The home learning experience has been hard on many children but, for pupils with special educational needs and disability (SEND), it may have been even harder to suddenly adjust. 

So now, as we look ahead to a return to all children in the classroom, these students may have another big challenge ahead of them.

What can you do to make the transition back to the classroom - or, for those who remained in school, the return of their classmates - as easy as possible?

SEND: helping pupils to adjust to the full reopening of schools

We spoke to school leaders and SEND experts for their advice.

1. Use social stories

A social story is a short document, usually mixing images and text, used as a tool with children who find it difficult to cognitively process those trickier social situations.

Social stories can help students understand the pandemic itself, and explain why it’s not safe to be in school, even though some students are.

Emma Dallimore, associate principal of inclusion and wellbeing at LEO Academy Trust, says she has used them to help the whole class feel united.

“[To support our students], we’ve created social stories and assemblies,” she says. “We’ve done this with the aim of supporting mental health and the wellbeing of our children, and to ensure they still feel that sense of belonging to their class, their school and our trust, which is so important.”

2. Build up to reintegration

For some students who have been learning in school, the classroom environment has been much improved.

Fewer students has meant a reduction in noise and, consequently, fewer triggers. And so, although the pandemic can never be described as pleasant, some students may be less happy than others to see classes return to normal.

“We have a reintegration plan for our SEND children in school,” says Amy Forrester, director of pastoral care (KS4) at Cockermouth School in Cumbria. “This means we will be going from one-to-one, to one-to-five, and then slowly increasing.”

By staggering the return, Forrester hopes to minimise the impact on her SEND students and avoid the sudden shock of a full classroom. 

3. Create wellbeing surveys

We know that all students will be struggling in different and individual ways. In order to efficiently gather that information before students returned after the last lockdown, Dallimore explains, the school rolled out a survey of all students, and they’ll be repeating the exercise in advance of the return.

“We completed this in December from nursery to year 6, and have used pupil voice to drive our new pupil wellbeing strategy, which focuses on promoting positive mental health,” she says.

Collecting this data has allowed them to get a picture at school level and class level, identifying trends and drilling down to identify common fears, worries and anxieties, enabling targeted support to be put in place around those needs.

4. Consider the benefits of screens

Some children with SEND might find the increased screen use in lockdown has actually proven to be beneficial.

Shabnam Ahmed, head of Year 12 at a secondary school in London, says for some, screens have improved confidence.

“For some pupils, using computers for their lessons has meant they have come alive over online learning,” she says. “They’re really engaged and confident - a total contrast to their typical in-class behaviour.”

Upon investigation, Ahmed discovered pupils find speaking “through” a screen is less nerve-racking. Can this be carried over when students return?

“It worries me that his progress will dip when all students are back,” she says. “Together, we’ve made plans with the students to find an approach they’re comfortable with.

“For some, that means using an iPad in the lessons and it will be me initially reading comments out to the class, and hopefully will progress to students reading them out themselves, and we won’t need the iPad at all.”