SEND support
4 collaborative school support mechanisms to strengthen classroom SEND practice
Welcome to the Curriculum Thinkers newsletter where we share research and resources from the We Are In Beta community.
This is a guest post by Pastoral Leader and Maths Teacher, Matthew Wood.
On the surface, when schools successfully support students with SEND, it can appear simple. People know what they’re doing, teachers and classroom staff feel confident and supported, and students with additional needs thrive (along with all other learners).
But how do you get there? Spend any time in school, and you’ll know we’re dealing with one of the most complex, hotly debated, and stretched areas of education. It’s also a key area of assessment in the new Ofsted Framework and White Paper, so it needs careful attention.
Scratch the surface, and you see where the ‘simplicity’ comes from. Strategic vision, collaboration, and clear communication run through each part of the SEND provision to support curriculum design and adjustments with high-quality teaching. It takes some doing.
To help you learn how schools are best supporting SEND students, I’ve broken down Temi Alanamu’s research - about SEND provision and curriculum adjustments across 30 successful secondary schools - into three areas.
My last post looked at SEND curriculum adjustments. Today, you’ll see how whole school collaboration strengthens SEND practice. Next time, you’ll have a breakdown of best practice classroom adjustments.
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Collaborative school support mechanisms
Think back to your first few weeks of teaching. Finding schemes of learning. Planning your first lessons. Finding exercise books. Seating plans. ILPs. Pupil passports. EHCPs. Meeting your groups. Learning names. Important first impressions.
That’s before you factor in trying to find your classroom after a break duty, meeting a human traffic jam, and incorrectly opting to ‘pull’ each ‘push’ fire door on the way (and vice versa).
Did anyone else have a little shudder looking back?
It’s not easy, whatever stage of your career, so what helps your teachers prioritise SEND best practice as part of their day-to-day work?
Support and collaboration are key: Knowing what’s expected of you, knowing what works and having it clearly communicated, knowing where to look and who to find (without judgment) when you need support.
Here’s your snapshot of the research, with 4 ways to strengthen SEND classroom practice with whole-school collaboration.
1. Different types of dynamic and relevant staff training.
Let’s start with a couple of questions:
What are the most relevant SEND issues in your school?
Who in your staff team is doing great, and what exactly are they doing to scaffold, chunk, instruct and sequence learning?
Schools are prioritising the first question in their staff training. In 100% of cases, schools recognise the need for SEND input relating to ASD, Speech and Language Difficulties, and Literacy and Numeracy.
Schools are also responding to specific medical needs, such as hearing impairment, with relevant training. But in three schools, staff receive more focused weekly SEND input about emerging issues. This approach is powerful as staff are drip-fed messages that are relevant to their classroom experience, meaning they can routinely tweak and test their practice.
Training becomes most dynamic when the SENDCO draws on best practice from around the school (see the second question). We know the demands on a school’s SENDCO are great, and their work covers critical legal compliance. They can’t possibly be expected to magically fill the gap between identifying training needs and single-handedly translating that into usable, practical and individualised whole-school training.
Enter collaboration.
The SENDCO sets the direction and is across each part of the CPD strategy, making sure SEND is seen as central to classroom practice and training. One school has embedded weekly SEND briefings and bespoke staff training, as well as making sure all other teaching and learning CPD includes SEND. In another school, sharing good SEND classroom practice among colleagues is prioritised, building confidence and creating a culture of support and excellence.
2. Building a whole-school team.
It was clear how successful SENDCOs and SEND provision viewed the whole school as their team. This idea of team is extended to include ongoing collaboration with parents, carers, external agencies, and their students.
SEND departments are routinely sharing pupil profiles, passports, ILPs, EHCPs and key meeting notes shared with staff. I liked seeing the SEND library in one school, where all information about pupils and their strategies could be accessed in one place. I could also see the benefits of more schools using specialist software to record, link and share all the information relating to each pupil. Busy teachers like this.
This type of clear, usable information allows you to promote the idea that all teachers are SEND teachers, in the same way they view their responsibility for safeguarding.
One of my favourite examples of this was a brilliantly named ‘Mountain Rescue’ programme (the writer in me enjoyed the mountain image as both a barrier and obstacle, but also giving the best sense of achievement (and best view) at the summit). Here, we saw SEND, pastoral, safeguarding, behaviour, and medical expertise brought together (Assess, Plan, Do, Review) to give teachers a single, joined-up system for supporting pupils in lessons. This is definitely worth a closer look in the full research piece.
3. Making best use of external support.
I remember speaking to my SEND department about their work. A member of staff said to me, “My job is to remove as many barriers as possible for each child, so they have the best chance of arriving at a classroom to learn”.
Brilliant.
We know the academic (and indelibly linked pastoral) barriers for pupils with SEND will be significant and complex, so it’s clear how successful collaboration includes effective work with external agencies and support. Support from Psychotherapists, the Ed. Psych, Mental Health Teams, and Trauma/Play Therapists are established and used strategically in more than 50% of the schools.
In the full research piece, you’ll see how specific schools are using this external support. Exploring this collaborative work further will help you develop your own staff development (see point 1). The more staff know about the wider support for pupils, the more informed their classroom practice will be as part of the whole-school SEND team (see point 2).
4. Regular monitoring and use of feedback.
And now, it’s time to finish with a flourish.
Monitoring.
Ok, it’s not the most glamorous, but it is key. If your training for teachers and staff is to stay relevant to your classrooms (see point 1), if your SEND team is to include all staff (see point 2), and if your work with external agencies is to be effective (see point 3), you need to know what’s working, what’s not, and what’s needed.
In the research, you’ll see how different schools make use of parent and pupil meetings, with one school offering a minimum of three formal touch points each year. You’ll also see a school making use of a SEND review tool (TGAT SEND Review Tool) and working closely with governors. You’ll also see how achievement, sanctions, attendance, progress, and attainment data help to get a big picture look at whole school collaboration.
Being able to compare and share practice is always powerful, so we’re pleased to bring you all this within the We Are In Beta community.
Would someone else find this helpful?
Thinking about whole-school SEND collaboration in your school?
Here are some questions to think about:
How dynamic and relevant is your SEND training for classroom staff?
Who would your teaching staff benefit from seeing teach and working with? Can you make it happen sustainably?
Do teachers see themselves as SEND teachers in the same way they might see themselves as responsible for safeguarding?
You’ll be overcoming similar challenges to colleagues across the country, so seeing effective collaboration across different settings will be a valuable tool for you.
Access the full research
To explore the complete database of 100+ resources from all 30 schools, members can access the full research article and database here.
If you’re reviewing your own school’s approach to inclusion, SEND adjustments and adaptive teaching, paying members can read part II of this article. Here, you’ll see which schools employ which strategies and resources, meaning you can investigate further and connect with them.
Access the full analysis and download SEND and curriculum resources from a single database
To help you find schools like yours and strategies you can apply, we’ve created a sortable and filterable directory* of SEND resources.
*Access
Lite version here: SEND strategies without resources or named schools
Premium version here: SEND strategies, resources and named schools.
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Access a bank of SEND and curricular resources
To save you the 8 days it took us to research, curate and analyse the work happening at these schools we’ve pooled resources into single drive below.
Further SEND reading and listening
SEND policies: analysis of examples from successful secondary schools
Creating Truly Inclusive Learning Environments: Practical Strategies from SEND Leaders
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