Special Education Needs Co-ordinator (SENCO)

Gateacre is a very popular school which serves the needs of a large and varied community. We are proud of the quality of personal relationships here and the care that is given to all our students. Successful education is only possible in an environment in which mutual respect and cooperation are key features.
The staff at Gateacre all subscribe to the belief that students appreciate a safe and secure learning environment in which rules are applied fairly and consistently, where students know what is expected of them and where positive behaviours are supported and reinforced. Gateacre is a happy and achieving school and we work hard to maintain a spirit of genuine partnership with parents.

Staff and governors at Gateacre have worked together to produce an agreed set of Aims for the school.
We have also agreed procedures, a code of conduct and a system of rewards and sanctions for our students which assist us in achieving our aims. Underpinning all that we strive for is the ethos of our school - our own characteristic spirit and shared set of beliefs. The school´s ethos determines the atmosphere at Gateacre and the quality of personal relationships within our school.

Our ethos may be summarised by the following beliefs:

• Successful education is based on good relationships between staff and students. Mutual respect and co-operation are central to such relationships.
• Sensitive consideration of students by all staff increases their self-esteem which in turn produces greater achievement.
• All students are individuals with differing social backgrounds, talents, aspirations and needs. Each is entitled to mature and develop within a safe and caring environment so that individual potential may be achieved.
• Individual potential is most likely to be realised when staff always demand high yet realistic standards of effort, behaviour and achievement from their students.
• Students appreciate a disciplined environment in which staff act firmly, fairly and consistently.
• Problems are perfectly normal in a school where children are learning and testing the boundaries of acceptable behaviour. Our success is determined not by the absence of problems but by the collaborative way in which we deal with them.

Gateacre provides a broad and balanced education. The curriculum is designed to ensure that all students have the opportunity to achieve their maximum potential through personalised learning programmes and Gifted and talented provision.
We want each student to develop confidence, self-esteem and a determination to succeed.

At Gateacre expectations for all students are high. Parents/ carers and students can be confident that Gateacre can deliver a high quality education for all young people and their secondary experience will be challenging, successful and fun.