The Student Development Centre played a key role in BSix winning the ‘Outstanding College’ at the ACES Diamond ball 2012 awards. The following comment was made by the judges when this award was given:
“We work with colleges and schools London wide and have never met a more dedicated team and college. After much deliberation we felt that you genuinely deserve this recognition because you go above and beyond to help your students. It is more than recognition of the work that we do together- it is about the excellent work that you and your team do together. Teachers are often blamed for underachievement and lots of other woes but we have been lucky to experience your selfless efforts. You have also got some amazing students at your college and we will gladly go out of our way to try to ensure that they have the opportunity to achieve their potential and dreams.”
Donia Narh
Founder SYF Project & ACES Youth Project
The Student Development Centre aims to ensure that all students have access to support when needed in order to reach their potential. The department supports young people with a wide variety of needs including Special Educational Needs, Mental Health and Emotional Wellbeing Difficulties, Looked After Children, Vulnerable Young Adults, Social and Behavioural Difficulties and attendance issues.
For students who require additional targeted input, this may include support from:
- Student Achievement Officers (SAO) for academic and pastoral support
- Student Support Officers (SSO) primarily in class, shared between several students or 1:1 for EHCP and SEND students.
- Behaviour Mentors (BM) for support for students with social, emotional and wellbeing difficulties.
- Student Welfare Officers (SWO) for support for Looked after Children and other vulnerable young people.
- College Counsellors (CC) for mental health and emotional wellbeing support.
- Information, Advice & Guidance support for issues with housing, benefits, advocacy etc.
- Bursary support with financial difficulties.
- Speech and Language Therapists (SaLT), either 1:1 sessions or small group work. This work is typically conducted as a block of intensive therapeutic support rather than long-term support.
- External Specialists, eg: Educational Psychologists, Occupational Therapists, Mental Health Nurses, Physiotherapists, CAMHS etc.
The Student Development Department aims to eliminate potential barriers to students’ achievement through collaborating with a number of professionals including:
- Local Authorities
- KIDS Advocates (EHCP)
- SEN Professionals
- Speech and Language Therapists
- Occupational therapists
- Social Workers
- Educational Psychologists
- Education, Health & Care Plan Coordinators
- Other agencies
A range of Assistive Technologies and Software is available to assist students in accessing the curriculum includes: Laptops, Netbooks, Dictaphones, hearing loops, exam reading pens, Dragon, Read & Write Gold, Coloured Overlays, Digital Coloured Overlays and a growing collection of digital text books.
BSix is fully accessible with lift access in A Block, B Block, C Block and Sports Hall. The college has a mobile hoist and track hoist, and a room suitable for physiotherapy and stretching.
Communication and engagement of parents of young people requiring support is important to the Department, and is facilitated by regular Parent Forums, morning, evening & weekend events for information sharing and collaboration with external agencies.
Services for parents of young people with SEND can be found at: Hackney Local Offer
Our strategy is to follow the SEN Code of Practice framework of Assess, Plan, Do and Review.
Assess: Our aim is to facilitate the early identification of young people with SEND through the following systems:
- Liaise with feeder secondary schools and colleges
- Multi agency planning meetings
- Interview days, experience days, open days, enrolment
- Self-referral, Teacher Referral, Progress reviews
- Information sharing from curriculum interventions
- BKSB assessment
- SEND Assessment
- Access Arrangements Assessments
Plan: Young people with SEND, including Social, Emotional and Mental Health Difficulties, are allocated to Student Achievement Officers or Student Support Officers. Individualised support for young people with SEND is planned by completing SEND Plans and Individual Learning Plans, where SMART Targets are set at the beginning of each term. Individual young people may be referred to Safeguarding or Counselling Team if appropriate.
Do: Individualised support packages are implemented for young people with SEND, which include: In-class support, Small Group Sessions, 1 to 1 sessions, Reading Group, Peer Mentoring, Personal Mentoring, Group Mentoring, Work Skills, Speech and Language Therapy Youth Club, Advice and guidance, Art Therapy, Drama Therapy, Exam Support and/or intervention from external agencies.
Review: Individualised support packages are reviewed regularly in a number of ways. Additional Learning Support Termly Reviews are held three times a year to review the academic progress, SMART targets, attendance and punctuality of each young person with SEND. Student Support Officers and Student Achievement Officers regularly attend Parents Evenings, departmental meetings, liaising closely with teaching staff and parents regarding the progress of the young people. We recognise the student voice through termly feedback, and encourage our young people to voice opinions to student union, teaching staff and SMT.
Contact
Lisa Novelli
SENDCo & Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead
Tel: 0208 525 700
Internal Ext: 192 or 214
Email: SEND@bsix.ac.uk
