The SEN Code of Practice (2014) requires schools to publish an SEN Information Report (paragraph 6.79), which outlines their provision for children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). The report must be published on the school’s website, easily accessible to parents/carers and pupils, and set out in clear, straightforward language. It should be updated each year.
As an independent school, Gesher School is not required by law to produce this document. However, it provides a simple way to explain to parents/carers, pupils and local authorities what is offered at Gesher School. It should help parents/carers and their children and young people understand the school.
Introduction to Gesher School
Gesher School is an independent all-through Jewish special school for children and young people aged 4 to 16 years. It received an Ofsted Outstanding in its first-ever inspection. Gesher School provides a specialist, meaningful and functional learning environment for children and young people with special educational needs, including language, communication and social pragmatic difficulties. Children are at the heart of Gesher School, where a sense of belonging and community is fostered. Gesher School is a safe, friendly and stimulating environment in which children are supported to learn, interact and have fun.
Gesher children are unique, individual and learn in their own special way. They may benefit from being educated differently regarding communication and social interactions, tailoring and adapting their environment to their own learning style. Gesher children are likely to have mild-moderate learning needs and/or autism. Many children have sensory processing difficulties and poor attention skills. Gesher School is not a school for children whose primary need is emotional and behavioural difficulties or severe learning difficulties. Children that attend Gesher School will come from a family that understands and respects the values and ethos of the school and the Jewish way of life; subsequently, Jewish Studies is an integral part of the weekly curriculum that all children have access to.
Gesher ensures that each child’s needs are met through a whole and multi-therapeutic team approach. Gesher gives children the confidence and resilience to maximise their potential and, where appropriate, access opportunities for integration; the school works closely with families and Local Authorities to support this process.
At Gesher we provide:
- Opportunities that enable children to thrive; we want our children to be ambitious about achieving their full potential.
- A collaborative learning team around every child to support each child’s learning needs and maximise meaningful learning opportunities.
- A specialist therapeutic team that will work together with families to nurture and support a child’s emotional, social, physical and academic development.
- A partnership with families to improve the lives and life chances of children with SEN by ensuring that they are healthy, stay safe, enjoy and achieve, make a positive contribution and experience the wider community.
Gesher School follows the National Curriculum, which is differentiated to meet the needs of each learner. This tailored approach allows children to be taught in line with their individual learning styles, giving them further opportunities to be successful, thus promoting self-esteem and self-confidence. Teachers use motivating, forward-thinking and creative ways to give children real-life opportunities to encourage them to become active learners. All children have regularly reviewed individual educational and therapy targets with specific goals and outcomes. Children will have opportunities for integration with mainstream peers where relevant and appropriate. Extra-curricular activities are also available across the school (e.g. breakfast club, drama club and a range of lunchtime clubs).
All children work extensively on Communication Skills, covering receptive and expressive language to enable them to interact and engage with the broader school environment; social skills and peer interactions form a prominent part of the school experience. We also believe that all children need time to play and be themselves; the creative arts, particularly drama, music and art, allow for children’s creative and imaginative expression. Every child deserves a childhood, and we aim to ensure that Gesher is a school that balances these core aspects alongside a solid academic foundation.
Our classes may contain children from more than one academic year group as they are grouped according to learning needs and appropriate peer groups. They actively engage in lessons and continuously monitor the children’s engagement and well-being. The school ethos strongly emphasises self-confidence and intrinsic motivation and ensures that our children are continuously encouraged and supported to develop their independence; this helps foster self-help skills in all areas of development. Staff use a scaffolded approach, demonstrating or modelling an activity before stepping back for children to be successful learners.
Our days are highly structured, with short sessions to help maintain engagement and motivation. We provide whole class, small group and individual learning opportunities throughout the day. Targeted interventions are implemented, reviewed and revised for all children. Our approach follows neurodiverse affirming principles and interventions are tailored to the individual need. Examples of interventions used include those based on the principles of Zones of Regulation, Lego Therapy, Precision Teaching, Social Stories and Colourful Semantics.
The environment is designed to provide a low-arousal experience for children. This includes using individual workstations and physical adaptations to support sensory and emotional regulation (e.g. choice of seating). All children can access a visual timetable designed according to their learning needs. Therapeutic input and lessons are scheduled at times when the children will be able to access them most effectively and be of greatest benefit to them.
Teachers and TAs monitor children’s ongoing emotional well-being; they are supported to build relationships and engage with their peers during whole class activities, assemblies and through the Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education (PSHEE) curriculum. Social and emotional skills are developed during structured and unstructured times (e.g. dramatherapy vs break/lunch times). All children have Social Communication and Emotional Regulation targets informed by the Zones of Regulation framework and Therapy Team observations.
As well as encouraging children to use spoken language, augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) systems are used throughout the school. These include but are not limited to gestures, pictures, symbols, visual timetables/schedules, visual story strips, objects of reference, choice boards, Now & Next approaches, Makaton, core vocabulary boards and aided language stimulation using both low-tech and high-tech communication systems, e.g. Proloquo2Go.
All children have access to support and advice from the Therapy Team, which consists of Speech and Language Therapy (SLT), Occupational Therapy (OT), Dramatherapy (DT), Art Therapy (AT), and Educational Psychology (EP). The core team is onsite 5 days a week and there is blocked EP time during the year.
We also have a level 7 qualified Dyslexia consultant who supports students and staff through blocked time on a half-termly basis.
The Therapy Team use a three-tiered model of support: universal (for all), targeted (for some/groups) and specialist (for few/individual). All children benefit from the Therapy Team working in the classroom, offering ongoing advice, training, and workshops for staff and parents. As necessary, some children access direct 1:1 or small group therapy. Speech and Language Therapy and Occupational Therapy will be tailored to each child’s needs following the hours requested on the EHCP document. Provision is included in our annual fees.
Gesher uses positive behaviour management strategies with Behaviour Support Plans, rewards and sanctions as required. Some children will have personalised Sensory Profiles to identify specific equipment/activities they will use at particular times of day to regulate their sensory needs. All children have access to our Sensory Room and our Soft Playroom (which contains swings, climbing and specialist OT equipment); their use of these spaces is assessed and monitored by our OT.
Gesher School works closely with families to help understand the children’s strengths and needs; home visits are offered to all incoming pupils as a foundation to develop the home-school relationship. Parents/carers are involved in setting targets, monitoring progress and reviewing successes. They can request meetings with the Therapy Team or Class Teachers as required, with a minimum of termly parent evenings.
The provision available at Gesher is highly specialised and is tailored to the specific needs of the cohort of children. Examples of how this may be represented within the school environment include:
- Small classes (maximum of 8 pupils in primary and 10 in secondary) supported by a class teacher and high level of TAs. TAs provide graduated support focusing on developing independence and monitoring engagement and well-being.
- Highly structured days with short sessions that involved whole class, small group and individual learning experiences. Literacy and numeracy lessons use rotation to allow the teacher to work with small groups of 2 or 3 pupils.
- Principles from Attention Autism are used to support engagement, communication and shared interactions; in the Early Years classroom, Attention Autism sessions are accessed weekly as an early support strategy to develop these skills.
- Individual visual timetable, quiet workstations for independent work and access to a variety of chairs, wobble cushions, a variety of writing implements and other equipment to support physical needs and sensory/emotional regulation.
- Changes in routine are prepared for and clearly communicated with the support of visuals as required.
- Use of AAC to support both receptive and expressive language (e.g. gestures, pictures, symbols, visual timetables, visual story strips, objects of reference)
- Positive behaviour management strategies and reward systems for maintaining motivation and boosting self-esteem. Behaviour Support Plans as required.
- Encouragement and immediate, meaningful positive praise for effort and/or completion of tasks or accepting instructions presented by an adult.
- Opportunities to reinforce meaningful learning through daily repetition of critical skills and targets, the additional waiting time to process information, observing a finished model example of work and reduced written work.
- Motivating concrete resources and manipulatives across the curriculum before moving on to pictorial and abstract representations of concepts.
- ICT and interactive games to support learning across the curriculum; use of ICT programmes such as Clicker6 as required.
- Access to universal and targeted Speech & Language Therapy, Occupational Therapy and Dramatherapy, Art Therapy with additional individual therapy arranged as necessary. Therapy sessions are observed by a TA and/or class teacher, and feedback is given (as appropriate) following the session to allow this work to continue in class.
- Daily opportunities to turn-take, share and cooperate with peers in structured and unstructured situations. This includes a high ratio of adult support at break and lunchtimes to facilitate play and social relationships and PSHEE lessons.
- Modelling of appropriate language and strategies for emotional regulation, including visual supports and choices.
- Access to the Sensory Room provides a quiet school space for children to self-regulate and relax as required.
- Access to the morning sensory and motor circuit (during breakfast club) to provide sensory input and activities to extend motor abilities appropriately.
- Access to the OT soft play room, with climbing equipment and swings (rotational and linear) as required.
- Access to the playground with space to run and play games with peers, outdoor swinging, and equipment that promotes motor skills and sensory input.
- Strong links between home and school to ensure consistency and continuity of support. This includes using Seesaw for parents to log in and receive daily updates, bi-weekly newsletters and half-termly parent evenings.
With regards to Staff Training, Gesher ensures education staff are:
- able to adapt the curriculum to meet each child’s needs.
- trained and/or skilled in visual cues, including various visual supports.
- experienced/trained in working with children with communication needs, including autism spectrum conditions.
- familiar with TEACCH principles and can implement visual timetables consistently and continuously.
- able to carry out individualised therapy programmes as directed by the Therapy Team and incorporate and apply strategies into each child’s daily routine.
There is a continuous CPD programme for all education staff, including TAs, which includes termly INSETS delivered by the SLT, OT, DT and EP.
All staff are encouraged to take a proactive approach towards CPD and identify areas where they would like to develop knowledge and expertise.
Assessment at Gesher School provides valuable information to help children, teachers, parents, and school leaders to acknowledge, analyse and review achievements and progress in learning against expected national curriculum standards and/or P Levels.
Teachers carry out day-to-day assessments and checks on pupils’ understanding and progress as part of their daily teaching. PIVAT levels are used to assess core subjects for teachers to track small steps of progress for children. Teachers also assess progress across foundation subjects by tracking achievements and setting targets on a termly basis. Progress in all subjects is reported to parents on a termly basis.
Children’s therapy targets will be reviewed termly by therapists to monitor the development of the specific areas of need that have been identified. Progress against therapy targets will also be shared with parents termly.
Children are always encouraged to communicate their thoughts and feelings concerning school with adults. They will be supported to express their views using various communication tools, including speech, Makaton, symbols and creative arts. Their views about school will specifically be sought at least annually; in most cases, this will be to contribute towards their EHCP/Statement of SEN annual review.
We will always contact parents/carers if we are concerned about any aspect of a child’s welfare, progress or behaviour throughout the school year.
Parents/carers are welcome to request an appointment with the class teacher whenever they want to discuss their child. A home-school diary is accessed daily by the class teacher and teaching assistants to communicate relevant information, with an online app also being available to support with sharing important communication. Parents/carers are welcome to add notes for the class teacher in the home-school diary or via the online app.
During your child’s first half term, an appointment will be arranged for the class teacher and one of the therapy team to visit you at home. Thereafter, parents are offered termly appointments with the class teacher to discuss their child. Reports and targets will be shared with parents at these meetings.
If your child has an EHCP/Statement of SEN, you will have yearly annual review meetings at school (bi-annually if under age 5) with the class teacher and relevant Therapy Team members as necessary.
Parents/carers may sometimes request or be offered meetings with the Therapy Team.
The Gesher Team are happy to support families with difficulties their children may have at home or in the community. Some examples include:
- regular communication with families through home-school diaries, home visits, parent-teacher appointments and meetings with the Therapy Team to discuss concerns and share ideas
- workshops/training opportunities for parents/carers delivered by the Therapy Team throughout the year
- social stories for key events, including Jewish Festivals, are shared with families to prepare children
- grandparent afternoons involving additional support for extended family members and opportunities to relationship-build
Please get in touch with the relevant staff member, as suggested below:
- Head Teacher / Deputy Head – responsible for the day-to-day running of the school, arrangements for all children with SEN and reporting to the Governing Body
- SEN Co-ordinator – responsible for overseeing SEN provision and statutory processes relating to SEN Education, Health and Care Plans.
- Class teacher – responsible for planning the curriculum, differentiation, ongoing assessment of your child and day-to-day well-being.
- Therapy Team – responsible for therapy provision and specialist assessments
- SEN Governor – ensuring that appropriate SEN support is available to all children at the school
Once a place at Gesher School has been confirmed in writing with a start date and funding, a new starter pack will be sent to the family. This will include a social story to support your child starting at Gesher School. We will ensure a handover is arranged between your child’s previous educational setting and Gesher staff as appropriate.
When children leave Gesher School, we will liaise with their new school to plan any appropriate transition support. This may include visiting the new school and creating new social stories/pupil passports to support the process.
We welcome an open dialogue with parents/carers and hope we can resolve any concerns as quickly as possible. If you have any concerns or are not happy with an aspect of the school, please request an informal meeting with a member of the school staff and/or the Head Teacher. If this does not resolve the concern, please see our Complaints Procedure explaining how parents/carers can lodge a complaint. The Complaints Procedure is available from the school office or on our website.
