Inclusion

We believe every learner should feel valued for who they are and be given the right support to thrive. Learners with Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities (SEND) are at the heart of our inclusive community.

We want families to feel confident that their child will be supported to learn, achieve, and grow – both in school and in life.

What SEND means

Some learners need extra help with their learning. A learner is considered to have SEND if they:

find learning harder than most learners their age

have a disability that makes it difficult to access school life in the same way as others

There are four main areas of need we support:

Communication and interaction (C&I) – speech, language, and social communication needs.
Cognition and learning (C&L) – difficulties with thinking, understanding, or learning, including dyslexia and dyscalculia.
Social, emotional and mental health (SEMH) – challenges with emotions, behaviour, or mental health.
Sensory and/or physical needs – hearing, vision, physical, or sensory processing difficulties.

How we support learners

All learners benefit from high-quality teaching in the classroom. Our staff use Learning and Teaching Chronicles to guide how we teach.

Alongside this, we use the Adaptive Teaching Toolkit (ATT). This breaks teaching down even further, giving staff practical strategies to adapt lessons for learners who might need extra support. For example, breaking down instructions, using visuals, or changing resources so they are easier to access.

To support this, every staff member also has access to the Curate and Narrate document. This sets out the obstacles to learning for identified learners and highlights the strategies that work best for them. It makes sure that staff know how to put the right adaptations in place, so learners feel included and able to succeed in class.

Every learner with SEND has a Student Success Plan. We make this together with the learner, parents and carers, and we review it each term.

Together, the Chronicles, ATT, and Curate and Narrate make sure that teaching is consistent, inclusive, and flexible — meeting the needs of every learner.

Working with families

We believe parents and carers are experts on their learners, and we work together by combining their knowledge with our professional expertise.

Contact our team:

SENDCo: Suzanne Le Doux Lucas

Primarysend@celtrust.org

Specialist SENDCos

Specialist SENDCos provide expertise, oversight, and consistency across CELT schools. Their role includes:

Expertise in a specialist area
Each specialist SENDCo leads in one of the four areas of SEND:

Communication and interaction
Cognition and learning
Social, emotional and mental health (SEMH)
Sensory & Physical

Strategic oversight
Specialist SENDCos ensure that practice across our schools is consistent, evidence-based and aligned to CELT’s inclusion vision.

Diagnostic assessment and case holding
They complete in-depth assessments for learners with complex needs, advise on interventions, and case-hold the most complex learners.

Support for Operational SENDCos
Specialist SENDCos guide and mentor Operational SENDCos, offering professional challenge and coaching. They check quality of Student Success Plans and provision maps.

Staff development
Our specialists train, coach, and model inclusive strategies outlined in our adaptive teaching toolkit for teachers, LSAs, and support staff – building capacity across CELT schools.

Family and agency work
They attend meetings with families, external professionals, and local authority services to shape provision and ensure strong partnership working.

They look at things like attendance and progress in their area, and use this information to improve SEND support.

Operational SENDCos

Enhance inclusive culture and teaching practice across their named schools.

Liaise regularly with Specialist SENDCos for guidance and oversight.

Provide diagnostic assessments, inform support strategies, and case-hold learners.

Coordinate annual reviews and Education, Health & Care (EHC) assessments.

Maintain accurate records, monitor learner progress, and lead the graduated response (Assess, Plan, Do, Review).

Communicate with families through a shared SEND email account.

Coach and train staff in adaptive teaching strategies to support learners in class.

Specialist support staff

Work with identified learners to deliver tailored interventions.

Support teachers in the classroom to implement inclusive strategies.

Assist with planning, modelling, and evaluating interventions.

Offer targeted family support, including workshops and liaison.
Provide diagnostic assessments, inform support strategies, and case-hold learners.

Supporting transitions

Change can be tricky – so we make sure learners and families feel supported when moving on to new stages of education. This might be:

Starting nursery provision

Starting school in Reception

Moving up to the next year group

Moving from primary to secondary

We plan transitions together with families and learners, so support is ready before the change happens.

Safeguarding

Our staff understand that learners with SEND can face extra safeguarding challenges, and they receive yearly training so we can do our very best to keep every learner safe.

Cornwall local SEND offer

Cornwall Council publishes on its website a Cornwall SEND Local Offer setting out a wide range of information about the specialist services, schools, colleges and organisations that can provide support and information for families of children and young people with SEND. It explains the procedures for requesting an assessment for an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP). You will also find information about:

Where to go for advice and guidance on SEN and Disability matters.
Leisure activities for children with SEND.
Arrangements for resolving disagreements and mediation.