ECAS Meeting

Friday 17th June 2011

The Achievement for All (AfA) project aimed to improve the outcomes of all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

The two year project took place in over 400 schools, starting in September 2009.

It was a project designed to enable schools and local authorities to reflect on existing strategies that are effective for children and young people with SEND and provide the capacity to strengthen provision in areas which will impact on this group of learners.

2 year innovative action research pilot project with 10 LAs and 460 schools

Commitment from Children’s Plan - £31m funding

Target groups Y1, Y5, Y7, Y10 Builds on good practice - MGP, AfL,

APP, QFT and Personalised Learning Enable schools and LAs to reflect on

existing strategies that are effective and provide capacity to strengthen provision

The current system is failing too many children

The achievement gap between 20% of pupils with SEN and disabilities and those without is wide at each key stage and is not closing.

Moral purpose – too many children are not fulfilling their potential and are unhappy at school

Lamb Inquiry – exposed failures in the system, parents’ frustrations, focus on processes rather than outcomes

Ofsted’s findings in ‘A Statement is Not Enough’ SEN Green Paper recognises and builds on all of

this – system will change.

The Achievement for All project took a whole school approach to school improvement. It focused on improving teaching and learning for all children and young people.

The main aims of the Achievement for All project were to: 1) improve the aspirations, progress and

achievement of all children and young people;2) improve engagement with parents;3) improve wider outcomes for children and

families.

Strand one: The use of Assessing Pupil Progress (APP) to track pupils’ progress, the setting of curriculum targets and implementation of appropriate interventions.

Strand two: The use of a clear framework for developing an open, ongoing dialogue with parents about their child’s learning.

Strand three: Development of key actions to support children and young people with SEND to make progress in one or two of the following areas; attendance, behaviour, bullying, developing positive relationships and increasing participation.

3 CIRCLES OF INCLUSION:•Overcoming barriers•Providing suitable learning challenges•Using a range of teaching styles

AfA pupils in Y5 and Y10 made significantly better progress in English and Maths than pupils with and without SEN nationally in the first year (University of Manchester 2011) 90% of AfA schools achieved average gains of 2

sub levels, primary ( reading, writing and maths) secondary ( English and Maths) in the first 2 terms.

The averages mask some exceptional progress. In one LA over 45% of Y10s, made at least 3 sub level gains in English and 36% in Maths in 4 terms. 18% made at least 6 sub level gains in English and 15 % in Maths in the same period.

The structured conversation continues to be one of the resounding successes of AfA for schools and parents alike.

One school said “it has been the most powerful part of the project” and “an absolute roaring success”.

Huge cultural shift in parental engagement and, for some, the first time a genuine partnership between home and school.

Parents feel more included and empowered. Change in dynamic of the contact with parents – no

longer a conversation about being in trouble but uses termly data on achievement to focus on learning

% of schools saying they have an excellent relationship with parents has grown from 12% to 46% in first year of project.

Our qualitative data collected from key strategic figures suggested that AfA: is developing thinking about what we mean by SEND is promoting ‘joined up’ provision for children with SEND can be used as a tool to build upon and improve existing practice and other initiatives is promoting communication and sharing of ideas and practice between schools is raising aspirations and expectations for children with SEND

(Achievement for All Evaluation: Interim Report May 2011,Professor Neil Humphrey & Dr Garry Squires)

Our qualitative data collected during initial case study school visits suggested that: Strand 1 (assessment, tracking and intervention) is helping schools to make better use of data to improve outcomes for children with SEND Strand 2 (structured conversations with parents) is having a very positive impact on parental engagement and confidence Strand 3 (provision for wider outcomes) is promoting flexibility and creativity in school practice key facilitators of effective implementation include strong leadership and assimilating AfA into existing structures and practices rather than seeing it as a ‘bolt on’

(Achievement for All Evaluation: Interim Report May 2011,Professor Neil Humphrey & Dr Garry Squires)

Increased emphasis on progress for all, rather than solely emphasising headline figures,

Continuing importance of the Narrowing the Gaps (NtG) agenda

SEN green paperProposed changes to the Ofsted

guidelines Introduction of the Pupil Premium

AfA in RBWM will be closely aligned with the coherent CPD programme that’s offered to schools and settings.

AfA project has been planned as part of the CPD offer.

In addition, schools can buy in bespoke in-school AfA support, as part of the SLA.

Parallel to this is the cross-phase Assessment at the Heart of Learning project, aimed at supporting assessment in foundation subjects.