There’s a simple message underpinning our school’s approach to supporting students with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND): the SEND department should not act as an island.
We feel it is imperative to have SEND expertise integrated across the school - and so our SEND department is staffed with highly trained specialists who disseminate best practice widely across the curriculum.
But we knew we needed more than this. That’s why we established our SEND champions programme, to increase support across the school.
Every aspect of our curriculum is inclusive
Our SEND champions are a network of staff who advocate on behalf of students with SEND to ensure that every aspect of our curriculum is inclusive and designed to raise the aspirations of disadvantaged students.
They support us to bridge the gap between our SEND provision and our curriculum provision.
Each subject area has its own SEND champion, so inclusivity is considered consistently in all aspects of our offering.
So, how exactly does the programme work?
Getting staff on board
Our biggest challenge was ensuring buy-in from staff. We knew from the outset that the success of the programme would hinge on them not seeing the role as additional work but as something that would benefit their own progression.
It was imperative for leaders to present the delivery of great SEND provision as a high-profile issue, and stress the need for collective action.
This started with encouraging staff to see the link between high-quality SEND provision and improved behaviour and academic outcomes, reaffirming that the success of our SEND students is crucial to the success of our school as a whole.
Evidence base for appraisals
The next step was to embed supporting students with SEND as part of the evidence base for appraisals, so all staff are required to evidence how they have supported vulnerable and disadvantaged students.
Through this process, we were able to identify advocates who are passionate about SEND and making their department more inclusive, as well as those who have exhibited best practice in the delivery of their curriculum.
We invited those individuals to monthly meetings to learn more about the role of SEND champion and to express the key benefits, including the value this will have for their professional development.
Advocating for SEND in practice
Once people agree to be champions, they all follow the same process within their own departments.
Their role, in a nutshell, is to challenge their colleagues’ thinking about SEND, and to ensure that before making a decision, members of the department question the impact that decision will have on students with SEND.
In each department meeting, SEND champions have a dedicated agenda point, to raise any issues they may have around inclusivity, including over a specific student’s needs.
They offer suggestions to enhance SEND provision and support in their subject and provide feedback on work undertaken thus far.
For example, in religious education, flexible grouping is now used to allocate roles within group work to ensure active participation from all students.
Positive peer relationships
Roles are clearly defined and allocated to support SEND pupils’ understanding of how to navigate group work, while also assisting them to build positive peer relationships.
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Outside of their support for departments, the SEND champions meet once a month to share ideas, best practice and to discuss how to overcome any challenges they face.
This allows time to discuss whole-school processes and identify steps that can be taken to make these initiatives more inclusive.
For example, in every extracurricular activity, there are now spaces saved for students with SEND to encourage their participation.
Development and training
These meetings also provide an opportunity for our SEND champions to receive additional continuing professional development, including training from external organisations, which they can then go away and disseminate to their departments.
The SEND champions programme is, at heart, a simple idea. But we’ve found that it’s made a big impact.
The more we’ve encouraged staff to have the needs of SEND students at the forefront of their mind, the more interest we’ve seen them demonstrate in the work of our SEND department.
The effect our SEND champions have had on building the confidence of staff to raise the aspirations for our SEND students has been undeniable.
Ben Mallinson is principal at The Ruth Gorse Academy in Leeds, named Secondary Provision of the Year at the 2023 National Association for the Special Educational Needs Awards
