Parkhall Integrated College is a fully inclusive school, and we pride ourselves on providing an engaging and supportive environment in which our students feel empowered to reach and embrace their full potential with confidence.

Structure

Our Special Educational Needs Department is led by our Special Education Needs Co-ordinator (SENCo) and member of the Senior Leadership Team, Mr I Cunningham. He is assisted by Miss L Beck (Assistant SENCo) and Ms A Logan (Autism Spectrum Disorder Coordinator).

The SEN team has a number of highly skilled and experienced Learning Support Assistants and Behaviour Support Assistants, who impact hugely on the school experiences and lives of our students.

Provision

Working alongside teachers, Learning Support Assistants provide support for students within lessons, enabling progress in learning and inclusion with their peers. A range of extra provision is also offered, which include the following:

• Literacy support – both individual and small group support
• Numeracy support - both individual and small group support
• Behaviour Hub – an early intervention for some of our students who may experience difficulties within school.
• Lunch club - supervised intervention at lunchtimes for some of our students
• A dedicated quiet room for students
• Time-out cards and individually tailored release passes as required
• Access to a full and suitably varied programme of study
• Social skills groups to support communication and interaction.
• Special Needs policy based on the Code of Practice
• Close liaison between staff, specialists and outside agencies

Autism Support

We seek to develop resilience in and empower our students with autism, led by Autism Spectrum Disorder Coordinator. Our focus is on:

• providing extra support to ensure a smooth transition to post-primary
• fully integrating students into the life of the school
• understanding the individual
• building positive relationships between parents/guardians, staff and students
• targeted support to encourage the young person to learn emotionally, socially and academically
• providing an environment which fosters well-being and confidence in our students with autism
• enabling and encouraging the voice of the student to develop independence and a positive self-image

Our staff receive regular training in supporting students with autism in the classroom and students with autism are offered opportunities for social development and interaction through our popular 'Aspire' afterschool club.

Parkhall Integrated College was recently awarded the Autism NI Impact Award Champion status.