WE2 An empowering curriculum
Effective transition for students with SEND
Alison Davies, Headteacher of Avon Valley School in Rugby, shares how her school has responded to the needs of a cohort of learners moving from primary to secondary who need a different model of transition. This is a really good example of how secondary schools can respond creatively to ensure more vulnerable learners can be successful.
As a non-selective school in a selective area, Avon Valley School has a higher than average number of students with SEND and in particular with EHCPs. As a result, our average Year 7 cohort will include around 10 to 12 students who are likely to find transition to secondary school particularly challenging. Over the last two years, the school has tried a variety of strategies to help to ensure a smooth transition that will allow these young people to succeed in mainstream education and have achieved success in many cases.
For the past two years, the model adopted by the school is to have a primary style classroom, the Ambition Unit, placed at the heart of the school. In the first year, the classroom was staffed by a specialist teacher working with a dedicated HLTA. The class consisted of 12 students, most of whom were designated as SEND or had EHCPs. The students worked in the class base for four days a week and took part in Forest School each Friday. They were fully integrated into tutor groups, and so were part of the school’s house system, with the long-term view that as they left Year 7 and transitioned into Year 8 they would already feel that they had a place within the school.
During the year, the students made good progress and integrated well into the school. As time went on three of the students were reintegrated back into the main Year 7 cohort, as it was felt that they were now ready for transition, whilst the rest of the group continued as they were.
Reviewing the provision in February, as we started to look at timetabling for the following academic year, led to some elements of redesign. The model of having one teacher clearly had some benefits but we were increasingly concerned that when the students moved through into Year 8, some of them were going to find it difficult to reintegrate to the mainstream provision. Therefore, the decision was made to maintain the use of a classroom base with a dedicated HLTA, but to timetable different teachers into the classroom. This model was designed to more closely replicate the mainstream model but with the added security of having a classroom ‘base’ and a colleague who was always there and provided consistency. The students continued to be timetabled to take part in Forest School on Fridays.
As we moved into Year 2 of the project, our first cohort entered Year 8 and our second cohort started the redesigned provision in Year 7. As we suspected, three of the Year 8 boys who have EHCPs found it very difficult to move into the mainstream provision and one of these students has been reviewed at high needs panel and is now awaiting specialist provision. The other students in the class transitioned successfully into Year 8 and now, one year on, are starting their Year 9 options.
The second Year 7 cohort made good progress and all successfully transitioned into the Year 7 mainstream between February and June. The teachers released by the earlier transition were then directed to visit the students in their ‘new’ classes to ensure that they settled and made good progress. Overall, the second year of the scheme was deemed more successful in terms of outcomes as all of the students re-entered the mainstream within their first year and have now moved forward confidently into Year 8.
This academic year, the school has fewer Year 7 students in need of this type of dedicated provision and, with funding constraints as they are, we have made the decision that we do not have the need or the capacity to run a dedicated provision for this year’s intake. This will be reviewed as we look at next year’s intake as we will return to the model if the need arises.
Do children assessed as ‘not school ready’ at the end of Reception, ever ‘catch up’ by the time they leave Primary school?
Portfolio Holder for Education, Cllr Colin Hayfield, recently posed the above question whilst attending a Closing the Gap Board meeting and as a result some further work has been carried out to provide some insight into the numbers of children that aren’t assessed as ‘school ready’ in Reception and do not ‘catch up’ by the time they leave primary school.
Data from the four statutory assessments that take place during the school life of a primary age child were analysed – early years foundation stage profile, phonics, and Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 Reading, Writing and Maths (RWM). The results from all four of these assessments were looked at for two cohorts of pupils – those who left primary school in July 2017 and those who left in July 2018.
What do the numbers show?
The progress data indicates that there is a group of children in both the 2017 and 2018 cohorts that end Reception without being ‘school ready’ and that do not appear to catch up academically during their primary school life.
The tree diagram below presents an interesting picture and shows that the progress data for these children was well below zero, indicating that they made significantly less progress on average than pupils across England.
(Click image to open a full sized version)
As it may be expected, there is a high prevalence of disadvantage, SEN, male and summer born children in this particular group.
The report has recently been shared with the Closing the Gap Board, the Nuneaton Education Strategy Group and the Area Analysis Groups for information and further discussion.
What is being done to address this?
Warwickshire's Early Years Board is currently developing a strategy for early years that includes a range of partners. One of the key areas included in the strategy’s recommendation is that:
The Early Years Board should set the standard for high aspirations and expectations across all those who provide services and support for children from birth to five, with a direct focus on vulnerable groups to improve achievement of the ‘Good Level of Development’ and decrease the ‘gap’ between vulnerable groups and their peers.
Some of the activities outlined in the draft strategy (to be consulted on) include:
- Identify, track and better meet the needs of vulnerable groups through the Warwickshire Coding Project
- Align priorities and resources to support early years providers and schools in the most deprived areas, or where the Good Level of Development is identified to be weaker to close the gap
- Identify and share good practice where data identifies that the gap is closing
- Improve support for early education providers and families to facilitate early learning at home through work force development and a Warwickshire approach to family engagement in learning
- Develop system leadership models for early years education to share best practice and provide support systems which lead to improved practice
Thrive Approach helps Warwickshire’s most vulnerable children and young people to re-engage with life and learning
Thrive is a nurture-based approach which supports children’s Social, Emotional and Mental Health needs and is growing in popularity following its successful introduction in a number of schools across Warwickshire.
Clapham Terrace Primary School in Leamington and St. Nicholas C of E Primary School in Alcester have both seen a huge impact since introducing the Thrive Approach and you can read more below about how they have gone about introducing this into their settings and the impact this has had.
What is Thrive?
The approach, which can be used in both primary and secondary settings, draws on recent research in the fields of neuroscience, attachment theory and child development, and provides powerful strategies to support children and young people affected by difficult life situations.
If children have been emotionally thrown off track Thrive can help teachers, parents and others close to them, to better understand their behaviour therefore enabling them to provide the necessary support to help them to re-engage with life and learning. Recommendations are given for targeted interventions and class-based strategies, as well as advice for families, offering simple, practical suggestions to build resilience and ultimately help their child to thrive.
Above: Staff at Clapham Terrace Primary accessing the Thrive training
Developing a stronger ethos of inclusion at Clapham Terrace Primary
We invested in Thrive three years ago at Clapham Terrace Primary, initially training our pastoral Teaching Assistant to be able to deliver the support. Since then we’ve not looked back and we now have three fully trained practitioners; two Teaching Assistants and our Inclusion Manager.
This has enabled us to embed the approach across the school and our wider community. As a result, staff and parents now have a deeper understanding of why some children may present with more challenging behaviours, giving them an increased awareness of children’s emotional development and how to support them.
The impact of the approach has led to an even stronger ethos of inclusion; children thrive quickly following appropriate and timely interventions.
The whole experience has been hugely positive and we look forward to developing this approach even further during 2019/2020.
Helping to develop fulfilling relationships and foster wellbeing at St Nicholas C of E Primary, Alcester
At St Nicholas C of E Primary School and across the Arden Forest MAT, we have embarked on our first year in developing the Thrive Approach in our settings.
We had identified a growing number of children who were displaying emotional, social and mental health needs and felt passionate about providing the best support possible for them.
It was important to us, that we found the correct approach that would be sustainable and have measurable impact.
During the last academic year, with the financial support of a successful funding bid, five Thrive Practitioners were trained across the MAT.
Our behaviour policies and practices have changed significantly to ensure that all staff are mirroring the Thrive Approach and that our practice is restorative rather than punitive.
This year, we plan to embed the Thrive Approach across the curriculum to ensure learning can be successful and all children will benefit.
Through this whole school approach, children are developing fulfilling relationships, a robust stress regulation system and empathy. This helps with their wellbeing and ensures children are emotionally ready to learn. We are excited that already, after a short period of time, we are having such an impact on our pupils.
What our children say:
“I love Thrive. We play emotion games and this really helps me. I can calm down better now.”
“We do feelings cards and it makes me feel proud that I know my emotions better.”
“In the morning, I can feel moody, angry and stressed, but after Thrive, I feel energetic, excited and feel that I can do anything!”
Thanks to Karen O’Shea, Head of School at St Nicholas C of E Primary School and Julie Miles, Headteacher at Clapham Terrace Primary School for sharing their experiences.
If you would like more information about Thrive or if you would be interested in joining a Warwickshire Practitioner Network, please contact Tammy Mason: tammymason@warwickshire.gov.uk
How SACRE can support schools in Warwickshire
SACRE is the Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education and is a statutory body responsible for advising the local authority on religious education (RE) and collective worship in community and foundation schools without a religious character.
There is a wide range of support available to all schools from SACRE - please find further information of this support and how to access it below:
- Monitoring Visits - especially helpful for an external view of your RE provision if you are expecting an Ofsted or SIAMS inspection soon. Email jenniferjenkins@warwickshire.gov.uk to arrange a visit.
- RE Subject Knowledge Enhancement Programme plus digital materials to use at staff meetings - coming soon (see page two of the October mid-term RE bulletin for details of the programme).
- Support for making RE visits to places of worship and arranging visitors - the SACRE website features a recently updated list of suggested places to visit and faith speakers in the 'Useful Resources' section. Please note you will require a password to access this document which can be obtained from Jane Bennett by emailing sacre@warwickshire.gov.uk
- Additional resources to support teaching of the syllabus and materials from past RE subject leader twilight sessions - available here (these documents are also password protected - please see contact above to request access)
Please note, Jennifer Jenkins, RE Facilitator, will respond to emails as quickly as possible however there may sometimes be a delay as she only works in this role for one day a week (usually on Thursdays).
Latest RE updates for schools
There is so much happening in the world of RE at the moment so to keep you all informed SACRE has issued a mid-term RE bulletin with some key updates, including:
- RE Subject Leader twilight sessions 2019/20 (free to attend)
- FREE CPD! RE Subject Knowledge Enhancement Project - places offered on first come, first served basis
- Details about an Inter Faith Week trail for schools
- Local RE competitions and upcoming events.....and lots more!
>>>>Read the Mid-term RE October update here<<<<
Autumn term networking for secondary SENCos
When: Tuesday 5 November 2019, 1.45pm to 4.30pm
Venue: Pound Lane Training Centre, Leamington Spa, CV32 7RT
The meeting this term continues the recent focus on high quality teaching in response to the new Ofsted framework. Further ways to monitor ‘inclusive quality first teaching’ will be discussed and SENCos will continue to share their practice through brief presentations and related activities.
Following national and regional updates, Amanda Wright, Deputy Regional SEND Leader for Whole School SEND (WSS), will be introducing a range of available resources from WSS with an initial focus on supporting newly appointed SENCos.
Representatives from the Education Psychology Service and the Specialist Teaching Service will be sharing progress regarding Warwickshire’s Inclusion Quality Mark.
Ellen Gadd, SENDAR, will lead her regular question and answer session and the focus this meeting will be on costed IEPs.
There will also be a presentation from Sarah Frodsham, National Star, concerning independent travel training.
For more information or to register your attendance at the above session please email melindatwells@warwickshire.gov.uk
Gain a better understanding of girls with Autism
Please click image below for full size version of the flyer.
WE3 Family of schools
National updates
Greater focus on curriculum in Ofsted's new inspection reports
The first inspection reports from visits conducted under the new Ofsted framework were published earlier this month and indicate a greater focus on curriculum, SEND and pupil voice - and although there is less emphasis on data, the reports show that exam and test results are still being used to inform the overall quality of education judgement. The TES looks at what these first set of inspection reports can tell us about how Ofsted is judging schools under its new framework - read the TES article (free sign up required).
Ofsted Information Event - if you would like to learn more about the current inspection process and gain a better understanding of the recent focus on curriculum, then you may be interested in this session with James McNeillie HMI being run by Lawrence Sheriff Teaching School on 24 October.
Department for Education publishes its first “state of the nation” report on children and young people’s wellbeing
This report, pledged by Teresa May last October, evaluates wellbeing in children and young people and it's findings indicate that satisfaction with school fades with age, girls are more likely to be bullied and FSM pupils are less likely to feel life is worthwhile. You can read the full report on the gov.uk website and a summary on the Schools Week website.
Last chance to book - Autumn Term Headteachers Conference
We hope you will join us at our Autumn Term Headteachers Conference, which is taking place at Stoneleigh Park on Tuesday 22 October 2019, 9am to 3.30pm.
In the afternoon, we will launch our renewed approach to Early Help in support of the safeguarding and wellbeing of children and young people. There will be practical advice and support, together with sharing of great family support practice.
We will also be hearing from Ivan Humble whose fascinating story shows how restorative narratives have the power to transform lives: not only supporting people to move on from harm or trauma, but also building a climate of tolerance, resilience, hope and empathy.
Cost
This is a free CPD and networking opportunity.
How to register
Please confirm your attendance using the online booking form.
Further information
Please email schoolpartnerships@warwickshire.gov.uk with any queries or for further information.
2019 primary inspection data summary report (IDSR) release
Ofsted's Schools Pre-Inspection Data & Insight team are pleased to inform you that the new 2019 inspection data summary report (IDSR) for primary data, is now available through a link to the new Ofsted IDSR service in DfE’s Analyse School Performance (ASP).
The primary IDSRs hold provisional data for key stage 2, key stage 1 and phonics, and context data.
This year, the Children Looked After (CLA) collection closure date was delayed by five weeks due to technical issues. Therefore, the CLA data and data for disadvantaged pupils will not be included until the revised data releases.
A new guidance document has also been published for the primary IDSR. Secondary-specific guidance will be added to coincide with the release of the secondary IDSR.
At the same time as the provisional secondary release, the historic IDSRs will be removed from Analyse School Performance. Any users wishing to keep a copy of their historic IDSRs are advised to download and save these before they are removed later in the autumn term.
Should you have any IDSR data queries, please contact the Schools Pre-Inspection Data & Insight team at: School.Performance.Data@ofsted.gov.uk
School leader Ofsted information event
Please click on the image below for a full sized version of the flyer.
Educaterers preparations for a No Deal Brexit and your school meal provision
The message below is being shared on behalf of school catering service Educaterers.
Any schools not using Educaterers are advised to seek assurances from their own catering providers if they haven't already done so.
As there is currently a lot of speculation in the press about what may happen to food supplies should the UK Brexit with no deal on 31 October 2019, I am writing to reassure you that Educaterers have had plans in place for some time to ensure the pupils and staff at your school/nursery school are provided with hot meals at lunchtime in the unlikely event of any disruption to food supplies and/or deliveries.
We have excellent, long established and trusted relationships with our suppliers who have assured us that as the majority of our ingredients are sourced from within the UK they are not anticipating any disruption to supply and we have also decided not to change the menu in November, as in previous years, to maintain established buying patterns. However, as a precaution your catering team will be holding additional food stocks in case they are needed and we will advise you of any short term changes to the lunch menu if they become necessary.
In turn I’m sure you will wish to provide reassurance to your parents and I hope you find these words will be useful in being able to do that.
Feedback from our customers tells us that the current menu cycle is one of our most popular and new photo menus with extended dates will be printed and distributed shortly.
If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us at: contactus@educaterers.co.uk
WE4 Employability
Skills for Employment - key updates
For more information about anything mentioned here, please contact skillsforemployment@warwickshire.gov.uk.
New Careers Support Service
The Council has introduced a free support service for secondary schools and FE colleges.
Funded by the Skills for Employment programme, the service will provide one day of expert advice and support to cover one or more requirements of the national Careers Strategy chosen by the school or college.
Alternatively, a school or college might request a 'Mocksted' assessment of its Careers programme and provision. The service will be delivered by Career Seekers Direct.
Careers Leaders in all secondary schools and colleges were informed about the service in mid-September and they have until the end of March 2020 to engage with Career Seekers Direct and receive the support.
Careers Leader development workshop - 27 November
Development of Careers Leaders in schools and colleges remains a key priority for the council's Skills for Employment programme. At a very successful event in September, 30 Careers Leaders heard directly from the West Midlands senior HMI what Ofsted will be looking for in careers provision during future inspections.
Ian Smith-Childs, Headteacher of The Coleshill School, will be the key speaker at our next development event on 27 November (2-4pm at Chesford Grange Hotel) when he will talk about the school's experience of working towards and achieving the Quality in Careers standard.
The Careers Leader of Nicholas Chamberlaine School, Alex Parsons-Moore, will also speak about his experience and the benefits of achieving the level 7 award in Careers Leadership at the University of Warwick, funded by the Skills for Employment programme.
There will also be an update on the My World of Work programme of sector-based activity we will be offering in March 2020.
Health Sector workshop for pupils - 13 November
Health is a sector with significant skills shortages in the county so we are keen to enable young people and teachers to find out about the careers on offer. Therefore, we are funding a half-day workshop introducing a range of occupations to pupils in a fun, interactive way.
The workshop will take place in both the morning and afternoon at the Nuneaton Academy on 13 November. It will be repeated in the south of the county later in the year or in early 2020. Full details have been sent to Careers Leaders.