The Inclusion Department at York High School is responsible for co-ordinating and delivering the school’s provision for pupils with special educational needs or disability (SEND). We understand that parents and carers are the experts of their children and we strive to work in partnership with them to ensure the best success. Our school values of Resilience, Aspiration, Success are applicable to all of our pupils and we have the highest expectations that our pupils will become respectful, confident and empowered young people. We work at identifying needs and supporting pupils with a range of difficulties that may include: cognition and learning, communication and interaction, physical disabilities and social, emotional mental health needs. We aim to remove barriers to learning so all our pupils can thrive.
We support high quality teaching by providing effective teaching assistant support for pupils’ learning and participation in the school curriculum and community. We deliver a variety of personalised interventions both within and outside of lessons and offer a range of interventions to improve literacy, numeracy and social skills. These interventions are measured before and after and routinely lead to great progress. At York High School there is a dedicated team of individuals including an Autism Champion who keyworks with children with autism, a Pastoral Mentor who supports pupils with social and emotional difficulties and a Nurture Practitioner who runs our Year 7 nurture group Acorns. We liaise and work closely with external agencies to ensure that our pupils and their families have access to specialist information, advice and support, where needed.
Some pupils require a more personalised approach to learning. Our two inclusion rooms are learning spaces which act as the hub of the Inclusion Department. They provide a supportive environment for pupils who are not in lessons for either social, emotional or learning reasons.
In September 2021 our STAR Centre opened. This is an enhanced provision for pupils with significant social, emotional or mental health difficulties and works as a multi agency support centre for a period of 18 weeks. This allows for intensive support through a graduated response where the Lead Teacher and an experienced Teaching Assistant work with pupils to diagnose difficulties, deliver interventions and reintegrate pupils successfully back into mainstream lessons.
Our expectations and aspirations for pupils are high and we work hard to ensure that our pupils gain the confidence, self-esteem and independence necessary to achieve their goals. We pride ourselves on our excellent knowledge of the pupils we work with and our ability to use this information to help all our pupils to make progress, regardless of their starting point. We have experience of all aspects of special educational needs and disabilities and look forward to getting to know more about your child.
Initial concerns
Initially, if advice is sought or concerns need to be expressed, direct contact should be made with Mrs Sue Fisher, Assistant SENCo or Mrs Victoria Armitage Assistant Headteacher and SENCo, who will endeavour to resolve any difficulties.
Formal Complaint
If issues are not satisfactorily resolved in this way, the matter should be raised, normally in writing, with the Headteacher, Miss Gemma Greenhalgh, who will appoint a suitable Senior Leader to investigate. The Senior Leader will report their findings to the Headteacher who will then seek a resolution on the basis of this report.
Local Authority Review and SEND Tribunal
In the rare event that a complaint remains unresolved despite the intervention and best efforts of the school, parents are able to pursue it through the LA’s complaints procedure, details of which are available from SENDIASS (T: 01904 554319 or 01904 555698). Further appeals can be made to the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal which is an independent body that hears parents’ appeals against LA decisions on statutory assessments and EHCPs.
Please direct any queries or comments to
Mrs V Armitage, Deputy Headteacher and SENCo:
T: 01904 686400
E: v.armitage@millthorpe.southbank.academy
Miss M Wright, Associate Assistant Head and Aspiring SENCo
T: 01904 686400
E:m.wright@millthorpe.southbank.academy
Our SEND policy can be found on Our Policies page and you can read our SEND report from 2021 here. An updated report will be available in early 2023.
