Aims And Design Of Our SEND And Inclusion Approach
The intent of SEND and Inclusion provision is based on the very simple premise that every child deserves to succeed at school. Every child, whether they are Pupil Premium, LAC, previously LAC, SEND or EAL, should be educated to the highest standard, enjoy their time in school, achieve their full potential and begin to be shaped into the world-ready adults who can contribute to society and lead full and independent lives.
Every member of staff in our school is responsible for SEND provision: teachers, TAs, office staff, catering staff and lunchtime supervisors. Provision is not solely down to the SENCO, it is embodied, engendered, encouraged and facilitated by them. Ultimately it is a whole-school ethos of quality first teaching and inclusion.
The aim of our SEND and Inclusion provision is to allow teachers to feel empowered, trained, skilled and supported to differentiate across every curriculum area to enable learners to access work throughout subjects independently or with tailored and carefully-planned support. Pupils are tracked and data collated, examined and used to inform practice regularly and effectively.
Teachers strive to really get to know each child and their family, build upon pupils’ previous successes and to facilitate progress in pupils’ learning across the board. Every member of staff knows which pupils come under the remit of SEND/inclusive provision, why this is and the requirements needed for individual children’s learning and progress.
All relevant information is filed and available to Teachers and to support staff in meeting the needs of the learners in their classes. All specialist reports are filed and available when required and key information is easily accessible to all staff who come into contact with pupils.
Equally, staff are asked to identify, refer and discuss any pupils causing concern with the school SENDCO . This may be where SEN has not yet been highlighted, but it is felt that pupils may need extra support or specialist diagnosis. Equally, it may be concerns about attendance or any other vulnerabilities that are impeding a child in making progress.
The Development Of Pupil Knowledge And Understanding Over Time
The starting point of every child in every subject or area of development is built upon using thorough formative and summative assessment and knowledge of the pupils to inform planning. Differentiation is not simply via outcome. Rather than expecting learners to bend to the needs of the curriculum, the curriculum must adapt to them and therefore in any class, in any subject at any one time there may be learners accessing a variety of learning outcomes in a range of ways, using a variety of resources suited to their individual needs. This enables every child irrespective of their starting point to make progress and experience success.
The Planning For Recall Of Knowledge And Repetition
Opportunities are planned across every subject area to enable pupils to recall their prior knowledge and to build upon it. Staff are encouraged and trained to do this through regular sharing of resources and Key Stage team planning and increasingly by more bespoke training delivered by independent contractors or through shared training from subject leaders and/or specialists. Whilst key skills and concepts might be revisited regularly, they are also built upon, so that pupils gain an expanding bank knowledge in every subject.
This knowledge and pupils’ ability to retain it in their long-term memory is facilitated by in class support, reinforcement, questioning , adoption of visual memory or mind-mapping techniques, including one-to-one or group TA support sessions, pre-teaching sessions and planned ‘revisits’ of areas covered in a subject in an entirely different subject. This cross-curricular approach enables to pupils to access, revisit and re-use skills and knowledge regularly and in different contexts.
Equally, parents, where required, are provided with resources to enable them to assist their children to recall knowledge and repeat tasks to encourage the development of their child’s long-term memory.
Development Of Knowledge, Sharing The Composites Of A Task, Drawing Upon ‘Hidden’ Knowledge And Teaching Methods
Different learners access information in different ways and the aim of our SEND and Inclusion provision is to ensure that all staff know of the best way for pupils to learn and make progress. Specialist resources, which have been proven to help individual children, are shared with staff as well as methods for delivering tasks and structuring them for specific learners. These include:
- coloured overlays for learners with dyslexic traits;
- Now and Next/Task Management board for ASD pupils;
- mindmaps
- use of visual information – not always verbal;
- chunking longer tasks
- pre-teaching
- recording devices or alternative means of communicating written work.
Use of these things facilitate the development of pupils’ knowledge and their ability to understand and access tasks more independently. The consistency of their use in classrooms across the school for all subjects will support the pupils in making links in their learning.
Wherever and whenever possible, TA support may be planned into lessons to allow pupils to be supported in their understanding of a task and the progress in their learning. Outcomes are not always written – their hidden knowledge may be accessed via illustrations, mind-maps and the use of technology to support recording pupils’ understanding in less conventional ways.
Addressing The Needs Of Our Learners
Every child is an individual, who accesses information in different ways, learns in different ways and presents their learning in different ways. Therefore, high quality differentiation is employed in every aspect of the curriculum, whether through resources, planning or outcomes.
Close tracking and regular monitoring of pupils’ progress ensures that any intervention is swift and correctly matched for need.
Not all needs are purely academic. Our aim as a staff is to address all needs of all learners, including: sensory, social and emotional needs.
The school environment is continually being improved and adapted to create areas of low distraction to avoid sensory overload. Outside of the National Curriculum, staff-run groups and interventions have been created to teach and support the development of life and social skills, such as through Craft Club, Garden Gang gardening club, Lego therapy and Movement Group. Bespoke life-skills groups and motor skills clubs have been created to support pupils in their everyday life. Some staff deliver programs developed by outside agencies, such as Occupational Therapy or the Movement Service. In addition, the SENCO and Deputy Head Teacher and TAs have enabled pupils to access specifically-designed group or one-to-one therapies, to address their emotional needs and anxieties. The SENCO is currently developing her vision of creating a “Sensory Den” and “Nurture Group” and a whole school approach to emotional self regulation, to support pupils with these kinds of additional needs.
Links Across School and Between Key Stages
Inclusion is a whole-school ethos and therefore an essential component in every class in each key stage. Each class teacher along with support staff works closely with the SENCO and Senior Leaders to ensure that all pupils – no matter what their needs – are catered for and make progress within school. This may be in the shape of support in ensuring adaptations are made to resources or the creation of an appropriately accessible curriculum.
Barriers
Finance and time have perhaps become one of our biggest barriers in today’s economic climate. It has become more difficult for schools to access specialist services, such as the Speech and Language, Cognition and Learning Emotional Wellbeing and Educational Psychologist Services. Equally, there is a massive delay in diagnosis for our learners, who we suspect may have SEND. Therefore, our quality teaching first ethos and communication between staff, leaders and parents has become even more essential when addressing the needs of learners. School staff have had to become the ‘experts’ and this means accessing more complex and detailed training and ensuring this is shared across the school.
We need staff to feel empowered and supported in order to support some of our most vulnerable learners. It is our aim to continue to strive to provide appropriate training and support for our staff to enable them to continue to provide the high quality opportunities for and to enable our learners to make the best possible progress from their starting points.
