- 1 -

The changing role
of the
SEN Co-ordinator
“The new Ofsted framework expects school leaders to demonstratean ambitious vision for the school with high expectations for what every pupil and teacher can achieve”
Nasen Live May 2012
How to keep up-to-date with current changes and planned changes to SEN practice.
Prepared by
Amanda Armstrong
from information and advice delivered by
Tricia Murphy at the Nasen Live Conference, May 2012
& information shared at the
Yorkshire and Humberside SEN Network meeting June 25th 2012.

Created by amanda.armstrong

- 1 -

Recommended Documents

for Leadership / SENCo and staff to be aware of

  • Charlie Taylor's Behaviour checklist
  • Behaviour and Discipline in Schools. A Guide for Head Teachers and Schools Staff (DfE)
  • Ensuring Good Behaviour in Schools. A summary for head teachers, governing bodies, teachers, parents and pupils.
  • Equality Act 2010: What Do I Need to Know? Disability Quick Start Guide (from the Diversity Forum)
  • Equality Act 2010: What Do I Need to Know? A Summary Guide for Public Sector Organisations (from the Government Equalities Office
  • The Munro Review of Child Protection: Final Report - A child-centred system.
  • Preventing and Tackling Bullying. Advice for School Leaders, Staff and Governing Bodies (DfE)
  • Use of Reasonable Force. Advice for Head Teachers, Staff and Governing Bodies (DfE).
  • Support and aspiration: A new approach to special educational needs and disability (DfE). Support and next steps.
  • Think Family Toolkit – Improving support for families at risk. Strategic overview (DfE 2009)
  • Lamb enquiry. Special Educational Needs and parental confidence (2009, DfE)
  • Parental Confidence in the SEN system: An Implementation Plan (Feb 2010)
  • National Curriculum Review. Secretary of States announcement
  • SEND Green Paper: Next Steps.

The consultation summary is located here:

  • Teachers’ Standards (DfE – May 2012)
  • School Funding Reform: Arrangements for 2013-14 (DfE)

TRAINING

Ensure all staff are familiar with the Inclusion Development Programme materials to support quality first teaching. In addition there is an advanced resource that extends knowledge of the 4 IDP modules and offers additional training for MLD. The link is

Advice from Tricia Murphy at the Nasen Live Conference, May 2012, offered suggested training as follows:

TRAINING FOR THE SENCO:

  • Leading on SEN provision
  • ( The Green / White Paper)
  • Leading on the progress of those with SEN
  • Leading on Deployment of Support Staff
  • Leading on Differentiation and Multi Sensory teaching
  • Leading on Communication
  • and SLCN
  • Leading on Sequencing
  • Leading on Working Memory and Retrieval
  • Leading on Pupil Premium and Ofsted

UNIVERSAL TRAINING ACROSS SCHOOL:

Training DAYS and twilights

  • Single Equality Act 2010(Get staff up to speed! Nobody mentions DDA anymore - it's out of date and has been replaced by this)
  • Whole school activities on:
  • Pupil Progress and Outcomes
  • Provision Mapping
  • Differentiation
  • Reading /Literacy
  • Communication (SLCN) (use IDP and follow this with the Advanced materials now available - see link above).
  • Memory and Sequence
  • Child Protection and Safeguarding
  • Behaviour
  • Purchasing resources

The Yorkshire and Humberside SEN Network meeting had this advice regarding

CPD for SEN

•A central premise of the Green Paper was to raise the quality of special educational needs (SEN) provision in schools.

•Commitment to develop a national scholarship for support staff working with pupils with SEN and disability.

•Funding has been announced to support professional development in SEN for individuals.

•Teaching schools are expected to provide collaborative local programmes of development for teachers and leadership.

•New and extensive resources have been recently launched

•All trainee teachers to have one week in SpecialSchool.

Schools are expected to fund training and development of their workforce from the general funding available to them:

•NASENCO Funding (Apply to DfE from May 18th - 1000 places)

•Scholarships for Teachers ( deadline May 17th)

•SEN Support Scholarship ( deadline May 17th)

•NASEN – Improving Access, Participation & Achievement

•Complex Learning Difficulties (SLD/PMLD/CLDD) 16 modules across four areas designed to be used by all training providers to raise awareness of specialist teaching and how it can support pupils with particular needs to achieve their educational potential

•CLDD Briefing Packs: A series of information sheets on conditions which commonly co-exist within the profile of CLDD; these give information on effective educational strategies associated with particular disabilities

•SEN and Disability Skills (NQTs/PGCE & Experienced Teachers)

•Support Staff Essential Training (Core Module 11)

•YorkLAOfferCity of York Council Online Booking System - Browse Courses

ADVISE TEACHING STAFF

What the SENCo should make staff aware of

The bottom 20% - this is still definitely a priority focus. (OFSTED's view is 'get this sorted and everything else will improve') So:-

  • Be strategic with your staff - deployment for the best opportunities for the children.
  • SLCN is a big priority in the new curriculum - ensure training is as up-to-date as possible in preparation for 2014
  • Lamb Advanced training materials now available on DfE website
  • These are advanced web-based materials supporting the continuous professional development of experienced teachers in SEND.
  • The materials cover the five most prevalent areas of SEND; autistic spectrum disorder (ASD), moderate learning difficulties (MLD); dyslexia; speech, language and communication difficulties (SLCD) and behaviour, emotional and social difficulties (BESD)
  • The materials were commissioned by the TDA following the Lamb Inquiry.
  • PUPIL PREMIUM – School must be able to report how it has been spent - show impact and link to strategic allocation and choice - OFSTED are interested in pupil attainment so show how your choices have supported this (SENCo could have the lead on this).

New Standards For Teachers

All teachers should know the individual needs of all their children. They will be downgraded if they don’t differentiate and clearly understand the needs of all groups within their class, so think ‘Quality First Teaching’ (QFT).

From September 2012

Part 1 Teaching

A teacher must:

•Set high expectations which inspire, motivate and challenge pupils

•Promote good progress and outcomes by pupils

•Demonstrate good subject and curriculum knowledge

•Plan and teach well-structured lessons

•Adapt teaching to respond to the strengths and needs of all pupils

•Make accurate and productive use of assessment

•Manage behaviour effectively to ensure a good and safe learning environment

•Fulfill wider professional responsibilities

SPECIFICALLY:- The Teachers’ Standards (Section 5), effective from 1st September 2012, states:

Adapt teaching to respond to the strengths and needs of all pupils

  • know when and how to differentiate appropriately, using approaches which enable pupils to be taught effectively
  • have a secure understanding of how a range of factors can inhibit pupils’ ability to learn, and how best to overcome these
  • demonstrate an awareness of the physical, social and intellectual development of children, and know how to adapt teaching to support pupils’ education at different stages of development
  • have a clear understanding of the needs of all pupils, including those with special educational needs; those of high ability; those with English as an additional language; those with disabilities; and be able to use and evaluate distinctive teaching approaches to engage and support them.

The Importance of Pupil Voice

  • UNCRC Article 12 - Children should be free to express their views on issues which concern them
  • Education and Skills Act 2008 - Governing Bodies must consider any relevant views expressed by students when making certain decisions
  • OFSTED - Looks for evidence of pupil involvement and it is implicit that schools are expected to include students in key decision making processes

“The Department for Education, working with the First-tier Tribunal (SEN and Disability),will pilot giving children the right to appeal and make disability discrimination claims in two or three local authorities with a view to extending the right to all children across England.”

DfE Support and Aspiration – A new approach to SEN and Disability (March 2011)

WHAT THE SENCO NEEDS TO KNOW NOW

The report ‘Support and Aspiration: A new approach to special educational needs and disability. Progress and next steps’ (published May 2012 by DfE), sets out the Government’s response to the consultation on the Green Paper and the next steps the Government will take to put the Green Paper reforms in place, including legislation.

The report covers the next steps over 5 chapters:

  1. Early Identification and Assessment.
  • “Health and Development review for children aged between 2 and 2.5 years
  • High quality early education and childcare is accessible to all children; and
  • By 2014, children and young people who would currently have a statement or learning difficulty assessment will have a single assessment process and “Education, Health and Care Plan” for their support from birth to 25. The new plan will afford parents the same statutory protection as the statement of SEN.
  • The plan will be clear about who is responsible for which services and will include a commitment from all parties across education, health and social care to provide their services.”
  1. Giving Parents Control.
  • “Local authorities and other local services communicate a clear local offer for families to clarify what support is available and from whom
  • Parents have the option of personalised funding by 2014 to give them greater control over their child’s support, with trained key workers helping them to navigate different services;
  • Parents have access to transparent information about the funding which supports their child’s needs;
  • Parents of disabled children continue to have access to a short break from caring while their child enjoys activities with their peers;
  • Parents have a clear choice of school; and
  • If local authorities and parents disagree, they always try mediation first”
  1. Learning and Achieving.
  • The intention is to tackle the practice of over-identification by replacing the current SEN identification levels of School Action (SA) and School Action Plus (SA+) with a new single school-based SEN category for children whose needs exceed what is normally available to schools; revising statutory guidance on SEN identification to make it clearer for professional; and supporting the best schools to share their practices.
  • The Government’s intention is to help teachers to quickly and accurately identify any barriers to learning and provide the right support to help each child’s progress.

4. Preparing for Adulthood.

  • “Early and well-integrated support for, and advice on, their future as part of the proposed birth to 25 single assessment process and ‘Education, Health and Care Plan’, spanning education, health, social care, and support into employment;
  • Access to better quality vocational and work-related learning options to enable young people to progress in their learning post-16;
  • Good opportunities and support in order to get and keep a job; and
  • A well-co-ordinated transition from children’s to adult health services
  • Explore the possibility of Annual health checks from the age of 16”

5. Services Working Together for Families.

  • Work with the health sector and new Health and Wellbeing Boards
  • Work with the GP consortia pathfinders
  • Reduce bureaucratic burdens
  • Work with EPS to review future training
  • Encourage greater collaboration across local boundaries
  • Provide targeted funding to voluntary and community sector organisations
  • Publish a national SEN and disabilities voluntary and community sector prospectus
  • Explore a national banded framework for funding provision to improve transparency
  • Explore how different funding pre 16 and post16 might be aligned more effectively from birth to 25

This information is taken from the original DfE Green Paper report, Support and Aspiration – A new approach to SEN and Disability (March 2011) and was shared with SENCos and other professionals at the Nasen Live event, 24th May 2012, by Tricia Murphy.

  • There will be a new Code of Practice. It will be more succinct with clear guidance.
  • The introduction of indicators into the performance tables will measure pupil progress of the lowest 20%.
  • Be strategic with your support to get the best from all school staff – ensure that the best staff support the pupils with SEN - The Government make it clear that separating the most needy pupils (SEN) from quality first teaching and the curriculum is not acceptable. These pupils “need more, not less, time with the school’s most skilled and qualified teachers” (DfE report, Support and Aspiration – A new approach to SEN and Disability (March 2011)
  • IEPs – the updated Code of Practice will remove advice on the use of IEPs in favour of encouraging schools to explore other ways to support the targeting of pupils with SEN. The focus will be on having a profile for the SEN pupil that includes monitoring progress and recording actions taken if needed. So, if you have a system that is currently working, use that and call it a profile – adapt appropriately.
  • Provision maps will continue to be important and can be used to form part of the pupil profile. The emphasis will be on recording actions taken and showing the impact as a result (or next stages / follow-up actions) but it will be important to show value for money also, so cost it out and evaluate regularly. Information could be in year groups and this could be further divided into vulnerable groups – this would support identification of year groups that might be causing concern and need consideration of specific support to inform future planning for teaching and support staff allocation.
  • The above 2 bullet points are important because, until the changes and the new Code of Practice although the current Code should be followed, but schools need to know how they are preparing for the new changes and be able to share this with stakeholders and Ofsted.
  • Differentiation – labels or levels – classroom differentiation should be evident in the teaching and not just recorded in the planning and multi-sensory teaching and learning should be a QFT strategy.
  • OFSTED and the changing of the 4 grades – only Grade 1 and Grade 2 will be accepted. Grade 3 will replace the ‘Satisfactory’ description to become ‘Requires Improvement’. Grade 4 will remain unsatisfactory (the same grades apply to Initial Teacher Education (ITE) and Further Education Skills (FSE).
  • If a school has received a ‘Satisfactory’ grade, Ofsted will re-inspect between 12-18 months.
  • Be aware of the new funding model from April 2013. The link is on Page 2.

THE SINGLE EQUALITY ACT

Aims to fight discrimination and strengthen the law by:

  • Banning Age Discrimination
  • Increasing Transparency
  • Ensuring Public Bodies report on Equality Issues
  • Extending the scope for Positive and Preventative Action
  • Extending the period during which women-only shortlists are allowed
  • Strengthening enforcement
  • Distilling nine pieces of legislation into one Act
  • Creating a single new Equality Duty on public bodies
  • Simplifying the definition of Disability Discrimination

EQUALITY STRANDS AND PROTECTED CHARACTERISTICS

PROTECTED CHARACTERISTICS

  1. Disability
  2. Gender Reassignment
  3. Pregnancy and maternity
  4. Race-this includes ethic or national origins, colour and nationality
  5. Religion or belief
  6. Sex
  7. Sexual orientation

The Equality Act harmonises the existing three duties into one new duty, which will cover all seven equality strands

Age (duties as employer not pupils)

Disability

Gender

Gender identity

Race

Religion or belief

Sexual orientation

The Law now prohibits:

  1. DIRECT DISCRIMINATION
  2. DISCRIMINATION BY ASSOCIATION
  3. DISCRIMINATION BY PERCEPTION
  4. INDIRECT DISCRIMINATION
  5. HARASSMENT
  6. VICTIMISATION

BEHAVIOUR

Ensuring good behaviour in schools - A summary for head teachers, governing bodies, teachers, parents and pupils

This short (6 pages) document summarises the legal powers and duties that govern behaviour and attendance in school and explains how they apply to teachers, governing bodies, pupils and parents

Includes:

•Introduction

•The behaviour policy

•Powers to discipline

•Searching pupils

•Use of reasonable force

•Allegations of abuse against staff

•Exclusion

PUPIL PREMIUM

The following key facts are taken directly from the DfE

  • “The Pupil Premium is additional funding.
  • The Pupil Premium will be allocated to deprived children who are currently known to be eligible for Free School Meals, children looked after for more than 6 months and FSM pupils in non-mainstream settings.
  • The level of the Premium in 2011-12 will be £430 per pupil. Updated to £488 and now £600.00 for 2012-2013
  • A premium will also be applied to children whose parents serve in the armed forces – this will be £200 in 2011-12 and now £250 for 2012-2013.
  • Total funding for the Pupil Premium will be £625m in 2011-12, and will rise to £2.5 billion a year by 2014-15”.

DfE Support and Aspiration – A new approach to SEN and Disability (March 2011)

•OFSTED will be looking forensically at how well Pupil Premium pupils progress and achieve.

•Inspectors are instructed to look closely at how schools are spending the money and to what effect. E.g. breakfast clubs; homework clubs; one-to-one-tuition; counselling services, so troubled kids are in the right place, emotionally, to learn; educational visits to places like museums. The best use of the Pupil Premium will be dictated by the level and type of need identified by the school (Leadership Team). It can be used in a combination of ways to approach support for pupils with SEN, but each programme or intervention should be rigorously and regularly monitored to ensure there is impact on pupil progress. Some examples of creative use could be to early intervention and support for pupils with SLCN, SPLD Dyslexia and communication behaviour through assessments of working memory to inform interventions to support pupils with development of different memory types (because research indicates that maths will not develop until memory difficulties, such as sequencing, is sorted out). This could also be one of the intervention strategies to target poor behaviour (supporting pupils in understanding consequences).