Why this is leading practice
The school believes that Every Child Matters, and aims to ensure that each child receives a broad and balanced curriculum offering high quality provision to meet all needs. Staff and governors believe that every child has the right to become a successful learner, and with this in mind the school has created a large and strong team of learning support staff who, within a strong culture of distributed leadership and partnership working, carry high levels of responsibility for providing a range of targeted support and intervention programmes for pupils identified as having difficulties with their learning.
Impact to date
Positive impact in terms of:
o pupils’ learning and achievement
o pupils’ self-esteem, confidence, attitudes and behaviour
o further developing the role of Inclusion support staff
o the professional development of Inclusion support staff
o the further development of distributed leadership within the school.
Rationale / Start Point
At Abbey Junior School staff are committed to looking at the whole child as an individual learner. Staff monitor children's progress rigorously though the school's curriculum tracker and through continuous day to day assessments. Specific needs are identified early, and the school has been highly committed to the development of a strong team of support staff who, within a culture of distributed leadership and partnership are responsible and accountable for delivering personalised programme of intervention and support.
Key Strategies
Specifically:
• the development of a strong and cohesive Inclusion team of support staff who carry high levels of responsibility for delivering programmes of intervention and support
• highly effective leadership and management within the Inclusion team, ensuring a firmly cohesive approach
• the enhanced role of Inclusion support staff
• a commitment to meeting pupils’ special education needs through personalised, highly structured and well focused programmes delivered in small groups and through one-to-one teaching
• well focused action planning for each programme of support
• highly systematic mapping of provision for individual pupils
• close partnership working between support staff and the pupils themselves, and between the school, parents and a range of external agencies
• highly systematic assessment and recording procedures, including excellent tracking of pupils’ attainment and progress, and of their behaviour
• systematic monitoring and evaluation
• the involvement of parents, governors and other members of the local community as reading volunteers
• the involvement of pupils as reading buddies
• effective performance management for Inclusion support staff
• well focused CPD for Inclusion support staff
These developments taking place in a broader school context of:
• highly effective leadership and management from senior leaders
• a commitment to the development of distributed leadership within the school, including leadership of and within the Inclusion support team
• the development of a strong culture of high expectations of all members of the school community
• high levels of awareness on the part of the governing body, through regular reporting
• clear policies and systematic CPD for all staff, ensuring high levels of understanding on the part of class teachers of their own responsibilities in identifying specific learning needs, and of how those needs will be met by the school
• a strong commitment to pupil involvement in decision-making, self-assessment and evaluation, including the contribution of pupil views to the writing of child-friendly IEPs and the setting of targets for intervention programmes.
Sustainability and Further Development
The work of the Inclusion team is fully embedded within the school, is very effectively led, and is well supported through the performance management and CPOD programmes. It is therefore highly sustainable.
The school will now:
• further develop its programme of one-to-one teaching to meet individual needs even more precisely
• further develop the CPD programme for the SEN support team through the addition of more personalised training programmes to strengthen individual expertise.