Introduction

All Ark Acton Academy students thrived at university or a real alternative and therefore lived a life to be proud of.

The Ark Acton Academy curriculum is designed to ensure that all pupils acquire disciplinary knowledge that they cannot learn at home. Our complimentary co-curricular programme offers opportunities and experiences that enable all students to develop essential life skills. The Learning and Wellbeing Support department is here to ensure that everything Ark Acton Academy offers is accessible to and inclusive of all students, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities. 

Alongside our curriculum and co-curricular programmes, we believe a calm, scholarly and supportive atmosphere is essential in achieving our mission of empowering all Ark Acton students in standing shoulder to shoulder with their privately educated peers and ensuring all our students thrive at university or a real alternative. The Learning and Wellbeing Support department strives to ensure all students flourish in the school environment and beyond. 

At Ark Acton Academy we believe the entitlement of living a life to be proud of is a right for all students and should not be constrained by any protected characteristics, including disability, special educational need or vulnerability. Equality of opportunity is our core purpose and we are committed to ensuring all students achieve the outcomes and skills needed to successfully access the next stage in their journey. Therefore, we have a commitment to ensuring that every student with SEND (Special Educational Need and/or Disability) accesses the same high-quality education, is included in the same high expectations and ultimately achieves equitable outcomes as their peers without SEND.  

Learning and Wellbeing (LAWS and Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND)

The Learning and Wellbeing Support team is the broader team that recognizes that any student might need support at some point in their school journey, be that due to pastoral or safeguarding concerns, English being a new language, or time out of school. Where a young person’s needs mean that they have a “significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others of the same age”, or they have “a disability which prevents or hinders him or her from making use of facilities of a kind generally provided for others of the same age in mainstream schools or mainstream post-16 institutions” they will be added to the SEND register and come under the remit of the SEND team specifically.

However, responsibility for their progress and wellbeing remains that of the whole team and indeed the whole school, as the Code of Practice also reminds us that ‘every teacher is a teacher of SEND and every leader is a leader of SEND’.

SEND Ethos Statement

All students identified as SEND are included in all aspects of school life, including having equitable access to the mainstream curriculum and co-curricular programme that allows all students to develop the rich foundation of subject-specific and broader cultural knowledge that will enable them to go on to their best next step, preparing them for university or a real alternative. 
Students identified as SEND have their needs met through the whole school systems and routines that are designed to allow every student (SEND or not) to thrive as an individual who is subject to a nuanced combination of high expectations, respect, flexibility and empathy. Support and high expectations are comrades, not enemies.

Learning and Wellbeing Support Vision

We will be a truly inclusive school, which means all students will have an equal education. All students will have equitable access to services, experiences, curriculum, teachers and support. All students will be treated with kindness and will be supported in learning the importance of treating others with kindness. All students will be supported in working hard and can expect teachers who work hard to support them. All students will learn in a culture of honesty and will learn how to express their honesty in a kind and constructive way.