A school near to where I live recently had an Ofsted inspection and it wasn’t a great outcome.
They were told that they may have been downgraded from 'good' to 'requires improvement' if it were a full inspection instead of the initial inspection that it was.
The school (and the trust that it is part of) had been focusing on reading and maths, but the inspector was very concerned with SEND and felt that the pupils with SEND were not getting the support that they should and that teachers had not been trained to help them.
Because the Teaching staff had not received training, they were not ‘effective’ in helping their pupils with SEND to access the curriculum and make progress with their learning.
This was resulting in pupils with SEND falling behind their peers.
This school needs to immediately provide CPD and training for the teaching staff in order to help the students who have been identified with SEND.
In fact, the Department for Education’s standards for teacher’s professional development (2016) outlines that “professional development must be prioritised by school leadership”.
In agreement, the Education Endowment Fund (EEF) states in their Special Educational Needs in Mainstream Schools guidance report that “Pupils with Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) have the greatest need for excellent teaching and are entitled to provision that supports achievement at, and enjoyment of, school.” (ref)
This provision can include implementing strategies within the classroom and targeted interventions throughout the week.
This will significantly increase the quality of teaching and contribute to overall school improvement.
My training packages provide the information teachers need in order to support students with SLCN, which is the most common type of need for children with SEN support according to the Department of Education.
Along with gaining knowledge and understanding of a range of areas and needs within SLCN, my CPD training provides simple but effective strategies for education staff to use in daily classroom life.
Many of the individual training courses also demonstrate a range of impactful interventions which can be carried out 1:1 with a TA or LSA (or sent home for homework) but can also be part of small group working within the classroom where teaching support is limited or unavailable.
For settings who are serious about providing flexible online learning and CPD for their staff, you can find out more about my training packages by clicking on the links below, or send me an email to discuss the needs of your setting.
As for this particular school, I will be sending them information on my training and some free resources to get them started. I’ll also send this information to their trust so that they can roll out trust-wide training to all staff within a matter of days, should they so wish.
A link to this school’s report is available on request, BUT but the intentions are for us to learn from the report and improve your own provision of SEND.