Provision for children with SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities)

At Healey we work hard to ensure that all children are supported to make the best possible progress in school. Our SEND offer is very much a team approach; we work in partnership to share good practice with involvement from teaching staff, parents/carers, and specialist services, ensuring that all of our learners are able to Believe, Achieve and Succeed.

Mrs Widdop, SENDCo (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Coordinator)

Mrs Widdop began her SENDCo career in 2013 and achieved the Postgraduate Certificate in Special Education Needs Coordination in 2014. She has a passion for supporting young people with special educational needs by working closely with staff, parents/carers and other appropriate professionals and this passion underpins everything.
 

Mrs Widdop ensures that the SEND offer at Healey is inclusive of all learners, and that all learners are able to enjoy shared experiences. A key aspect of the SENDCo role is working to raise educational achievement of SEND learners through this bespoke provision.  

Mrs Knapton, ELSA (Emotional Literacy Support
Assistant)

ELSAs are teaching assistants who have had special training from educational psychologists to support the emotional development of young people in school.  ELSAs are warm, kind and caring people who want to make children feel happy in school and to reach their potential socially, emotionally and academically. They understand the barriers to learning that some young people might have and can help them with this.
 

Mrs Knapton supports our learner’s emotional development and helps them to cope with life’s challenges. She also helps our young people to find solutions to problems they might have.
Mrs Knapton is here to help our learners find their own solutions, rather than fix their problems, and offer that important support.

Mrs Keogan, Drawing and Talking

Mrs Keogan is a trained Drawing and Talking practitioner and works with children in school to support their emotional wellbeing through the drawing and talking intervention. Drawing and Talking is a safe and gentle therapeutic approach, which provides an effective way for young people to process emotional pain or trauma they may be experiencing. The technique is intended to allow the child to play, by drawing a picture, and process any emotions they are holding internally in a safe and no confrontational way, working at their own pace.

Miss Rawat - Therapeutic Story Writing Practitioner

Miss Rawat is our trained Therapeutic Story Writing Practitioner and works with small groups of children to support their emotional wellbeing through the therapeutic story writing intervention.

Therapeutic Story Writing is an evidence-based intervention which has been shown to enable young people to develop cooperative and trusting relationships with their peers, to help them to process their emotional experiences which leads to significant improvements in learners’ emotional vocabulary and their sense of belonging.

Therapeutic Story Writing Groups are small; around four to six children, usually aged between 7 and 12. The groups meet for one hour once a week over ten weeks to write stories inspired by a story opener supplied by the Therapeutic Story Writing Group practitioner. Each session begins with a mindfulness moment and a feelings check-in. Then one learner's story from the previous session is read and a new story opener is given – typically a phrase or a sentence. Then the children and the practitioner write a story, share their stories and draw pictures. The session ends with a mime game.

The Retreat

Relationships are key in helping children and young people to feel safe and nurtured. We have created a safe, nurturing reflective space called The Retreat to support our children.

As well as being the home of Mrs Widdop and Mrs Knapton, many of our wellbeing activities take place in here. Our children can take time out of their busy day to relax and recharge in our lovely room, relaxing on our sofa and bean bags, or watching our solar light show.

To view our SEND Policy, please see the Policies page.