Primary / Secondary: 01252 514194  |  Cody Oaks: 01252 985425  |  Email: adminoffice@samuelcody.hants.sch.uk

Samuel Cody School

All different. All equal. All achieving.

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SEN Information

SEN Information Report

The Kinds of Special Educational Needs for which provision is made at Samuel Cody School

Samuel Cody School is a maintained special school for students with moderate learning disabilities aged 4-16 and students with SEMH aged 9-16. All students who attend or are allocated a place have an Education Health and Care Plan. The school’s philosophy is based on seven core values:

  • Everyone has something to offer
  • Respect for the individual
  • Professionalism in all that we do
  • All different, all equal, all achieving
  • Absolute integrity
  • Together Everyone Achieves More (TEAM)
  • Ambition for excellence

As of September 2025, the school has an all student number (APN) of 340, of which 90 places are in our MLD primary department, 90 places in our SEMH unit Cody Oaks, and 160 places in our MLD secondary department. We also have an offsite curriculum centre, Cody Coppice, which operates at Runways End in Farnborough. This is used to help students on roll with us who may be at risk of disengaging in education. We are a fully inclusive and dedicated establishment which takes the education of young people with special educational needs extremely seriously. We have high expectations to ensure all achieve their full potential.

There are four types of education needs and disability decided by the Department of Education:

  1. Communication and Interaction
  2. Cognition and learning
  3. Social, mental and emotional health
  4. Sensory and physical

Samuel Cody School provides education for all students with the above disabilities and who have associated learning difficulties. The

school’s provision and curriculum is solely for students who meet the aforementioned criteria.

Question School Self Evaluation
How does the school know if children / young people need extra help? In order for your child to access Samuel Cody School, they will be in possession of an Education, Health and Care Plan (as stated above) issued by a Local Authority.

 

How will the Curriculum be matched to, and school staff support, my child’s/young person’s needs?        

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Samuel Cody School provides an infrastructure designed to meet all your child’s needs by offering a complete and comprehensive programme of education and support. This includes:v  Fully inclusive emotionally literate environment which promotes and addresses the national Mental Health Standards.v  Differentiated curriculum –o   sensory curriculumo   academic curriculumo   vocational learningv  Learning support assistance where requiredv  Personal carev  Medical care – dependent on level of need

v  Educational interventions

v  Multi-agency approach and planning

v  School-home liaison

v  Physiotherapy, Sensory Integration, Occupational Therapy, Speech and Language Therapy, HI support and VI support, Trauma informed practices

v  Comprehensive emotional and pastoral support using therapeutic practices including access to ELSA, TALA and other therapeutic approaches

v  Sensory impairment support in order to access the curriculum for those with visual impairment, hearing loss and sensory needs.

 

Subject teachers are responsible for planning lessons that are accessible to, and differentiated for, every student. In some curriculum areas (English, Maths and Science) students are grouped by levels of attainment, whilst other curriculum areas are taught in mixed attainment groups. Students are entitled to participate in all areas of the curriculum and it is the subject teacher’s role to differentiate resources and activities to ensure the student can access the learning. This can mean teachers plan:v  Visual, auditory or kinaesthetic activitiesv  Small group or 1:1 learning with an LSAv  Pre-teaching content or vocabularyv  Over learning topicsv  Specially targeted text and resources appropriate for students’ reading agesv  Provide additional apparatus or materialsAt Key Stage 4 (Year 10 onwards), students choose from a range of GCSE, Entry Level, AQA unit awards, BTEC and vocational courses, which help to prepare them for the next steps in their education be that college, apprenticeships or work. All students and parents/carers are offered advice and careers guidance at the appropriate time to help make these important decisions. The school will support in a multi-agency approach to plan for the future.
How are the school governors involved and what are their responsibilities? All of the governors of Samuel Cody School are responsible for overseeing and analysing the school performance to ensure that it maintains the highest standards and meets legal requirements. Their ultimate aim is to ensure good student progress. They do this by regular meetings as well as informal visits and observations. All the data acquired forms part of the school’s overall self-evaluation process which in turn enhances the school development plan.
How will I know how my child/young person is doing and how will you help me to support my child’s/young person’s learning? We offer an open-door policy where parents/carers are welcome any time to make an appointment to meet with either a class or subject teacher, or any other teacher, or form tutor to discuss how their child is progressing. Parents/carers can contact staff members directly by email through the school office: adminoffice@samuelcody.hants.sch.uk or 01252 514194

 

Planned arrangements for communicating between school and home include:v   Each key stage has at least one parents’ evening or consultation week each year, when all teachers are available to meet with parents/carers and discuss progress and learningv   Every student receives an Annual Report, which includes an overview of the curriculum covered during that year and comments from the subject teachers and class tutor. These are sent home to parents/carers at the end of the summer term and provide a basis for discussion about progress in different subject areasv   Parents are invited to other events such as School BBQ’s, School Performances, Coffee Mornings and information eveningsv   Parents are provided with half termly school newslettersThere are legal requirements for at least one formal meeting each year (the Annual Review of theEHCP) which is organised by the school and attended by parents/carers, teachers and outside agencies involved in the student’s education.
How does the school know how well my child is doing? Teachers, as part of their professional standards, monitor and review all students’ progress throughout the year. The whole school system at Samuel Cody School includes:v   Data collection at least twice an academic year, from all teachers, showing the current level of attainment of all the students they teach. This means that teachers and leaders in school can track the progress of students across the school year and intervene if students experience difficulties.v   In the case of intervention programmes, progress is reviewed which might include testing or screening. These programmes are reviewed by the member of staff responsible for teaching and learning with the information being used to plan and design the next half term’s intervention programme.v   In-class additional support is reviewed regularly at leadership meetings and revised as necessary.v   The quality of teaching and learning is monitored termly by senior leaders and line managers as part of the school Professional Development and Progress system; the deployment of additional adults in the classroom

 

and the progress of students with additional learning requirements are part of the Teacher Standards, against which the quality of teaching is measured.v   The Headteacher is responsible for whole school curriculum and monitors performance against national standards.v   At the start of each academic year, students are screened for reading, literacy and numeracy skills. This allows us to identify when students may need further support, intervention, or additional assessment, to detect any underlying difficulties.v   The school’s positive behaviour management policy sets out the incentives provided so that parents/carers and school staff are fully aware of how well a student is engaging with the learning opportunities on offer.
What support will there be for my child’s/young person’s overall wellbeing? v   The care, guidance and support for students at Samuel Cody School is based on the school’s seven core values. Teachers and support staff work with the students to encourage development in all areas including personal, social and emotional development. The Students’ individual targets frequently reflect this as well as their academic progress.v   Samuel Cody School has a small Nursing team who train school staff to best manage the health needs of all children and will support other medical requirements for the school.v   The school has Pastoral and Mental Health Leads who ensures high quality provision for those with challenging behaviour. School staff are routinely trained in Price strategies and we have two trained Trainers on the staff team as well as using outside experts.v   The Price programme employs positive behavioural strategies, designed to reduce anxiety, risk and restraint and underpins the therapeutic trauma informed culture of the school.v   Suspensions are rare, and we work closely with staff and parents to do all we can to proactively improve behaviour.v   Students contribute to goal setting and review at a level commensurate with their abilities.v   The school implements the national Mental Health Standards and all students have one session per week to embed this.v   Our school has a strong community spirit with many opportunities to experience and share a wide range of activities on and off the school site.

 

v   Our school student council enables students to have a say in setting local priorities.v   We have a number of qualified first aiders in each part of the schoolv   Each child requiring behaviour support will have their own behaviour support plan designed to reduce the need for interventions and to minimise the risk of suspension.
What specialist services and expertise are available at or accessed by the school? The school engages with a range of professionals entirely in response to individual students needs. They include the followingv   SALT   OT movement and sensory integrationv   PHYSIO   ELSA   TALA   Lego Therapy  Drawing and Talkingv   VI

v   HI

v   Mental health

v   Social workers

v   EP’s

v   Equipment specialists

v   Specific Therapies dependent on a child’s needs

The school will work with whichever professional is required in order to support the young person in accessing learning.

 

What training have the staff supporting children and young people with SEND had or are having? All staff receive induction training when they join the school; this includes basic training on how best to support students with learning difficulties. Further training is identified through the staff growth and development cycle.Staff have access to a variety of training, including: Moving and Handling; Price (positive behaviour management); Child Protection; Fire Safety; Health and Safety; Makaton; PAATHS (autism training); Sensory Curriculum; Elklan communication training; administration of specific medication; Food Hygiene; Midas (mini-bus driving); First Aid; TALA; ELSA and Mental Health and Wellbeing.Speech and Language therapists, physiotherapists, and occupational therapists work closely with school staff to set up and review therapy programmes to support individual students’ needs.Advice from the support teachers for visually and hearing-impaired students is implemented in school.There are further academic training courses available to staff through Apprenticeships such as Masters, Level 3 LSA and Business Administration.
How will my child/young person be included in activities outside the classroom including school trips? v   Our off-site visits are designed to enhance curricular and recreational opportunities for all our students and provide a wider range of experiences than could be provided on the school site alone as well as promoting the independence of our children as learnersv   We run curriculum enhancing enrichment activities during the school day once a week, these include sports activities, swimming, arts and crafts, cookery, etc.v   We run after school clubs offering a variety of social and sporting opportunities.v   We also afford students the opportunity to take part in a wide range of residential activities appropriate to their individual SEN needv   All visits and activities are risk assessed to ensure they are appropriate for individual studentsv   Parents /carers take an active part in discussions around residential visits and these are discussed formally at parent meetings/annual review meetings.v   Our curriculum promotes the transition of skills into the community.v   We believe in challenging our students and we will do this through various activities so as to achieve maximum potential

 

How accessible is the school environment? v   Our school is only partially wheelchair accessible. There are lifts at Cody Oaks but not in the MLD secondary building, where wheelchair accessibility is confined to the ground floor. The ground floor, however, is fully accessible with height adjustable food tech teaching tables and electronic automatic doors in some areas. The primary MLD department is all on one level.v   There are disabled changing and toilet facilities.v   We have our own mini-buses, one of which is able to transport students in wheelchairs.v   There are a restricted number of fixed and mobile hoists to transfer non-weight bearing students in both the primary and secondary building.v   Students attend sports activities off-site including swimming.v   There is a wide range of resources to meet individual learning needs including vocational learning areas and we have a number of outside sensory learning environments and Forest Schoolsv   We use ICT to meet students learning needs such as interactive white boards, iPads, laptops and sensory rooms.
How will the school prepare and support my child/young person to join the school or transfer to a new setting / school / college or the next stage of education and life? Joining Samuel Cody:When a new student is seeking admission to our school we invite them in with their parents for an initial visit when they are shown around. They are given information about the organisation of our school, the curriculum, school uniform, school lunches and transport. They are also encouraged to look at our web-site which contains further information about our school and the activities, including a virtual tour.Parents meet with the Headteacher or head of key stage to discuss any issues relevant to their child, such as medication, toileting etc. Again, if required, before the start date, the child will be given a transition booklet, with photos of the school and class mates, for them to have at home and to look at before they start school.We discuss with parents exactly what is best to help their child successfully start at our school. For

 

some students this may be a gradual introduction starting part-time and slowly increasing, however, in all cases we will continually assess and consult with parents to make sure each child has an enjoyable introduction to our school.Transferring to another school:If a student moves to another school, we will liaise with the new school to ensure that the transfer to the new school is as smooth as possible. Staff from the new school are very welcome to visit us to support the transfer to their school.Moving on from Samuel Cody:Most students leave Samuel Cody when they are16 years old. We prepare them for this transition throughout their last two years at school. They learn to become as independent as possible by learning many life skills. They learn to make use of many local facilities and some students take part in a work-related learning experience and time spent on residential trips helps to further develop their social and life skills.We hold meetings with parents and the young person to support them in identifying where the young person’s needs will be best met when they leave school. We support students to visit post16 provision and discuss possible options with them and their parents. When a placement has been found, the staff are invited to visit the student at our school; we will support the student to visit the provision and set up a transition plan to make sure they have a successful transition to their new setting.Many of our students move on to local day colleges where they continue to develop theirIndependence skills.
How are the school’s resources allocated and matched to children’s/young people’s special educational needs? The school is resourced by the DfE and the Local Authority to provide small class sizes and levels of staffing to meet your child’s needs as identified in the EHCP.The use of additional money through student premium is targeted at specific groups and the impact of this on student achievement is reported.
How is the decision made about what type and how much support my The students’ EHCP identifies students’ current needs. This then is used as a basis of audit in order to gain a level of step funding to support the individual students needs. This is agreed through discussion between the school and Local Authority

 

child/young person will receive?
How are parents involved in the school? How can I be involved? We believe that a student’s education is a partnership between parents and teachers, therefore we are committed to developing strong communication with parents and carers and communicate regularlyv  Parents and carers are invited to all review meetings and a number of parents’evenings each year.v  There is parent representation on the Governing Body.v  Family and friends are regularly invited to join in special school days, attend performances and special celebrations, for example the YR 11 Leavers Speech Day.
Who can I contact for further information? For parents the first point of contact is your child's form tutor. If they are unable to respond to your enquiry they will provide the contact details for the member of staff who can.
Who should I contact if I am considering whether my child should join the school and what should I do if I think my child/young person may have special educational needs? If you are considering your child joining the school, the first person to talk to is a member of the Admin Team, who will explain the process and then pass on the information to the appropriate key stage lead, who will then take the enquiry forward to the relevant members of staff in school and organise a tour for you. Senior staff aim to meet all prospective parents and introduce them to our School.Admissions to Samuel Cody School are managed by the SEN Team at Hampshire County Council.

 

The information given in this offer illustrates only part of the high quality provision that is available for pupils with Special Educational Needs. Please contact the school for the opportunity to meet the Headteacher and to discuss your child and their needs. You will also have a tour of the school to see it in action. After the tour we look forward to answering any of your questions and providing all the information you need to help you make the all-important decision for your child’s secondary education. 

 

Please follow this link to the Hampshire County Council SEND Local Offer https://fish.hants.gov.uk/kb5/hampshire/directory/localoffer.page