SEND Information report
The SEND Team and contacting the SEND department
The SEND Department is an outstanding team who offers training, advice and support to all staff and ensures all students with SEND are well looked after. The team consists of an SLT link/Trust Systemic Leader, Trust Director of SEND, Head of SEND and Deputy SENCO, who are able to represent the views of the school on key SEND students to outside agencies very effectively. The SEND Team at Cheam is led by the Head of SEND and SENCO Ms S Chowdhury. More information regarding the team can be found here.
The SEND team can be contacted via a dedicated email address: senco@cheam.sutton.sch.uk
What parents/carers say
Parents continue to be very impressed with the provision we provide for our SEND students. Parents have also praised the communication, the support and have been delighted with the progress made and the confidence shown by their child. Quotes include:
“My son has been very happy in his first year in Cheam High School; he has settled in fantastically and really grown in confidence” Year 7 parent/carer
“The support my son has helped him to settle into Year 8 and has helped reduce his anxiety” Year 8 parent/carer
“I am really happy with all the support my daughter has received. She has been supported so well throughout her time at Cheam High School. The communication has been really good; she has made fantastic progress” Year 11 parents/carer
Curriculum and identifying children and young people with SEND
Cheam High School provides all students, including those with SEND, with access to a broad and balanced curriculum. It is ambitious and responds to the needs of the students. At the start of Year 7, baseline and cognitive assessments are carried out to ensure the early identification of possible SEND needs or learning difficulties. Student progress is then monitored throughout the academic year and where underperformance has been identified, the school follows the graduated approach, to attempt to remove any barriers to learning. More information regarding how Cheam High School implements this can be found here. If staff have concerns about the progress of a student they teach, they are able to directly refer that child for further investigation via an internal SEN Referral form. This is then reviewed and discussed at the school’s internal multiple professional meeting, where next steps are decided.
Exemplary practices have been demonstrated in a number of subject areas during Learning Walks. High expectations, questions and activities pitched to challenge and/or scaffold (breakdown activities into smaller chunks) led to outstanding outcomes for students over a period of time. LSAs are used effectively to support students' learning. The Personalised Learning Unit (PLUS) continues to support students and staff in modifying student behaviour to allow more successful outcomes. Homework club is on offer, to provide a place with additional adult support, for students to complete out of lesson learning.
Interventions to support students:
Following the graduated approach there are a number of interventions the school uses to support SEND students, disadvantaged students and those who have been identified as requiring support in a specific area.
Code Breakers, Direct Instruction and the Communications course for students who require additional literacy support continues. Students who present with a communication need, have access to internal speech and language provision, delivered by a leading LSA in this area. Students are internally assessed before an appropriate intervention is implemented. The school works closely with the borough provided Speech and Language and Occupational Therapists, who provided specific targets and follow up therapies, carried out by some of our LSAs. Students who require a SALT intervention are also provided with additional literacy support as part of their therapies session.
Interventions in place include homework club, social skills, subject specific support in numeracy, handwriting and as well as a Nurture Group. We have introduced the TALEMO assessment, a screening programme to determine the probability of Specific Literacy difficulties. Results are available immediately and provide guidance on strategies to use which are subsequently shared with staff, parents/carers and the student concerned. Some students in Years 9 - 11 take the functional skills examination and have access to our KS4 reading fluency support group, tutor time literacy and IDL interventions.
The ‘Reading Plus’ intervention has been implemented for those whose reading ages are plateauing. Students have small group or 1-1 intervention with an LSA at tutor time in addition to their normal access. Students who scored below 100 in KS2 tests, are assessed using the school’s NGRT programme and an appropriate intervention will be suggested, based on the outcome of their scores.
The English department has also implemented Reading Fluency interventions at KS3. Students are identified for this intervention through the school’s STAR reader and NGRT programme. The English and SEND department identify students who would continue to benefit from literacy interventions at KS4 through other internal assessments.
More information regarding assessments and interventions the school uses can be found here.
The school are very pleased that they are able to offer parents/carers three meetings each year to discuss their child’s progress and any interventions/support they maybe accessing. These meetings take place during the school’s SEND Support Plan Evening and parent meetings are led by a member of the school’s SEN Team. In addition to this, the SEN Team offer at least one coffee morning/afternoon to parents of different Key Stages at least once per year.
The SEND Register and key figures
The SEND Register is an internal school record, which identifies students with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities. At Cheam High, the SEND Register can be found on Arbor (the school’s Management Information System). More information regarding the SEND Register can be found here.
As of October 2025:
• 12.5% of the school’s total student population is recorded as having SEND
• 2.4% of the school’s total student population has an EHCP
• 10.1% of the school’s total student population is recorded as SEND Support (Please note that this figure will change throughout the academic year as and when students move on and off the SEND Register)
Outcomes in 2025
There were 8 students with EHCP plans in Year 11 who achieved exceptionally well given their starting points.
Highlights include:
Student A: English Lang., (3) English Lit., (3) Maths, (2) Science (2) Geography (3), French (3), Food Technology (DX1)
Student B: English Lang., (1) English Lit.,(2) Maths, (4) Science, (4) French (3) Food Technology (DX1) Music (DI1)
Student C: English Lang., (2) English Lit., (3) Maths, (2) Science, (2) French (3) Drama (3) Music (M1)
Student D: English Lang., (4) English Lit., (3) Maths, (2) Science, (2) French (2), History (2), Construction (P1) Food Technology (DX1)
Student E: Dance, (1) Food Tech., (DI1)
Student F: English Lang.,(2) English Lit.,(3) Science (2), French (5) Food Tech (DI1) IT (DX1)
Student G: English Lang., (4) English Lit., (5) Maths, (3) Science, (3) French (1), BTEC Art (M), Food Technology (P)
Student H: English Lang., (5) English Lit., (4) Maths, (6) Science, (6) Geography (6), History (5), Design Technology (5), Construction (P)
We are exceptionally proud of our students’ hard work, successes and the grades they achieved are a testament to their sheer determination throughout their journey here at Cheam High School. All nine of our students have progressed onto their chosen college destinations. A number of our K students, who accessed both targeted and specialist support here at Cheam High School have also progressed onto their chosen college destination, with some returning to our Sixth Form.
We had 2 EHCP student in Year 13 studying level 3 courses. One has decided to retake Year 13 and the other has joined an apprenticeship scheme.
Reviewing SEND provision and involving the student and their families
More information regarding Cheam High School’s communication with parents can be found here:
https://www.cheam.sutton.sch.uk/2797/communication-with-parentscarers
Admissions and Transitions
Cheam High School are proud of their transition process and the support in place for prospective students, current students and their families. Information regarding our admissions and transition process can be found here:
https://www.cheam.sutton.sch.uk/2788/admissions-and-transitions
Evaluating the effectiveness of provision on offer
The school uses a range of measures to evaluate the quality of our SEND and Early help provision. Much of this relates to the self-evaluations process of the school. Information regarding the evaluation of SEND provision can be found here:
https://www.cheam.sutton.sch.uk/2802/evaluation-of-send-provision
SEND Policy
The school’s SEND policy, including all school policy can be found here:
https://www.cheam.sutton.sch.uk/193/policies
Accessibility and Inclusion
Cheam High School is an inclusive secondary school, which prides itself on ensuring students with a disability or any need are able to access the full range of curriculum on offer. For more information on the steps taken to prevent disabled pupils being treated less favourably than others, adapted facilities and other reasonable adjustments we implement, please see the following information on our SEN pages:
https://www.cheam.sutton.sch.uk/2781/send-support-principles-and-the-send-charter
https://www.cheam.sutton.sch.uk/2787/accessibility-strategy
https://www.cheam.sutton.sch.uk/2793/graduated-approach-support-strategies
If you have a specific question regarding accessibility and inclusion at Cheam High School, that may not have been addressed in the information noted above, please email the SEND Team at senco@cheam.sutton.sch.uk or telephone the school and ask to be transferred to the SEND Department.
Local offer
More information regarding Sutton’s Local Offer can be found here:
https://suttoninformationhub.org.uk/pages/send-local-offer
More information regarding our offer at Cheam High School can be found here:
https://www.cheam.sutton.sch.uk/217/send-special-educational-needs-and-disabilities
Sharing good SEND Practice
The school is committed to working with other partners and professionals in order to develop and share best practice. This then supports our students to make good and outstanding progress, academically and/or in their personal development.
To support this process we:
- have a Director of SEND that works across the Trust schools to ensure that we use the best practice from each school.
- A Head of SEND/SENCO who runs and manages the day-to-day aspect of whole school SEND and ensures that students SEN Needs are met and well catered for.
- take an active part in the local SENCo Clusters, sharing strategies and problem solving across schools.
- use Assistant Psychologists within the school to support targeted and specialist interventions.
- share the way we use our SEND funding to support review of provision.
- undertake regular reviews of our provision, including signing up for the peer cluster review programme.
- provide training for our teaching and support staff. This includes in house best practice, using more experienced staff and those with particular expertise as well as using external professionals such as Speech and Language therapists, Occupational Therapists and Educational Psychologists.
- take advantage of training across the local area. This includes Autism Champion Training and ELKLAN Training.
- use online training to support those new to roles within the SEND team, and have a strong line management process to ensure that staff are supported in their work.
The school is also committed to Quality First Teaching as the first universal approach to help all students learn and make progress.
We promote and support the development of our teachers through subject specific and cross department training taking account of feedback from lesson visits, performance management reviews and student voice feedback.
Finally, we host visits to our SEND department to share what we do.
Further information on SEND, including Cheam High School's SEND Offer can be found here.
What to do if you have a concern or a complaint regarding SEND Support at Cheam High School:
As per the school’s SEN Policy, which can be found here, whenever problems are identified an appointment should be made to see the student's tutor. If the matter needs to be taken further, then it will be passed on to:
(a) Head of SEND/SENCo
(b) Director of SEND
(c) Attached member of Leadership
(d) The Headteacher
If necessary, the school’s formal procedures for complaints will be invoked.