Inclusion

SCS has an ethos which promotes the inclusion of students and establishes the long term direction for Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND). It is a whole-school approach with a focus on inclusive practice and removing barriers to learning, meeting each student’s individual needs following the guidelines of the School Inspection Framework 2016 -2017

SCS treats all applications equally and admits students with a range of Special Educational Needs, as evidenced by the SEND register, which is monitored regularly. Applicants will undergo our standard assessment process (if appropriate) and depending on their needs we may request some additional assessments or invite the student to spend some time in the classroom. Access is also considered in the admission of a student.

Safa Community School is compliant with the Dubai Inclusive Education Policy Framework which outlines its purpose to:

Every day, in every classroom, all students, including those identified as experiencing special educational needs and disabilities, will learn and achieve in a safe, supportive, engaging and appropriately challenging common learning environment. Within such a setting, their personal, social, emotional and academic needs are fully met.

The school has a commitment to its students and staff to provide an enabling environment and inclusive culture, which celebrates diversity. This means the equality of opportunity must be a reality for all. We make this a reality through the attention we make to the different groups of children throughout our school. The school promotes: ● For all children to have access to a broad, balanced curriculum and to all experiences and activities provided by the school. ● To identify and celebrate the strengths of all children and with sensitive support to address their weaknesses. ● To raise the self-esteem of all children, especially those who come to us with negative feelings about themselves and their abilities. ● To identify students with Special Educational Needs (Students of Determination) as early as possible on entry to our school. ● To keep parents fully informed of their child’s progress and attainment. ● To involve children as much as possible in evaluating their progress, setting targets, and making decisions about their future provision and support.

Identification of special education needs may have occurred before joining SCS, in which case the information relevant to the child is passed to the school to enable the Inclusion Team and teachers to understand the child’s needs prior to their start date.  Alternatively, formal and informal assessment within the school, highlighting strengths and barriers to learning, will enable teachers and inclusion staff to personalise learning through curriculum adaptions and targeted interventions to suit the needs of the individual learner.  All staff at SCS are committed to early identification and positive reinforcement to not only support academic success, but to build confidence, resilience and emotional intelligence.

Teachers, along with the Inclusion Team, personalise learning by providing an inclusive learning environment that builds on each child’s strengths and successes.  Barriers to learning, or challenges, are supported through targeted in-class support, focus groups or targeted 1:1 interventions.  We carefully monitor the progress of our students, ensuring that parents are an integral part of the monitoring and feedback cycle.

Additional advice and support is also available from our Inclusion Head, our pastoral team, through our partnership with Kidsfirst, school counsellors or our school BCBA (behaviour analyst).

The Safa community extends a welcome to all students, regardless of background, culture or needs.  We are highly committed to removing barriers to learning, supporting our children to feel valued members of our Safa family.

http://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/parent

https://www.understood.org/en

https://www.autism.org.uk/