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Introducing the GTC Networks.
Good teaching needs good networks and good networks need good teachers.
The GTC Networks provide support by linking teachers nationally and putting them in touch with the latest research and evidence. They let teachers have a voice at national debates on changes to education.
About the schools – practice examples
Learn more about the schools’ contexts in this section.
You can either read about a specific school by clicking on the name, or just scroll drown the whole page.
All the schools were happy to share their work but they were also keen to stress that the nature of the work depends on the specific context of the school. They offer their practice examples in the spirit of professional learning rather than a ‘do it my way’ approach.
You will notice that different titles are given for the person who leads on special needs, reflecting the way each school chooses to name the role. You might want to think about how this issue relates to your own school:
What do you call the person who leads on SEN in your school? Does the title matter?
Is the person a member of the SLT?
For information on the two special schools in the project (Swiss Cottage, in London and Sunfield, in Worcester) please go to the section on outreach work.
Number of roll: 389 between reception and Year 6. Nursery provision: 39
Billesley is a mixed voluntary aided primary school for 3-11 year olds. It is a large school serving a diverse community. About 40% of pupils come from a range of minority ethnic communities. A small number of younger children are at an early stage of learning English. The school serves a relatively disadvantaged area.
There is a higher proportion of pupils with significant learning difficulties than usually found. When children start in the Nursery many have skill levels below those usually expected. (Information taken from 2006 Ofsted inspection)
School population has high levels of deprivation. Housing stock is poor, many families have experienced long term unemployment so it is essential to work with the family not just the child.
39 place nursery – unaware of need as yet!
Free school meals went from 25% to 46% last year.
4% of school population – approximately 13 children – have statements,
Rising numbers of children with mental health issues, and fine or gross motor skill challenges.
Rising number of children with English as an additional language (EAL). Fourteen different languages. (EAL 25% 2004–05; 40% 2006–07).
Low number of children at School Action (SA) or SA plus because extra support is given to so many children at various stages that we only record these children formally! We have many group action plans to meet literacy and numeracy targets and others for behaviour. SA = 40; SA+ = 21; Statements = 13; one High focus individual action plan (IEP) and two provision plans.
Ethos
SEN is best practice for everybody. Success is built on the principles of SEN, for all children. The school looks at the child in the round.
Opportunities
‘Teaching for Learning for All’ – an umbrella policy under which SEN, EO, assessment for learning and personnel policies sit.
Good working relations with external agencies have been established by ensuring they feel part of the school. Also use outreach workers from local special school, particularly for fine and gross motor skills.
Community nurse a key figure – works with families and even makes early morning home visits to get the child up and to school.
Peer mentoring schemes are in place and rewards are strong.
The Birmingham initiative, ‘Framework for Intervention’ provides a consistent behaviour management system. All staff, including administrative staff, have been trained in this.
Quaker Peace Group for conflict resolution sessions. Helpful as acts as CPD for the staff too. See the Quakers website.
Excellent teaching assistant/learning support team available in most classes, most of the time.
Wish list
More secondments - especially for teachers working in schools in challenging circumstances.
More refresher training needed throughout teaching career.
Teachers need time to develop and reflect: a lot of emphasis given to teachers in first five years (for example induction followed by ‘aspiring leaders’ type programmes). More needed for teachers at 10 plus years.
More opportunities for time where teachers can learn about an area they are interested in, undertake classroom research and then have an opportunity to reflect on it.
Ferndale Primary School is much larger than most primary schools. It has a maintained nursery, which children attend either in the morning or in the afternoon.
Pupils come from a wide range of socio-economic backgrounds and start school with very different levels of skill and ability. Within the school's catchment area, however, there is some significant social deprivation and the overall standard of attainment on entry is well below average. Around a third of the pupils come from minority ethnic backgrounds. Over the last year, the school has admitted 14 refugees, some of whom have never been to school and most of whom understand very little English.
At around a third, the proportion of pupils with learning difficulties and/or disabilities is well above average. The school acts as an 'enhanced learning provision' for the local authority and admits a much larger proportion of pupils with severe difficulties and/or disabilities and statements of special educational need than most schools. (Information taken from 2007 Ofsted inspection).
Initially contact with Ferndale was via a phone meeting with Anita, so the practice example is presented here in the form of a conversation. After the phone meeting Ferndale was visited and further information was verified and added to the practice example detailed below.
Ferndale is an ‘Enhanced Learning Provision’ school and has a number of places for children with moderate learning difficulties and six places for autistic children.
Ferndale has 427 pupils on roll with 111 pupils on the Special Needs register. There are very few children with statements in the school, partly due to Sandwell’s policy on allocating resources.
Schools in Sandwell apply on a needs-led basis to the Pupil Allocation Panel made up of health, speech and language, and education representatives. They agree on funding allocation. Emergency funding can be applied for outside the usual times the panel meets. This is an effective, responsive system. If children remain on the same level of provision need for more than 18 months, a statement is considered.
Ethos
We hope that children exceed expectation. Our attitude is all important. We are an inclusive school and believe it is enriching to have pupils with special needs in the school as it makes everyone more tolerant – something Ofsted commented on favourably.
Opportunities
Connect: Have you made specific changes to your way of teaching?
Anita: Having children with autism at Ferndale has definitely changed the way we teach and helped us to keep improving our standards of teaching and learning. We learned quickly that we had to teach differently in order to meet the needs of the first child with autism, and then realised that as not every child learns in the same way, we needed to pay better attention to making the teaching fit the children’s needs.
This made us change the way we plan and now teachers and TAs plan together. We have also made our classrooms more visually friendly with information on the curriculum, targets and learning better displayed.
Our ethos developed by responding to a need, and the excellent progress teachers saw in response to their changed teaching. Ten years ago the school was not embraced by the local community, but now it is.
Connect: So was it changing the planning that led to most development?
Anita: Our lessons are well planned and Ofsted said they were very effective for our pupils with learning difficulties and/or disabilities, which pleased us. But we put other things in place such as better targeting and monitoring. The school has a nursery so we get to know children and families well, and can target resources early. Each child’s progress is monitored carefully and programmes of work or behavioural support are prepared to meet the needs of individual children. Parents are involved in regular discussions regarding the support and together a positive attitude is fostered within the classroom.
Financial Resources
Connect: So you have looked at the complete school community?
Anita: Yes, and we have backed this up with financial resources. We have three non class based teachers for PPA release time and have three teachers who we can call on for supply, even at short notice. They are teachers who are known to the children so they never encounter a teacher they don’t know. It’s good for the autistic children and excellent for all.
Connect: This is an incredible resource to commit to, but you have obviously seen the benefits. It’s great that you have seen such positive developments over the years.
Anita: I think we are lucky in having staff who are very flexible in their approaches and thinking, but we do pay attention to staff development – which encompasses the whole workforce.
Training and development
Anita: We have had great support from the Sandwell SEN team and work very closely with external agencies. Again, this is something that Ofsted noted. They said that our partnerships with outside agencies are particularly effective and ensure that this is a truly inclusive school that meets the pastoral needs of its pupils very well.
We have a wide range of needs within the school, and have also encountered a condition we haven’t met before – charge syndrome (see the Contact a Family website) so it is important we get specialist support. All staff are inducted into new conditions as they arise in school and together we identify how the learning needs of the children can be met.
Connect: So do you do a lot of ‘in-house’ training?
Anita: The key to our success is the enthusiasm of the whole team to take on new initiatives and advice in relation to the individual children, and disseminate the information where necessary. The staff learn the practical ways of working with children with special educational needs. We make use of twilight sessions and staff identify their own needs as well. We network our expertise across the school.
Connect: How many TAs do you have?
Anita: There are 42 TAs although not all of them are full time, and not all are involved in special needs work. We have 20 teaching staff.
Connect: That’s an incredible number! And are all of them trained in the same way?
Anita: Sandwell do not call support staff TAs. Those with the equivalent of NVQ3 are called learning support practitioners (LSPs); those without are called learning support assistants (LSAs). The latter aren’t involved in training others. There are no higher level teaching assistants (HLTAs) in the school. It’s the economics, as HLTAs can earn the same as a teacher at the early stages of the profession so there is more flexibility in employing a teacher.
Connect: How do you deploy the LSP’s and LSA’s?
Anita: We run a mixed economy in terms of deployment: some LSPs and LSAs are attached to children, others to year groups. Pupils who are highly dependent on support will have three LSPs/LSAs attached to them, as working with such children makes great emotional and professional demands on staff but it is also necessary as if any cover is needed then the child knows the other person. Each LSP/LSA is a key worker for one particular child, a fixed point of contact for all related information.
Ferndale is currently undertaking an experiment in association with Sunrise School for Autism and developmental disabilities programme, in agreement with the Local Authority. For further information please visit the Sunrise School website.
Head: Mr Steve Smith
Deputy Head, responsible for Inclusion and Student Progress: Ms Siân Rees
Contact: fulford_school@yahoo.co.uk
Context
Students are drawn from a wide variety of backgrounds, but overall they are above average in terms of socio-economic status. On entry, the intake is above average in English, mathematics and science. In other subjects, standards are mainly average. There are seven students (0.5 per cent) whose mother tongue is not English and who are at an early stage of learning English, and around two per cent of students come from minority ethnic backgrounds, which is slightly above average. Some four per cent take up their eligibility for free school meals, which is below average.
Six per cent of students have SEN, mainly moderate learning difficulties or social, emotional or behavioural problems. This is below average. Around two per cent have statements of special educational need, which is average. (Information taken from December 2003 Ofsted inspection).
The school has 1288 students on roll. (2007 data)
Deputy head for inclusion.
One HLTA who is responsible for the TA team of eight full time and two part time TAs.
Three teachers, including deputy head.
Number of statements =19; SA = 49; SA+ = 40
Ethos
Belief that every child that comes to the school deserves to meet success; that it is about providing positive experiences which meet the needs of the child, whatever they are. Every child has the right to do as well as they can.
Good practice for autism is good practice for everyone.
Inclusion is a way of being. You have to be open to the fact that different people have different needs and that as a teacher you are responsible for meeting those needs.
Strong ethos, shared by all as everyone inducted into it
High standards for all.
Opportunities
Assessment for learning (AfL) is a useful development as it clearly signposts what will happen in a lesson, and everything is made explicit to the students.
The school has an Enhanced Resource for Autism, funded by the LA.
School uses two mind mapping tools, including Kidspiration from the DCSF and another commercial product.
Flexibility in the curriculum is essential
The school also runs discrete projects under the umbrella term ‘Maximising Progress’ partly with funding from the LA. Inclusion team is involved in overhauling the curriculum to make sure it is relevant and meets all students’ needs. This is essential to make sure all needs are being catered for, not just SEN, for example. Inclusion for the most able child is important. This comes back to the teacher being a subject specialist, in knowing how to present material at different levels and knowing to push children on in terms of learning and interest.
Maths has taken the best practice elements of primary teaching and their Schemes of Work are modelled on these principles.
Alternative curriculum at KS4. ASDAN course introduced. School also offer Youth Apprenticeships. Some subjects have a two year KS3 others start halfway through Year 9.
An express modern foreign language class for those who have a language other than English as home language.
Book trawls by the Deputy Head and the HoDs take place to make sure the work is accessible and is meeting the needs of all children.
Often complex needs require great organisation on behalf of the child and family. Have to recognise the stress and strain the families are under. School made a creative response to one student. The family felt they didn’t know what the school expectations from the lessons were, so Inclusive Education area provided a dictaphone so each teacher was able to quickly and easily say what was needed. Made everyone happier.
Wish list
Need more resources, research and information to deal with rise in unspecified speech and language difficulties, which make it more challenging to know exactly how to meet the child’s needs.
This is a very large primary school serving a mixed catchment area with elements of social deprivation. The proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals is higher than average. A large majority of pupils speak English as an additional language. The pupils come from many minority ethnic groups, with one third of Pakistani heritage.
More pupils have learning difficulties and disabilities than usual. The number who join and leave the school outside normal times is above average.
The school has received awards for the high quality of its creative arts and extra-curricular activities and for promoting healthy lifestyles. (Information taken from Ofsted inspection 2007)
Mixed 3–11 year olds, 690 pupils on roll.
Social and communication difficulties on the increase, as is global development delay.
School lower in emotional, social and behavioural disorder (ESBD) – we attribute this to the curriculum offer and how they tailor the experiences the children have to what they need, and the way they manage the children to manage themselves.
Mental health issues on the rise – in families
Ethos
The positive learning ethos must be palpable and evident in all the school attitudes, practices and displays.
It is the school’s duty to remove the barriers to children’s learning. It can do this by good differentiation but needs connection to deeper understanding of learning and the principles and practice which all staff follow. Coherent and cohesive principles and systems lead to increased self esteem and children taking greater risks in their learning. You have to keep ethos and systems live for staff by constant revisiting.
Opportunities
The school mantra is ‘We can if….’ as an approach to tackling challenges and barriers. Nothing is impossible, need to find a solution. The following are some solutions found:
Each class is divided into groups called ‘prides’. This is a system originating in Canada (Jean Gibbs) and brought to the school in 1999 by a teacher who was trained in its use through a teachers' international professional development (TIPD) grant from the DCFS.
Teachers place children in the prides to create balanced groups – mixed ability and mixed in terms of personal strengths. Each pride thus offers opportunities for the children to acknowledge their own strengths and appreciate what they can contribute; learn from others and celebrate the skills of others – leads to good self awareness; support and challenge; growing emotional intelligence.
Every classroom is a ‘no put-down zone’ – pupils and staff inducted into a system of hand signals which provide feedback on their own or others ‘put down’ behaviours. ‘Thumbs-up’ shows the person talking is doing or saying something which is positive and promoting self esteem, or making the other people feel good. ‘Thumbs down’ shows that what the speaker is saying is bad for his/her own self esteem; and palm held up – ‘talk to the hand’ – is a non-verbal ‘back-off’ which gives feedback to the offender to stop what they are doing as it is negative.
Specific strategies are used to help the pupils listen actively.
Each child is allowed to pass, which means they get quiet time when they don’t have to join in the conversation. Sanctions are not always necessary – concentrate on consequences in terms of learning – and definitely no shouting at children. What do the pupils learn from the incident? The educational psychologist has reported that pupils with SEN in Highlands can reflect on their learning as effectively as secondary children.
Pupil voice
Pupils are actively involved in the life of the school – each class has its own class agreement which is adapted from the whole school code of conduct and is worded in enabling language which presupposes success. The school has developed a banding system depending on their broad needs, ascertained by:
looking at attainment; specific needs and interests progress and other factors including attendance, EAL and SEN
asking the children through questionnaires and interviews
interviewing teachers and TAs to find out as much as they could about the children.
Focused support is provision mapped and given to all children according to their needs – not necessarily classes but focused individual or group support depending on what the child needs.
Specific training and development
All staff are trained in accelerated learning.
All staff are trained in neuro-linguistic programming (NLP). This helped develop a consistent language of learning within the school and led to a deep shared understanding of the school’s learning focused ethos.
Constant revisiting is needed as it is so important – helps new members of staff as all staff will pick up on this during induction.
Thorough induction is essential not just for NQTs but all new staff. Mentors for NQTs are chosen carefully and trained, and the monitoring programme is linked to learning ‘sign-posts’ expected within the classroom.
Wish list
Initial teacher education (ITE) should emphasise the values, principles and approaches of inclusion. New teachers need to be clear about the underlying principles and how to achieve an inclusive classroom.
The college is a larger than average, mixed comprehensive school in the small town of Kingsbridge. It is a specialist science and mathematics college, with a second specialism in the arts and English, and a large sixth form.
The area that the college serves is socially and economically mixed, with some relatively affluent households and some that are relatively deprived. Almost all the students are white. There is a smaller proportion than nationally (0.08 per cent) of students for whom English is an additional language. The attainment of students on entry to the college is in line with the national average. The proportion of students who are entitled to free school meals is broadly average.
The proportion of students who have been identified as having special educational needs is slightly above the national average and the proportion that is on SA+, who have statements of need and the help of outside agencies, is close to average. (Information taken from 2004 OfSTED inspection).
Mixed 11–18
1257 pupils on roll – data taken from 2004 Ofsted report.
The College is truly comprehensive as it is a rural school – it is the only school choice for most of the students. Wide range of backgrounds and needs represented over a large catchment area.
Only one teacher in Learning Support – Jane Blumer– who is the SENCO.
17.5 FTE TAs in the College including 4 HLTA roles.
SA: 227; SA+ 32; Statements 31.
Ethos
The ethos of the College is one of community with the emphasis on being an inclusive, caring school, an understanding school. To make sure that everyone knows that everyone in important and make positive connections between people.
It is a moral duty to make the school the best in all areas as the students don’t have a real choice of school.
The more inclusive a school wishes to be, the better trained the TAs have to be.
Opportunities
The school funds over the allocated budget for learning support (LS), which comes mainly from statements, especially for literacy. Head sees literacy as vital - without it students can’t access the curriculum or progress. Equivalent of 2.5 staff per week working on literacy.
There are 31 statements in the school – fewer than could be expected of school this size and with the catchment area being so wide. Jane believes this to be because of the inclusion policy in that students’ learning needs are met in the mainstream due to staff being able to make curriculum accessible, and the use of highly trained TAs. Her aim is to reduce statements. Families and children themselves see this as progress and morale boosting. Not a step taken lightly but the philosophy is that the curriculum and delivery has to match the child’s needs no the other way round. TAs deployed to match students’ needs.
Provision mapping is essential to make the school offer accessible to all. Shouldn’t wait until the need arises but be putting in place provision to meet potential needs. Similarly, any student can be placed on the Watch-Out List which includes SEN. Students don’t have to be labelled as SA or SA+ to access provision. (See sample documents in Tracking and monitoring section)
School develops ‘champions’ to disseminate expertise, particularly in the pastoral-academic field. Coaching champions have been employed in a pastoral role and all staff have training in this.
Transition activities are tailored to the child’s needs – may have more visits and support depending on need.
Photo discs are sent to all feeder primary schools for use with vulnerable students; these provide pictures of staff who will be important in their school life (head of year, tutor etc), and important places such as the canteen, toilets etc.
There is a staggered start to the school year – Years 7, 10 and 12 come in on first day, other years join the following day. This puts a strong emphasis on the pastoral tutor group for peer support.
Year 7 are taught in mixed ability tutor groups for the first term and have an early ‘bonding’ residential??. They are then set in maths, science and French. English is not set in Year 7.
LS uses an intensive phonic literacy programme provided by a commercial supplier. Beyond the recommended way of delivering the scheme, the school gives four 20 minute sessions per week – a ‘little but often’ approach – and makes a requirement of TAs to spend five minutes with any child in class on the scheme, just as a follow through – clear guidance is given on what to do.
Alternative curriculum (ACE) programme established for students who need personalised education in line with IEP or SIS targets – very small group activities using cooking, art etc to boost inclusion via social and personal development across the ability range.
Wish list
That any national curriculum advice will be about ‘personalising intelligently’ – emphasis on matching the right environment with student needs to ensure a broad range of provision in school whether that is in-class or out-of-class.
That the local agreements that schools are making on the deployment of TAs are honoured and not over-ridden by any national advice. Schools are working out for themselves the best way of using staff on a local basis, so there is a lot of innovation with schools leading the way. That way shouldn’t be cut off. National bodies should find out what is needed, capture what’s going on, help schools learn and support schools.
More is needed in ITE on working with others in the classroom.
Southfields is a mixed 11–19 community college with 1269 students on its roll. Southfields is bigger than average with significantly more boys than girls and a sixth form. The college offers extended provision and has achieved specialist status in sports. In addition, it is an accredited provider for teacher training.
Many of the students come from home circumstances that, in economic terms, can be described as disadvantaged. The school is set within an area where there is a high level of deprivation compared to the national context. The number of students taking up free school meals is well above average. Other schools in the locality operate a policy of selection.
The majority of students are from a range of minority ethnic groups and speak more than 70 different languages. Over a third of students are from homes where English is not the first language.
The number of students with a statement of SEN is well above average. The number with learning difficulties and disabilities is very high, making up nearly two-thirds of the college. (Information taken from 2007 Ofsted inspection).
Approximately 1300 students on role.
Over 70 languages spoken.
525 students targeted at SA.
197 students targeted at SA+.
41 mainstream and 11 Hearing Impaired Unit (HIU) students have statements.
Only one of two schools in borough that is not selective.
Approximately 70% of pupils have SEN as defined by the school.
Borough Secondary Hearing Impaired Unit attached to school.
In past five years first choice has risen from 0% to 30%.
inclusion is part of core vision of teaching and learning
school-wide collaborative CPD culture
infrastructure of SEN expertise to support pupils and teachers.
The following headings give more detail about each of these aspects.
Inclusion is part of core vision of teaching and learning
Supporting pupils with SEN in meeting their complex needs in a personalised way is core to their practice and central to their effectiveness.
Consistent and effective behaviour management programme across the school.
Strong primary to secondary transition model. Significant amount of data, including baseline test undertaken by the school, collected, analysed and used to stream and target pupils with appropriate teaching and learning strategies.
Every Child Matters (ECM) has been at the heart of what we do for the last 15 years.
School has specialist expertise (equivalent to a subject specialism) in communication and interaction – it’s a formal part of PSHE curriculum and we provide a GCSE in this area.
Principle of ‘If it is not working for one pupil, then who else is not working for?’ and how can we change to include all pupils.
School-wide collaborative CPD culture
Well developed learning culture – collaborative development, mentoring, co-construction of teaching strategies based of AFL data, team working with LSAs (who have expert knowledge of pupil need) and ASTs (have expertise in teaching and sometimes SEN), expertise drawn direct from SENCO and SEN team.
22 GTPs per year – experience in teacher training supports whole school teacher learning culture.
Support structures:
LSAs (28) with expertise on pupil need all deployed by the SENCO.
ASTs with pedagogic expertise.
SENCO and SEN lead teachers with SEN expertise.
Whole school INSET – annually on SEN issues.
Infrastructure of SEN expertise to support pupils and teachers
SENCO.
28 LSAs deployed by the SENCO.
Teachers and ASTs with SEN expertise (about 10% of qualified teaching staff).
External agencies are often used to support the school.
Internal inclusion meeting, which meets once a week and which focuses on individual need (includes data from pupils and parents), evaluating past and current interventions, statistical screening, membership includes: assistant head teacher (AHT) – access and inclusion; AHT – pastoral (year managers); AST; SENCO; Dept – SENCO – manager of learning mentor; manager of looked after children (LAC); manager of vocation access programme; primary secondary transfer co-ordinator; EMA coordinator; Caribbean heritage coordinator; educational psychologist – in house counselling; school nurse; education welfare officer (EWO); Connexions adviser; Head of years’ line manager.
Significant amount of theory behind SEN has been provided by the school, with the constant ability to put that theory into practice – this particularly supports NQTs.
ASTs are encouraged to do small scale research.
Wish list
SEN as a term should be dropped in favour of ‘learning (or achievement) support’.
Enthusiasm of NQTs wanting to be involved with SEN should be tapped into. Requirement for three years classroom experience before becoming a SEN teacher should be dropped.
Managing other adults is crucial part of effective classroom practice and more work needs to be done with teachers and in ITE to develop this skill.
Head: Mr Philip Unsworth
SEN Manager: Karen Stephenson
Context
The school takes most of its pupils from West Bridgford to the south of Nottingham, although a growing proportion comes from the city. The school is larger than average in size and is situated on two sites about half a mile apart.
The proportion of pupils entitled to free school meals is well below average. Although most pupils are White British, there is a small number from a wide range of different minority ethnic backgrounds. Very few have English as an additional language.
There is an average proportion of pupils with learning difficulties and disabilities.
Pupils' attainment on entry to the school this year is broadly average, although it has often been above average in recent years. (Information taken from Ofsted inspection 2007).
7–11 year olds, 330 on roll
12 classroom teachers
Junior Community School
Numbers at SA = 44
Numbers at SA + = 2
Statements = 0 (Nottinghamshire has a policy of statementing only in exceptional circumstances.)
School ethos
The umbrella for SEN work is the ethos of the school, as efficient SEN practices on their own wouldn’t work. Every teacher; child and parent must feel that they are important and that they can succeed. It’s about the whole child, looking for the positives in each child and helping to foster strong self esteem.
Strong collaborative systems with effective communication channels
A whole school approach to meeting needs of all children – need a dedicated staff who truly believe the right of all children to progress and who are open to learning more – it’s about creating a positive environment and having the attitude of ‘what can I learn?’
Opportunities
A lot depends on the fact that the systems in the school are consistent throughout, so as children go through, they meet the same type of approach, even down to way classrooms are set out. This does not mean that systems are king or that creativity is stifled. Just that the expectations for the children are spelt out and there are no stresses inherent in the system which can be avoided. Helps all pupils but especially those with SEN.
Inclusive throughout – parents’ and children’s voices sought
School aims went through four phases: first staff discussed what the ideal school would offer and sent them to governors. Then to parents and finally to the children on the school council who managed to cut through the adult speak and create easily understood, but no less powerful, aims. Each stage has been recorded and is displayed in the corridor/learning area.
On transition, when needs of children have been established Karen works out a plan to train staff in areas not previously covered and to induct new staff.
It’s important to listen to what the parents are saying: they know their child well.
Wish list
More TAs needed in schools – government should set a baseline number based on numbers of pupils with SEN. Training and knowledge are essential but also need physical presence of well trained TA teams.
ITE can’t provide all that is needed but needs to make sure trainees have basic awareness and understanding of conditions which are most prevalent such as dyslexia and autism.
Head: Mr Raymond Howell
Head of Learning Support: Jan Roberts
Contact: j.roberts@wellacre.org
Context
Wellacre Technology and Vocational College is a secondary modern school that provides education and care for boys aged 11 to 16 within the borough of Trafford in Greater Manchester. The school is of broadly average size, although it is growing rapidly.
Social and economic circumstances are diverse but broadly average compared to those found nationally. The great majority of students are of White British heritage and the proportion of students who speak English as an additional language is lower than average.
The proportion of students who have learning difficulties and/or disabilities is higher than average. (Information taken from 2007 Ofsted report.)
11–16 boys’ school, 935 on roll
227 are on the LS register
Statements have risen from three six years ago to 36 this year.
1 teacher (Jan, SENCO) and 12 TAs, one HLTA, one learning mentor
SEN have changed over the six years Jan has been there.
Ethos
Every individual should have success whatever level they come in at. A belief that all students can progress and thus there is a variety of curriculum offers made available. There is an ethos of respect for all, modelled by the head. Students are dealt with fairly and high standards and high expectations are demanded from all. ’Children bring all sorts of issues to school with them, but while they are all individual they are all worthy of respect. As many different solutions to the many different challenges as the boys bring are sought.’
Opportunities
All staff are inducted into the ‘Wellacre Way’ which consists of just two rules – ‘be polite’ and ‘work hard’.
Most TAs have CACHE Level 3 – higher than an NVQ. The school funded the courses for those who came without any qualifications.
Jan attends heads of department (HoD) meeting, and directors of learning (DL) meetings (equivalent to heads of year). Through these she distributes and gathers information on students and developments. HoDs and DLs then distribute the information through their teams.
All vulnerable students are known to Jan. She teaches a GCSE group of vulnerable boys and runs an alternative register group – currently 8 Year 7–10 students.
School uses the Trafford Increased Flexibility Project provided by South Trafford College – a work-placed alternative education programme running one day a week. One student progressed from here to university .
Learning Support runs an ‘Opportunity Centre’ which is a Learning Support Unit for short term placements when a student can’t handle the curriculum.
School has recently introduced a new system for each Year 7 – they will have their own personal achievement folder to record their strengths and milestones.
Wish list
More resources for meeting mental health needs, through children and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS), to reduce waiting times for the young people in need.
