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.