Our SENCOs are: Mrs Joanna Eade and Ms Rachel Greene.

Email: office@inspirewestthornton.co.uk FAO: SENCO

or call the school on: 020 8684 3497

Many children have an ‘additional need’ at some stage of their school career - though this may only be of a temporary nature and may be emotional, physical or intellectual. There are also those pupils, as highlighted by the Education Act 1989, who have a specific learning difficulty.

The class teacher, who is in close and daily contact with the children, is primarily responsible for identifying, assessing and providing a programme of study to meet the needs of any pupils with additional needs. Typically, children with learning difficulties would receive extra support within a small group from a member of the teaching or support staff. Careful records of targets are kept for individual children and the progress they make. These are reviewed on a regular basis.

 A unified, systematic approach is essential within the school to ensure all-round support, continuity and an effective structure for communicating with parents. The DFE ‘Code of Practice’ and our own Special Needs Policy (based on the Government's Code of Practice, 2014) provide the framework for these processes Provision for pupils with additional needs is coordinated by the school’s SENCO. (Special Educational Needs Coordinator).

We are committed to providing the right education for our pupils.  We are a fully inclusive school that welcomes and celebrates diversity.

All Croydon maintained schools have a similar approach to meeting the needs of pupils with Special Educational Needs and are supported by the Local Authority to ensure that all pupils, regardless of their specific needs, make the best possible progress in school.

For more information on Croydon’s Local offer, CLICK HERE.  

Our school continues to be part of a service provided by Croydon Council to improve support for children with special needs or disabilities (SEND) who live in Croydon. 

We are working with a cluster of local schools, who together are given advice and resources to provide early intervention and better targeted help to support children and young people with SEND. This work covers children from nursery to year 11. It will enable our special needs staff to work closely with our partner schools and nurseries, to quickly get the necessary support and help for pupils who are beginning to demonstrate that they have additional needs, which cannot be met through our own school SEND resources. 

This early help may be in the form of advice, school to school support, referral to specialist services, or additional resources, including early years special needs funding (SENIF) or Locality funding for older pupils. The support can be put in place rapidly without unnecessary delay. This is because our group of schools manage the resources between us, so we can direct this to the most suitable children in an efficient targeted way. If, despite this rapid support, it is thought that a child would still benefit from an Education and Health Care Plan, the local group will work together to ensure that the application to assess is appropriate, submitted promptly with all the relevant information including from outside professionals. 

The initiative is called “Croydon Locality SEND Support” and will continue throughout this academic year. We will of course monitor the outcomes closely and we will always involve parents and carers in any decisions made and review the support regularly. Presently the scheme is only for Croydon residents and will not impact on students who already have an Education & Health Care Plan or those in Enhanced Learning Provisions or special schools. 

If you want to learn more about this scheme, please contact our SENDCos and we will be happy to provide you with further details.