Ordinary Classrooms is an educational consultancy, that works towards developing inclusivity, equality and equity across the education sector for all learners in our classrooms, for all the teachers teaching them and the leaders leading them.
Our #OrdPolicyEdits, support policy makers in schools ensuring that statutory policies are regularly reviewed and are compliant with the latest Department of Education guidance.
Providing a safe environment for children to learn, identifying children and young people, who are likely to suffer significant harm and taking appropriate action with the aim of making sure they are kept safe both at home and in an educational setting are the key stone of any school or setting Safeguarding and child protection policy and a strong culture of safeguarding, where all teachers play a pivotal role in creating a secure environment where children and young people can thrive academically, socially and emotionally, can only be developed when teachers receive adequate and thorough training.
All Teachers and staff in school should feel confident and secure when reporting concerns to their DSL or deputy DSL, who can then take appropriate action. Teachers should be able to recoginse the signs of potential harm and abuse, to keep all your children and young people within your school or setting safe from harm. Regular training and development sessions allow all your teachers to stay up-to-date with reporting concerns and the latest best practices and policies.
Alongside staff training and development, teachers from early years onwards can integrate age-appropriate lessons on personal safety, consent, and appropriate online behaviour into the school or setting’s curriculum, as well as empowering your children and young people to understand their rights and how to protect themselves.
Building a culture of safeguarding however extends beyond the school gates. Establishing collaborative partnerships with other agencies, such as social services and healthcare providers, ensures a holistic approach to child protection and protecting children from harm. By working together, and sharing information and expertise we can create further safety for the children attending your school or setting.
This year’s package includes,
Building a culture of safeguarding in schools
Potential focus for your annual training refresher
Ordinary Classrooms is an educational consultancy, that works towards developing inclusivity, equality and equity across the education sector for all learners in our classrooms, whatever the setting, with all the teachers teaching them and all the leaders leading them.
Our #OrdPolicyEdits, support policy makers in schools and settings in ensuring that statutory policies are regularly reviewed and are compliant with the latest Department of Education guidance.
The Ordinary Classrooms series has been written to support the golden thread of teacher training and development, from considering a training programme, to supporting trainee teachers onwards into their early career, and then to senior leadership and beyond.
Whether you are undertaking a primary training route or secondary and FE, you will need knowledge of the core curriculum and how to develop your curriculum planning
Using your training to illustrate your applications– Example 1 – Subject Knowledge
This example can be used for any subject specialism, or for the core curriculum within primary.
Discuss in your application your knowledge of the following,
Understanding subject terminology alongside developing an understanding of concrete, pictorial and abstract learning and how these terms apply to a learner developing cognitive understanding.
Undertaking observations of learners through ‘shadow of the learner’ observations
Undertaking observations of teaching undertaken by curriculum leaders and subject experts
Schemes of work and planning and assessment documentation
Recognising learning a subject as a continuum.
Developing your own lessons and how you have rehearsed and refined your practice,
Developing your expertise and the ability to generalise learning across a range of school contexts
Labelling learners to benefit our own training and development needs.
In 2019, I co-edited my first book, ResearchSEND in Ordinary Classrooms, the term ResearchSEND has long gone, superseded by great organisations such as Whole School SEND and the Universal SEND Services, led by Nasen, which brought the SEND sector together and continues to support teachers to be better equipped to meet the needs of learners with Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) in our schools.
Meanwhile the book is still relevant (and still available) and we decided to keep Ordinary Classrooms, as a representation of a developing ‘work’ portfolio, and an umbrella for the differing strands of work that Ordinary Classrooms would support and would take part in, as it grew as a teacher support organisation.
Thus, our intention at Ordinary Classrooms was and still is to develop a portfolio which is representative of the practicalities required to meet the needs of all learners in all schools, and widen its scope beyond its original SEND and ResearchSEND label.
We believe that knowledge exchange should be transparent to support all learners in all our classrooms, and that practitioners should not have to search ‘here, there and everywhere’ to support the learners in their classrooms. Confused titles, and ResearchSEND in Ordinary Classrooms in retrospect was one of these, did not give us the ability to share good practice well enough.
One of our missions is to share good practice, in a clear and transparent way, and we start with the first blog in our ‘what is an Ordinary Classroom series?’ on Labelling learners to benefit our own training and development needs with this clearly in mind.
‘Labelling Learners’
Ordinary Classrooms are where extraordinary learning happens with extraordinary teachers, and include every learner.
Labels can and still exist in ordinary classrooms, and can be used to enable adaptation where and when it is needed and we believe that labelling learners can be a useful tool to do this.
Labels can; identify learners at risk of underachievement, increase awareness of a learner’s individual needs and help us gain additional funding.
But Labels can also be limiting and damaging, consider how we sometimes label learners in our schools, ‘low ability pupils’, ‘red group,’ ‘theCircles’ and ‘the bottom group’.
We may think that we have carefully put our groups together and disguised what we are doing, but our learners will know when they have been defined, even if they are called green dragons, purple hexagons or wonderful wizards and they know what this means.
I sit on the orange table, not the red or blue or green, this is where miss has put me and I think I know what it means.
It means my writing’s not so good; it means I cannot spell; I don’t know if they know I know, but I only know too well.
I sit on the orange table, its where I’ve sat all year. I can’t do maths and science they say, and so they put me here.
I’m not so hot at school work which means I’m not too smart so I sit on the orange table so that I can be kept apart.
I sit on the orange table; they say that this is best.
But they can’t see the orange fire that burns inside my chest
What do you we know about our orange tables?Have you considered? What actions have you taken? Are the learners from socio economically disadvantaged backgrounds? What was their early years education like? Did they access any? What does their access to language, social and cultural capital look like? Are you labelling them as low ability because of their lack of opportunity? How often are they supported by a teacher or a teaching assistant? How are they accessing high quality teaching and highest expectations? Are they receiving any interventions? What do these interventions look like? Are they appropriate? Do they match need?
Our advice at Ordinary Classrooms, is that it is best not to try and label learners yourself.
It is easy to go to google and find a diagnosis or a label for a condition, but it is more nuanced than that. A definition may prejudice or limit your work with that learner, and many conditions are not fixed.
Some conditions, for example, need a medical diagnosis and support from professionals. Learners with sensory and physical difficulties, for example, depending on their needs, require support from teachers with mandatory qualifications in Hearing Impairment (HI) and Visual impairment (VI), knowledge of communication systems such as sign language and braille and specialist equipment; interventions which cannot be learnt over night.
Both Braille and British Sign Language can take up to 2 years to reach fluency, and if wish to learn these skills, you may need to work with a specialist teacher or undertake a post graduate course at a university to develop this skill.
We have to acknowledge that a diagnosis is only the start.
You will still need to make reasonable adjustments and provide high quality teaching and be aware that the same diagnosis can present differently in different learners. You will need to look beyond the label and see a learner’s strengths and weaknesses whilst identifying what information is relevant to your teaching and their learning.
It may be that you are not sure how to meet the need, which has been identified, it is ok to ask someone else to signpost you to strategies and services.
It could be that you decide that you need support in developing your teaching and learning strategies to develop your adaptive teaching around individual learner diagnosis and identified labels and that you need input from training and development courses and programmes alongside mentoring and coaching. You may need to search around and take ownership of sourcing and managing your continuous professional development (CPD) and this could be your individual and personal target for the year.
Training & Development
In ‘Can professional environments in schools promote teacher development?’ Kraft and Papey (2014) believe that there are variations across teachers and schools in terms of CPD. For example, if you are a beginner teacher within the first five years of your career, you are more likely to make rapid gains in your teacher development, however through their conclusions, they warn, do not take this for granted, because if you are not in a ‘supportive environment’, you will not make the same gains. Their prognosis for teachers with over five years of experience, is more worrying still, as they suggest; the more experienced teachers have ‘plateaued’, implying we may not learn any new skills or strategies for the rest of our careers.
There may be for a number of reasons, for what seems to be a less ‘supportive environment’, and years of experience, and maybe we can push against a sense of reaching a plateau. TeacherTapp (2018) have identified that the focus on CPD it as likely to be our own personal priorities. During one of their daily surveys, for example, they found that teachers wanted the focus of their CPD sessions to be ‘curriculum planning in a subject of your choice’ (38%), followed by ‘managing staff’ (12%) and then ‘SEN’ (8%) leading to whole school CPD to be interest led, i.e., subject based, rather than diagnosis and individual learner led.
In choosing curriculum planning after five years of teaching, are we reinforcing what we know, with little new knowledge to learn, and in which case we can see how we may reach a CPD plateau.
There are however a number of ways you can manage your own CPD, and break this trend (if it exists), on focus on learning beyond curriculum planning and our own subject specialisms to explore the learner’s experience. Places such as nasen are a good place to start with their condition specific videos, as are creative education, who if you sign up to their mailing list offer a number of free and cost-effective courses, focused around subjects such ‘how the small intervention project prepared me for the role of senior mental health lead’ which certainly intrigues us, and we have a lot more than five years in school experience.
You could also attend events and undertake additional training and development in your own time, through a taught masters or a Saturday events, for example and you may of course sign up for one of the revised National Professional Qualifications (NPQ) which are more targeted than their previous incarnations, removing the focus from middle leadership positions to a more thematic approach with three distinct NPQML qualifications Teaching and Learning, Behaviour, Leading Teacher Development, which impact on improving and evaluating learner outcomes and include collaboration and expert challenge.
You could simply collaborate and work with your own colleagues, in our own settings, or as a result of professional supervision, mentoring, and coaching and dedicate the time to talk to one another over a coffee after the school day in the staff room, to support you in your ordinary classroom where extraordinary learning does, can and will happen.
This blog was originally written for inspired idea blog and an edited version can be found on their website
In 2017, the Annual Ofsted Report stated that Children with SEND… often have a much poorer experience of the education system than their peers.’ Join us @UCBHotTopics to discuss this further. How do we define SEND? What does a good experience of SEND look like? How do we improve the experience for all learners? What impact will the Green paper on SEND and the recent white paper have? #RightSupport #Rightplace #Righttime #UCBHotTopics #SEND #Children #ITE #ITT #ECT
#UCBHotTopics
@UCBoffical we started some #hottopic discussions earlier this year and used Twitter to create wider discussion. We are now going to develop this further and run monthly #UCBHotTopics for trainee and early career teachers and we would like you to become involved. We will be using the hashtag #UCBHotTopics and be tweeting from @UCBTandL @michhayw and @StephenGarveyRD
Out first session will be on Wednesday the 25th May at 7, when we will focus on the #SENDGreenPaper ‘Right Support, Right Place, Right time’ #UCBHotTopics
In preparation for the discussion you may want to read the #SENDGreenPaper fully, or a summary or some critical pieces and you may have spoken in school about the impact of the paper which might help you develop your opinions which would help develop the discussion. SEND Review https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/send-review-right-support-right-place-right-time #UCBHotTopics
How to join #UCBHotTopics. Log onto twitter at 7pm on Wednesday 25th May. Look for our hashtag and our hosts @michhayw and @StephenGarveyRD @UCBTandL
Please always use #UCBHotTopics with your responses to make sure we can see your replies. During the first 10 minutes please introduce yourself briefly and see who else is taking part. Our 4 questions will then be posted at 10 minute intervals.
Tweet your thoughts, like, re-tweet, reply or comment on other people’s responses. You can prepare tweets in advance if you prefer time to think. @UCBTandL #UCBHotTopics
When tweeting please indicate which question are responding to e.g. “A1……” if you are responding to question 1 and include #UCBHotTopics @UCBTandL @michhayw @StephenGarvey
We will place the chat on a @wakelet after the chat and post a summary link using #UCBHotTopics and from our accounts @michhayw and @StephenGarvey Please note that you will need to check your privacy settings before you take part. If your tweets are protected other participants will not be able to see your tweets.
An edited version of this piece will appear in the NAPE magazine in May 2021. Regular readers of my blog, may notice that I have updated some previous examples I have used in another piece I wrote in the Autumn Term 2020.
In her latest piece for NAPE, Michelle Prosser Haywood, SEND Lead at the University of Wolverhampton Multi Academy Trust, discusses transition plans and the ABC of behaviour management in the context of returning from National and Local Lockdown arrangements and what we can learn from this in the context of learners with SEND.
During all the National Lockdowns, learners with Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND), who had an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) were considered vulnerable and were able to attend school, if their parent/carer wished them to, in some cases similar arrangements were made for learners receiving School SEND support, learners awaiting external agency support and/or were in receipt of a draft EHCP, where provision had yet to be identified.
Some of this group of learners stayed at home, whereas others attended school usually in a bubble of mixed aged pupils, but for all them, different arrangements may have been made depending on individual circumstances. There is no doubt that as a result of these differing practices which we have adopted over the last year, to meet this range of learners the way that we work with our learners who are identified as having Special Educational Need and Disability (SEND), may encourage us to think differently.
During lockdown one, we started to see some of these initial changes, through temporary changes to legislation, and evaluate what the impact of these changes may be after lockdown ended.
These first changes, mostly centred around using reasonable endeavours and the production of risk assessments. Reasonable is a word which is used in the SEND Code of Practice (2014), in terms of both endeavours and adjustments but the production of risk assessments as a concept is not commonly associated and used within the context of learners with SEND.
Transition Plans
The process of using risk assessments encouraged schools to ‘anticipate’ a learner’s response, on return to school and develop a transition plan. Although risk assessments were no longer required, during the Autumn term many schools continued to use them as good practice, especially as there have been subsequent lockdowns, whereby this has been required again to assist a learner’s reintegration back to school after a prolonged absence.
After establishing medical concerns and levels of vulnerability, where elements such as;’ is a learner exempt from wearing a mask?’ for example, individual plans, may have included, a staggered school start and a shorter day to support a learner with the new routine. Other learners, may have needed shorter days for alternative reasons. Working at home, for example, may have been preferable to some, rather than attending school, where there may be less sensory interaction and unpredictability.
ABC
Transition plans taking the format of an ‘anticipatory’ element can be continued to be used, when learners move between key stages or to new schools and settings and they could be tied to an ABC model of behaviour (Antecedent, Behaviour, Consequence). The Antecedent is the trigger, and when returning from the lockdowns, these have been anticipated to some extent for us, as learners have more than likely experienced learning loss and lack of routine, which have to be re-established.
However, the antecedent can be unexpected and can arise in any situation, even whilst setting out the layout of the classroom for example, which includes where desks are placed, where learners are seated and what displays look like, as these can all be triggers of negative behaviour. For many learners with SEND, the biggest impact on returning from a lockdown has been this loss of routine and structure, and the familiarity of their own homes, where they feel safe.
More broadly, this could be considered true of any transition from class to class, key stage to key stage or school to school, where a learner is in an unfamiliar setting. Once a learner has shown a negative behaviour, we have to be careful that it does not become a habit, so the consequence is just as important as the antecedent. If a learner receives a ‘reward’ for their behaviour, whether it is positive or negative, this still provides some gratification and they may try and repeat the behaviour to receive the same response. Common examples are learners being asked to leave a lesson, when they have been finding learning difficult and standing in the corridor is a reprieve from this.
The development and confidence of delivering online learning and teaching, may have taken away some of these stresses, as learning has been more tailored to the individual circumstances. Many learners will have individual learning plans or calendars which may include some monitored interventions, such as Lexia or Flash Academy. Most schools will now have up to a year’s worth of online learning opportunities which can be used in class, to differentiate and group pupils. Many lessons have been recorded, so these can be paused and replayed. There are also more laptops in schools, so more monitored interventions can take place.
Examples
We must remember though, that we cannot always predict what might happen, and we may need undertake further evaluation, to understand the ABC, whereby we assess a situation on a day-by-day basis.
Ruhella for example, was always late for school, and when she arrived, she was cross and angry, so she provoked arguments with teachers. An Early help Assessment, found that her family could not adjust to the everyday rhythm of getting up at the same time, accommodating other family members and leaving the house at the same time every day and her Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) identified that she had sequencing difficulties, and she has had several targets around telling the time.
Her lateness and struggle with a new routine had been anticipated but her behaviour was not and it was her daily outburst when she arrived which she then struggled to calm down from which was causing her and staff managing her behaviour a problem. Ruhella’s sequencing difficulties had an impact on her recall, and she was unable to articulate coherently, why she was cross, but with the help of a social story she and her parent started to understand her routine in the morning and the steps they all have to take to get ready to school.
Like Ruhella, Bart was also been struggling with the return to school but he did not want to leave his Mum and brother, clinging tightly to them and when he did eventually go into school. He often ran around the school rather than going into his classroom. In his classroom he was unsettled and frequently ran out crossing bubbles as he did.
After a discussion with Mum, it appeared that some of the behaviour could be anxiety driven, as there were signs at home, such as difficulty sleeping, bad dreams and bed wetting. The initial behaviour was rectified by a transition toy, helping Bart to feel safe and secure in his new class with a new teacher, which was brought into school and swapped with a tangle toy. He would then keep the tangle tool in his pocket and take it out when he needed it and at the end of the day the tangle toy was swapped back, so he could take his own toy home.
Often behaviour will take time to unravel and assess the trigger.
This can be compounded by additional needs such as Speech and Language difficulties and Autism, so we should ensure that our good practice around behaviour includes space for informal learning, flexibility, and there is time to be responsive to our learners throughout the school day.
Some suggestions for managing behaviour for learners with identified SEND
Consider factors outside the school, including family and friends and develop good relationships with parent/carers. Parents/carers know what works for their child at home and similar strategies may aid transition and help establish a sense of safety within the school environment
Develop ways to help learners articulate their behaviour and how change can be supported. Younger learners will need tools such as social stories and comic strip conversations and older learners may be able to respond within scaffolded conversations, identify the causes of their behaviour and work on targets to change it
Remind learners of the rules, and consider that some learners may need more reminders to correct their behaviour and different ways to remember them. Can visuals as well as written rules be used around the school? Can a Film be made of the behaviour expected, and be posted on the school website?
Keep any rules positive, ‘Remember to wear your face mask’ is better than ‘Anyone seen not wearing a face mask will get detention at lunch time’
Recognise in learners when their behaviour might change and in which locations. Can an adjustment made in the school corridor, if a learner’s behaviour changes when they walk to another location in the school?
Has enough transition work been completed? Do learners know the new routines, are teachers and other learners in the class unfamiliar?
Continue to Assess, Plan, Do and review, daily if required, less often if the behaviour is changing
SENCO. Coordinator or Leader? Follows on from a presentation I delivered at the School and Academies Show in November 2020, where I was asked to talk about SEND leadership. What are your thoughts on this role?
The SENCO role was named for the first time in the initial Special Educational Needs (SEN) Code of Practice in 1994, following statutory regulations set out in Part III of the previous year’s Education Act. The suggested responsibilities, indicated that it was an operational role, with a remit to undertake the ‘day-to-day operation of the School’s SEN policy’ focusing on individual pupil needs, whilst supporting staff through an advisory type role and liaising on their behalf with other agencies.
Little has changed in regards to these suggested duties. The statutory responsibility for learners with SEND, continues to be delegated to a SENCO or the Head teacher of a Specialist setting, but there is now a suggestion that it should be a leadership role,
‘The SENCO has an important role to play with the headteacher and governing body, in determining the strategic development of SEN policy and provision in the school. They will be most effective in that role if they are part of the school leadership team’ DFE (2015: 6.87)
In a number of schools, named SENCOs are not only undertaking a variety of non-related tasks, such as staff cover, head of year, and mentor for newly qualified teachers, there are also different interpretations of the role, with some operating as senior leaders involved in school decision making, and leading on other aspects of inclusion, including attendance and mental health, and others showing frustration with the operational breadth and unique expectations of the role.
The SENCO role could be described as sharing more characteristics with safeguarding and child protection which is ‘everyone’s business’ then other roles in schools, and each school has to appoint a designated safeguarding lead (DSL) who is a member of the senior leadership team. This appointment, however, does not absolve all school staff from safeguarding responsibilities, in the same way that the appointment of a SEND Leader, who could carry the same status and be part of a leadership team, should not absolve school leadership teams and class teachers from their statutory responsibilities in terms of learners with SEND, as these learners are also ‘everyone’s business’.
Kearns (2005) research into SENCO practice, provides a possible model of development of the SENCO role, which could provide a performance management structure or Continuing professional Development (CPD) model to develop the SENCO from coordinator to that of a SEND leader. The arbiter, is the beginner SENCO and could be described as a coordinator, monitoring individual programmes whilst not having any influence on the management structures in the school, likewise both the rescuer and auditor work with teachers, complete operational tasks but do not influence leadership and management, as they are unlikely to be in these positions.
These are SENCOs who may spend time on paperwork and procedures whereas the collaborator and expert demonstrate wider school influence and autonomy in their roles, suggestive of more experience and knowledge and more deserving of the title of SEND Leader.
The arbiter, rescuer and auditor, can all progress on a leadership journey and there is no reason why, they cannot start in a leadership structure, however they may be the SENCOs, that leave their current schools because the role has been miscast, as one sitting in middle leadership one, and once experience is gained, Arbiter SENCOs may move to promoted positions where they can act as senior leaders.
To ensure that the SENCO role is a Senior leadership one, and that SENCOs remain as leaders within their schools, more SEND responsibility should be given to class and subject teachers, as all teachers should be ‘teachers of SEND’. The responsibility of SEND in classrooms should be delegated teachers and the Teacher Standards (DFE 2012) agree, when they state that teachers can ‘Adapt teaching to respond to the strengths and needs of all pupils’, and lists learners with SEND as one of the groups of pupils who may need adaptation.
Teachers therefore should be able identify SEND and provide for SEND learners in their classrooms and if they cannot, then the SENCO can provide the support to enable them to do so. This delegation, does not only provide a monitoring role in terms of teaching and learning led by the SENCO, it changes the role of the SENCO, to a manager of provision rather than a provider of it and develops SEND specialism across a wider group of teachers. It maybe that a SENCO may feel unequipped to take on a leadership responsibility, but if there was a clear career structure which builds leadership into all teacher’s career journeys, then the SENCO role would be no exception.
5 ways to be build leadership into the SENCO Role
Provide access to a leadership mentor from within school and a professional coach from outside the immediate organisation.
Be part of the development and monitoring of the School Development Plan, across all phases of the plan, including policy, planning and assessment
Build a culture that includes succession planning into its development plan, and provide opportunities to shadow other members of the leadership team undertaking their roles
Develop a structure which develops ‘teachers as teachers of SEND’ through a recognised teacher of SEND programme, which is designed, led and managed by the SENCO.
Undertake additional roles which may be related to the role, or share similarities, such as Deputy Safeguarding Lead or mentor for trainee teachers on placement.
I would like to add additional examples (and was limited by the word count for the TeachWire piece) as I am sure there are many more examples and positive solutions which can be shared
Michelle Prosser Haywood, SEND Lead at the University of Wolverhampton Multi Academy Trust, discusses the impact of the transition back to school, for Learners with SEND, on their behaviour and provides some examples of how a learner’s behaviour can be addressed.
Learners with Special Educational Need & Disability (SEND)
During the National Lockdown, learners with SEND, who had an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) were considered vulnerable and were able to attend school, if their parent/carer wished them to, in some cases similar arrangements were made for learners receiving School SEND support, learners awaiting external agency support and/or were in receipt of a draft EHCP, where provision had yet to be identified. Some of this group of learners stayed at home, whereas others attended school usually in a bubble of mixed aged pupils.
The Special Educational Needs coordinator (SENCO) in each school would have followed emergency changes to statutory policy and considered reasonable adjustments which could include flexible arrangements about a learner’s transition back to school. SENCOs produced risk assessments (assessment of risk to COVID19 infection and access to learning) which were discussed with parents/carers and their Local Authorities for the duration of the lockdown period.
Once a date was established for all learners to return to school, transition plans became part of the Risk Assessments. These plans focused on a wider recovery curriculum and introduction to a bubble model, involving new routines and procedures to prevent bubbles of learners coming into contact with one another.
Individual transition plans, may have included, a staggered school start and a shorter day to support a learner with the new routine. Other learners, may have needed shorter days for alternative reasons. Working at home, for example, may have been preferable to some, rather than attending school, where there may be less sensory interaction and unpredictability.
In most cases the risk assessments and transition plans have worked well and learners have been able, with support, to work in the same room, in rows with a seating plan and manage new lunchtime arrangements, but for some they have found it more challenging.
School staff in a recent survey stated that there has been a rise in poor behaviour across schools, although most of the reported behaviour is COVID19 related and focused on conscious choice; pupils coughing at people, refusing to wear face masks, crossing bubble groups and not washing their hands.
However, as we head into the latter part of the Autumn term, some learners, are still not fully transitioned to full time schooling and for learners with SEND, despite the planning of the Risk Assessments, any changes to routine and new rules around COVID19 could have had significant impact and this group of learners may be demonstrating a range of poor behaviour in response to the uncertainty of the pandemic.
During the extended absence from school, learners will have experienced five losses; routine, structure, friendship, opportunity and freedom and we need to recognise these loses to help prevent the behavioural responses learners are presenting before these responses become part of a behavioural pattern and the norm in our schools.
For many learners with SEND, the biggest impact is likely to be the loss of routine and structure, during lockdown and the familiarity of their own homes, where they feel safe and it can be these aspects which may be the underlying cause of their behaviour.
The loss of routine and structure on learners with SEND and providing a safe place
Rachel is currently late every morning. She and her family cannot adjust to the everyday rhythm of getting up at the same time, accommodating other family members and leaving the house at the same time every day. When she arrives at school, she is cross and angry and shouts at the school reception staff about wearing a face mask, as she signs in. She has done this on most days, and she is arriving later and later each day.
Rachel’s EHCP identified that she has sequencing difficulties, and she has had several targets around telling the time. Her lateness and struggle with a new routine had been anticipated but her behaviour was not and it was her daily outburst when she arrived which she then struggled to calm from which was causing her and staff managing her behaviour a problem.
Rachel’s sequencing difficulties had an impact on her recall, and she was unable to articulate coherently, why she was cross, but with the help of a social story she and her parent/carer started to understand her routine in the morning and the steps they all have to take to get ready to school.
Like Rachel, Ben was also been struggling with the return to school but he did not want to leave his Mum and brother, clinging tightly to them and when he did eventually go into school. He often ran around the school rather than going into his classroom. In his classroom he was unsettled and frequently ran out crossing bubbles as he did.
After a discussion with Mum, it appeared that some of the behaviour could be anxiety driven, as there were signs at home, such as difficulty sleeping, bad dreams and bed wetting. The initial behaviour was rectified by a transition toy, helping Ben to feel safe and secure in his new class with a new teacher, which was brought into school and swapped with a tangle toy. He would then keep the tangle tool in his pocket and take it out when he needed it and at the end of the day the tangle toy was swapped back, so he could take his own toy home.
Often behaviour will take time to unravel and assess the trigger. This can be compounded by additional needs such as Speech and Language difficulties and Autism, so we should ensure that our good practice around behaviour includes space for informal learning, flexibility, and there is time to be responsive to our learners throughout the school day.
Some suggestions for managing behaviour for learners with identified SEND
Consider factors outside the school, including family and friends and develop good relationships with parent/carers. Parents/carers know what works for their child at home and similar strategies may aid transition and help establish a sense of safety within the school environment
Develop ways to help learners articulate their behaviour and how change can be supported. Younger learners will need tools such as social stories and comic strip conversations and older learners may be able to respond within scaffolded conversations, identify the causes of their behaviour and work on targets to change it
Remind learners of the rules, and consider that some learners may need more reminders to correct their behaviour and different ways to remember them. Can visuals as well as written rules be used around the school? Can a Film be made of the behaviour expected, and be posted on the school website?
Keep any rules positive, ‘Remember to wear your face mask’ is better than ‘Anyone seen not wearing a face mask will get detention at lunch time’
Recognise in learners when their behaviour might change and in which locations. Can an adjustment made in the school corridor, if a learner’s behaviour changes when they walk to another location in the school?
Has enough transition work been completed? Do learners know the new routines, are teachers and other learners in the class unfamiliar?
Continue to Assess, Plan, Do and review, daily if required, less often if the behaviour is changing
This piece was submitted to National Association for Primary Education (NAPE) for in May 2020 and an edited version will appear in the July 2020 edition of Primary First
In this piece, Michelle Prosser Haywood, acknowledges that we have been working in unprecedented circumstances due to COVID19, and we can learn from some of the practices we have adopted to meet the needs of children during this time, including home education which may be needed to support a child’s individual needs, once we all return to normal schooling. Michelle also highlights factors we should consider for all children who could be transitioning back to school after a significant absence.
No one expected the country to go into a lockdown on the 23rd March as a result of a global pandemic, and over the few weeks that followed to the Easter holidays, Schools and families had to adjust to new circumstances. Many children stayed at home with their parents, whilst other children, with parents who were keyworkers or where considered vulnerable continued to attend school, but with considerable changes made to allow for social distancing.
This has been the biggest change to our ‘normal ways of living and working’ that most of us have ever experienced, and there is much to be learnt from how we have managed this change. We have quickly adapted to working online, using multiple online learning tools, and have provided hard copies as alternatives, for families without laptops and internet access. We have provided structure to routines and learning activities in a home environment and we have regularly monitored this.
Prior to COVID19, for learners with SEND, some parents opted for home schooling and some parents may opt to continue educating their children in this way once the lockdown is over. It could be that there is a mixed system for many more months to come and maintaining good practice is essential, as many parents may not wish for their children to be in school, despite assurances that it is safe and social distancing policies are in place.
Remember however that if a parent opts for full time home education, after the COVID19 pandemic has passed, that your school will need to follow specific guidance for home education. The responsibility for the child will pass to the parent and the Local Authority who are required to undertake an annual assessment of the education provided at home. The child will no longer be on your school roll.
When school is operating as it was before the lockdown, some learners may be excluded from school for short periods of time, and it is essential that we try and meet these children’s educational needs, whilst they remain at home, for example, the rate of fixed period exclusions in primary schools was 1.40% in 2017/2018 (140 pupils per 10,000) and some children are absent for extended holiday leave and medical difficulties.
It is therefore likely that at some point you will need to reconsider home education again and refer back to the good practice which occurred during the lockdown.
While children are absent
If learners are home educated, for any length of time, it is essential, as it is at school that there is regular contact with parents/carers and good practice is discussed with them as frequently as possible. A regular routine at home as well as school is essential and can be achieved by using a time table and continuing to have similar breaks and meal times, which can help signify a change in activity alongside something such as a phone alarm which can easily be set. If breaks can be kept the same and not missed, this creates a bridge between home and school and can help transition back to school.
A visual time table can be used and as long as the same symbols/pictures are used; any illustrations can be used, which are recognisable to the child. It could be for example that no printers are available to copy materials, so simple drawings with stick people can be used.
If possible, children should be provided with a learning area, and in some homes, this can be difficult because of lack of space, but if you can provide some familiar items from school this could help. It could be an exercise book, pencil and a cushion, for example, but you may have other items you can provide which create a school area for the child.
It could be that you have access to some specialist resources, such as laptop which could be loaned with access to worksheets and learning programmes on, or you might have access to a Robot (AV1), which enables children to continue to be part of classroom learning. The robot allows a child to see, hear and talk to their classmates through a secure app. A child using the robot can ask questions, as a white light will flash on the robot’s head, and a child at home continues to be part of the learning activity happening in school.
We need to continue to maintain regular contact with children, who are absent, and this can be through a number of ways, which have been successfully demonstrated by schools across social media; regular quizzes, webchats, marking work if it has been set, using Tik Tok! and recording lessons. Many of the resources that were used during the Lockdown will still be available to plan online learning sessions, such as The Oak National Academy and items which were posted onto YouTube such as PE with Joe Wickes and Storytime with David Walliams.
Sometimes when a child is away from school, families may not have access to the same support mechanisms and we have to orchestrate these for them. School Educational Psychologists for example, can visit a child at home, but the arrangement would need to be made with the school. It may be that a visit is necessary to plan the integration activities which will support the child’s return to school.
It is important to remind children what their school looks like, so running virtual tours and using parts of the school for activities, such as one of the classrooms for a story setting, or a ‘live’ treasure hunt around the school with the teachers and children who are in the building, will help to keep the school building familiar to them for when they return.
Transitioning back to School
When the child is ready to return, a range of staggered starts and shorter days may be employed, to integrate them back into the school routine. These will be agreed with the parent/carer. Consideration should be given to children’s engagement in the work that has been provided whilst they have been absent, and depending on how long they have been absent their engagement with learning activity could have varied, from day to day, or week to week, if they have been absent for a significant amount of time.
We also need to be careful if we are providing online resources to deliver curriculum content, that we do not develop an over reliance on technology which may be a difficult habit to break when the child returns to child. Physical packs of resources and books which can be delivered to the house, may help with this.
There may be some children, where learning at home may be more comfortable for them and returning to school may present particular challenges. Children with autistic spectrum conditions, for example, may prefer distance learning. Ultimately, each child’s experience during their absence will be different and when children return, we need to be aware of these experiences and plan accordingly.
Return
When children return to school, it is likely they will be experiencing some form of separation anxiety, and will need to adjust to being around big groups of children again, as well as coping with loss and change. The school the child, will be returning to, will not be the school they left, some staff may no longer be there, and they themselves will have changed during the time they have been absent.
We need to consider that during a child’s absence they will have experienced five losses; routine, structure, friendship, opportunity and freedom and we need to build these in their return. We should therefore prioritise emotional health and wellbeing over academic achievement, providing opportunities for choice and flexibility and a sense of belonging, which will have been missed during the absence. We should make space for informal learning, by being responsive to their individual need and interests and planning time for these into the school day.
Overall, we must understand that when children are away from school, they will have had different experiences, and some progress may have been made but for others, they may have been no learning gains at all. We must understand that re-establishing routines may take longer than we expect and children returning to school will be re learning the rhythms of the everyday; getting up at the same time, leaving the house at the same time and accommodating other family members in these routines, which they may not have been involved in during their absence.
Remember that there is a wealth of resources on the internet which could be used as models to support reintegration for any child, and your starting point could be the following examples,
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