At Jersey College for Girls, we cultivate a ‘believe you can’ attitude: we have high expectations of all students, and we aim to promote achievement through the removal of barriers to learning and participation. Our aim is to ensure the full integration and inclusion of all students in the life of the college and to maximise their learning potential.
The SEN team at JCG forms part of the wider Student Guidance Team: The Guidance Team works to remove barriers to learning and to promote the academic progress and welfare of all students so that they can live the College values.
We aim to provide a challenging, academic and broad curriculum delivered by expert staff, who have high expectations and who model excellence. All students are equally entitled to have their needs recognised, supported and stretched, and this is the responsibility of all members of staff. We aim to support students to achieve and to nurture and develop the academic and character strengths of all students.
Special Educational Needs and Disabilities is a legal term referring to students who have learning difficulties, differences or disabilities that make it harder for them to learn or access education than most other children of the same age. Some children and young people have SEN right through their time at school and beyond into higher education. At Jersey College for Girls, we use the term SEN to encompass all Special Educational Needs and Disabilities.
Although we are a selective school, we recognise that some of our students will experience barriers to learning: in these cases, effective, personalised support and adaptive strategies are provided within the classroom by the subject teacher. Students with SEN, however, may require additional structured learning support which is in addition to (or different from) the more general classroom support given to other students of the same age.
Students who may need specialist support with their learning include those with the following types of learning need:
Cognition and learning
Communication and interaction, e.g. ASC
Social, emotional and mental health difficulties (including ADHD)
Sensory and physical difficulties
Multilingual language speakers(MLL)
How do we identify students with learning needs?
To ensure early identification and assessment of students’ learning difficulties, we work closely with the student and parents. To help us identify students with learning needs we make use of the following:
Information from parents and previous educational settings about existing learning difficulties
Teacher observations
Entrance examination (where applicable)
CATs data
End of Key Stage 2 teacher assessment
Year 7 baseline assessments
Group screening tests are used to identify students at risk of specific learning difficulties for referral of more detailed assessment of their learning needs.
Assessment of specific learning needs will be carried out by a qualified member of the British Psychological Society (Certificate of Competence in Educational Testing).
Targeted provision
Many students with learning difficulties make good progress within a supportive environment offering high-quality teaching, without any additional intervention other than personalised work provided by the teacher.
If, however, adequate progress is not being made, then targeted provision will follow a graduated approach as set out in the Jersey SEND Code of Practice (2017). This is initiated when a member of staff raises concerns about a student with the Special Educational Needs Coordinator, who will consider if further intervention is needed which may mean some or all of the item listed below. The majority of our programmes run from six to eight weeks.
Individual screening test for Specific Learning Difficulties carried out by a qualified assessor
Recommendation for a full Educational Psychology assessment
Referrals to outside agencies for further investigation and identification of specific learning needs/disorders.
Advice about the student’s learning needs given to subject staff, which may include the formulation of an Individual Learning Plan
The offer of small group learning support with TAs and/or teaching staff
One-to-one ELSA programmes. An ELSA is an Emotional Literacy Support Assistant, who is trained and supervised by the Educational Psychology Team. ELSA support is working with students one-to-one to help them develop emotional skills, manage feelings of anxiety, build self-esteem and improve social skills; helping them better cope with challenges.
ELSA-led programmes include the following:
Autism Awareness is aimed to help children and young people develop a positive understanding of their autistic identity to have higher self-esteem and wellbeing as adults. It uses a social model interpretation of autism to help children and young people understand their diagnosis – it focuses on helping students to identify their unique strengths and identify the barriers that might be encountered.
Executive Functioning skills are crucial for planning, organising, focusing and self-regulating. Deficits in these areas are a core feature of ADHD. Our provision aims to help students become confident, organised and independent learners by teaching them the practical skills they need to manage school life. It helps them develop strategies and provides exercises to improve essential executive functioning skills. It’s an empowering one-to-one guide designed to help students take control of their unique challenges.
Building Resilience Programme: our Building Resilience Programme equips students with resilience skills by focusing on emotional regulation, positive mindset, coping strategies and strong support networks. It’s about developing self-awareness, managing stress, problem-solving, fostering confidence and a sense of control to improve overall wellbeing and academic success.
