Yerbury has a team of staff who are specifically trained in supporting children with SEN. The school supports its staff to access a wide range of information and training on appropriate interventions for pupils with different types of need. You can find out more information about the training our staff have completed by contacting the school on admin@yerbury.islington.sch.uk

SENCO, Will Hann

The Special Education Needs Coordinator (SENCO) is a qualified teacher working at the school who has responsibility for SEN. They work closely with the head teacher and governing body as well as all teachers. The SENCO is responsible for:

• overseeing the day-to-day operation of the school’s SEN policy
• coordinating provision for children with special educational needs
• liaising with and advising fellow teachers
• overcoming barriers to learning and sustaining effective teaching
• managing teaching assistants
• overseeing the records of all children with SEN and Disability
• supporting teachers to liaise with parents of children with SEN
• planning successful movement (transition) to a new class group or school
• providing specialist advice and facilitating training to ensure that all staff are skilled and confident about meeting a range of needs
• liaising with external agencies including the local authority’s support and educational psychology services, health and social services, and voluntary bodies

Will Hann – Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCO for short)
Email: admin@yerbury.islington.sch.uk
Phone: 020 7272 6580

Dyslexia Specialist, Helen Classick

The Dyslexia Specialist is a qualified teacher with an additional, postgraduate,  Level 7 accredited teacher status.  The specialist supports teachers to adopt the most effective teaching approaches for children with literacy difficulties.  The Dyslexia Specialist works with staff to find teaching and learning activities to meet the needs of the children.  Additionally the Dyslexia Specialist works directly with some diagnosed and undiagnosed dyslexic children.

SEN TAs

A SEN TA is a Special Needs teaching assistant who provides support to children with learning, physical or behavioural challenges.

SEND Governor

The SEND Governor is the appointed Governor that communicates any SEND updates and information to the Governing Body. The SEND Governor spends time in school with the SENCO discussing current information about SEND children and their provision. The Governor may also support the SENCO with some monitoring tasks that are carried out in school regularly in order to ensure the best quality support is in place for SEND children.

External Specialists

Where a pupil continues to make less than expected progress, we seek advice and support from specialists from outside agencies such as educational psychologists, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS), specialist teachers, therapists (including speech and language therapists, occupational therapists and physiotherapists) and social workers.

SEN Parent Ambassadors

Yerbury has a small team of parents who run a network to help connect, and provide support to, parents and carers of SEN children. The group has its own page on the school’s Classlist.com community and a Whatsapp discussion group. You can sign up for the Yerbury pages here, and then search for ‘SEN’ to join the group and find out more, or contact the School Office on admin@yerbury.islington.sch.uk to be added to the Whatsapp group.

We always involve parents in any decision to involve specialists. The main agencies used by the school are listed in our Yerbury SEN People Who Support Us document.