
DSL Counselling team
The DSL Beratungsquadrat stands for the collaboration of a multi-professional team from school social work, school psychology, safeguarding and Specific Educational Needs (SEN). In line with our mission statement "living together, learning together, creating together, building bridges together", we support and guide pupils, parents and staff in many matters relating to living and learning at our school.

The counselling team, which also includes the learning support team at our school, works across departments in the nursery/preschool, primary school and secondary school.
We bring together different perspectives and expertise in order to develop the best possible, customised solutions. We often simply listen in peace and quiet or provide support in solving smaller issues independently. Causes for counselling can include
Special support needs / support for special talents
Support in various areas of learning
Strengthening social interaction
Stressful situations at school and in the family
jeopardising the well-being of pupils inside and outside school
We are there for our both our pupils and their families!
Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Offer At DSL
(Q&A – English)
DSL Mission Statement
At the DSL, pupils study with others of diverse ethnic and/or religious backgrounds, with native and non-native speakers of German, with others from different familial and social backgrounds, with different aptitudes and talents and with specific needs. A common denominator is the desire to learn the German language, and to grow up within the German education system whilst in the UK. DSL embraces this wide variety of individual circumstances in the DSL Mission Statement and above all sets out core themes for social interaction. The objectives of everyone sharing and participating in our school community are found once again in the various headings of:
· ‘Living Together’
· ‘Building Bridges Together’
· ‘Creating Together’
· ‘Learning Together’
This document, The DSL SEND Offer, outlines our approach to meeting the needs of SEND students at the school. The following sets out a number of questions and answers for parents.
What is meant by SEND?
SEND stands for Special Educational Needs and Disabilities. and describes the special needs of individual students in learning in the following areas:
· Thinking and learning
· Communication and interaction
· Social and emotional mental health
· Motor skills and cognition
The DSL’s provision for SEND is informed by our understanding of the above four areas.
These areas of support can also be linked to the following diagnoses:
· Dyslexia - Reading/spelling difficulties
· Dyscalculia - Maths difficulties
· Attention/concentration deficit (ADHD/ ADD)
· Dyspraxia
· Physical impairments
· Autism (ASD)
· Behavioural disorders
· Other psychological disorders
Admission at the DSL always depends on the individual case and the individual development of a student. The focus will always be on finding the best possible learning environment for the student.
What is the schools Admissions Policy for a child with SEND?
Parents should inform the school prior to the admissions interview about any previous educational support and possible diagnoses to ensure the best possible start at the DSL.
The basis for admission is a language test and possibly the professional assessment of the respective responsible Special Educational Needs Coordination (SENCo). Please also refer to the admission policy (SR09).
The school management decides, after consulting with the teachers who conduct the admission process, whether we have the resources to cater appropriately for their needs. It is the DSL’s priority to make a decision that is in the best interest of the child.
Who can I contact if I am worried about my child's learning – development?
Please contact your child's class and subject teacher first. In consultation with the class or subject teacher, you can also contact the responsible Special Educational Needs Coordination (SENCo).
If your child already has had an assessment, feel free to contact the SENCo directly.
How will I find out if the school has concerns about my child's learning development?
If a teacher is concerned about a child's learning development, they will contact the respective SENCo. The relevant SENCo will get in touch with the parents or, if necessary, refer the concerne to another professional within the Beratungsquadrat (BQ – Specialist School support Team)
Who is the SENCo responsible for my child?
SENCO : Kinderhaus, Primary and Year 5
Mara Breuninger - mara.breuninger@dslondon.org.uk
SENCO Secondary Year 6 to 12
Anna-Lena Klenk - anna-lena.klenk@dslondon.org.uk
What is the role of the SENCo?
SENCos assist with the care and support of all pupils with specific needs, from Kinderhaus up to Year 12. The scope of SENCos’ work includes, among other things:
· Advice/support for pupils, parents and teaching staff
· Sitting in on classes and observing pupils
· Carrying out and evaluating informal tests
· Evaluating reports
· Support and monitoring of teaching staff in the development, implementation and evaluation of support plans
· Support for teaching staff with various strategies to implement in order for the individual pupil/s to access the curriculum as much as possible depending on their need.
· Expert guidance, support and coordination of learning support team
· Exchanges with external specialists (eg. therapists) to improve individuals’ needs and situation
· Collaboration with UK authorities
· Participation in conferences in all areas of education
· Training of other staff
· Collaboration and communication with the school community and parents groups
· Drawing up concepts
· Interdisciplinary working within the Beratungsquadrat
What processes are in place for identifying pupils with SEND?

What additional support is available for SEND students at the DSL?
We have a multi-professional team whose job is to look after the pupils’ wide range of needs and their wellbeing. The role of the Beratungsquadrat (BQ) (specialist school support team) is to provide support and advice in the following areas: Social Education, Counselling, Educational Psychology, Safeguarding. This interdisciplinary support offers the possibility of support.
Social Education:
To support social interaction and social skills. This area of work encompasses:
▪ Carrying out an education and socio-pedagogical programme (e.g. Fairplayer, Lubo aus dem All) in the Primay and at secondary school level.
▪ Collaboration in the Ganztag
▪ Crisis intervention
▪ Individual work with pupils and groups
▪ Counselling of teachers in socio-educational issues
▪ Occasional and topic-related support in lessons
▪ Implementation of prevention programmes
▪ Training and support of mediators
▪ Supporting pupils, parents, and teaching and school staff
▪ Interdisciplinary working within the Beratungsquadrat
Counselling:
Supports students from the Kinderhaus, and Primary and Secondary School. This is done following a recommendation from teachers or at the request of the pupils themselves.
▪ Offering emotional support to individual students throughout DSL
▪ Offering counselling sessions to individual and groups depending on need and circumstances
▪ Support for teaching staff/observations in lessons
▪ Consultations with parents and teachers
▪ Communication with pupils, staff and parents
▪ Liaising with the Safeguarding Team and occasionally Social Services/Achieving for Children
▪ Interdisciplinary working within the BQ
Safeguarding:
Safeguarding works closely with the BQ-Team, attending meeting on a weekly basis.
The Safeguarding team:
▪ Provides training for all school staff on safeguarding children and young people.
▪ Supports and gives advice to children and young people
▪ Organises preventative workshops on safeguarding for members of the school.
▪ Advises parents and school staff.
▪ Works with the Social services and other external organisations and bodies.
▪ Carries out interdisciplinary work within the Beratungsquadrat.
What SEND support programmes are available at the DSL?
In addition to the general support offered by the primary and secondary school, the following SEND-specific support is available:
▪ Marburg concentration training (primary school)
▪ Occupational Therapy club (primary school)
▪ Reading and spelling support (primary and secondary school)
▪ Individual Learning Support Teachers (primary and secondary school)
Which Dyslexia support offers are available?
Students with Dyslexia and/ or reading and spelling difficulties are supported in additional group lessons. The teacher supervises and advises all pupils from Year 1 to Year 12. Thanks to established diagnostic processes, the school is able to recognise difficulties in good time so that preventative action can be taken.
The following support is available, where appropriate:
▪ Reading support in year 1
▪ Reading and spelling support from Year 2 up to and including Year 9 (also individually in year 10-12)
▪ Implementation and evaluation of informal tests
▪ Support measures for reading, writing and organisation in the individual support plan
▪ Counselling teachers, parents and pupils
▪ Supporting colleagues in dealing with reading and spelling difficulties
▪ Close cooperation with the SENCOs in conceptual work and work with individual children/young people
▪ Participation in the professional evaluation of access arrangements
How does my child get Dyslexia support?
A screening is carried out with all pupils in years 2-9. If there are any area of difficulties, the pupil is offered a place on the reading and spelling programme. If your child already has a diagnosis, it is highly recommended that they attend the school offer or get external support as this is an important factor in the eligibility for Access Arrangements.
What are Access Arrangements and is my child eligible?
Access Arrangements are pre-examination adjustments for students based on evidence of need. Access arrangements are granted if the school has a medical, psychological or other diagnostic report. It is independent of the grades a student achieves. The responsible SENCo decides how the compensation for disadvantage is to be implemented on the basis of the available reports.
Compensation of advantages in Year 10 and the sixth form (including the Abitur examination) may only be authorised by the Kultusministerkonferenz (KMK) in Germany. This requires, among other things, a medical certificate, proof of support and a decision by the class conference. Applications are usually submitted by the school management in the previous school year.
What type of Access Arrangements are given at the DSL?
The DSL aligns itself according to the legal framework conditions set out in the KMK (Standing Conference of Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs). Providing a report does not automatically entitle a student to receive access arrangements. The verification of access arrangements is the responsibility of the school management with specific professional advice from the SENCO and the educational psychologist, in collaboration with the teaching staff. In years 10-12 Access Arrangements need to be ratified by the KMK.
Year 1-12:
▪ Time Extension (up to 20/25%)
▪ Small group working in an exam (where possible)
▪ Use of a laptop/ iPads
▪ special preparation of task sheets (larger type, adapting the ordering of content on worksheets, A4 to A3 etc.)
▪ Support from an Individual Learning Support Teacher
Up to year 9:
▪ Suspension of German spelling rules
▪ Cautious assessment of spelling in foreign languages
What is an Individual Learning Support Teacher?
A team of qualified Learning Support Staff provides support for individual pupils in one-on-one sessions or in lessons. They provide help with organisation or content; they can also work with more than one student in a class. Furthermore, they work in close cooperation with the teachers and the responsible SENCo.
When does a Child receive Individual Learning Support?
If the class or subject teacher or the responsible SENCo sees the need for additional support in the classroom, they should contact the parents or guardians.
Who pays for the Individual Learning Support?
Learning support assistants are employed by the school. The cost of this essential additional support by learning support assistants is generally borne by the parents, after consultation.
What are ‘Education Health Care Plans’
An education, health and care plan (EHCP) is for children and young people aged up to 25years who need more support than is available through special educational needs support.
EHCPs identify educational, health and social needs and set out the additional support to meet those needs. This definition is taken from https://www.gov.uk/children-with-special-educational-needs/extra-SEN-help.
How do parents apply for an EHCP?
The parents apply to the local authority where they are currently resident. They request the Local Authority to conduct an assessment of the child’s needs, the DSL itself does not make the application. The assessments regarding a possible diagnosis or support of need is financed by the parents.
Help and support from the School
The SENCOs will support the application by providing the parents with documentation regarding the child’s development A support plan and a special educational statement regarding the educational setting will also be generated. In addition, with the agreement of parents the school will liaise with other external professionals as required.
Important note regarding the EHCP: The necessity of an Educational Health and Care Plan (EHCP) is evidence for us, as a mainstream school, that we may not be able to adequately accommodate/resource the child’s or young person’s needs. An EHCP is very specific in what a school must be able to deliver in order to meet the very specific needs of that young person. In many cases, mainstream schools are not a suitable provision. In this instance, the evaluation by the SENCO/s and the School management with regard to the necessity for an EHCP, or an application for an EHCP by the parents, will automatically lead to the school working with the parents to ascertain whether DSL can meet needs as suggested by the Plan or whether there is a need to find an appropriate place where the pupil’s needs may be supported and resourced appropriately. We want the pupil to be part of a setting where they can reach their full potential. In this case, the resources of our school are insufficient to be able to vouchsafe this.
How are the teachers in the school supported to work with children with SEND?
Teachers and staff receive training over the academic year by the SENCOs/ Educational Psychologist and other key specialists This training is integrated into the yearly School Calendar for all staff to attend.
The BQ team is also on hand, particularly the SENCOs to answer any questions that may arise from a teacher if support is needed with any child in their classes.
Inclusive education requires good communication with and information for all members of the school community regarding learning and living together. The DSL, therefore, has established the following systems which will be repeated in our school year and the events calendar on the website:
▪ Participation in roundtable conferences: rounds of talks at regular intervals (potential participants: pupils, parents, teaching staff, internal specialists)
▪ Participation in all grading conferences and education conferences
▪ Internal weekly meetings in the BQ
▪ Participation in class team meetings and class conferences
▪ Regular internal training in school and training of teaching staff
▪ Participation in the streaming of new classes (transition from Kindergarten to Grundschule or Grundschule to Secondary)
▪ Collaboration with parents
▪ Participation in school management meetings
▪ Annual meeting with the DSL board
How will we support your child during important transition stages?
Pupils usually move from the Grundschule to the Orientation stage for Secondary School Level. After an observation process, the teachers advise the pupils and parents on an ongoing basis regarding their school career. In this, grades, as well as observations of their aptitude for abstraction, their ability to concentrate, the care taken with their work, and in the area of social behaviour, are taken into account.
If the parents, teaching staff and/or the SENCOs consider that, in their estimation, the child is having difficulties reaching the learning targets for their academic year, then there is the option of applying to the relevant School Management for schooling with different goals. In accordance with the legal specifications of the German education system, and the school’s internal criteria, this application is subject to an assessment being carried out. For the application to be granted, there needs to be a special educational support plan, due to an identified need and a class conference to agree it, or approval by the school management.
What support services are available for parents of pupils with SEN, outside of the school?
Each Local Authority has its own SEND Offer available on their website. Please speak to one of the SENCOs for further information. In some areas, the DSL/BQ has access to a network of external therapists and specialists whose representatives support the DSL students. They include:
▪ Child and adolescent psychiatrists
▪ Educational and clinical psychologists
▪ Speech therapists
▪ Specialists for reading/spelling difficulties/dyslexia and maths difficulties/dyscalculia
▪ Specialists in attention and concentration training
▪ Free counselling in English for pupils with special needs from the Richmond/Kingston districts close to the school
What is the school’s accessibility plan?
The Accessibility Policy takes express account of the idea of inclusion: ‘This accessibility plan ensures that we continue to improve all aspects of the physical environment of the school site and the curriculum so that pupils with disability can take full advantage of the education and associated opportunities provided by the German School.’
What If I need to complain?
Please see Schools Complaint Policy on Website