: This Is Me: Promoting an inclusive environment for ALL by hearing what isn’t said Cat Wilkinson, SENDCO and Evidence Lead for Education at the Lancashire Research School shares her reflections.

Cat Wilkinson, SENDCO and Evidence Lead for Education at the Lancashire Research School shares her reflections on their drive to develop a positive and inclusive learning environment, without exception.

Early into my SENDCO role, during SEND drop-in sessions for school staff, I found myself overwhelmed by the number of teachers seeking advice about pupils in their class with increasingly complex needs. As I lay restless one night, endlessly trawling through the internet in a search for a ​‘magic wand’ to support my staff, I stumbled across a quote, penned by an unknown author, whose words have remained with me and from that moment, influenced my decision making: ​“Our minds are as different as our faces; we are all traveling to one destination – happiness, but few are going by the same road.”

After reading the EEF ​‘Special Educational Needs in Mainstream Schools’ Guidance Report, this quote surfaced again in my mind. I began to reflect upon adaptations we have implemented to support our SEND pupils on their voyage through the mainstream education at my school, St Mary’s.

This blog focusses on the 1^st of the 5 recommendations from within the EEF guidance report: Create a positive and supportive environment for all pupils without exception, as this has been one of the most influential drivers for improving the outcomes for SEND pupils in my school.

What is an inclusive environment? 

Ultimately, inclusive education is not a privilege, it is a fundamental human right. Making carefully considered and reasonable adaptations to the environment in which we educate our pupils, is the first step in breaking down barriers to inclusion. That being said, getting this right all the time, is a never-ending challenge that all mainstream settings face. It is essential to remember, an inclusive school environment for pupils with SEND, is also beneficial for ALL pupils and therefore should be high on any school leader’s agenda. 

Where to begin?

Inclusivity is a huge topic, with endless and often overwhelming literature around it, so let’s go back to the basics. One of the most simple, yet powerful tools we have in our armour as educators, is the skill of observation. As SENDCO, I have honed this skill into process, not as it once was, solely classroom based observation. Instead, I glean essential information through unobtrusive, natural ​‘snap shots in time’ and aim to understand the interactions children with SEND experience in all areas within the school – classes, dinner halls, corridors and outside areas. My justification for this can be more eloquently described by the late philosophical educator, Peter Drucker:

At St Mary’s, it is these observations that have allowed me to explore and evaluate our provision in two key ways:

On an individual level, exploring the responses of children to various stimuli and changes within their environment and the impact this can have on them when returning to the classroom and the impact on their availability to learn. To generate, over time, a wider school picture of potential ​‘hot-spots’ for dysregulation or barriers to inclusion for ALL. The next challenge at a school-level, is to make reasonable adaptations based on your findings. In recent years, we have employed the support of specialist advisors, play therapists and educational psychologists, whose advice has been paramount to effective implementation. These are some of the most successful and easily implementable adaptations implemented at St. Mary’s to create an inclusive environment for all:

Seating positions:

- Ensure pupils have a clear view of your face at all times

- Check pupils have a unobstructed view of the board

- Provide visual aids as required for those with sight difficulties or struggle with split attention (for more details, see Cognitive science approaches in the classroom)

- Carefully selected mixed ability partners based on considerations of personality and needs, ensuring that partners are considerate, supportive and do not overpower learning opportunities

Adapt the sensory demands of the classroom and other ​‘hot-spot’ areas:

- Ensure lighting is adequate and minimizing glare and reflections- Reduce cluttered or brightly coloured displays, reducing cognitive overload and focusing on key information- Some children benefit from a workstation away from the rest of the class with minimised distractions around them

- Employ a range of sensory equipment to support focus attention including: Lego Tape on desks, weighted blankets, resistance bands around chairs legs, fidget toys and chew buddies to name a few

- For children who struggle with noise, ear defenders or I have found white noise machines with headphones very effective

- Calming spaces – areas for promoting regulation – these should be multipurpose, to provide both calm and restoration but also to provide others with proprioceptive needs (body awareness) through heavier physical input

Questions for you to consider:

- Is the inclusivity of your school environment always high on the agenda for your SLT?- Are you seeking natural opportunities to observe how SEND pupils interact across your setting, not just in their classroom?- Are you considering the impact of the environment outside of the classroom and the impact on availability for learning once returning to the class base?- Do you have a bank of resources for your teachers to trial to promote greater inclusivity and access to learning?

One last thought to leave you with: Education for ALL and especially for SEND pupils, is not a race but a journey. For some, this journey has more obstacles than for most. For us at St Mary’s, it is a privilege to guide our SEND pupils through the early stages of their educational pathway and if we can help them to navigate this more successfully through hearing what isn’t said and breaking down barriers they face, then that is something to be incredibly proud of and why we will continue to reflect and adapt on our relentless endeavor for inclusivity for ALL.

Further Reading

:https://educationendowmentfoun…

EEF Blog: Assess, adjust, adapt – what does adaptive teaching mean to you?

EEF blog:​‘Five-a-day’ to improve SEND outcomes