SEND Support

At Notre Dame we believe “schools teach whatever is necessary to equip the students for life”. As part of this vision we are committed to providing outstanding support for our most vulnerable learners. In order to achieve this we are dedicated to working in partnership with families and wider services. ‘Effective communication and collaboration will enable us to develop partnerships based on trust’ – St. Julie Billiart, Founder of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur.

St Julie     Sunflower

In our hallmarks (Click here for Notre Dame’s Ethos and Hallmarks) we have set ourselves the tremendous challenge of ‘honouring the dignity and sacredness of each person’, and our daily provision for our special needs students is inspired and guided by their divine origin and eternal destiny.

There’s much more to our special educational needs provision than we can share here but hopefully this gives you a flavour of how we approach things. Please feel free to download any of the information below and if you want to know something that isn’t there, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Mr M Owczarek
Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator

Our SEND Information Report
The SEND Information Report can be downloaded from the bottom of this page.

About us
Mrs D Cleary, is our Senior Deputy Head with responsibility for overseeing the co-ordination of support for those students with Special Educational Needs and/or a disability (SEND). You can contact her via the school enquiries email address (school@notredame-high.co.uk)

Mr M Owczarek is our SENCO. You can contact him via email on mowczarek@notredame-high.co.uk.

We have a team of 7 learning support assistants who are highly trained and experienced to deliver outstanding support in and outside of the classroom. Some of the Learning Support Assistants have areas of expertise and lead on interventions. All of our Learning Support Assistants are keyworkers.

Sarah White is our Assessment Co-ordinator, you can contact her via email here.

Role of the keyworker
The role of the keyworker is to provide consistent support for specific students. The keyworker will provide support as appropriate in tutor time; provide regular contact with parents via the school planner, telephone or email. The keyworker will attend review meetings and provide written feedback to contribute the annual review process. The keyworker will build a positive relationships with the student and respond to any daily issues as appropriate. Key workers are allocated to those with EHCPs and to those on the SEND register who are in need.

Access arrangements
At Notre Dame, we believe that every student deserves the opportunity to show what they know and can do in exams. Sometimes, students may need extra help in showing their skills, which is why have access arrangements in place. If you would like to learn more about access arrangements, you can download the information at the bottom of this page.

Support systems within Sheffield
The Sheffield Parent Carers Forum (SPCF) has produced a helpful booklet which describes and explains the support systems which operate in the city. Please click here to view the booklet.

Downloads: