SEND Provision

SENDCo: Mrs Jackie Stevens

Inspire: Mr Rickie Wilson

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 2023, Inspire our Trust wide Alternative Provision opened at York High School. This enhanced provision supports pupils with significant social, emotional or mental health difficulties from both York High School and Millthorpe School. Pupil places in Inspire are via a referral process and there are two types of placement. Key Stage 3 turn around placements are for 6-12 weeks and Key stage 4 placements are full time, permanent placements including work experience. During their time in Inspire, pupils are supported through a graduated response where the teachers and experienced teaching assistants work with pupils to diagnose difficulties, deliver personalised interventions and ensure readiness for the next phase of education, training or employment so that pupils are equipped to make the transition successfully.

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.

For more information about SEND, you can:

Read our SEND Information Report

View our SEND Policy on our policies page.