Being SENDco part 6: Graduated response and monitoring schedule

Paperwork is not my strong point. Creating or completing it is absolutely fine, filing it is the problem. For any one piece of paperwork there seems to be a range of places that it could be filed. I am a 'piler' who is working hard to develop organised systems where I can put my finger on things quickly. I have tried to learn from my previous deputy head and from my current head, who both have the kind of systems that I am in awe of. For SEN the whole system has to be organised, meaningful and most importantly, simple to use. The latter is extremely important in order to be inclusive.

Last year I simplified our school's IEPs and introduced GEPs based on ones created by my friend Cassie's (@ca51bee). Because of the changes brought about by the new Code of Pratice, quite a few of our children came off the SEN register, because provision was part of our normal differentiated curriculum. We needed a clear way of to recognise the continuum of SEN and appropriate provision, thus we needed to adopt a graduated response that would encompass what we do at East Harling. 

Before creating our graduated response I did my usual internet research to see which formats I liked best. I decided on creating a flow chart as it seemed like the easiest way of presenting information. The one I liked best was created by Lucy Pearce for Milton on Stour VE CA Primary School. I used her template and created my own using publisher. If you would like to copy and tweak your own, you should be able to download it here. 

I think it is simple, easy to follow and it provides guidance for families and school staff. This was completed before our OfSTED inspection and added to my 'OfSTED folder', which was very well received by the lead inspector. I am not a fan of doing things for OfSTED and believe that our focus should always be on pupil progress, but I also know that I needed to organise everything in one place so that hard copies can be found quickly. 

More recently I have started to create a monitoring schedule to sit alongside my SEN action plan. This document  is in response to OfSTED, who wrote:

• The special educational needs coordinator is not given enough time to check on the effectiveness of the support provided for pupils who need extra help.

and

• The deputy headteacher is also the special educational needs coordinator. She provides a positive role model for colleagues in her own teaching practice, but does not have enough opportunities to check on how effective the provision is for disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs.

The report acknowledges the progress that children with SEN make, and were very positive about what I was doing, whilst being clear that monitoring was not rigorous enough. They recommended that I should be observing TAs and children with SEN, including during our Read, Write inc sessions, which are already rigorously monitored by our RWi coordinator. 'You will be looking for different things,' was the rationale. I could not argue, I had observed our TAs delivering First Class @Number sessions, but these were ad hoc and not recorded. It would seem that this is common - schools have limited funds and the catch 22 is that I have to observe in the morning, so my class lose their teacher again. I'm not saying it shouldn't happen, it should. I care about all children's progress, not just those in my class, but year 2 is a key year when progress is measured. I want the best for them - they deserve it. 

So now I have extra time for SEN monitoring, but am wondering if it will really fulfil what the inspection team expects. It has to be at the same time each week for continuity, not just for my class and I, but for the HLTA who covers my lesson and the loss of her support to the teacher she is usually with. This in itself is limiting, but justifiable as it cannot be a moveable feast. Schools can't be expected to work in that way.

The other dilemma is that the Code of Practice is clear that children with SEN need quality first teaching, from a teacher. They should not always be with TAs, the weakest children deserve the strongest teaching. When I have tried to organise observations some teachers have said that they are working with the lower ability groups, which is great. So who do I observe, the children with SEN or the TAs? 

I guess it will all balance out in the end and there are other ways of monitoring, hence the monitoring schedule. Once again I found somebody else's format that I liked - I assume that folk share things on the web and they don't mind them being replicated. It saved me a job anyway as lots of the foci were similar to mine. I'm ashamed to say that I can't remember where I found it, but when I locate it, the source will be acknowledged here. You can view mine here and of course download it to tweak for your own use. It actually does feel like a good safety net and now I have recorded evidence of usual practice, with the observations added in. 

It would be great to know what you do in your school!

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. 

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!

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.