Sheffield’s Inclusive Learning Strategy
Briefing Paper Number 4 – July 2012
Introduction
Welcome to the fourth Inclusive Learning Strategy (ILS) Briefing Paper which
contains the key activities undertaken and achievements made this year.
Each of the ILS strategic objectives are listed below together with a progress
update and key next steps. Updates have also been included to other linked
activities, for example the Families of Schools (FoS) Exceptional Needs Pilot,
Newly Arrived Pupils Pilot and the Early Years Review.
As work began on developing an Inclusive Learning Strategy two years ago
(with Cabinet approval being granted in March 2011) it seems timely to carry
out an initial evaluation. This is currently being undertaken and it is envisaged
that the results of this evaluation will be published in September/October
2012. The aim of the evaluation will be to establish whether the strategy is
achieving what it set out to achieve, whilst taking into account the wider
cultural and system changes, which will require a longer term outlook.
As with previous Briefing Papers, success stories have been included at
Appendices A - C as examples of good inclusive practice in Sheffield
Children’s Centres and Schools.
Earlier Briefing Papers, the Inclusive Learning Strategy, a Summary Version
of the Strategy and other key documents can be accessed via:
www.sheffield.gov.uk/inclusivelearning
1
Contents
Key Activities and Achievements from January – July 2012
Page
Strategic Objective 1
3-4
Strategic Objectives 2 and 5
4-5
Strategic Objective 3
5-6
Strategic Objective 4
6-8
Strategic Objective 6
8-9
Strategic Objective 7
9 - 14
Strategic Objective 8
14
Appendices
Appendix A Locality C Learning Collaboration Pilot
15 - 17
Appendix B Achievement for All Case Study –
The Next Step Project
18 - 20
Appendix C Rainbow Forge Primary – Circle of Friends
21 - 22
2
Key Activities and Achievements from January to July 2012
Strategic Objective 1
We will work with our partners and stakeholders to ensure that inclusive
learning is both high profile and a high priority and leads to improved
outcomes for each and every child and young person in all settings.
Update and Key Developments

Strategy used as framework and point of reference for other work in
Inclusion and Learning Services.

Recruitment in relevant posts refer to ILS and process includes related
questions.

Communication with school governors is planned through a termly article
in governors’ newsletter through to 2014.

Briefing with Special Education Needs (SEN) governors and Special
Education Needs Co-ordinators (SENCOs) delivered March 2012.

On-going regular communication with SENCOs through briefings and
newsletters, linked with training where relevant.

Website updated, frequently referred to in recruitment processes and
discussion with professionals from outside Sheffield.

Good practice continues to be shared through the website.

Inclusion Kitemark under development (see page 11 below).

Autism Friendly School Kitemark under development for secondary
schools.

Regular officer links established with Learning and Achievement Service to
extend awareness and knowledge of the strategy to those who work
directly with schools.
Key Next Steps

Trialling and implementation of Inclusion Kitemark.
3

Complete development of Autism Friendly Kitemark for secondary schools
and implement. Plan extension to primary schools.

Maintain and further develop all aspects of communications.
Strategic Objectives 5 and 2
Keep under review Sheffield’s Specialist Provisions and develop capacity for
collaborative work with mainstream schools so that all learning settings have
high aspirations for all their children and young people.
Work with all Sheffield mainstream and special schools to enable more
children’s needs to be met in the City.
Update and Key Developments

Active partnership between Children, Young People and Families (CYPF)
and Special Schools collectively to develop training and development
through outreach via Talbot Leadership and Development Hub. Coordination with training being delivered through CYPF services at an early
stage of development.

Sharing of developing practice to meet exceptional needs in mainstream
through Families of Schools (FoS) Exceptional Needs Pilot (see page 8
below for more on the FoS Exceptional Needs Pilot).

Two further pilots under way with focus on Early Years to Primary
Transition and Primary to Secondary Transition.

Active steps to reduce number of out of city placements through closer
working between SEN and social care.

Development of residential provision in partnership with Bents Green
School.

Initial engagement with Integrated Resources as part of future
development of this provision.
Key Next Steps

Establish strong and sustainable links between CYPF services and the
Talbot Hub to secure a co-ordinated, quality assured training and
professional development offer for schools.
4

Evaluate pilot project outcomes and plan sharing of learning and best
practice.

Monitor and evaluate impact of actions taken on out of city placements
including the residential facility at Bents Green.

Continue to develop, with schools, proposals for the future role of
Integrated Services in meeting needs of children with Special Education
Needs and Disability (SEND) city-wide involving schools, governors and
Parent Carer Forum.
Strategic Objective 3
Develop a strong and enduring partnership approach with Parents and Carers
of children and young people with additional needs.
Listen to the voices of children and young people.
Update and Key Developments

Parents and carers continue to contribute to a range of work streams to
ensure the voice of families and young people is heard and taken into
account. These include the development of the kitemark for inclusive
practice (see page 11) and the recently established parents and
professional group for deaf and hearing impaired children.

Parents’ Question Time, held on 24 April 2012 at the Mega Centre
provided an opportunity for parents/carers to join a range of workshops
and then put their questions to a panel of senior managers, elected
members and other professionals.

Some small scale partnership work with Sheffield Hallam University is
currently taking place to develop a tool for secondary schools to promote
parental involvement.

A communication and engagement policy review group with input from the
Parents Assembly and a range of professionals has produced a report for
the City Wide Learning Body (CWLB) with a series of recommendations.
The impetus for this work came from parents who were clear that
“improving communication and engagement was their number one
priority”.

Members of the Autism Team have joined with parents to look at the range
of useful information/resources that families with a member with autism
might find useful to be able to easily access.
5

There is parental representation on the Progress and Achieve Partnership
group where learning and training providers from all sectors come together
with support services and the Local Authority to plan post 16 provision and
keep up to date with national and local policies.

The ‘panel’ which come together to recommend to the Education Funding
Agency (EFA) the post 16 learners who require places at Independent
Specialist colleges also has a parent representative.
Key Next Steps

Continue to keep open the links and working together with families and
give opportunities for them to influence policy and practice in areas of
SEN/disability and other additional needs.

To launch the My City Learning Online prospectus and personal profile
building web site which is designed eventually to display in one place all
the learning, training and support activities particularly accessible for
young people with learning difficulties and disabilities.
Strategic Objective 4
Develop new approaches to funding and delivery of services.
Update and Key Developments

Development of a banded funding approach to meeting the needs of
children with SEND aligned with national proposals for funding schools.
Consultation to take place July to September 2012 in line with national
timetable and as part of school funding consultation.

Families of Schools Pilot for Exceptional Needs underway and initial
evaluation taking place. Early signs are of positive impact (see page 8).
6

Initial stages of reshaping SEN services (Autism, Hearing Impaired and
Visually Impaired) completed. On-going development to ensure value for
money and reflect direction of development outlined in stage 1 particularly
in terms of work with parents and carers. Work of services benchmarked
against national standards.

Learning Support Service reshaped with strong focus on locality and family
of schools working.

Behaviour Services review and reshape underway including restructure of
Sheffield Inclusion Centre (Pupil Referral Unit (PRU) and Hospital and
Home Service).
Key Next Steps

Complete funding proposals consultation and implement taking account of
outcomes of consultation - from April 2013.

Continue FoS Exceptional Needs Pilot and plan final evaluation to be
undertaken summer 2013.

Complete second stage of reshaping of SEN services taking account of
benchmarking outcomes.

Complete reshaping of Behaviour Services and review of related ways of
working. Implement outcomes.
Services to Schools - Update
Service Redesign

Work continues on the service redesigns. Internal and external audits are
being carried out on two of the services, Hearing Impaired and Visually
Impaired, imminently which will review the service performances in terms
of providing value for money and impact. These audits should be
completed by mid June. The framework by which parental involvement in
the implementation of the redesign proposals is to be achieved will be
established shortly as the services are currently reviewing such elements
including improved transition working, increased awareness and
information, improved parental and young people networking and will be
contacting parents over the next month or so to become involved. Looked
After Children Education Support (LACES) will be taken to the City Wide
Learning Body (CWLB) in June.
7

In response to the request for parent access to CWLB information,
invitations will be sent to parents inviting them to meet and discuss what
information they would like to see and how best to provide it.
Traded Services

Work recently has focussed on enhancing the support provided currently
to academies, or to schools who are part way or considering conversion.
The traded services website has been enhanced to ensure that it provides
relevant information and guidance to schools with Academy status. This
new website includes a list of academy specific services, a set of
frequently asked questions and examples of contracts and other tools that
will be required when trading with the Local Authority as a non maintained
school.
Families of Schools (FoS) Exceptional Needs Pilot - Update

Sheffield Hallam have carried out in-depth interviews with a number of
schools in the pilot, including Heads/Deputy Heads, class teachers,
teaching assistants and learning mentors as well as calling a focus group
meeting for FoS leads to identify what has worked well in the first year and
the outline priorities and goals for the second year of the pilot.

A copy of their evaluation should be ready to disseminate more widely by
mid-late September.
Strategic Objective 6
To ensure regular, timely and clear identification of needs within an inclusive
culture.
Update and Key Developments

Developing more flexible and person centred provision for post 16
learners. We have worked with the special schools to develop a
curriculum offer across the city which builds on their expertise and
consolidates their partnership approach. Simultaneously we have
consulted with the Sheffield College and Freeman College about their
current and potential offer and have built capacity in the voluntary and
community sector to be in a more sustainable place to contribute to a
varied, supported and quality assured learning and training menu.
8
Key Next Steps

Creating a single offer and a simple budget. The three Post 16
Education Funding Agency budgets will be simplified into one under the
management of the Local Authority by 2013. The deployment of this
funding will be against the identified and agreed educational needs of the
individual learner as defined through the integrated Education, Health and
Care plan and therefore needs to align with the health and social care
budgets.

In anticipation of this consolidation of budgets and in recognition of the
benefits of a single post 16 Learning Difficulties and Disabilities (LDD)
budget it is proposed that the funding streams grant are brought together
under a single commissioning structure. We aim by this time to have a
single Sheffield Offer appropriate to the individual requirements of our
young people with additional needs with a menu which extends across the
schools, colleges, private training providers, voluntary and community and
supported employment sectors.
Strategic Objective 7
Ensure that pupils in all learning settings successfully achieve and attain to
the best of their abilities.
Families of Schools (FoS) New Arrivals Pilot
The aim of the pilot is for groups of schools to collaboratively develop
innovative and effective practice to improve the educational outcomes of
Newly Arrived children and young people and for this best practice to be
disseminated to other schools and settings in the city.
Update and Key Developments

In addition to the initial four Families of Schools (Hinde House, Parkwood,
Handsworth and Newfield), the pilot has been extended to include all
Primaries from the Fir Vale Family, Tinsley Nursery and Infant, Tinsley
Junior and Phillimore Primary.

Project Leaders have planned and coordinated pilot work and convened
the bi-termly meetings with identified project leads from all participating
schools.
9

Each school has an identified pupil cohort and progress, attainment and
attendance data is submitted termly to evidence impact of pilot. Most
pupils are making at least satisfactory progress and attendance has
improved.

All schools have nominated an English as an Additional Language (EAL)
Champion to lead capacity building in school. All Champions have
attended development sessions on EAL pedagogy and practice and
undertaken action research which has been regularly discussed with their
mentors.

All FoS have submitted termly progress reports that require progress and
impact judgements against each priority. Good progress has been made
to improve the quality of induction in many schools with the recruitment of
additional Family Advocacy workers and home language teaching
assistants to support these processes and developing positive
relationships with parents and families. Schools are currently completing
an end of year evaluation.

All Lead schools have received monitoring visits to discuss progress and
identify further support

Project Leads attend bi-termly meetings to share ideas, plans and lessons
learned. These meetings have provided an opportunity for schools and
officers to share good practice.

A New Arrivals Officer Group has been established to oversee the work of
the pilot schools and monitor the progress of the Pilot.

Schools have received visits from Arthur Ivatts, a retired HMI and Gypsy
Roma Traveller/Slovak Roma specialist, commissioned to advise and
externally evaluate the project. Initial findings have been shared with
Project Leads.

The majority of FoS have organised whole-school Continuous Professional
Development (CPD) sessions with at least two of the groups organising
CPD events involving the entire Family of Schools.

Schools have worked collaboratively to develop provision with regard to
induction, personalised learning and assessment.

Partnership work with the Library Service has led to the development of
culturally relevant resources and family learning.
10
Key next steps

To build on and implement recommendations from the report by Arthur
Ivatts.

Families of Schools to collaboratively write action plans for the second
year of the pilot with a focus on innovation, creativity, sustainability and
dissemination of best practice across the city.

Further develop pivotal, capacity building role of EAL Champions in
schools and across families of schools.

Maintain a clear focus on teaching and learning to ensure all newly arrived
pupils make good progress.

Continue to disseminate good practice across schools and settings locally,
regionally and nationally.
Inclusion Kitemark - Update

The working group has met regularly, as a whole group and in teams to
work on separate strands of the Inclusion Kitemark.

A key priority has been to ensure the Inclusion Kitemark is accessible,
manageable and user friendly for schools and useful as a self evaluation
tool.

Three modules of Leadership and Management, Teaching and Learning,
and Parents/Carers, Governors and Community Groups form the basis of
the document with the first draft now complete.

The Inclusion Managers and SENCOs from the Fir Vale Family of Schools
have contributed to the writing of the module focusing on Teaching and
Learning.

Additional feedback has been received from the Parent Carer Forum, the
Ethnic Minority Achievement (EMA)/EAL team and colleagues from the
Learning Support Service.

Liaison with the Parental Engagement team and the Every Sheffield Child
Articulate and Literate (ESCAL) team has taken place to ensure alignment
and clear links can be made by schools between all three audit tools.
11
Key Next Steps

Complete the revision and editing process to produce the final version.

Fir Vale Inclusion Managers and SENCOs are to trial the Kitemark in
Autumn 2012 and give feedback to the working group.

All revisions to be made and final version to be launched to schools in late
Autumn.
Ethnic Minority Achievement (EMA)/ English as an Additional Language
(EAL) - Update

Forty teachers/senior leaders have been trained as EAL Champions in
Sheffield schools (Primary, Secondary and Early Years settings) through
an intensive programme of professional development sessions on EAL
pedagogy and practice, school/setting based action research and
mentoring.

Working in 20 schools and settings to maximise attainment and
achievement of EAL/Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) learners through
partnership teaching/modelling, mentoring and coaching and bespoke
professional development sessions.

Support provided for schools with New Arrivals through language
assessments, pupil support and staff training (30 schools).

Developed links/joint working between the New Arrivals Pilot and the
Exceptional Needs Families of Schools Project.

Working in collaboration with Speech and Language Therapists, and
ESCAL to develop multi-agency training package focusing on language
development.

Implemented an Early Years Family Learning Project to engage hard to
reach BME/EAL Families.

Delivered Language Box training courses. Sessions focus on the use of
key vocabulary to scaffold language support. They provide essential
banks of vocabulary to support New Arrivals with EAL in addition to
enhancing language development for children with language delay.
12

Delivered Basic and Advanced Communication in Print (CIP) training
which has been accessed by 150 schools and settings. The IT
programme provides visual scaffolding across all areas of the Foundation
Stage and is being cascaded to Key Stages 1, 2 and 3 for new arrivals
with EAL. The advanced course develops key visuals for stories.

Trained 10 bi-lingual practitioners in the Foundation Stage on the Bilingual
Assessment Project to effectively assess EAL children in their first
language/s. The course provided initial training in language development
and ongoing support with assessment and the identification of appropriate
interventions.

Supported 31 Year 6 and 58 Year 8 pupils through the Key Stage 2
Sheffield Fellowship programme.
Key Next Steps

Recruiting for 2012/13 cohort of EAL Champions.

Further develop 2011/12 EAL Champions through mentoring/coaching
skills development.

Develop EAL specialist programme for Teaching Assistants to include
development sessions, in-school/setting project work and mentoring.

Further develop the Bi-lingual Assessment project to extend recruitment to
wider range of communities including Roma /Slovak and to address
findings from initial project

Develop the Early Years Opportunities Recognition Interaction and
Modelling (ORIM) framework to support Home Learning with a particular
focus on two year old children with Free Entitlement to Learning.

Further develop the BME parent forum as a subgroup of the Parent
Assembly.
School Attendance - Update

A protocol has been agreed for GPs with the Local Medical Council
(LMC) to ensure that where children and young people miss school due to
ill health, the GPs will provide evidence to support this to ensure that
support is provided and legal action is not taken.

A new Term Time Leave Policy for schools has been agreed and is now
fully operational.
13

A new School Attendance Strategy has been developed and is currently
being consulted upon. The Strategy has 5 major themes:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Schools’ own management of attendance
Early Intervention and Prevention
Support for Looked After Children
Local Authority Targeted Support for Schools
Full and Effective use Legal Powers
Key Next Steps

The Attendance Strategy will be implemented in the Autumn term following
the consultation period.
Strategic Objective 8
Within the context of the citywide review of Early Years and MAST 0-5, further
develop and improve inclusive practice in the Early Years across all sectors.
Update and Key Developments
Early Years Inclusion

The Early Years Inclusion group continues to have as its focus the
principles set out in the in the Early Years Foundation Stage and
Sheffield's Inclusive Learning Strategy which states that all early years
settings welcome all families and children. A great deal of work continues
to support settings to further develop their capacity to provide for as wide a
range of individual needs as possible and there are excellent examples of
inclusive practice within the city.

However it is acknowledged and was highlighted in the SEN Green Paper
that for the children with the most complex needs the 'process' of
assessment takes too much time and is overly bureaucratic. Currently the
SEN team is reviewing the processes relating to requests for statutory
assessment with the aim of determining appropriate provision in a timely
manner.

Revised guidance for Early Years settings relating to assessment is being
developed.

Funding for Early Years provision continues as a focus for discussion but
the Department for Education guidance, relating to funding reform, aims to
simplify the arrangements for funding of Early Years provision.
14
Appendix A
An Example of Inclusive Practice
Locality C Learning Collaboration Pilot
Supporting Exceptional Needs Pupils – Good Practice in Transition from Early
Years Settings into Mainstream Statutory Provision
The Commission
In April 12 of the 14 mainstream schools in Arbourthorne, Manor and Darnall,
together with Norfolk Park Special school, accepted a commission to develop
excellent inclusive practice for children with exceptional needs and disabilities, who
will be transferring from Early Years to statutory education in their neighbourhood
school.
Whilst the aim was to provide excellent provision for the identified children who
would be starting in Foundation Stage (FS) 1 in September, and to gain the
confidence of their parents, the schools wanted to use the opportunity to improve
inclusive practice at whole school level across the Locality.
The Story So Far

Building on the existing structure and ways of working within Locality C
Learning Collaboration (LCLC) an initial meeting was attended by every
headteacher and SENCO and had governor and Multi Agency Support Team
(MAST) representation. There was full support for making Early Years
Inclusion a major focus for LCLC. Four priority areas were identified – see
below, and in order to include every school in developing the commission,
working parties were established with a SENCO facilitating each of these.
LCLC Strategic Leads are coordinating the project overall.

Thirty-eight children were initially identified, but this will be reviewed and
moderated as the children and their needs become better known. An audit
was completed of Foundation Stage 1 providers. There is very little PVI
provision in this area, 93% of children attend school nurseries and Children’s
Centres.

All of the children have been home-visited by a teacher and the SENCO and
all have been invited to a “stay and play” session with relevant agencies
present. The schools are working on a consistent transition and home-visiting
protocol for the Locality.

An action plan is being agreed for each of the priorities.
15
Appendix A
1. Developing a Coherent Speech and Language Strategy
This includes implementing a short-term plan for the identified cohort, auditing
need, purchasing additional SLT support, securing Teaching Assistant time,
introducing base line screening and a home language audit and providing
materials and support for parents.
The medium term strategy includes establishing a 3 wave model for speech,
language and communication, auditing need, workforce deployment and skills,
providing training to improve quality first teaching, implementing interventions,
using the Every Sheffield Child Articulate and Literate (ESCAL) tracker to monitor
progress, embedding parental partnership, sharing good practice and using the
ESCAL Communication Friendly Schools audit as a leadership tool.
2. Increasing Parental Support
Agreed actions include establishing parent networks and support groups,
ensuring parents are listened to and that communication is good, implementing
“Structured Conversations” in all schools, training parent volunteers, providing
play workers in the home, providing support for issues such as mental health and
substance abuse and, most significantly agreeing a parent charter across all
Locality C schools.
3. Improving Identification and Assessment
This area of work covers initial assessment, the introduction of “B Squared” to
measure the progress of children with exceptional needs, dual language
assessments, moderating judgements about levels of need, quality assuring
Individual Education Plans (IEPs), improving information sharing between
professionals including NHS and schools, working with the 2 year old Free Early
Learning (FEL), providing a behind the screen playroom, assessing the school
learning environment, and, importantly, making use of special school and Early
Years Inclusion expertise.
4. Meeting Specific Individual Needs
Dependent on individual need, this may include intensive therapeutic support
from clinical/developmental psychologists, addressing delayed physical
development through physiotherapists and a loan service for specialist
equipment, using the expertise of specialist Teaching Assistants from the special
schools, using art therapy, and providing specific staff training.
16
Appendix A
Successes in the First 2 Months

A whole-hearted and enthusiastic response to ensuring that Early Years
Inclusion is at the heart of LCLC priorities. Whilst the funding is important,
it has simply acted as a catalyst in securing a collaborative approach to
meeting the needs of the identified children, working towards a common
approach to effective transition from Early Years settings, and improving
whole school inclusive practice.

The early identification of vulnerable children, an audit of Early Years
providers, and the implementation of home visiting and in-school sessions
in all schools in the term before children start statutory schooling.

A strong emphasis on involving parents and securing their confidence,
complementing existing work in the Locality.

A quick and universally agreed identification of four priority areas. The
main focus on the development of speech, language and communication
will be at both a strategic and a practical level, will make an impact on the
identified children and will hopefully provide a model of good practice that
could be shared through ESCAL.

An opportunity to develop distributed leadership across LCLC through the
formation of working parties reporting to the Management Group and
supported by the Strategic Leads.

Improving the links between a range of professional, such as the special
schools, Speech and Language Therapists from clinical, early years and
mainstream schools teams, the U Can centre and the Early Years
inclusion service.

Taking the first steps towards establishing both a parents’ charter and a
children’s charter, identifying what a parent and a child has a right to
expect, from any school in the Locality.
Marie Lowe (Strategic Lead, Locality C) June 2012
17
Appendix B
An Example of Inclusive Practice
Achievement for All Case Study - The Next Step Project
Transition Project for Y6 Children with Autistic Spectrum Disorders
Background
During the Spring term 2009-10, 10 Y6 children from our 2 main primary feeder
schools were identified as requiring more support with their transition to
secondary school, as they had autistic spectrum disorders, some with other
learning difficulties such as dyslexia and dyspraxia. A small group of children
from one of the schools came for a short guided visit with parents and their
class teacher, and were shown round by the Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCO)/Inclusion Manager, and a teaching assistant along with a
Y10 student with Aspergers Syndrome who had come from the same primary
school and had made great progress in all aspects of school since then. From
then grew an idea to use Achievement for All (AfA) funds and devise a project
which would enable us to offer a really good experience of transition for the
children and their families.
What was Done and How
Achievement for All funds were identified to offer additional hours to a part-time
Teaching Assistant (TA) who was already working within our school. This was
to provide cover for two of our experienced TAs who would each spend two
half-days in one of the above primary schools, with a view to getting to know
the identified children, along with their class, class teacher and TAs. This also
tied in with our using the Inclusion Development Programme (IDP) for Autism in
training sessions during the year. We also set aside three afternoon sessions
in our school where the children would come to us and participate in activities
designed by my team, using their existing skills and interests. This took place
in the six weeks between the Spring Bank half-term holiday and the end of the
Summer term.
During the first two weeks, the TAs carried out their visits, which were very wellreceived. The third week also coincided with a full Induction Day for all Y6s,
which meant that we had already got to know many of the students who came,
and they us. During the next three weeks, in addition to the visits, the children
first spent a half-day with us decorating large plant-pots and planting trees in
them, which they were allowed to take home if they wished – so they could
hopefully watch them grow as they do!
18
Appendix B
The following half-day with us they spent baking buns – with other TAs
supporting, and we invited the parents to come for a cup of tea and a bun,
allowing them to meet us and have a chat about any concerns etc. Their final
half-day was spent making elaborate greetings cards – led by a TA with superb
craft skills – and small gift boxes which we filled with chocolates, both to be
given by the children as thanks and goodbyes to their class-teachers. Lots of
photos were taken over the 6 weeks as reminders for the children too.
The school had also recruited during that time a group of Y9 students to act as
Peer Mentors to all the incoming Y6s. A Support Teacher from the LA Autism
Team was invited to come and run awareness-raising training with them, after
which several of them helped with the baking session, which worked brilliantly!
Finally, all the children in this ‘Next Step’ project were invited to our ‘Getting to
Know You Day’, which takes place every year on the first Tuesday of the
Summer holidays for those children joining us who don’t know anyone else or
are feeling anxious about their transition.
Impact and Evidence
As the weeks passed, all the children got to know some of the TAs who would
be supporting them in Y7, and similarly, we began same the process. They all
enjoyed the sessions with us – in the simple evaluations we asked them to
complete on the last day:


All but one felt better by the end of the project about their transition than
they did at the start from ‘quite good’ to ‘fantastic’.
All rated their sessions at our school very highly – one boy wrote “off the
scale” next to the word ‘fantastic’ on his sheet!
Comments from parents were very positive, they said that the project was very
helpful in allowing their children to get to know the school before they came,
and some reported that their children had come home bubbling with
enthusiasm about what they had done each session!
Lessons Learnt and Next Steps
A reflection on the key issues emerging from the work including a judgement
about the effectiveness of any actions and next steps planned.
We felt that the way we tied our team’s continuing professional development
(CPD) to the real life situation worked very well, and made it even more
immediate and relevant. Involving parents helped to break the ice with them
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Appendix B
and address any concerns and questions early on, in addition to any other
more formal meetings which were held. This was also an ideal precursor to
Structured Conversations. Training and involving older students worked
especially well, and will certainly feature in future projects.
We will examine the next Y6 cohort carefully and look to widening the net to
other SEN students too next year.
Any other information:
Update
This project was replicated the following year, with similar excellent results, and
did extend to also include very vulnerable students with other needs.
All students involved in the first study have continued to feel very positive about
school and relationships with parents are excellent.
A recent comment from a parent in a school survey stated (about things they
most like about the school):
“The relationships between pupils and teachers. My son is autistic and has
always felt like an outsider but he loves it here. He thinks all his teachers are
amazing.”
Author Name and Position:
Liane Taylor, SENCO/Inclusion Manager, AfA Project Lead
School / Local Authority:
Stocksbridge High School, Sheffield
Contact details:
ltaylor@stocksbridgehigh.sheffield.sch.uk
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Appendix C
An Example of Inclusive Practice
Rainbow Forge Primary – Circle of Friends
Child- Y3 Male
Background Information
During the initial visit this particular Y3 student was identified by the school,
Special Education Needs Co-ordinator (SENCO) and Head teacher as being
close to permanent exclusion due to behaviour such as; walking out of class,
hitting his peers and staff members and becoming quite aggressive with both
his and others work/property. The school had attempted to implement clear
boundaries and consequences for this student with the involvement of key
staff members however this did not seem to be having the desired impact.
Action Plan
After liaising with key staff members and conducting an observation of the
student in the classroom environment it was decided to implement the
programme referred to as the Circle of Friends. As this is an intervention
designed to meet the needs of a student experiencing a range of difficulties
which may be behavioural, emotional and social, this was deemed as being
relevant to this particular student as behaviour in school was poor and in
addition to this his mother was pregnant at the time. It was also thought that
the student may be experiencing emotional worries and as a result taking this
out on his peers.
Circle of Friends
Initially a whole class session was conducted without the named student.
This consisted of the children providing both positives and negatives about
the named student and things that the child tends to struggle with such as
‘following instructions’. The ‘Circle’ comprises of the named student and 6
children who have volunteered. We meet weekly for 30 minute sessions for
approximately 4-6 weeks and focus on different issues that the target child
has experienced that week and how we can, as a group, suggest solutions
and different methods of resolving such issues. The main aim is to exert a
positive influence on their self esteem and self concept.
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Appendix C
Positive Outcomes
The named student at Rainbow Forge struggled to even sit with the ‘Circle’ at
first however by the third and fourth session the student appears to be
enjoying this time and the help provided from the other children. I have also
received positive feedback from his classroom teacher on how he is tending
to listen to these children when he is potentially doing something he could get
told off for. The school and I decided to run these sessions until the end of
this half term. I have also suggested to the school that it may be beneficial for
Teaching Assistant (TA) support staff to be involved in a couple of the
sessions to get them skilled up on this particular intervention and share these
skills amongst their Family of Schools in the future.
Rebecca Ambler (Assistant Educational Psychologist) June 2012
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