Improving working memory

I have played this app a few times, with varying degrees of success I'm ashamed to say! I think it could be a useful app for children who need to improve their working memory, attention and concentration. Ribbit frog Ribbit uses sound and visual cues, much like the old game Simon, but in a linear way. 

First you press to show you are ready. 

Then you listen to the notes, which increase or decrease in amount depending on how you are doing.

At some point when you repeat the sequence of notes, a coloured note pops out of one of the frogs' mouths, which you then have to identify at the end. 

If you get the sequence wrong, the frog falls off the log. I'm not sure how long it would keep a child entertained, but I can see how regular short bursts could improve a child's working memory and attention skills.  It's another one I will be trying in class.

Maximising the Impact of Teaching Assistants - reflections from inspiring CPD

Today I was fortunate enough to attend a free conference at the UEA about maximising the impact of teaching assistants*. The presentations centred around the very helpful guidance document, 'Making Best Use of Teaching Assistants' from the Education Endowment Foundation, which does what it says on the tin. I used snippets of it in teaching assistant meetings during the last school year, but know that more needs to be done (there's always more to do isn't there?!) This report provides 7 recommendations for maximising the impact of TAs and provides guidance on effective deployment. The conference today reminded me about what this report says - and it is always good to have opportunities to refresh your memory. I highly recommend it to anyone working in the classroom.

The impact of teaching assistants has received mixed press over the years and the role has changed significantly. I don't think anyone can disagree with the guidance that they should not be used as substitute teachers for low attaining children - our least able children need consistently high quality teaching if the gap between them and their peers is to be reduced. Jonathon Sharples and Rob Webster talked about how TAs are effective when interventions are structured, high quality training is provided and TAs are prepared. Simple, common sense ideas that we aspire to at East Harling. Most of our TAs have received Read, Write inc training and our great phonics results are testament to the impact this has had. Equally, the impact of 1st Class@Number has been significant. With both of these interventions our TAs receive ongoing support and high quality training. They have guidance to refer to and although the structured lessons may make some teachers grind their teeth, they provide appropriate scaffolding for TAs to deliver high-quality lessons. When I have a TA in my maths lesson, I try really hard to give them a written plan, such as Numicon activities, so that they have something to refer back to whilst supporting a group. Quite often TAs are expected to follow a stream of verbal instructions, without being shown expectations. No wonder they sometimes get it wrong. To ensure that our support staff don't inadvertently confuse children, objectives and activities need to be clear, through appropriate guidance and careful monitoring.

Another important message was reiterated at the conference: we must ensure that TAs realise that they are not judged on the amount of work a child has completed. We are probably all guilty of thinking that children haven't done very much, but actually the conversations, thinking and experimenting that has taken place will have a greater impact in the long run. We were introduced to the concept of the 'snow plough TA', who pushes the child through the activities by providing answers and not really expecting the child to think or problem solve. We are aware of the minimal time that teachers give children to answer a question, hence the use of strategies such as think, pair, share, talking partners, popcorn etc. We were told that the average time a TA gives is 1 second ... It is our responsibility to do something about this, by training TAs appropriately. Questioning techniques are paramount too, which is why we use the Q-Chart at school - it reminds us about open and closed questions and those that promote deeper thinking. Things like this are not just for teachers, they need to be shared with everyone who works with children. A deeper understanding of the importance of this must be made explicit through training and discussions in the classroom.

Marc Rowland gave the analogy (taken from a fiction book) of people being taken up Everest with a guide, who falls to his death. Because he has not equipped the people with skills, he has merely 'pushed' them up the mountain, so they all perish too. This story got a shocked laugh from the audience and was a great way of demonstrating what happens when we don't promote independence or deep thinking. How true that many of our children develop a kind of learned helplessness because they have not been expected to try, think or struggle. 

Schools are accountable for how they deploy staff and the DISS project made it clear that it is our responsibility to fundamentally rethink how we use them, to ensure we are getting good value for money. Whilst it feels wrong to talk abut people in this way, I do agree that we need to work with the strengths of our staff. I was a TA for four years and I think I was deployed effectively for about 50% of this time. I'm sure that given the chance, most TAs could reflect on their own value in a school, and maybe there are cases where the SLT and the TA know that best use is not being made of them, but for many reasons things cannot change. One of the things that I did shortly after becoming a SENDco was to compile a TA register that showed training and skills. I believe that we deploy our TAs as well as we can, but I am also aware that there are skills that are not being used, because there are not enough hours in the day - and because sometimes it's the same children who need access to specific interventions, but how many times can you take them out of whole class activities. Incidentally, we were encouraged to do this - pick some children on the SEN register and count how many hours they spend outside the classroom. Juggling time and trying to do the best for each child can mean they are missing out on other important things in the classroom. It is a huge dilemma at times. 

There are things that I will do as soon as possible as a result of this course (purchasing the book and reading it) and some things that I haven't got round to doing, that need to be done, such as auditing TAs and trying to find ways of making time for TAs and teachers to spend more quality time together. The headteacher of St Andrew's Cof E school in Stockwell has developed some innovative ways of doing this, such as fortnightly meetings where the whole school has a music lesson whilst the TAs and teachers have CPD sessions together. The TAs are given a gap task - something to complete before the next session - which is supported by senior leaders. This culture of shared practice is having an impact, though the head acknowledges how fortunate they are to have the funding to do so. With almost 50% pupil premium, funds can be used creatively for the benefits of all children.

The Maximising TAs website has some great resources  for auditing the use of TAs, such as a deployment survey questionnaire and working in the classroom. 

As always, after CPD like this, I came back buzzing. Now I just need the magic fairy to whoosh a few more hours into the day!



*Where I have used TAs in this post, I am referring to all support staff in school.

Bugs and numbers

This is another lovely EYFS/SEN app made by Little Bit Studio. Like Bugs and Buttons, the graphics and the music are appealing and of high quality. There is a range of games to play, to enhance early maths skills from counting and adding to time and fractions.

As with the last app I reviewed, there is a handy finger to give you a hint should you need it.

The first game I played was number recognition and ordering to 100. If you get the order wrong you get an 'oops', but then continue from where you were, which is good.

At the end you get a score, which I would then encourage children to try and beat.

The next game I looked at was a sequencing game. It shows you the order of the xylophone, which you then shake up before replicating. A nice matching/sequencing game. 

The time game is a simple match the analogue to digital time. I only played this briefly so it may go past hour times. It scaffolds learning by showing the time as you move the small hand, then the train chuffs away if you match the time correctly. 

The adding game uses ants as visual, which I know will appeal to children. It is a great game for independent work for a child with SEN in my class as I know he will experience lots of success with it-which it more important than challenge at times. 

The music is appropriate for each game, with a lovely Italian favour during pizza fractions! 

The measuring lab had suitably scientific kooky music too. If you weren't watching your child at play, you would know exactly what they were doing.

There is also some lovely humour too - during game show addition and subtraction (level 1) I was told that I am a super genius! ☺️ That's what I tell my children all the while!

I haven't played all the games in the app, but from the ones I have played I would recommend it as another quality app for early years education. I will definitely be using this in class.

Bugs and buttons

This morning I am exploring some more apps that are great for EYFS and children with SEN in ks1. Little Bit studio have made a range of 'bug' apps that look beautiful, because of the brightly coloured high-definition graphics. They definitely feel like the high quality resource you would want to be using in the classroom. 

Learning and exploring through play is key for our youngest children and Bugs and Buttons 2 lets children do this. There are 18 games within the app, with different environments for your child to explore. It covers a range of skills, from counting and sorting to manipulating and early computing (computational thinking) skills. The latter happens as children have to think about what they need to do to be successful within the games. It's nice that the games don't get too hard, too quickly, but that is a bit frustrating for me as a reviewer, so I have bought it for my favourite little beta tester to trial too (thanks Ruby!) I will share her views once I have them. 

A quick snapshot of some of the games

The first game I played was a simple match the button to the trolley game. I realised quite soon that you could speed it up by adding more buttons to each trolley, then got it wrong when I was matching by colour, but not by button. Early computational thinking. At one point it seemed quite frantic (in a good way) as I was trying to put all the buttons I had on screen into the trolleys before they rolled away. A nice matching game.

The next game I played is a 1:1 correspondence game, whereby you have to give the right dish of treats according to the number of bugs. It has nice background music for an app- well it didn't irritate me like some have! Before starting the game there is a helping hand to give a hint about what to do. 

This game is a lovely manipulation game that I shall try with a child in my class. (If you use your personal ipad in class it is important that you lock it to the one app so that they don't go wandering.) In this game you pinch the screen to create an elastic band, to bounce the buttons so that they don't hit the bugs. Lovely! 

I will be having a look at the other games, but for just over £2 I really don't think you can go far wrong! Here are the other games that you can play.

I will add my beta testers reviews once I have them, so come back and check them out soon - or subscribe to updates. If you have any thoughts, please comment below!

Clicker sentences for the ipad

This is not a new post, but somehow I unpublished it ... 

I started a masters degree in 2005 using action research to find out how children with SEN can be supported through technology. I was interested in learning behaviours and whether technology could have a positive impact and help remove barriers in a mainstream setting.

One of the resources I looked at closely during my action research was Clicker Grids for learning. I have always been fortunate enough to have desktop computers in my classroom, but had not explored Clicker in any detail. When I did, I was kicking myself for not having looked at it before. It enables children to use wordprocessing skills at their level and provides a wealth of free resources to support learning.

 After training my TA to use it, it became the main writing resource for a child in my class. Clicker enabled him to successfully write his weekly news as well as write up scientific investigations, history reports and other cross curricular writing. I have used it with different children every year since, to support their reading and writing.

So why haven't I looked at the app before now? Well I had a good look at the last Bett show I went to - in 2013 - but at £18.99 it was a little pricey to put on our iPads at school, when we were already making use of it on our PCs. The reason I was keen to get it now is that I no longer have PCs in my classroom. It has been a huge change for me as I used to have two at my last school - but I had the space there too. My new classroom does not have room and although I have access to an old teacher laptop, it has proved to be too much of a distraction (they were tucked away in my previous classroom). What I do have is a class iPad, so I make use of that for meaningful interventions. I am sure that it will prove to be a useful resource in the future for a child with ASD who is currently in reception.

I have found it very similar to the PC version, in that you have to play around for a little while before you get the hang of making your word banks quickly. There are lots of models available for story/instruction writing, but it is at its most useful when it can be personalised. 

What I really like about it is that you can change the settings to aid progression. For example, you can have the word order as sentence order, or guided (only the next word in the sentence can be clicked on), alphabetical order or you can have random order as they become more familiar. 

Having the words read to you makes this very accessible to children with visual impairments/visual processing difficulties. You can also have the sentence displayed at the top of a word set as a model, or in a pop up so that they can look at it for a few seconds before writing. 

The great thing is that you can change the options for every sentence that you have prepared for the child to write. I know that this is going to be a valuable element to support children with their next steps. You don't have to provide all words for them either, you can let them attempt phonetically decidable words. For the first few times though I want to provide all of them as I want the child to develop confidence.

There are parts that I still need to learn  and I know that I could ask for help, but I want to make sure that I am using it confidently before I ask TAs to use it - I need to show them how to  set them up.

 My next job is to find out how to import grids using Dropbox, then play with it for a bit longer (a job for tomorrow) then I will try using it with a child in my class next week. I will write another post with the child's views about using it. 

I think this is going to prove to be a very useful app for a range of children, who will be able to see themselves as successful writers. 

Come back soon to see how it has been used in the classroom.

My first OfSTED as SENDco

I am writing this post in the hope that it will be of some help to others. That is always my aim, so it's nice to hear from you if you have found it helpful. It refers to the SEN part of the inspection, so my comments and thoughts are about this, not the overall experience.

Those of you who have read my blog before will have seen my new SENDco posts about how I have approached the role and what I have achieved in the last year. I was supported through attendance on a training course for new SENDcos, run by Judith Carter - an inspirational ed psych and county advisor. I picked up lots of juicy snippets of information during the course and would highly recommend it to new Norfolk SENDcos - indeed some SENDcos said that they found it more useful than the national qualification. Failing that, Judith's Willow tree SEN network is a must.

In my role at school I am very much supported by my headteacher-Amanda. Yes I have the SENDco title, but there is very little that I know about our children with SEN that she doesn't, if anything.  Her knowledge of our children and their families is astounding, partly because of how long she has been at the school but mostly because she works hard to get to *know* the families. I emphasise this because I have been in - and know of - schools where the headteachers don't know the children, let alone families. I am also in awe of her ability to recall factual information instantly.  This made me feel very reassured as I was pretty confident that if I was asked a question about children that I didn't know the answer to, Amanda would.

So the inspection. I felt prepared for it, but having never been through one as a SENDco I was a little unsure about what to expect. Our lead inspector had a primary SEN background, but instead of worrying about it I decided it could be highly beneficial. Who better to ask advice about best practice? As it turns out, that didn't really happen.

My meeting with the inspector lasted around 40 minutes. She asked me to bring some examples of IEPs and a case study to the meeting after lunch, so I gave her my OfSTED file first thing in the morning. I have written about this OfSTED file before, but had tweaked and updated it somewhat at the start of the new school year. One change is that my provision map now states costs and duration of interventions. Accountability is key. I will blog about the updated file contents at some point, but I think it's important to say that in the first couple of pages, just behind the document showing our children with SEN, is an action plan. It states clearly how and when changes are happening at school in line with the new code of practice. 

The meeting

The first question that the inspector asked was tricky, in that I'm sure she already knew the answer and was just making a point. She asked, 'So, you're deputy, SENDco and a year 2 teacher. How much time do you get?' When I told her, she replied that it wasn't enough. That put me on the back foot a bit, as she then asked me what I did with my time. Hmm. How to promote what you do without sounding like you have to burn the midnight oil to do it. I made it very clear that I had accepted the job knowing this, that I was used to working at a pace and have good time management skills (usually). I am also a bit of a control freak with my class and have colossal expectations of anyone who teaches them. They deserve the best. It is therefore hard to let them go, but that's something I think I'm going to have to do a bit more in 2015 as it has been made a bit of a requirement. 

I was asked briefly about a couple of the children, but the case studies provided had identified the interventions and additional support that certain children had been given. She acknowledged that we knew our children extremely well and that the support we were providing for individual cases was exceptional. However, what she was more interested in was how the TAs were monitored. Long gone are the days where teaching assistants were parents who came in as 'helpers'; the support they provide must have an impact. Nearly all of our TAs are Read, Write inc trained and they deliver high quality sessions. These are monitored regularly by our RWi co-ordinator, but the inspector was very clear that I should be observing too as I would be focussing on the children with SEN. It's a fair point, but of course there are cost implications and like many we are on a tight budget.

I was also asked about how children's progress was monitored. I explained how Amanda and I hold pupil progress meetings together, which provides the opportunity to discuss specific children. As a school we use Pupil Asset to check progress and attainment. Amanda has set up a tight system whereby staff appraisals link back to these meetings and the school development plan sets objectives to improve provision. Our inspector complimented this and pointed out again how well we know our children. We talked about TA cpd, but I know that I need to go back and check that approaches and resources are being used successfully. Observations leading to improved practice are essential - monitoring needs to be more rigorous. That was one of the over-riding messages.

 What we need to do as senior leaders is make sure that the exceptional support that is provided to individual children (and their families) is balanced with rigorous monitoring. The time we have spent on individual cases is incredible - more so for Amanda than I. It's mostly the parts beyond the actual teaching that are so time-consuming - the phone calls, referrals, meetings, paperwork and pastoral support for children and families are all important. We have adopted a phrase 'It's an explanation, not an excuse,' and I guess it means that in the future tough decisions about priorities are going to have to be made.

The SENDco meeting didn't feel at all like an interrogation, it felt like a very fair question and answer session. She was not trying to trip me up, she just wanted to get a broad picture in as short a time as possible. The feedback was positive and she was complimentary, but she also gave clear messages about next steps. I've come out the other end feeling like I'm doing a good job and I have a clear understanding of how to do better, even if I am somewhat reluctant to step outside my classroom more than I already do, to fulfil this. 

Toca Mini

Another great little app for EYFS, Toca Mini is very similar to the puppet workshop app that I reviewed earlier today. It starts with a blank 'doll' in a box, which you then design using a range of colours and parts. 

You can make a weird or funny mini, monster or human-like. When you colour the skin it goes up in straight lines, making it easy to create things like stripy socks. There is a range of stamps to choose from to decorate the body, face and limbs.  

The one thing that this does that the puppet workshop app doesn't is animate - and it (kind of) interacts with you. It starts to blink when you add eyes, then speaks when you've added a mouth. It looks happy at certain things and may scratch itself, sigh, smile etc. If you lose concentration for a minute or two, it may wave or growl at you - a monster bear I created started boxing! When you have finished you can take a photo, then it gets boxed up and whizzed off!

The possibilities are endless and it's another great little app for promoting creativity in our youngest children. I was fortunate to get this one via apps gone free. They are quite expensive for schools to fork out for, but they are high quality and easy to use. 

Perfect captions

A quick pointer to Perfect Captions - a nice little early writing app for KS1 and children with SEN. It does what it says on the tin - allows you to add captions and labels to photographs that you have taken. There are many others available, but this is one that I have used in class and the children have enjoyed using it. You can create albums and also share work through social networking. 

You can find more great educational iPad apps on my iPads in primary site.

Preparing for the new year as SENco

A woman's work is never done...

A SENCo's work is never done...

A teacher's work is never done...

I'm sure that there are many more that could be added, but those are the three that are relevant to me at this point in time. I realised last week, to my horror, that the new SEN Code of Practice had been published in July and that this had totally passed me by.  This has implications for all schools as paperwork and practices will need reviewing and updating accordingly. The Guardian has very kindly provided us with 5 things schools need to know about SEN reforms, which is a good starting point.

This evening I have spent time doing the second revision of our school's local offer. It was based on one written by Swingate school, but I have adapted it accordingly and, as was suggested by an ex colleague, tried to think in terms of the questions that parents might ask about provision. I plan to do a third (and hopefully 'final for now') revision during the first full week at school, during my allocated SEN time.

Other jobs that are high on my priority list are adapting the SEN policy and making sure that TA meetings are planned for. I am in the process of updating all our provision maps, whilst trying to find an easier way of presenting them. I also need to investigate the SENco training course and sign up to Norfolk's SEN forum, hosted by Judith Carter. If anyone can recommend a good course, I would be grateful. 

Being SENco part 5: SEN information report

This past week I have been working on the information needed for the SEN page on our website. Our local offer has been reviewed by a couple of our governors via a google doc. The great thing about this is that their questions and ideas are recorded - evidence of the consultation process.

 I also sent out a letter inviting parents to form a working party with me. There was no response to this, which was really disappointing. I intend to approach a couple of parents who may be willing to read and comment from home, via the gdoc. I am alos in the process of writing questions to put to our school council and children on the SEN register, to gain their views of provision in school. I will drawn on the Index for Inclusion for further inspiration before I meet with them.

Alongside the local offer, schools are required to publish an annual SEN information report. Ours is hot off the press and is adapted from a model provided by Judith Carter for Norfolk Children's Services. I'm not in the habit of reinventing wheels, but model policies/ reports can never be expected to fit perfectly, so time must be spent tweaking and personalising them. Please feel free to tweak and personalise this one!

Being SENco part 4: The local offer

In October 2013 the DFE published the new draft SEN code of practice, which will take effect from September 2014. I have heard that the final code will available 'some time in June...'

Chapter 5 of the draft code is all about the 'Local Offer', and rather than paraphrase, I have lifted the rationale straight from the draft doc:

5.1 The local offer 

Local authorities must publish a local offer, setting out in one place information 
about provision they expect to be available for children and young people in their 
area who have SEN, including those who do not have EHC plans. 

The local offer has two key purposes: 

• To provide clear, comprehensive and accessible information about the provision available; and 
• To make provision more responsive to local needs and aspirations by directly involving children and young people with SEN, parents and carers, and service providers in its development and review. 

It is clear that the local offer should not 'simply be a directory of existing services' and that through the process of developing the local offer all parties will consider how to improve provision.

Further advice is given in the draft document:

The local offer should be: 

• Collaborative: local authorities must involve parents, children and young people in developing and reviewing the local offer. They must also cooperate with those providing services. 
• Accessible: the published local offer should be easy to understand, factual and jargon-free. It should be structured in a way that relates to young people’s and parents’ needs (for example by broad age group or type of special educational provision). It should be well signposted and publicised. 
• Comprehensive: parents and young people should know what support is available across education, health and social care from 0 to 25 and how to access it. The local offer must include eligibility criteria where relevant and make clear where to go for information, advice and support, as well as how to make complaints about provision or appeal against decisions. 
• Transparent: the local offer must be clear about how decisions are made and who is accountable and responsible for them. 


The Special Educational Needs (Local Offer) Regulations 2014 sets out a schedule for the publication of local offers although it is less clear how and when schools should do this and what co-operation with local authorities actually means. I await for someone more knowledgeable or more widely read to help me with that!

 In the meantime I have been looking at different primary school websites after googling 'school local offer examples'. I had looked at Marvels Lane Primary School's local offer and a couple of others last half term after a cluster SENco meeting, but I liked the transparency of this one so thought it unnecessary to look any further; their Local Offer felt like a good starting point for me (thank you to the authors!) I am not sure at the moment whether our cluster will have a joint one, which will be tweaked for each school, or whether we will all write our own. It is a supportive, collaborative and co-operative cluster that I belong to, so before I do any more work I will ask the question. Once ours is written, it will of course be shared in the hope that it supports others to write their own.

Other useful links

The Key: Local offer: templates for schools

York School Local Offer template

Understanding good practice in the move over to the new arrangements for SEN

http://www.swingate.medway.sch.uk/about-us/sen-local-offer - comprehensive information for parents from Swingate Primary School

Additions 19.05.2014

Our cluster SEN chair and I have had some conversations through email this weekend and it is more apparent (to me) now that the LA is responsible for producing the local offer. This doesn't mean that schools can't, and indeed I have used the Swingate Primary school one as a base to create one for our school - it is good practice after all. I acknowledge their support in helping me develop mine! You can read the first draft of the one I am creating here. In the nature of sharing, if you like it please use it, but please acknowledge that it came via Swingate. 

Being SENco part 3: the OfSTED file

Today I went to a local special school for the last day of a very fruitful 'new SENco' programme. It has been fruitful partly because of the organisation of it, partly because of the experts leading it and partly because of the networking time available to learn best practice from others. As an OfSTED inspection is imminent at EHPS I have started to put together an information for OfSTED file and I took this along with me. The contents of the file look like this (so far):

Page

1                                           SEN register
1a                                         Graduated Response

2                                           Progress of children with SEN across the school

3                                           SENDco action plan

4                                           Provision map EHPS

5                                           Provision map for cluster

6                                           Case study 1

7                                           Case study 2

8                                           Personal learning profile example

9                                           Pupil intervention tracking example

10                                        IEP example

11                                        GEP example

12                                       TA skills register

13                                       Intervention overview and impact: 1^st class@number

14                                       Cluster SEN identification guidelines

15                                      SEN policy 

As always I was happy to share this with others and I hoped that someone would say 'What about adding this or that?' When we had a workshop on action planning I shared mine, which I have talked about here. It felt really good when we had moved to a different workshop and the lead of the action planning one came through and asked if she could have my file to show others. I know it's not perfect, but that told me I am on the right lines.


Another teacher (Kendra I think) shared a document containing questions that an inspector might ask. I had asked this question to an inspector last week and he said that all inspectors were different, but really just to make sure that I know my children and could explain progress. Today I feel confident that I am in control and know what I am doing regarding SEN at EHPS - who knows how long this confidence will stay!


I will upload some of the docs into google docs asap (I need to anonymise them first), but some teachers found the contents page useful so I said I would share it. Any thoughts / ideas appreciated!

Being SENDco - part 2

This post will concentrate on three parts to my new role as a SENDco: action planning, IEPs/GEPs, personal profiles and case studies. Don't expect anything original - I've not got to that confidence point yet - but I hope this will be solid advice for anyone new to the role. I have shared all of my docs and would appreciate any tips or advice from anyone about any improvements/changes I could make.

Action planning

This morning I have been updating my SEN action plan, which in all honesty is serving two purposes. The most important of course is that it will be my guide, helping me prioritise actions and use my allocated SENDco time effectively. The second purpose I learned from a colleague on a 'New SENDco' course. She recounted how OfSTED inspected after she had been in role for three weeks. She spoke of her horror when she was unable to answer any of the questions that she was asked. Her saving grace was the fact that she had an action plan. What she didn't know was accounted for in her plan - it showed the actions that would enable her to become an effective SENDco. Being new to the role myself, it was the first thing I did when I left the course.

IEPs and GEPS

The phrase 'additonal to or different from that (provision) normally available to pupils' has formed the question by which we decide whether a child needs an IEP. If it is normal school provision, it is not additional to our curriculum, therefore we are not making special provision. This has helped form our SEN practice at EHPS.

One of the first things I did in my role was host a staff meeting to share the thinking behind the new draft SEN Code of  Practice and to support teaching staff to make the move from IEPs to GEPs. I used a short prezi presentation as a synopsis of the draft code, then gave each member of staff a crib sheet to explain the changes/help them make the decision about the paperwork that is right for their child. There had already been recent developments to provision at school, so naturally some staff were feeling a bit anxious about more change, but the fact that many of our children should be included in group education plans rather than individual plans, meant that paperwork would be reduced. I gave each class a folder entitled SEN interventions - working documents, because that is what they are. I want to see them annotated. I received positive feedback (given voluntarily) after the meeting, so felt that I had pitched it ok!

 Personal Profiles and Case Studies

There are some children who don't need an IEP or to be included in a GEP, because they do not need additional support for learning. Some of these children may need acknowledging for other reasons and/or highlighting to additional/new adults who may work in your classroom. For example, we have children at EHPS with ASDs, who are high ability and so don't need additional support, but whom we need to be made aware of their views, the things that excite or challenge them and how we can support them. Equally, there may be learners who are experiencing behavioural difficulties that need addressing and supporting. In my limited experience, completing a personal learning profile with one child and his family last October had a highly positive impact. The fact that his behaviour is now starting to deteriorate tells me something - the process needs to be done bi-annually.

The other thing that I have been doing, as recommended in Seven Steps to Ofsted Success is creating case studies. My good friend Jenni shared some examples with me so I could see what they could potentially look like. Case studies could prove vital in explaining why certain children have not made expected academic progress, whilst showing the impact of provision on their social, emotional and behavioural development. I intend to do one per class to start with and will focus on children who have not made expected progress according to tracking data.

A colleague in our cluster also shared this helpful SEN tracking sheet with which I intend to track all children at school who are currently on the SEN register. I have them all named and ready, now it's just a case of finding time to complete them! It's not so much my time, it's balancing the amount of time I pester other members of staff to spend time with me.
If you find any of this helpful, or have any tips to share, please let me know!

Dog listeners

Sometimes you read those tweets on twitter that just make you think 'Wow - what a perfect idea!' This morning I read another conversation - and have time to write a quick post about it whilst catching up with f1 qualifying. Skip my waffle if you want to get to the juicy part! (Links at the bottom.)

Reading for pleasure is something very important to me, as I assume it is with most teachers. I was an avid reader as a child, but my children have shown me that sometimes you need extra tricks to get them to read. One of my sons (now 26) reads whilst eating, travelling and between conversations. He confesses that he's not the best conversationalist and would rather be reading than chatting. My youngest son had the same diet of tractor and Thomas books alongside the many other picture books that I picked up for 20p at the boot sale. He would rather be outside and doing than reading. At primary school he struggled throughout and although the school challenged his level 3 result at the end of year 6, I knew that's what he was. Gifted and talented mathematician, logical thinker, weak reader. Even though I bought him motocross / big machinery books, he wasn't particularly interested. The only fiction that inspired him as child were Lemony Snicket's, read to him by his enthusiastic teacher. I could go on about his secondary experiences and the fact that the only book he has ever chosen to buy was a Wilderness Survival Guide (yes, we live in a rural location - but it's not that rural!), but this post is about something that I wish I'd thought of years ago. We've always had dogs. They are great listeners. I never thought to get him to read to our pets. So the tweets that I read this morning reminded me about how I had read before about dogs being used in a therapeutic way, but I'd never thought about how wonderful  it would be to have them as non-judgemental listeners for our struggling readers. The Bark and Read programme argues how dogs are perfect listeners - attentive and non-judgemental. Stroking dogs reduces stress, which is the part of dog 'therapy' that I have read about before, particularly with the elderly and children/adults with SEN. But it doesn't have to just be about children with SEN.

Meet Macy and Sabre (I named the former!) at Nettishall Heath

I think about how my son, who is similar to many of the loveable rogues that you will encounter in your classrooms, would have loved the opportunity to work with a dog - and yes, I truly think he would have read a story to one. I have 5 low attaining boys in my class and I would love to find out if a 'dog listener' would boost their confidence. One thing I can do immediately is to find out if any of them have dogs in their immediate or extended families and maybe suggest it as a homework activity. I'm sure my parents already think I am a bit bonkers, so I doubt they will find this too odd.

The other thing I can do is change the focus of our class bears. Instead of the children writing about what they have done with him (I don't insist on this, they all just seem to love doing it) I will get them to read him a bedtime story, then record the title of the book and author and maybe mark it out of 10. That way, other children and families can see the range of books and stories being read. It will hopefully be a good influence.

I intend to read a story to Macy later to see what she does, just so I can tell parents my experience of it. I imagine that Macy will just wear her usual bemused expression - and probably fall asleep. She's not know for any friskiness!

Macy

Although I would be more than happy to raise a smaller breed of dog that could come to work with me and inspire children, I'm not sure how schools that do embrace this scheme work around children with allergies. It is something totally worth looking into in the future though, when time permits. I'd love to be 'that SENDco who used dogs in the classroom'...

Our beautiful Norfolk coast, looking a bit grey

Quick links 

Children urged to read to dogs- perfect listeners - BBC post

The Bark and Read programme

Still buying books to inspire Jake to read!

Being SENDco - part 1

I started this post last year...bear with me! It's a bit waffly, but will hopefully lead on to useful things.

In September 2013 I started a new job as SENDco at East Harling Primary School and Nursery. I have a background of teaching children with autistic spectrum disorders and prior to that working as a TA in a school for children with a range of needs and challenging behaviours. This meant that I participated in a range of CPD, which I continued when I started teaching in a mainstream setting.

My degree was based around education and disability and for my final dissertation I debated the question of whether a mainstream setting was a suitable place of education for a child with autism. I concluded that it depended on the child, their needs and what was on offer at the school. That's my dissertation in a nutshell! who needs 5000 words when you can write it so succinctly?! I've never really thought about what happens to these papers, but was surprised and delighted last year when my niece informed me that during her research she had (accidentally) found and read my paper and really enjoyed it! Apparently the UEA archives hold many things!

A continued interest and the temptation of free CPD led me to undertake two post grad certificates at masters levels regarding inclusive practices. I focused one on challenging behaviour and autism and the other on support mechanisms for teaching writing to children with SEN (lots of ICT there). I enjoyed doing these; through action research I believe I enhanced the way I approached teaching children with SEN in a mainstream setting. It was a very practical and useful way of learning for me. However, the courses only really impacted learning in my own classroom as the school employed a part time SENco and at that point had very fixed views on provision for children with special needs.

I must confess that despite my interest, I have never really desired to take on the SENDco role, but that may have been because at Roydon it was essentially a non-teaching role. When the Deputy Headship came up at East Harling, I knew I had to go for it. I know other teachers who have the view 'I will only leave my current post if a job comes up at ...' and deputy at East Harling was one of mine. Why? Location, size and rural nature of school, ethos, reputation and the fact it was part of a cluster that my own children belonged to. It felt right. The SENDco role was part of the responsibility and I would be moving away from ICT, but I felt ready for change.

 During the interview we had to answer the question 'As SENDCo how would you ensure that the school was effectively meeting the needs of all SEND pupils, taking into account the challenges and opportunities presented by current changes to SEND provision’ through a 10 minute presentation. I wrote a leaflet to hand out, which would serve more as a prop for me. (I will share this here as soon as I get textease working again.)

In the role

SEN is changing and thanks to the new (draft) code of practice the emphasis is put on what children and their families need. These are some of the things I have achieved since I have been in post, with the support of staff and governors at EHPS&N:

• Hosting a coffee afternoon - invites went out to all parents of children on the SEN register so that they could put a name to a face and hear about changes to provision.
• Moving away from IEPs for low attaining children who don't have SEN
• Implementing group education plans for low attaining children
• Implementing learning profiles for children who don't have IEPs, but who have needs that should be acknowledged by everyone working with them
• Creating an action plan that will hopefully show OfSTED when they arrive that I have a plan of action!
• Taking my first steps to achieve Seven Steps to OfSTED Success (separate blog coming soon!)
• Hosting my first statement review meeting (with my headteacher as a much needed safety net!)

In future posts I will endeavour to be as honest as possible about the challenges I have faced (mainly to do with my own organisational skills), the good practices that I have inherited from my predecessor and Headteacher, the information I have gleaned from the 'New SENDco' course I am attending (brilliant advice!) and the interventions that are really supporting our children. I hope that these posts will be useful to anyone starting this new role.