The Den and The Hub

Redlands School: SEND Provision

Celebrating Diversity, Inspiring Achievement

At Redlands, we believe that every child deserves an education that celebrates their uniqueness and inspires them to achieve their full potential. Our SEND provision, including The Den and The Hub, is designed to meet the needs of children with special educational needs and disabilities, ensuring that all pupils are empowered to thrive in an inclusive and supportive environment.

Our Intent

Our vision for SEND provision is aligned with the Redlands values of Kindness, Respect, Responsibility, Integrity, Self-Belief, and Equality. We are committed to creating a learning environment that is inclusive, nurturing, and ambitious for all our pupils.

• Kindness is at the heart of our provision. We nurture positive relationships between staff, pupils, and their peers, creating an environment where every child feels valued and supported.
• We uphold Respect by celebrating the diverse strengths and abilities of our pupils, ensuring each child feels recognised and appreciated for who they are.
• Through Responsibility, we empower our pupils to become active participants in their learning journey, helping them build independence and resilience.
• We act with Integrity by working collaboratively with families and external professionals to provide the best possible outcomes for our pupils.
• We foster Self-Belief by setting personalised, aspirational goals that inspire children to achieve their best, celebrating every step of progress along the way.
• We strive for Equality, ensuring all children have the opportunity to access a high-quality education tailored to their individual needs.

Our aim is to help every child become a confident, curious, and happy learner, with the skills and knowledge they need to succeed in school and beyond.

Our ARP Provision

At Redlands, we have two specialist Additionally Resourced Provisions (ARPs) that offer tailored support for pupils with complex needs: The Den and The Hub.

The Den: Emerging Curriculum

The Den is our ARP for younger children who are working within the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) level. The Den provides an Emerging Curriculum that combines the EYFS prime areas with each child’s specific needs, creating a highly personalised learning pathway.

Our Curriculum in The Den focuses on:

• Prime Areas of Learning: Communication and Language, Physical Development, and Personal, Social and Emotional Development.
• Tailored Interventions: We use strategies such as Attention Autism, Intensive Interaction, and Occupational Therapy to help pupils develop essential communication and sensory regulation skills.
• Speech and Language Support: Specialist interventions are integrated to enhance language development, allowing children to communicate effectively and build positive relationships with others.
• SCERTS Model: We incorporate the SCERTS framework (Social Communication, Emotional Regulation, and Transactional Support) to support children in developing social interaction and managing emotions.

The Den provides a nurturing environment where pupils are given the time, space, and targeted support they need to make progress in the prime areas of learning and against their personal targets. We ensure children in The Den develop the foundational skills that will support their future learning, while promoting independence and celebrating every achievement.

The following document is example long term planning for The Den. This planning would be adapted to incorporate the individual needs of the children.

The Hub: Integration Curriculum

The Hub is designed for older children who require Social, Emotional, and Mental Health (SEMH) support and targeted academic interventions but can also access aspects of the mainstream curriculum.

Our Curriculum in The Hub focuses on:

• Integration with Mainstream Lessons: Pupils in The Hub spend part of their day accessing mainstream lessons, with targeted support to help them engage successfully. This enables them to benefit from learning alongside their peers and to participate in wider school life.
• Targeted Academic Support: We provide personalised interventions to close gaps in literacy and numeracy, ensuring that pupils receive the support they need to achieve academically. Small group teaching and one-to-one sessions help to address specific learning needs and build confidence.
• SEMH and Wellbeing Support: Pupils receive intensive support for their social and emotional development, including emotional regulation strategies, therapeutic interventions, and dedicated time for emotional literacy work. Our approach helps pupils to understand and manage their emotions, build positive relationships, and develop resilience.

The Hub provides a structured yet nurturing environment where pupils receive a balance of academic learning and SEMH support, helping them develop the skills needed to thrive in school and beyond. We work closely with each child and their family to create personalised learning plans that align with their strengths, needs, and aspirations.

You may find our curriculum pathway document useful.

Assessment in The Den and The Hub

At Redlands Primary School, we are deeply committed to providing a nurturing, supportive, and inclusive learning environment for all pupils. The Den and The Hub offer tailored support to meet the diverse needs of our learners through carefully designed assessment and curriculum pathways.

In The Den, pupils follow our Emerging Curriculum, which focuses on small steps learning and a highly personalised approach. Skilled staff closely monitor each child’s progress, using ongoing formative assessment to inform next steps in learning. This ensures that teaching is responsive and adapted to meet individual needs. Our team works collaboratively with external professionals—such as Speech and Language Therapists, Occupational Therapists, and Educational Psychologists—to incorporate expert advice into daily teaching. This guidance allows us to identify and implement strategies that help children make meaningful progress across key developmental areas.

In The Hub, pupils access our Integration Curriculum, which enables them to engage with the National Curriculum alongside personalised targets that support their social, emotional, and communication development. Children are formatively assessed not only against academic objectives but also against the goals set out in their Education, Health, and Care Plans (EHCPs). This holistic assessment approach ensures that each child's progress is carefully tracked, and teaching is continually adapted to support their overall development.

Formative assessment is a powerful tool in both The Den and The Hub. It allows us to:

• Identify gaps and strengths in learning to personalise the curriculum effectively.
• Inform timely referrals and interventions by external professionals when further support is needed.
• Shape bespoke strategies that develop speech, language, social, emotional, and mental health skills, ensuring that every child receives the right support at the right time.

To further enhance our provision, the Redlands team is receiving dedicated support from Reading Borough Council and the RISE Team to implement the SCERTS Model. The SCERTS model is an evidence-based educational framework designed to support the development of children with social communication and emotional regulation challenges, particularly those with autism and related conditions.

SCERTS stands for:

• Social Communication – developing functional communication, emotional expression, and relationships with others.
• Competence in Emotional Regulation – helping children manage their emotions in a range of environments.
• Transactional Support – providing tailored environmental and interpersonal supports to enable success.

This model is highly effective for children in The Den as it focuses on creating supportive environments that foster communication and emotional wellbeing. By embedding the SCERTS framework, staff can better understand each child’s individual needs and implement practical, proactive strategies that promote meaningful engagement and learning.

Through this responsive, child-centred approach—supported by expert training in SCERTS—we empower our pupils to build confidence, develop independence, and achieve their full potential in a supportive and inclusive environment.

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Celebrating Diversity, Inspiring Achievement

Our ARPs, The Den and The Hub, are integral to our commitment to Celebrating Diversity and Inspiring Achievement. We are proud of our inclusive ethos, where every pupil is valued, supported, and encouraged to succeed.

Whether through specialist interventions in The Den or integration opportunities in The Hub, our goal is to help each child reach their potential, equipping them with the knowledge, skills, and self-belief to flourish. At Redlands, we celebrate every achievement—big or small—and we inspire our pupils to believe in themselves and their future.

If you would like more information about The Den, The Hub, or our wider SEND provision, please contact our SENDCo, Mrs. C. Whiteway at SENCO@redlands.reading.sch.uk