Part of castle school education trust

"Castle School Education Trust is committed to high quality education across the primary, secondary and sixth form key stages. Our schools cover the South Gloucestershire area. We encourage independence within each school within a strong framework of values."

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Downend

To report a child's absence for years 7-11 please email dow-studentabsence@cset.co.uk or call 01454 862395.  For 6th Form please call 01454 862333.  

Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND)

A special educational need is defined as ‘a learning difficulty or disability that makes learning a challenge for a child’. Children with SEND may have greater difficulty learning than other children of the same age. Downend School tracks the progress of all students identified as having additional needs and monitors the impact of interventions. Students with an Education, Health and Care Plan and those as identified as SEND support are included on our special educational needs register.

At Downend, it is our ambition that every single student, including those with a special educational need and/or disability (SEND),  develops the knowledge, skills, values and virtues that allow them to flourish in their lives and their community. We provide a safe, supportive and challenging learning environment for all our students, which aims to inspire and empower them to grasp opportunity; reach their potential; develop responsibility and integrity and to respect themselves and others. 

 

We are also proud of the care and support we offer all of our students, including the additional support some of our students with SEND require and we strongly believe in the value of creating a friendly and caring school community. Our aim is always to create a community so that all students, including those with SEND, feel a sense of belonging.

At Downend School we have a comprehensive network of support available to ensure that every student with special educational needs reaches their full potential. This support comes from collaboration with the SEND team, pastoral team, student support services and teaching staff. The documents below outline this support in more detail.

Our SEND team

At Downend, we believe that every member of staff is responsible for the academic progress, safety and wellbeing of students with SEND and as such, we are all the SEND team. Our core provision offers significant support for students with a variety of needs as we are guided by the principle that “what is vital for some is valuable to all” which is rooted in a commitment to high quality classroom experiences for all. 

However, there are also a number of people with specific respnsibility for our students with SEND:

  • SENCO - Sharon Davey
  • Deputy SENCO - Melissa Tothill
  • ELSA support and Accelerating Child Engagement Team Leader - Rebecca Sweeney
  • Literacy intervention team 
  • Education Support Assistants (ESAs) 

Further information

The documents below provide further information which shows the provision of support we offer students with Special Educational Needs and Disability at Downend School.

School Information report 2025-2026 

Downend School provision map of support

Support for Parents

South Gloucestershire Parents & Carers is a supportive community for parents and carers of children (0-25) with additional needs and disabilities:

Website: www.sglospc.org.uk

Supportive Parents is a parent-led organisation providing the Parent Partnership Service for Bristol, South Gloucestershire and North Somerset. This service is confidential and provides independent parental support to parents of children with special educational needs.

Website: www.supportiveparents.org.uk