Best Practice

SEN: A focus on psychology

Frederick Bird School is a Nasen Outstanding Schools thanks to its SEN provision, which includes the extensive use of psychologists. In this profile of its work, we talk to staff and the psychologists to discuss how they meet the needs of all pupils

Frederick Bird Primary is a large, mainstream school in the West Midlands with a high proportion of pupils for whom English is an additional language. Rated as outstanding by Ofsted in 2011, the school is characterised by a fundamental commitment to inclusion and prides itself on promoting the welfare of all its pupils.

The school aims to celebrate the diversity of its pupils, working in partnership with parents, the local community and with educational experts to ensure that the needs of all its pupils are met. 

Support from external agencies plays an important role in this, as assistant headteacher for inclusion Natalie Franklin-Hackett explained: “As a school, we decided a couple of years ago to commission an outside agency to work alongside us, because the local authority could only offer us a limited amount of hours per term. We decided to get support from a clinical psychologist and an educational psychologist who could be here one day every week and become really embedded within the culture of the school.”

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