Special Educational Needs & Disabilities

At Thetford Academy we aim to:

  • Ensure that all members of the school community support students with special educational needs and disabilities and that SEND students are integrated into the life of the school.
  • Ensure that all students identified as having special educational needs or disabilities have, as far as possible, equal access to all aspects of the curriculum, with modifications made to the curriculum if appropriate.
  • Improve the literacy and numeracy skills of students with general and specific learning difficulties both as an end in itself and as a means of providing maximum access by such students to the rest of the curriculum.
  • Develop differentiation in all lessons to improve the educational opportunities of all students, regardless of ability.
  • Meet the special educational needs of children with physical disabilities as far as is practicable in terms of the layout and resources of the academy.
  • Increase the confidence of students with SEND, encouraging them to be involved in their own provision.
  • Communicate with parents about all aspects of the special needs provision made for their children, and seek to develop this partnership.
  • Deploy learning support resources effectively.
  • Support our particularly vulnerable students through our anti-bullying policy. We currently have 20 anti-bullying mentors who offer support to students, and our SMSC programme addresses bullying regularly. Thetford Academy was recently awarded the ‘B.I.G’ National Award for excellence in challenging bullying.
  • Meet the social and emotional wellbeing needs of our students through our pastoral support system involving tutors and our community foundation centre. All students belong to a college and every college has a parent liaison officer who provides support to families.

For more information please read our Special Educational Needs Information Report and Special Educational Needs Policy.

SEND Report

SEND Policy

You can contact our SENDCo Lucy Burbridge by email:

Local offer

Details of the Norfolk local offer can be found at:

Children and families SEND local offer