More about starting secondary school

We know that like many others, students with special educational needs or disabilities may find secondary school a big change. That's why we try to prepare well by liaising with primary schools, and making sure we have the information and resources we need to support our SEND students right from the start of the year. Sometimes we make special preparations too - for instance by getting help from disability advisors or specialists, or by arranging extra visits and handovers for Year 6 students and their primary school helpers.

All Year 7s - a bit over 180 students - get special treatment. They have their tutor group rooms in A Block, just behind Reception, and it's reserved for them -- no other year group has space there. Many Year 7 lessons are timetabled to take place there too. They go first into lunch for the first part of the term so that they can find their way around when it's not busy. And we have a tried and tested induction programme designed to help students feel at home at Sandringham even if their friends have gone to a different school.

Most students with SEND will have had their needs identified and assessed at primary school. Like all Hertfordshire schools, we use standard terms for the level of support a student needs to make progress, and we record key data on our information systems:

• School Action (SA) for interventions that are additional to or different from those for students who do not have SEND
• School Action Plus (SA+) where external support services or specialists have been asked to meet and assess a student and advise subject and pastoral staff on support needs, targets or strategies
• Statement of Special Educational Needs which applies to a few students (approx. 1.2%) where the help given through SA+ may not have been sufficient to ensure progress

As well as getting information from primary schools we may also contact parents and carers in Year 6 or early in Year 7 to check information or ask for more details.