EHCP support, is ‘pinned’ on systems so staff can see at a glance.
If your child has SEND support, they will also have a Pupil Passport which is their SEND support plan.
If children need the support, regardless of having an EHCP or a diagnosis, then support is planned for them. Support is needs based; we follow professional reports and guidance, where children have them, and we also look at handover information from previous schools, but we also screen children through a series of assessments to check for needs.
Additional in-classroom support is allocated to core subjects where children who have been identified as having significant difficulties through screening, an EHCP plan or other professional report. The teaching assistant is shared in small groups within the lesson (we do not use withdrawal) and directed by the classroom teacher to facilitate support across a group of learners, which can include some individual 1-to-1 targeted support where needed for part of the lesson. The teaching assistant may be directed to work with the children who are not on SEND support, whilst the classroom teacher delivers the targeted support, which ensures the most qualified and subject-specialist teaching can be targeted to the learners who have the greatest need. Bradford Academy is a mainstream school, so 1-to-1 support full-time in a lesson would only be allocated in exceptional circumstances for a significant physical impairment, or where an EHCP states this is required.
Bradford Academy are prioritising allocating staff to well-planned, high-quality and nationally-recognised interventions across all broad areas of need, in the view that if children are being taken out of a lesson on their mainstream timetable for an intervention, that it needs to have impact so that children can make rapid progress, to return to mainstream lessons as quickly as possible. Core Cognition and Learning interventions are delivered by qualified teachers or those with higher level teacher or teaching assistant training, and are planned and overseen by a SENDCO to ensure quality. Children do not need a diagnosis or EHCP to access interventions; these are needs based, and Bradford Academy have multiple layers of rigorous screening, and then re-screening at least twice annually, to ensure needs are not missed.
Your child does not need to have an EHCP or a diagnosis to access additional support or interventions in school, or referrals to external professionals or assessments, they can access the same support opportunities as they are given to children based on their needs. A child does need an EHCP to apply for a special school or resource provision (a setting that is not mainstream), however.
EHCPs or Educational Health and Care Plans, are legal documents where a child has significant and complex special educational and or health needs which requires provision which is above and beyond what is ordinarily available SEND support in a mainstream school. An EHCP brings together existing SEND support plans, health and medical plans, care plans and all professional reports and advice for the whole professional team around the child into one single plan, and the provision is legally protected.
Parents/carers and other professionals can make an application for an EHCP needs assessment with or without school, but schools will still be consulted and will respond with any evidence they may have to support the application anyway. Applications can be made here: Bradford Local Offer | EHC Assessment – Online Portal (please be aware if your postcode falls within a different Local Authority, you will need to apply to your area’s Local Authority.)
When schools make the application, rather than a parent/other professional, they will usually wait until they have gathered all the information required to evidence to show that the child ‘may have special educational needs and/or difficulties where they may need special educational provision to be made for them through an EHC plan’. This is the threshold criteria for an application to be progressed by the Local Authority. The evidence needed to show that an EHCP might be needed looks like:
- Several cycles of several targeted interventions and their impact, showing that expected progress has not been made and learning gaps have not been closed. This shows that there is a SEND need rather than a lower prior learning need/lower starting points.
- SEND which is significant and persistent, and gaps in learning/difficulties have not been solved through targeted intervention, and the intensity and frequency of the interventions are high, such as support/intervention for over 20% of their timetable. These interventions are targeted, not universally available in-class support, additional to and different from the mainstream offer.
- That professional advice has been sought and implemented, and exhausted.
IPSEA provide helpful guides to parents/carers about EHCP needs assessments, and when and how to apply Asking for an EHC needs assessment | (IPSEA) Independent Provider of Special Education Advice
Please complete the following screener forms and return to your SEND team at sendco@bradfordacademy.co.uk or via reception:
- Concerns around ADHD traits: Parent_Vanderbilt_v2.pdf
- Concerns around ASD traits and sensory sensitivities:
Please be aware these are screener forms, not application forms for an assessment. They screen traits to see if your child meets the threshold in criteria to warrant progressing to a formal assessment application, or if further support in-school needs to first be explored.
The following sites may be helpful in understanding ASD:
The following sites may be helpful in understanding ADHD:
Bradford’s Local Offer also publishes helpful guides around getting an assessment:
Bradford Local Offer | A One Minute Guide – Getting an assessment for autism
Bradford Local Offer | A One Minute Guide – Getting an assessment for ADHD
Bradford Academy are only able to screen children for a likelihood of literacy difficulties which could be indicative of a possible Dyslexic profile. This means we can run a computer-based screening tool to see if a child has Dyslexic traits. This is not a recognised diagnosis of Dyslexia, it can only tell us of some areas of difficulty which helps us understand what support your child might need. Dyslexia can only be diagnosed by a registered Dyslexia assessor. It is not usual to have a registered Dyslexia Assessor in schools and Bradford Academy does not have anyone with this qualification in school.
If you wanted to pursue a private assessment for a diagnosis of Dyslexia, you would need to book and pay for this yourself. An assessment would include a comprehensive professional report which would include advice to school around in-class and exams support. Assessments can cost around £480 so it is worth being aware that if you are looking to get an assessment purely for evidence for exams access arrangements such as extra time or a reader, this is not necessary; other forms of evidence can be provided for this (please see ‘I think my child might need extra support in exams’).
An example of a local registered assessment company is www.yorkshiredyslexia.co.uk . Their website has information about Dyslexia as well as information about pursuing a private assessment and what is involved.
Support in exams are called Access Arrangements, and schools have to apply for them to be granted for use in formal exams such as SATs and GCSEs.
Examples of Access Arrangements include:
- A human reader/computer reader
- Scribe
- Extra time
- Supervised rest breaks
- Alternate rooming
- Prompt
- Practical assistant (such as for physical disabilities)
- Word processor
Exams Access Arrangements are regulated by the Joint Council for Qualifications; there are strict rules and strict examples of evidence that must be provided, that are updated every year around Access Arrangements that schools must follow to ensure fair assessment, and the JCQ audit each school, every year.
Schools cannot decide who can and can’t have an Access Arrangement. Schools must apply to the JCQ by their deadline date, with evidence, to request a child to have Access Arrangements in any formal exam (such as SATs and GCSEs). The JCQ must approve the request before a child can have the Access Arrangement in their exams.
For more information about JCQ’s rules and what evidence is needed, please see: Overview of evidence requirements for access arrangements – Joint Council for Qualifications
We start gathering evidence from some of the first assessments your child sits with us at enrolment, to prove that the Access Arrangements we are applying for have been your child’s ‘normal ways of working’ both in-class and in assessments throughout your child’s school life. We will share with you what your child’s normal modes of working are and what Access Arrangements your child needs as part of the Pupil Passport (SEND support plan) review cycle every year. Please speak to the SEND team right away if you feel your child might need Access Arrangements for their exams.
Please be aware JCQ set an external deadline date for Access Arrangements applications, so there is a cut-off for applications to be made.
Please be assured that if anyone has an urgent need to use the toilet outside of break and transition times, then they will be supported to go by the pastoral team.
Obviously, we have to keep a register of where children are for safety reasons, such as if there was a fire alarm, so permitting children to leave lesson, particularly if they are feeling unwell, needs to be logged to keep them safe. We also log to ensure children are not needing to do this multiple times a day, which could be an indication of a medical, emotional or behavioural concern, which can cause gaps in learning due to missed lesson time.
Children who have an existing medical condition which means they cannot wait longer than an hour’s lesson may bring in their diagnosis letter from their medical professional. If a child cannot wait longer than an hour to use the toilet, it is important they are checked by a doctor. We are conscious we do not want to put unnecessary strain on medical professionals to write to us to request a child has a toilet pass, so we must stress that an existing diagnosis letter is sufficient; please do not ask doctors to write to us specifically for a toilet pass. You can screenshot relevant parts or download your child’s medical record from NHS online: Access your NHS account – NHS
Please see the Adaptive Uniform Policy:
- Any reasonable adjustment to uniform needs to be an application to SEND team accompanied by a medical letter with professional recommendation of what the adjustment should be. It is essential that we work together, acting on professional advice in order to be giving the right support and adjustments for our children. A parent/carer letter will not be sufficient. We also need this specialist advice to understand what specialist equipment or adaptations we need to make so your child can access the curriculum (such as protective equipment in Science labs, safety equipment in PE and Food Tech).
- Accepted examples of advice include: an existing diagnosis letter stating a physical condition that requires adaptive shoes/insoles/clothing, Occupational Therapy or report or Orthopaedic or Physiotherapist report. For sensory needs this can come from Sensory OT or CAMHS, or as part of an ASD diagnosis letter with advice to schools. Bradford Academy recognise the importance of not putting unnecessary strain on medical professionals and services, so will not request a medical note from GPs; this is parental discretion if you feel you need to pursue a medical letter where you do not have existing evidence of a condition.
- Where possible, requests need to be made in advance to allow for processing and notifying staff, so that learners are not unnecessarily challenged/sanctioned and upset/embarrassment caused. There are incidences such as unforeseen injury where it is recognised that adjustments need to be made with immediate effect.
- Where there are complex medical needs, or sensory profiles, an additional meeting with the SEND team may need to be made to discuss what support and adaptations need to be made.
- Temporary passes/allowances can be made for a period of 4 weeks in the recognition that it can take time to request and obtain a medical letter, or for parents/carers to shop for adaptive uniform, and we do not wish to present any barrier to attendance or learning.
- Uniform adaptations are still uniform in that clothing items are formal and still look like uniform. For example, adaptive trousers will still be smart, plain black, no logos and be made of a tailoring material but may have a different lining for sensory needs, have an elastic waistband or adaptive fastenings, unless there is explicit recommendation from a medical professional stating what adaptations are needed linked to an individual’s medical need. (Further examples are provided in the table below.)
- The Academy’s PE kit is not an accepted uniform outside of PE lessons, unless there is explicit recommendation from a medical professional stating what adaptations are needed linked to an individual’s medical need.
- It is the responsibility of parents/carers to find and provide appropriate adaptive uniform, which is now more readily available and affordable in recent years, and can be found in a variety of online retailers and supermarket chains.
- Please speak to the SEND team if you would like to discuss your child’s needs; we are understanding that needs are always individual, and aim to remove any barriers to attendance and learning.
Example guidance:
| Uniform item | Example acceptable adaptations |
| Shoes (image) | Flat-soled, formal black shoe, closed toe, polishable, no logos, orthotics/insoles, adapted elastic laces/velcro fastenings. |
| White shirt | Adapted buttons/velcro fastening, vest/long sleeve worn under for sensory needs, wider neck/top button adjustment. |
| Black trousers | Straight or wide-leg, smart, plain black, no logos and be made of a tailoring material but may have a different lining for sensory needs or tights/leggings worn underneath, have an elastic waistband/side zips or other adaptive fastenings. |
| Tie | Velcro or elastic fastening tie. |
| Blazer | Adaptive lining, or blazer to be carried. |
| Jumper | V neck/round neck, or adaptive buttons, cardigan. Plain black, no logos or Academy logo. |
Bradford Academy will be happy to provide evidence which you can use as part of a DLA assessment request; this would be a copy of your child’s SEND support plan (Pupil Passport) which gives an overview of your child’s needs, diagnoses, difficulties, interventions and support linked with these difficulties in school. You can ask for this at any time.
However, Bradford Academy do not have the capacity at this moment in time to complete DLA forms or support the completion of DLA forms, but please be assured that anyone who knows the child well or any other professional involved in your child’s care can support with this as it isn’t essential for your child’s school to sign a DLA form for it to be processed.
Citizen’s Advice can often be helpful for parents/carers who need support in completing forms: Freephone Advice Line Number 08082 787828 / Website: www.bradfordcab.com
Please see Fidget Item Appropriate Use Policy:
- Children must have a pass to have a fidget item on their person in school, these are issued by the SEND team.
- Approved fidget/concentrator items are small (can fit in the palm of a hand), silent and discrete; they are there to support a student’s concentration in lesson and must not distract the student or their peers.
- Fidget items may also be used to support regulation or during a brain break. If this is an in-class brain break, again they should be used discretely such as under the desk or in pockets or palms of hands.
- Fidget items are not toys and are not to be used in a way that becomes a barrier to learning to students or peers. Teaching staff are responsible for learning environments which are conducive to the effective learning for all children in their lesson, and so their professional judgement applies around acceptable use of fidget items.
- Suggested examples of approved fidget items can include a small piece of Blu Tac.
- Students are responsible for their own fidget items and they should be part of their daily pencil case equipment. They are not provided by school, and we have none to loan other than Blu Tac.
- If a fidget item is not used in accordance to the Fidget Item Appropriate Use Policy, they could be confiscated by staff and it is the student’s responsibility to collect at the end of the day. Repeated misuse can result in a student’s Fidget Item Pass being revoked.
- Fidget Item Passes are reviewed every half-term and/or when the student’s Pupil Passport is reviewed if they have one.
Recent guidance tells us that children’s visual difficulties can sometimes be masked by providing a coloured overlay if they have not first had their eyes fully tested for vision, eye-tracking and visual strain. Schools no longer provide an overlay for children unless a ophthalmic report tells us exactly what support we should provide. It is important we do not mask difficulties, or contribute further to any visual strain difficulties.
If a child has already been ‘prescribed’ an overlay: children will need to provide their own overlay (they are specific in colour/material to the individual) and they are responsible for their own equipment; an overlay is part of their usual pencil case equipment.
You may find the following information helpful about Irlens Syndrome, and how to seek a screener test: What is Irlen Syndrome? – Irlen
Every Local Authority has to publish information about the services in their locality via their own Local Offer, this is a central directory. Please be aware that if your postcode where you live falls outside of Bradford, you cannot access Bradford’s services even if your child attends a school within the Bradford locality; your Local Authority is based on your home address.
Glossary of services and their contact details in Bradford:Bradford Local Offer | A One Minute Guide – Bradford district SEND services
Bradford Barnardo’s SENDIASS (free Information Advice and Support Service for SEND Families).
- Telephone: 01274 513300
- Email: Bradfordsendiass@barnardos.org.uk
- Bradford Local Offer | Bradford Barnardo’s SENDIASS
- 40-42 Listerhills Science Park
Bradford BD7 1HR
