Research School Network: A Special School Headteacher’s Take on SEND in Mainstream Schools A reflection on how we can best utilise staffing, resources and time to meet the needs of students.


A Special School Headteacher’s Take on SEND in Mainstream Schools

A reflection on how we can best utilise staffing, resources and time to meet the needs of students.

Having worked in a school for pupils with SEMH (Social, Emotional and Mental Health) in Sheffield for the past few months, I have been struck by the way Teaching Assistants are both an integral part of the classroom environment, and a respected and valued part of the school as a whole. This has significantly modified my view of SEND as a whole, and prompted me to reflect on how SEND issues were addressed during my 25 years in mainstream schools.

The pupils I work with on a daily basis tend to come to us with a multitude of issues, ranging from Autism and ADHD, which many school leaders will be familiar with, to PTSD and high anxiety, which of course, are far rarer in mainstream schools. Nevertheless, these pupils nearly always start their academic career in mainstream schools, so what are we as school leaders doing for them?

The EEF’s SEN Guidance Report has flexible grouping’ as its third recommendation. We group our pupils according to their mental health needs, emotional resilience and ability to socialise appropriately, therefore we do not have Key Stages, but Phases roughly based on age. There is a fluid movement of pupils between them so that their individual needs are best met. This is not possible in a mainstream school, but how flexible are mainstream leaders being when it comes to supporting their SEND pupils? Could leaders exercise more creative approaches to small group tuition or alternative provision on site?

The guidance report also recommends (no.5) that Teaching Assistants should supplement, not replicate, teaching from the classroom teacher. This does not simply mean they should work with the lowest ability pupils in the class. A lack of progress in learning is not the exclusive reserve of lowest ability students. Do school leaders know the extent of mental health issues in their schools? We are all aware of the mantra that young people learn best if they feel safe and happy, but in some organisations little or no consideration is given to this beyond form class groupings based on academic ability. There are a variety of ways TAs can be deployed in your school, including:

  • Rotating TAs around different groups of pupils in coordination with the teacher so that pupils of all abilities have time with both
  • Withdrawal for intervention delivery, either in addition to or instead of class taught lessons
  • Evidence gathering (for plan development), target-setting, resource preparation and SENCO support.
Rec SEN

'Teaching Assistants are both an integral part of the classroom environment, and a respected and valued part of the school as a whole.'

The Making Best use of Teaching Assistants Guidance Report (and free online course) recommends that school leaders should systematically review the roles of teachers and TAs, and take a wider view of how TAs can support learning and improve attainment throughout the school”. In hindsight and from experience, this should involve regular and better training for TAs. Looking back to my time in leadership roles in a range of mainstream schools, the need to include joint training for teachers and TAs, focusing on how TAs can supplement teaching and how teachers can plan lessons with pre-emptive thoughts about where supplementation may be needed by some students, is vitally important and often doesn’t feature highly enough, or at all on secondary T&L CPD agendas. Read about TIP (Trauma Informed Practice) and Nurture approaches to teaching and learning for more ideas and strategies for your teachers and TAs, and group higher need pupils flexibly throughout each day for maximum impact.

In addition, consider carefully the flexibility of your TAs’ working hours. Are you getting the maximum out of them if they are solely and unimaginatively simply supporting a small number of students in classrooms? What can be done before and after school? How are TAs deployed at break and lunchtimes, where SEND pupils often struggle the most?

A creative and flexible approach to the learning of SEND students will significantly improve the learning gains they make on a daily basis as well as improving the behaviour of those students, therefore behaviour across the school.

Mark Fairbrother

Mark will be co-facilitating training on Improving Behaviour in Schools in 2020 at the Staffordshire Research School. You can follow him on Twitter at @SpiresEducation. For further information on this training, other opportunities and to keep up to date with the latest news from the Staffordshire Research School and the EEF, you can sign up to our free newsletter here. If you are interested in support for your school on behaviour, alternative provision, SEND or teaching and learning, you can contact us and Mark here.

For further information see

traumainformedschools.co.uk

nurtureuk.org

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