News Stories
Posted on June 12th 2019
SEND Team Wins Prestigious Award
We are pleased to announce that Harris Academy Rainham has been awarded the SEND Inclusion Award (SENDIA) in recognition of the excellent support we give to pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
We achieved the award after a rigorous assessment process carried out by independent inspectors and would like to congratulate Ms Walcott and our SEND team for their amazing work.
The award demonstrates that our school has achieved an outstanding level of SEND provision.
“A real culture of inclusivity”
In their report, inspectors wrote that parents, staff and pupils were all able to provide positive examples of how well SEND pupils are educated, supported and cared for at the academy. “Parents expressed their appreciation for how much support their children receive,” said the inspectors. “One parent commented: ‘They have bent over backwards to help my son and he now has 100% attendance’.”
The report said that teachers feel there is a real culture of inclusivity across the school. “SEND students now participate in the Student Leadership Team, in drama productions, school trips to outdoor education centres, the Food Bank, visiting care homes to read to residents, multi-cultural days and also enjoying the Friday Hot Chocolate reward programme with the Principal,” they said.
“Many more SEN pupils are now entered for GCSE exams than previously. All SEND students are encouraged to study a modern foreign language.”
Attractive learning environment
The report says that parents are very much involved in the planning of support and interventions designed to support their children. “They are provided with guidance to help their children to read at home. Parents forums have been introduced and parents are kept informed whenever any changes are made concerning their child.”
The inspectors said that a tour of the academy highlighted its attractive learning environment with up to date displays of pupils’ work. The easy to remember school moto 'Belong, Believe Become' is clearly displayed prominently around the school, they said.
Impact
Commenting on the very significant improvements that have been achieved since the school became an academy in 2016, the inspectors noted the increased levels of attendance, improvements in the reading age of all students at the academy, improvements in attainment level and the widening of curriculum choice.
“As a result of these improvements there has been a huge increase in parental confidence levels at the academy,” they said.
Areas for development
The report noted that we have already identified some next steps including:
- continuing to offer termly parent forums and introducing one in July 2019 for Year 6 parents
- holding termly student focus groups to ensure that the student voice is heard and acted upon
- offering further training to all teachers to embed ‘scaffolding strategies’ and to meet the individual needs of all students
- introducing a speech and language therapist into the academy from September 2019 to carry out assessments, monitor and facilitate interventions, observe students in class and carry out whole school training.
Principal Gareth Stananought said: “We are delighted to receive the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Inclusion Award in recognition of our commitment to providing high quality provision for all our students. The award has proved extremely valuable in helping us to review our practise, identify areas that need further improvement and taking steps to address these.”
Find out more about the SEND Inclusion Award (SENDIA).
