Wave 2: Targeted Support
The table below outlines some of the interventions being offered by the SEND department to support students, and the referral process. Most students will have their needs met by adaptive teaching within the classroom.
| Ausome Bugs Opportunity to explore what being autistic means, to connect with other young people with autism, to discuss strengths and difficulties of having autism. Offload before the weekend to prevent ASD burnout. Primary Need: C&I, SEMH Referral Process: | Creativity for Connectedness Start of the week tutor time small group intervention. Students participate in extra-curricular art activities to improve connectedness to school and start each week in a calm, predictable manner. Primary Need: C&I, SEMH Referral Process: | Fresh Start A systematic synthetic phonics programme designed to help struggling readers aged 9–13+ (Key Stage 2 and 3) catch up quickly. It uses age-appropriate modules and readers to teach 44 phonemes, accelerating reading speed, accuracy, and fluency. Primary Need: C&L Referral Process: |
| Handwriting Students have an assessment where they are seen for posture, pen grip, letter formation, letter spacing and positioning etc. During the intervention students are taught to make corrections to improve their handwriting. Primary Need: S&P Referral Process: | KS4 Maths Small group intervention for students identified by low score in Year 10 mock exams as potentially unlikely to grade at GCSE. Involves preparation for, and sitting, eight papers on different maths topics. Students will use manipulatives and ‘real life’ maths equipment (clocks, measuring equipment etc.) to improve their understanding of basic maths. Primary Need: C&L Referral Process: | KS4 Maths Small group intervention where students are supported to devise strategies to tackle multi-step GCSE-style questions and then practise using them on a range of GCSE past paper questions. Primary Need: C&L Referral Process: |
| KS3 Maths Small group intervention for identified students to build confidence and fluency with key basic skills such as calculations. Primary Need: C&L Referral Process: | Mindfulness Small group intervention where students gain knowledge and understanding around mindful living and the bodies response to stress, anxiety and anger. Students will use mindfulness techniques to create space for difficult emotions. Students will learn to observe thoughts without automatically believing them. Students will learn to differentiate between reacting impulsively and responding mindfully to situations. Students will cultivate self-compassion and acceptance as part of mindfulness practice. Primary Need: SEMH Referral Process: | Understanding Emotions Small group intervention where students gain knowledge and understanding about Emotional intelligence, what emotions are, why we have them, and how to regulate. The Importance of EI in school and relationships. To understand the Hand Brain Model ‘flipped lid’ and explore practical strategies for managing emotions and building resilience. Primary Need: C&I, SEMH Referral Process: |
| Skills for Learning Small group intervention where students are taught to define interpersonal skills and why they matter in learning and life. Recognise barriers to learning and communication. Practise and reflect on communication skills/strategies such as active listening and positive body language. Learn to plan and manage time effectively. Develop skills to organise tasks and materials. Primary Need: C&I, SEMH Referral Process: | Social Skills Small group intervention where students gain knowledge and understanding around the importance of respectful behaviour, teamwork, and positive interactions with peers. Students will learn strategies for resolving disagreements respectfully, with compromise and solutions. Students will understand strategies for creating healthy, supportive, and lasting relationships. Students will connect social skills to personal growth, academic success, and future opportunities. Primary Need: C&I, SEMH Referral Process: | Starving the Anger Gremlin A 1:1 intervention where the student is supported to access a workbook of activities, based on cognitive behaviour principles, for them to work through teaching them how to control their anger effectively. Primary Need: C&I, SEMH Referral Process: |
| Starving the Anxiety Gremlin A 1:1 intervention where the student is supported to access a workbook to understand different types of anxiety and how to manage them, based on cognitive behavioural principles that link thoughts, feelings and behaviours. The techniques described help young people to understand why they get anxious and how they can ‘starve’ their anxiety gremlin in order to manage their anxiety. Primary Need: C&I, SEMH Referral Process: | Skylark A small group intervention for one day per week, for one term. Students pursue a series of outdoor adventure activities with a local provider. Primary Need: C&I, SEMH Referral Process: Referral spreadsheet | Chance is Change 20 minute Life Coaching session once per week with a local provider. Students talk through issues and are taught to reframe them. Students are coached to be trusting of professionals and ready to access further services such as counselling or in-school support. Primary Need: C&I, SEMH Referral Process: |
| Therabuild 30 minutes 1:1 or small group adult led but child-centred therapeutic approach for building confidence, raising self-esteem and encouraging purposeful conversation. Students improve social skills, build resilience, nurture positive relationships and promote good mental health, through shared construction experiences with LEGO bricks. Primary Need: SEMH Referral Process: Referral spreadsheet | Drawing and Talking 30 minutes 1:1 alternative to CBT and direct talking therapies, that can often be confronting or limiting in the processing of pain or trauma. An attachment-based therapeutic intervention, Drawing and Talking allows individuals to discover and communicate emotions through a non-directed technique, setting it apart from existing solution-focused and cognitive-based therapies and interventions. Primary Need: SEMH Referral Process: | Theraputty Small group intervention where students follow a range of exercise with a non-toxic, hypoallergenic, and latex-free silicone putty used for hand rehabilitation, strengthening, and stress relief. It is widely used in occupational and physical therapy to improve grip, finger dexterity, and motor skills. Primary Need: S&P Referral Process: |
| Physiotherapy 1:1 physiotherapy programme delivered in accordance with guidance from an external physiotherapist. The programme may include stretches, rolls, weight bearing, sit to stand, short walks. Primary Need: S&P Referral Process: | Touch Typing Small group intervention following a touch typing programme to improve typing speed and accuracy. Primary Need: S&P, C&L Referral Process: Referral spreadsheet | Skillzone Small group intervention where students spend a day at the Skillzone centre learning basic life skills to promote independence and safety, such as crossing a road, using public transport, what to do in a house fire. Primary Need: C&I, SEMH Referral Process: |
| Language for Thinking A structured intervention program to develop verbal reasoning and comprehension skills. Using 50 illustrated scenarios, it helps children move from concrete to abstract thinking (answering “how” and “why” questions) Primary Need: C&L Referral Process: | Daily Check-in 1:1 check-in at designated times to explore any issues and discuss worries and concerns, and any changes to the day. Primary Need: C&I, SEMH Referral Process: | Morning Transition Support 1:1 support in the morning to come into school via Main Reception. The student is met by the TA and walked to their tutor room / community morning hub. Primary Need: C&I, SEMH Referral Process: |
| Sensory Room A therapeutic space that reduces stress, anxiety, and sensory overload while enhancing emotional regulation, focus, and cognitive development for individuals with special needs. The room promotes self-soothing and regulation, improves motor skills, and provides a safe, controlled environment for calming or engagement. Students can have 5 minutes in the room. Primary Need: C&I, SEMH Referral Process: | Time Out to the Hub A ten minute time out to be used not in the first or last section of the lesson. Students can engage in mindful colouring or discuss an issue with the staff member. Clear parameters regarding the timers. Primary Need: C&I, SEMH Referral Process: | Overlearning 1:1 study sessions with students to assist in accessing GCSE core and specialist subjects. Involves support for completing work, developing step-by-step approaches to consistently meet requirements, vocabulary reinforcement, and exam practice. Primary Need: C&L Referral Process: |
| Reading for Comprehension Small group sessions to develop reading skills and also how to respond to questions on the English Language exam in ways that better reflect comprehension and inference. KS3 – small group sessions to develop reading and comprehension skills. Focus on the key reading skills of Vocabulary, inference, prediction, explanation and recall. Primary Need: C&L Referral Process: | Thrive A trauma-sensitive, evidence-based framework used in education and care settings to support children and young people’s social and emotional development (0–25 years). It blends neuroscience, attachment theory, and child development to improve mental health, behaviour, and attendance by understanding unmet needs rather than punishing challenging behaviour. Primary Need: SEMH Referral Process: | |
| Reading Pens Students wear the headphones and scan the text with the reading pen, which reads the text. Students have more independence than if supported by a TA to be a reader. Primary Need: C&L Referral Process: | iPads / laptops Students can use word processors to support their writing. This helps them to organise their ideas and easily make edits. Clicker software on iPads enables students to hear what they have written. Students have the confidence to select words they know but would not be able to spell, for example “ginormous” rather than “big”. Primary Need: C&L Referral Process: |
