Intervention

At Benton Dene School we aim to provide the best possible support for all of our children. In order to support the children’s learning, we have many interventions which run alongside class teaching and learning opportunities. The staff and the school community work hard to ensure that a nurturing approach supports all pupils through their education, providing a bespoke curriculum to each child depending on their current needs.

At Benton Dene all aspects of school life are designed to inspire and engage pupils, through a mix of a learning curriculum, creative approaches and essential life skills. Early intervention enhances children’s approaches to social and emotional development. Our interventions are designed as a cohesive approach with an individual’s EHCP at the core; therefore allowing progress of all pupils to be demonstrated over time. In a child’s intervention session or sessions, there are unique opportunities provided to support the child’s learning, through enriching, targeted and adapted learning opportunities which in turn promote confidence and self-expression. The intention of any interventions sessions will be to target any gaps in learning in order to “close the gaps” and to support pupils reaching their full potential. Interventions are led by Mrs Bayley and are further supported by Teaching Assistants, Teachers and Therapists.

Ofsted (2015) requires that “teachers are assessing pupils regularly and are using this information to identify pupils who need additional support or interventions. Where interventions are in place, the inspector may ask why that intervention was chose, what the impact has been, and how the school is tracking that impact.”

Outlined below are some of the main interventions we use at Benton Dene, what may happen in these interventions and how we measure the impact.

Identification

At Benton Dene, pupils are identified for interventions based on a number of different criteria, some which are outlined below:

• Pupil Premium
• English as an Additional Language (EAL)
• Looked After Child (LAC)
• Medical need
• Attendance
• Behaviour
• Emotional Well-being
• Individual Pupil Progress Plans
• Progress made in English and Maths

Interventions will then be matched to the pupils depending upon their barriers to learning

Therapy / Therapist input

At Benton Dene we consider any learning or therapy which takes place in addition to or outside of the class time table an intervention. Therefore many of our pupils are identified through therapists or therapy referrals. This may include Occupational Therapy (OT) or Speech and Language (SALT).

Interventions

Some pupils may require short term, booster sessions in Literacy and Numeracy based around their individual targets. In this case, a short term intervention will be designed and either class based support will be implemented or the intervention room will be used to deliver the bespoke programme of sessions to meet the identified need or needs. Along with these, here at Benton Dene we are also focused upon the wellbeing and emotional health of the children in our care.

Our aim is to support every pupil and to help close the gaps, to do this there are number of interventions which may be used, including:

• Read Write Inc.
• Comprehension sessions
• Talk for Writing
• Numbers Count
• First Class @ Number
• Numicon
• Drawing and Talking
• Attention Autism
• Social skills group
• Social stories
• SEAL
• Resilience
• Emotional literacy
• Fine and Gross Motor skills

All of which can be further supported through the use of visual aids, Makaton, PECS, computer programmes, board games and challenges out in the wider world; giving the pupil’s a real life context in order to embed their learning.

Each child will be monitored and tracked throughout the duration of the planned intervention, which will allow the effectiveness and the end impact to be assessed. This may result in programmes running for longer, learning time being extended or an intervention being repeated after a brief period of rest or the conclusion of a successful intervention.