We are proud to be an inclusive school - this is a value shared by all in the Latymer School community.  As a grammar school, all students have passed a rigorous entrance exam and have a high level of academic intelligence. However, there may be times in a student’s school life that they will require some additional support to enable them to access the curriculum, whether it be for academic needs or social and emotional challenges.

Head of Department: Ms G Brander.
Learning Support Assistants: Ms C Davey, Miss E Nabina.

The Learning Support Team (LST) is staffed by a SENCO (Gill Brander) and Learning Support Assistants (LSAs). There is a dedicated room for Learning Support, allowing us to offer a smaller, less formal space to support students. The department has a number of laptops available for student use, as well as provision to support organisation and social, emotional wellbeing.

As a fully inclusive school, students with SEND follow the same KS3 curriculum as their peers and complete the full complement of GCSEs and A Levels. On very rare occasions where students are struggling to maintain the intensity of study, a reduced number of subjects is considered in consultation with parents/carers. We believe in all students having equal opportunity and access to a broad and balanced curriculum, along with a fully inclusive extra-curricular programme. Students with SEND contribute greatly to our school’s music and drama activities, as well as sporting events and teams.

Subject specialist teachers are always best placed to support student’s academic needs and the Learning Support Team endeavours to equip teachers with the best possible skills to offer an inclusive education to all students. We provide staff with either a student profile (reviewed termly) or a teacher guidance sheet, ensuring all staff are aware of how to meet the needs of students in their lessons. Student input to the profile plans allow the young person’s views and voice to be heard, as well as parent/carer participation and consultation around proposed support. Staff also receive training in various areas of special education and disability, as well as access to an after-school drop in to seek advice or share good practice. There are procedures in place for staff to report a possible learning need, which we then investigate further. 

Progress for SEND students is monitored through SEND audits and learning walks carried out by the Learning Support Team, as well as reviewed by Heads of Department when analysing assessment data. 

Our inclusion register is for students where a need has been identified and the student is receiving support from the Learning Support Team, in addition to what is ordinarily available. There is an Inclusion Aware Register for students who have an identified need which is not currently creating a barrier to learning, with their needs being met through high quality teaching. The Learning Support Team takes a needs-driven approach to providing support, focusing on the individual rather than a diagnosis.  

Students with EHCPs are well supported by the LSAs, predominantly to engage and access mainstream lessons, which they do so successfully. They also deliver interventions to small groups of students, or individuals, to aid other areas of school life such as organisation and social communication skills.

The Learning Support Team assist in the following ways:

• In-class support
• Support access to extra-curricular activities
• Year 7 and 12 transition support
• Small intervention
• Organisation
• Emotion wellbeing
• Lunch and break social support
• Social communication activities
• Managing exam access’ arrangements
• Facilitating private study
• Developing study skills
• Collaborate and source guidance from a wide range of external professionals and services