: FREE Online PD Event – Beyond the Staffing Ratio: Are SEND Support Hours Reaching the Pupils Who Need Them Most? Don Wry, CEO of HEARTS Academy Trust and Evidence Lead in Education for Essex Research School

Don Wry, CEO of HEARTS Academy Trust and Evidence Lead in Education for Essex Research School, will lead a session exploring how schools and trusts can better understand the relationship between SEND need, staffing deployment and pupil outcomes. The session builds on his recent Essex Research School article, Beyond the Staffing Ratio: Are SEND Support Hours Reaching the Pupils Who Need Them Most?

Drawing on his research into SEND deployment, Don will share how a simple challenge to an existing staffing KPI led to the development of the HEARTS SEND Deployment Framework and SEND Efficiency Index (SEI), helping leaders move beyond measures of capacity to better understand need, deployment and impact.

The session will explore:

· Why staffing ratios alone can fail to reveal whether support is reaching pupils who need it most.

· How ​“support drift” can develop over time and affect SEND provision.

· The importance of aligning adult support with high quality teaching and meaningful pupil progress.

· Practical questions leaders can use to evaluate SEND deployment in their own settings.

· How research-informed approaches can support strategic staffing and inclusion decisions.

Don will also share insights from the HEARTS research project and discuss how schools and trusts can use existing information, such as provision maps, staffing timetables and pupil progress data, to make more informed decisions about deployment and provision.

This session will be particularly relevant for SENCOs, headteachers, senior leaders, trust leaders and anyone responsible for SEND provision, inclusion strategy or staffing deployment.