Before Hereford School

Alisa’s Special Educational Needs Identification Profile (SENIP) highlighted four areas of considerable concern:  attention and listening, processing and planning, social and emotional issues and challenging behaviour. 

Alisa had previously attended a Learning Resource Centre (LRC) in primary school and on transition to secondary school she was educated in smaller sets.  Due to Alisa displaying inappropriate sexual behaviour and language she was taught in isolation within the school for a period of time. 

Alisa’s previous school had reported that she could present as being very immature, displaying characteristics generally used by younger children to gain positive affirmation. However, this changed when she would express sexually explicit behaviour, swear, become aggressive and threaten others. Alisa also had a history of lying and when constructive criticism was given to her she would experience an outburst or act inappropriately.

Child sexual services reported that Alisa’s sexual behaviour was heightened by stress and due to this she was at an increased risk of acting on sexual impulse at these times, making her extremely vulnerable to exploitation. They also concluded that she had a limited understanding of emotional vocabulary and struggled to express herself.

How Hereford has supported Alisa

Hereford observed Alisa and noted that there was an improvement in her behaviour when placed in a small class setting with a higher ratio of staff. With this in mind, Hereford ensured that Alisa was supported at all times by two members of staff, initially one of these was a member of care staff to ensure she felt safe with a trusted adult. The hope for this was that when feeling safer Alisa would feel more comfortable to build friendships and adjust better to being around others.

Alisa’s behaviours were also closely monitored as part of her curriculum. Once having a better understanding of this, she gained insights into forming and maintaining friendships and trying out new skills with pastoral support.

Alisa quickly built good relationships with staff in school and became happy and settled. The varied curriculum that was put in place for her was largely based around her interests, meaning that she was given the best opportunity to engage with life skills and enjoy her learning, which led to some wonderful academic achievements.

What Alisa’s future looks like and what she is doing now

Alisa gained her Entry Level 2 English, Mathematics and Science qualifications and has attained a number of AQA awards.  She then went on to attend college for a Post-16 vocational course. Not only has Alisa moved forward onto this next stage, but she has increased her knowledge on how to better assess situations and to build long lasting relationships and friendships going forward in her life.