The SEND Review: How inclusive is your school?

Supporting parents and carers to engage in their child’s learning is an important part of providing a rounded education for children. This Child File develops your thinking around parent engagement, and through the reflection at the end, it helps you to consider your current practice in this area and how you could do it better.

In light of the current SEND Review announced by the government, it is worth considering the effectiveness of your provision and the opportunities you provide for all pupils.

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      string(381) "... school?Have the governing body clearly outlined the responsibilities of the SENCoand ensured that they have appropriate training?Is the governing body aware of the school’s strengths and weaknesses inrelation to SEN?Does the governing body ensure that the school is an inclusive school?The effectiveness of the school ..."
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      string(5845) "school to assess pupils, identify issues and allocateresources?Is ‘assessment for learning’ used in classrooms to support SEN pupils?Are lessons differentiated to support pupils with SEN?Are intervention programmes and one-to-one support applied appropriately?Are a range of teaching styles used to match pupils’ needs?The extent to which the curriculummeets pupils’ needs including,where relevant, throughpartnershipsHow has the curriculum been adapted to meet the needs of pupils?Does it motivate and interest learners?Is it planned with SEN pupils in mind?Can all pupils access the curriculum?Does the school work effectively with other schools (including special schools)to provide full curriculum entitlement for pupils with SEN and disabilities?The effectiveness of care, guidanceand supportAre SEN pupils provided with a welcoming learning environment?How are SEN pupils supported when transferring between schools? How isinformation transferred?How are SEN pupils supported when changing year groups within the school?Does the school support vulnerable pupils by working with other agenciesand identifying barriers to learning?How does the school address barriers to learning?What are the attendance patterns of pupils with SEN? Are there any particularissues? Child FileLeadership and management The effectiveness of leadershipand management in embeddingambition and driving improvementHow does leadership in the school ensure that expectations for SEN pupils aresufficiently high?How does leadership ensure that SEN pupils have challenging targets, thattheir progress is tracked and that they are helped to achieve them?How does leadership of SEN monitor provision throughout the school ensurethat standards of teaching and learning are high for SEN pupils?How is SEN provision championed in the school? Does it have a high priorityon school improvement plans?How effectives are leadership and management in securing outcomes for SENpupils?The effectiveness of the governingbodyDoes the SEN governor challenge the school in respect of SEN provision?Do the governing body monitor SEN provision within the school?Have the governing body clearly outlined the responsibilities of the SENCoand ensured that they have appropriate training?Is the governing body aware of the school’s strengths and weaknesses inrelation to SEN?Does the governing body ensure that the school is an inclusive school?The effectiveness of the school’sengagement with parents andcarersHow effective is the school’s communication with the parents of pupils withSEN?Does the SEN department listen to and act upon the views of parents?Are parents of SEN pupils encouraged and enabled to work with the school tosupport their children?The effectiveness of partnerships inpromoting learning and well-beingHow effectively does the school work with external agencies to meet theneeds of pupils with SEN?To what extent does the school’s extended services provision meet the needsof SEN pupils?How effectively does the school work with others schools, including specialschools, to support pupils with SEN?How effectively does the schoolpromote equal opportunities andtackle discrimination?Are the needs of children with SEN promoted equally alongside other groupswithin the school?Are children’s SEN needs recognised and addressed without stereotyping?Are EAL needs clearly distinguished from SEN needs?The effectiveness of safeguardingprovisionAre SEN pupils free from harassment and bullying?Are SEN pupils given the information they need to keep safe?Are SEN staff vigilant for child protection issues in relation to SEN pupils?Are all safeguarding checks in place for members of staff and visitors workingwith SEN pupils?How effectively does the schooldeploy resources to achieve valuefor money?How effectively are SEN staff deployed?How is specific funding for pupils with special needs and/or disabilitiesdeployed?How well are resources and materials used to support the needs of SEN pupils?The quality of learning for pupils with learning difficulties and/or disabilities and their progressWhen completing this part of the SEF, schools should take account of (in relation to SEND pupils):Trends over the past three yearsAreas of performance significantly below/above the national averagePupils’ current performanceAttainment of different groups – including those on school action, school action plus and those with statementsPupils who have SEND and belong to another group such as FSM, EAL■■■■■Child FileCHILD FILE 4.4■The Children,Schools andFamilies BillThis is a brief summary of the key points SENCos should be aware of:New curriculumFollowing from the Rose review of the primary curriculum,the CSF Bill lays the legal foundation for the newcurriculum. It also makes PSHE compulsory in Key Stagesthree and four, including sex and relationships education.(Parents can still withdraw under-15s from these lessons.)Parent powerThere is continued and increased emphasis on the roleof parents and schools’ accountability towards them.The Bill heralds parent and pupil guarantees and thestrengthening of the home-school agreement. Theopportunities for parents to complain have also beenextended – they can now take complaints to the LocalGovernment Ombudsman.Local authorities will be expected to issue annualparental satisfaction surveys. These are aimed at secondaryschools, but they will be introduced in primary schools too.SENTo emphasise the profile of SEN during inspections, theBill requires a subsection to be inserted into the 2005 Actemphasising the role of Ofsted in"
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Special Needs

Child File 4 - Auditing and evaluating SEN provision

24 Feb 2010

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      string(357) "... minimum qualifications needed for further education or training; instead they repeat the same learning with a post 16 provider. Ofsted is quite clear, in their review of SEND in 2010, that education providers which achieved the best outcomes for their pupils/students with SEND had high aspirations for their learning ..."
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      string(5748) "think about it as wider than academic learning. We should have a whole-school approach to pupil wellbeing for every child (remember the snakes and ladders analogy – you can go up and you can also go down in terms of social mobility).  Pupils need to be able to manage what is happening in their lives. They need to be able to relate what’s happening in home and school.  As a school, we need to focus on transitions from school to school or, more importantly from year group to year group, to understand what progress every child has made, to understand what support means in terms of peer to peer and engagement of those children in wider activities. If a child is not included in one year of their education, there is a significant possibility that this will continue into the next.Ultimately, we need to enable children and young people to feel that they belong – that they belong in the school and that they belong in a learning environment. Irrespective of where they started in terms of their learning journey, they need to know that they can succeed, and a big part of this is building in parent and carer engagement.  Out of school enrichment activities and reading at home play a key part. We know that achievement in life will be increased if there is pre-school engagement between parents and teachers, enrichment activities that are wider than reading and wider than learning at home. All of these will increase attainment.Inclusion means inclusion – middle attainersThere is a danger that we focus entirely on one group when we talk about social mobility. Actually, what we should be doing is focusing on everyone, as the following demonstrates this includes middle attainers, often the ‘forgotten group’.   Middle attainers on SEN support can be a forgotten group in schools; with teachers focusing on stretching the most able and raising the bar for the lowest achieving 20%, those in the middle with additional needs fail to make expected progress. At a national level, the profile of those on SEN support shows the three most common additional needs as moderate learning difficulties (27%), speech, language and communication needs (21%) and social and emotional and mental health issues (17%); additional needs are likely to overlap within these categories.Those on SEN Support are also more likely to come from socio- economic disadvantage than their peers without an identified SEN and are less likely to move out of this category during their schooling. But it does not have to be like this. An inclusive approach with frequent and rigorous interrogation of pupil data improves both progress and attainment for children and young people on SEN Support. This is of particular importance for those whose prior attainment is somewhere in the middle. If they fail to make the expected progress by KS2, they start secondary school behind and are less likely to ‘catch up’ by KS4. At 16 they move on and may not have the skills needed to gain employment or the minimum qualifications needed for further education or training; instead they repeat the same learning with a post 16 provider. Ofsted is quite clear, in their review of SEND in 2010, that education providers which achieved the best outcomes for their pupils/students with SEND had high aspirations for their learning and focused on enabling them to become as independent as possible; this has not changed today. Getting the best outcomes for those in the middle attaining bracket on SEN support means school leaders and teachers asking questions about their progress and attainment: what challenges do they face in learning? What challenges do they face in accessing learning? Where are the gaps? Comparisons can be made with pupils/students with similar prior attainment, using national, local and school level data sets. Middle attainers should have support to progress from the middle.Parent carer engagement – supporting your child’s learningWe must ask a question of parents or carers: How can they encourage learning at home?    An academic colleague, Charles Desforges, a Professor of Education, has looked at the difference it makes if parents and carers are involved in their child’s learning. His research shows that a parent has a greater impact on a 7-year-old child’s learning than school does. Parents and carers reading to their child has a significant impact. Listening to their child read has an even greater impact. And supporting their child as they learn to read has an even greater impact still. What are the most important things parents and carers can do at home to ensure that their child is engaged in learning?First of all, parents and carers need to talk and listen to their children, making time to talk and engage as well as reading to children or listening to them read. 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Inclusion

Every Child Included

20 Jun 2017

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      string(414) "... W., 2003, Inclusive Leadership: Leadership for inclusion, New York, New York State University. ■ National College for SchoolLeadership (2009), Achievement for All: Characteristics of effective inclusive leadership – a discussion document Nottingham: NCSL. ■ OECD(2010) PISA 2009 Results: What Makes a School Successful? – Resources, Policies and Practices (Volume IV) ■ ..."
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      string(3489) "of pupils,especially those identified with SEND, disadvantagedpupils, looked after children and other vulnerablegroups.References: Angelides, P., Antoniou, E. and Charalambous, C. (2010), ‘Making sense of inclusion for leadership and schooling: a case study fromCyprus’, International Journal of Leadership in Education, vol. 13, no.3: 319–334. ■ Bass (1999), ‘Two decades of research and development intransformational leadership’, European Journal of Work and Organisational Psychology, vol. 8, no. 1:9-32. ■ Blandford, S.,Tavlos, L, Williams,K, Crowhurst, M and Knowles, C. (2011) Achievement for All Anthology, Pilot 2009-2011. Nottingham: DfE. ■ Department for Education andSkills (DfES) (2001) Inclusive Schooling: Children with Special Educational Needs, Nottingham, DfES. ■ Gold, A., Evans, J., Earley, P., Halpin, D.and Collarbone, P. (2003), ‘Principled Principals? Values-Driven Leadership: Evidence from Ten Case Studies of ‘Outstanding’ School Leaders’,Educational Management and Administration, vol. 31, no. 2: 127–138. ■ HMSO (1978), The Warnock Report, London: HMSO. ■ Humphrey,N. and Squires, G. (2011), Achievement for All: National Evaluation Final Report, Nottingham: DfE. ■ Kugelmass, J. and Ainscow, M. (2004),‘Leadership for inclusion: a comparison of international practices’, Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs, vol. 4, no. 3: 133–141.■ Kugelmass, J. W., 2003, Inclusive Leadership: Leadership for inclusion, New York, New York State University. ■ National College for SchoolLeadership (2009), Achievement for All: Characteristics of effective inclusive leadership – a discussion document Nottingham: NCSL. ■ OECD(2010) PISA 2009 Results: What Makes a School Successful? – Resources, Policies and Practices (Volume IV) ■ UNESCO (1994), The SalamancaStatement and Framework for Action on Special Needs Education. Paris: UNESCO. ■ UNESCO (2005), Education for All Global MonitoringReport: The Quality Imperative. Paris: UNESCO.Concluding Review QuestionIn 2009, the National College commissioned a reference group to analyse, examine and identify learningopportunities for leaders. The focus was the Achievement for All pilot (Humphrey and Squires, 2011), aschool based programme centred on raising achievement in reading, writing and maths for childrenwith SEN and other disadvantaged and vulnerable learners, with whole school impact (currently anational programme in over 2300 schools ). The aim of the National College’s research was to improveinclusive practice within schools. The following is a summary of the top 10 inclusive leadership lessonslearned:To communicate vision to all stakeholders often (to make change occur).To distribute leadership/support staff to lead/take ownership to affect change.To provide high quality training to all staff.The senior leadership team must drive vision.To know the community/use initiative to build relationships with the community.To have a clear vision and expectations from the outset.To change processes/practices/structures/interventions if they are not workingTo give time to staff for communication of success and to learn lessons.The leaders must demonstrate a belief in new changes.To evaluate and celebrate successes.Consider this list of lessons learned. What would you do in your own context to create a more inclusiveschool?■■■■■■■■■■"
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Professional Development

How to... raise achievement for all through school leadership

27 Jun 2014

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      string(5695) "resources were not just being used with students identified with SpLDs, but with the whole class. This was not only to avoid ‘singling out’ certain students, but also because staff believed that these approaches and resources were useful for the whole range of learners. The same applied to helping the students develop metacognitive strategies to support their independence as learners. Staff reported increases in their own confidence in their lesson planning and teaching skills. Perhaps most importantly, the adoption of the term ‘neurodiversity’ allowed teachers to ‘look beyond labels’ and consider the individual strengths and needs of each child. Many reported improvements in students’ engagement, confidence and self-esteem, and some early signs of improved student performance were reported at some schools, though the general consensus among staff was that it was too early to measure the full impact upon student outcomes.Conclusions and RecommendationsIt is fair to conclude that, overall, this project has been a notable success, despite the tight time scale within which it was enacted. However, it could be argued that with more time, participation could have been greater, and opportunities to implement training and strategies in schools more extensive.It is clear from responses to both the surveys and the case studies that this initiative has correctly responded to an identified training need in the schools’ and colleges’ teaching workforce for developing core knowledge skills and understanding of learners’ neurodiversity and how to respond to this in the classroom. There remains a challenge in developing secondary schools’ uptake of such training and in response to this, having identified good practice in certain secondary schools, a series of case studies (Griffiths & Kelly 2018) and a set of videos have been developed to exemplify best practice, enabling secondary practitioners to analyse how and why this is effective. These could be accessed by secondary schools as part of their continuing professional development strategies, within a time framework perhaps more convenient to them.Further, with the ongoing development of research knowledge about inclusive teaching and learning, two literature reviews have been completed focussing on the evidence base for dyslexia-friendly classroom teaching (Kelly 2018), and whole school approaches and processes of change for inclusive practice (Griffiths 2018). These provide information about evidence-based practice for dissemination to schools, colleges and training providers.Finally, given the differing levels of expertise in respect of knowledge, skills and understanding in the teaching workforce in inclusive teaching and learning, a large scale survey of teachers’ and TAs’ training needs could be undertaken with a view to developing training packages at different levels. Dr Dominic Griffiths is Senior Lecturer with the Faculty of Education at Manchester Metropolitan University. Liz Horobin is Project Director at the British Dyslexia Association.References        Armstrong, T. (2012). Neurodiversity in the classroom: Strength-based strategies to help students with special needs succeed in school and life. Alexandria, VA, ASCD        Baker, D. (2011). The politics of neurodiversity: Why public policy matters. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner.        Billington, T. (2017). Educational inclusion and critical neuroscience: friends or foes? International Journal of Inclusive Education 21(8) 866-880.        DANDA. (2006). The make-up of neurodiversity. In Colley, M. Living with dyspraxia: a guide for adults with developmental dyspraxia. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.         Department for Education. (2015). Special educational needs and disability code of practice: 0 to 25 years (6.27). https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/send-code-of-practice-0-to-25.         Gilger, J. & Kaplan, B. (2001). Atypical brain development: A conceptual framework for understanding developmental learning disabilities. Developmental Neuropsychology 20(2) 465-481.        Griffiths, D. (2018). Scoping review of the literature on processes of change for inclusive practice and the evidence for success in enabling achievement. http://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/educator/additional-resources-for-educators.         Griffiths, D., Kelly, K. & McNicol, S. (2017). The Dyslexia/ Specific Learning Difficulties Support Project, Final Evaluation Report. Manchester: Manchester Metropolitan University.        Griffiths, D. & Kelly, K. (2018). What works in dyslexia / SpLD friendly practice in the secondary school and further education college sectors: Four case studies of effective practice. Available at http://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/educator/additional-resources-for-educators.         Johnston, A. (2015). A confusion of a weak reductionist: Responses to some criticisms of my materialism. In De Vos, J. and Pluth, R. (Eds) Neuroscience and critique: Exploring the limits of the neurological turn. London: Routledge.        Jones, A. & Kindersley, K. (2013). Dyslexia: Assessing and reporting: The PATOSS guide. London: Hodder Education.        Kelly, K. (2018). Scoping review of the evidence base for dyslexia-friendly classroom teaching and whole school approaches. http://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/educator/additional-resources-for-educators.         Kirmayer, L. & Gold, I. (2012). Re-socialising psychiatry: Critical neuroscience and the limits of reductionism. In Choudhury, S. & Slaby, J. (Eds.) Critical"
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Dyslexia

Teaching for Neurodiversity

10 Sep 2018