Meet the Team

Miss Jacks is the SENDCo at Bentley West. She can be contacted on 01922 720792 or send@bentleywest.co.uk and is available on the main gate in the mornings in case you have any questions or concerns. Please get in touch if you would like to arrange a meeting to discuss your child in more detail, or alternatively, you can speak to Miss Jacks at Parents' Evenings where she offers a drop in service.  

SEND Base

At Bentley West, we have a SEND Base. This is a space for children to come for small group or 1:1 interventions. Children can also ask to come here if they need time to help them to self-regulate away from the classroom. At lunchtimes, this space is used for alternating year groups to use to develop their confidence and social skills by playing games with the support of members of the SEND or Pastoral Team. 

Sonic Group

For a small number of children in Key Stage 2 with EHCPs for severe learning difficulties, they are taught core subjects in a specialist group which is overseen by the SENDCO. This group is led by a Teacher, with the support of a HLTA and two Teaching Assistants. This group is designed for children who are working significantly below the standards for their current year group and require a highly adapted curriculum. These children then return to their mainstream classrooms for foundation subjects with additional support from a teaching assistant.  

Deaf Base

We currently provide support for 6 deaf children with a severe to profound hearing loss.

They are fully integrated into mainstream school life, taking part in lessons and extra curricular activities alongside their hearing peers. However, they also have the support on site of specialist staff and a deaf peer group.  Our team is made up of two fully-qualified teachers of the deaf, three specialist learning support assistants and a Deaf instructor.

Having deaf and hearing friends helps them to develop a positive self image and sense of identity within the school community preparing them for life in a hearing and deaf society.  At Bentley West, we believe the children have the best of both worlds! Click here to be guided to the Deaf Base part of the site. 

Inclusive Environment

We offer an inclusive environment through a strong focus on Quality First Teaching. We do this by differentiating work to help children access what is being taught at their developmental level as well as offering a range of resources to support learning; some of which you can see to the left. These include things such as:

•  A 'Now and Next Board' or a visual timeline to help children understand the routine of the day or to break tasks down into smaller steps. 

• 'Talking Tin' - children can speak into this and it records their sentence; they can play this back to help them remember their ideas when writing. 

• Ear defenders - some children use these at different times of the day to help them filter out noise if it becomes too loud. 

• Visual prompts - these pictures help remind children of classroom rules and expectations such as 'good sitting' 'good listening' etc. 

• Workstation - this is used to help children concentrate and filter out the distractions around them. It splits tasks into small, achievable steps. 

Supporting Children's Social and Emotional Well-Being

At Bentley West, we have a growing number of children who need additional support to help them understand and regulate their feelings and emotions. We have a strong Pastoral/SEND Team and a number of interventions and resources in place to help children identify their own emotions and those in others. This includes group support such as morning group, Lego Therapy, Pragmatics and lunchtimes clubs as well as individual resources like a 3-1 scale or feelings fan. Every classroom has their own area to promote and encourage children to identify and discuss their feelings.