At King Edward VI Balaam Wood Academy, we believe that each person should be encouraged to achieve his or her potential in all aspects of school life. Supporting youngsters with Special Educational Needs is a clear expression of our mission statement – “Inspire, Succeed, Achieve”.

The guiding principles and objectives of the School’s SEN Policy are to ensure that the aims of the Mission Statement are secured for all pupils. We recognise that all pupils may have special educational needs at some time in their school career and that provision for these needs is on a continuum. We regard the pupils’ self-esteem to be of vital importance to their learning and intend that pupils should not feel stigmatised by their need. Teachers aim to ensure that all pupils have the chance to succeed, whatever their individual needs and potential barriers to their learning.

The current percentage of pupils with SEND is: 32.5%

Number of pupils on roll: 389

Where can the LA’s local offer be found?

This information is available on: Local Offer Birmingham

The SEND Local Offer is a resource which is designed to support children and young people with special
educational needs and/or disabilities and their families.


It describes the services and provision that are available both to those families in Birmingham that have an
Education, Health and Care Plan and those who do not have a plan, but still experience some form of special
educational need.


The SEND Local Offer includes information about public services across education, health and social care, as well as
those provided by the private, voluntary and community sectors.

SEND Policy

SEND Information Report

Accessibility Plan

Update to SEND information report in light of COVID-19

Identification of vulnerable children and young people

Throughout the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, educational settings have been asked to ensure that vulnerable children and young people can attend where appropriate, including those children and young people who have an EHC plan, and for whom it is determined, following a risk assessment, that their needs can be as

safely or more safely met in the educational environment. Their return should be informed by the risk assessments, to help educational settings and local authorities ensure that the right support is in place for them to come back.

On 24 March 2020, the Minister for Children and Families, Vicky Ford, wrote an open letter to children and young people with SEND, their parents/carers and families, and all others who support them. In this letter, the Minister makes clear that: ‘’nurseries, schools, special schools, colleges and other training providers should undertake a risk assessment to establish the individual needs of each child or young person with an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan. This assessment should incorporate the views of the child or young person and their parents. This will inform the decision about whether they should continue in school or college, or whether their needs can be met at home safely.’’

KEVI Balaam Wood Academy has completed a risk assessment in consultation with parents and the young children where appropriate to ensure we are meeting the needs of our vulnerable learners.

Attendance expectations for vulnerable children and young people

The government expects that for vulnerable children and young people who have an Education health and care (EHC) plan, attendance is expected where it is determined, following a risk assessment, that their needs can be as safely or more safely met in the educational environment.

Supporting vulnerable children and young people’s learning

KEVI Balaam Wood Academy provides a number of opportunities for home learning including setting work using Microsoft Teams, Class charts with additional support utilising Lexia Learning, MyMaths and Flash Academy.

There have been two temporary changes to SEND legislation in light of COVID-19

  1. Section 42 of the CFA 2014 (duty to secure special educational provision and health care provision in accordance with EHC plan): the duty on LAs or commissioning health bodies to secure or arrange the provision is temporarily modified to a duty to use ‘reasonable endeavours’ to do so.
  2. The SEND (Coronavirus) (Amendment) Regulations 2020 amend Regulations that specify timescales that principally relate to EHC needs assessments and plans. Where it is not reasonably practicable, or is impractical, to meet that time limit for a reason relating to the incidence or transmission of coronavirus, the specific time limit will not apply. The process must be completed as soon as reasonably practicable. Please read the rest of the SEND Information report in light of the above

Downloads

This website uses cookies to improve your experience.