SAMPLE INITIAL SEND & INCLUSION RE PORT

School Name: School Y

Review Date: 23^rd January 2020

SENCO:

Reviewer: E. Stones

Contributing staff: Headteacher, Deputy Headteacher, SENCO, Director of Inclusion, Teacher, TLA

Evidence Reviewed:

• School Website

• Trust SEND Information Report

• IDSR

• SEND Register

• Sample Passport

• Learning walk (Y8 inclusion French, Y8 drama - cover, Y7 inclusion English, Y10 Humanities, Y8 Music, Y8 Food tech, Y11 inclusion Maths)

• Meeting with parents

• Meeting with staff – Inclusion teacher and TLA

• Staff List

• Exclusions data

• Ofsted report

• Conversations with students at transition, in lessons and break

• Programme of CPD

• Sample TA timetable

Peer Review Agenda

• 9.30 Welcome meeting with Headteacher, Deputy Headteacher, SENDCo, MAT Director of Inclusion, Trustee

• 10.15 KS3 Learning Walk

• 11.30 Meeting with staff

• 12.30 KS4 Learning Walk

• 1.30 Observation of break

• 1.45 Review of SEND files

• 2.15 Meeting with parents

• 2.45 Meeting with Deputy Headteacher and SENDCo

• 3.00 Summary meeting

1.0 Areas of strength

1.1 The Leadership Team share a drive for school improvement; consistently demonstrating the extent of their knowledge about the school’s next steps throughout the SEND Review process.

1.2 The behaviour observed at school, both in lessons and at break times, is a strength of the school.

1.3 Parental feedback demonstrates their confidence in the school. Parents interviewed praised both the transition process as their children were joining the school and the school’s responsiveness to questions and concerns.

Agreed next steps

1. Students at School Y are not consistently accessing Quality First Teaching, as evidenced in the KS3 and KS4 learning walks. There is expertise within the leadership team and middle leaders to support and develop new staff, however with a leadership team of 3.25FTE and middle leaders overseeing two departments each, there are significant time constraints that prevent this much-needed support to take place. A recommended next step is for the Trust is to conduct a review of how money is allocated to School Y to ensure school leaders have dedicated time to develop the teaching staff. Following on, the school leadership team may want to consider developing a co-teaching model for teacher development, where senior and middle leaders co-teach lessons with prioritised teachers to model best practice.

2. The school is struggling to recruit, and then retain, quality teaching staff. A review of the staff list validated this concern of the leadership team – with 24 members of staff working at the school for one year or less. The Trust may want to consider how teachers are recruited, and once this review is completed, develop a thorough induction and retention plan.

3. Whilst a strength of the school is that the SENDCo is a member of the Senior Leadership Team, working across four secondary schools greatly limits the SENDCo’s capacity to strategically develop provision and support students at School Y. The SENCO Workload Survey is a useful document to support the Trust in considering the role of the SENDCo, both at School Y and across the Trust: https://www.bathspa.ac.uk/media/bathspaacuk/education-/research/senco-workload/SENCOWorkloadReport-FINAL2018.pdf

SENCO feedback

Reviewer feedback

I very much enjoyed my day working alongside staff and students at School Y. Following on from the SEND Review of School Y, I highly recommend MAT Y undertakes a MAT SEND Review, reviewing the systems in place across the group of schools in the trust.

2.0 Feedback by Outcome

3.0 Leadership

2.1 The leadership team fosters an inclusive approach to behaviour, seeking to include all students, rather than exclude. School leaders thoroughly track and review exclusion data.

2.2 No students with SEND are ‘NEET’ – not in education, employment or training.

1. A line of enquiry for the review was to review why 55 children left School Y in 2017-2018. The leadership team spoke to the impact of the narrow curriculum offer at School Y at Key Stage 4. The Trust may want to consider reviewing the curriculum offer, with a goal of increasing the number of students staying on at School Y for Key Stage 4.

2. Individual and group conversations demonstrated that the leadership team shares both an inclusive vision and a drive for school improvement. School leaders have a clear understanding of the challenges the school faces and a shared drive in implementing the agreed next steps to improve the provision in place.

3. The SENDCo is a member of the Senior Leadership Team and is involved in strategic planning conversations.

4. The school operates with a small leadership team (3.25 FTE, with teaching commitments) and middle leaders oversee two subjects each. This leaves school leaders with very little time in the day to act strategically, and not just operationally.

4.0 Quality of Teaching and Learning

5.0 Working with pupils and parents/carers

1. The teaching, learning and differentiation in the Food lesson was outstanding. All students were confidently accessing and progressing in the lesson, with students proud to show and explain their work to SEND Reviewers.

2. High quality teaching and learning was not evident on the learning walks. A number of observed lessons were taught by a TLA and/or an unqualified teacher. Some lessons taught by qualified teachers were not effective in meeting the needs of the learners in the class. School leaders need to have dedicated time to working alongside teachers to improve the quality of teaching on offer.

3. The SENDCo has developed a clear format for pupil passports, which are reviewed every six months and shared with parents.

4. Parents spoke highly of the provision in place for their children at School Y. They highlighted the responsiveness of school staff as a strength of the school. All parents were confident that their children were included, and with people that they trust and know.

5. All documentation on website about SEND is for the MAT. Can a school SEND Information Report be generated that highlights the provision in place at School Y? This could generate further recruitment – and could include videos of parents talking positively about the school on the website to demystify the stigma of the school within the local community.

6.0 Assessment and identification

7.0 Monitoring, tracking and evaluation

1. The SEND Referral form is clear, accessible and sets a transparent system for teachers and TLAs to seek advice on students in their classes.

2. Parental feedback on co-production with the school, particularly at transition, was positive.

3. It is important for all staff to have a shared, inclusive vision for the school. A review of sample referral forms evidenced language that read as if the member of staff was frustrated by the behaviour of the student. The school may want to consider a staff INSET on completing the forms, with an emphasis of the language used to detail challenging behaviour.

4. The SENDCo oversees pupil passports for all students with SEND. The pupil passports are reviewed regularly (every 6 months) with teachers and shared with parents/carers.

5. A review of sample target trackers and pupil passports had targets that were not ‘SMART’. It is important, when setting targets, that the targets are measurable and enable the tracking of progress. For example, instead of ‘to improve spelling’, a target can be written as ‘Given a word bank of key vocabulary, student will use word bank to spell 80% of key vocabulary accurately in a writing sample’. This allows teachers and TLAs to review work to see if the child is making progress towards his/her goals and also identifies accommodations that students should have access to in the classroom.

6. Whilst the SENDCo has developed a thorough CPD programme for staff, working across four secondary schools does not give the SENDCo adequate time to monitor the progress of students with SEND. It is important that the roles and responsibilities of the SENDCo are reviewed to enable the SENDCo to strategically lead provision at School Y.

8.0 Efficient use of resources

9.0 Quality of SEND Provision

1. The SENDCo works with the Senior Leadership Team to identify and plan regular SEND CPD for teachers and TLAs.

2. The SENDCo plans detailed timetables for TLAs, that outlines the students he/she should be supporting in each lesson.

3. Students have a high amount of support from TLAs in lessons in Years 7 and 8, but lessons in KS4 are not supported at statutory levels, per the number of EHCPs in Years 10 and 11. The Trust should consider giving the SENDCo greater autonomy in appointing and deploying staff to meet the needs of all students with EHCPs.

4. The Deputy Headteacher has extensive experience in SEND, including previously holding the SENDCo role, which benefits the school greatly. Her knowledge of all students was demonstrated over the course of the SEND Review.

5. In the meeting with parents of children with SEND, all parents agreed that a nurture room at break time would be beneficial for their child. The school might want to consider developing a smaller space for students at break times to enable students to make social connections with students outside their year groups, and to offer a quieter space for students who find the lunch hall/outside space overwhelming.