SENCO BULLETIN

Welcome to this issue of the SENCO Bulletin. If you have particular interests that you would like us to feature, please contact the SENCO Bulletin Team.

This week we focus on the following themes: • Disability Matters in Britain 2016: Enablers and Challenges to inclusion • Using a Gym Trail in primary school • Listening and Attention Week 3: Universal strategies • Teaching for Neurodiversity • Essex Book Festival

Issue: Monday 23 January 2017

Disability Matters in Britain 2016: Enablers and Challenges to inclusion … This report (November 2016) offers practical examples of inclusion and a range of suggestions on how to ensure that disabled children and young people are meaningfully included in the health and education services, leisure opportunities, sport and everyday activities that we all take for granted.

Whilst much good inclusive practice was celebrated by those who responded to the call for evidence, there was also frustration and disillusionment at the increasing barriers to meaningful inclusion brought about by austerity cuts in services, as was the ‘shocking lack of can-do attitudes’.

This theme very much reflects the principles of the SEND reforms, and is implicit within the ethos of One Planning. The report calls for: People with positive, can-do attitudes who … • Are respectful, supportive, encouraging, enthusiastic, motivated and

understanding • Value diversity and see the person (not just their disability) • Take the time to listen to what the person and those who know them best say

that they need, with the patience to understand that some barriers to inclusion may be hidden

• Communicate well, keeping everyone informed and inspiring confidence • Are well trained, knowledgeable, understand individual needs and can put in

place any adjustments that are needed, ensuring everyone is safe and happy • Can think out of the box, problem-solve, and be flexible and creative • Empower disabled people, their families and other carers to be resilient, able to

advocate for themselves, have their voices heard and be good at problem-solving independently

• Are friendly, treat them like everyone else, don’t judge them or make them stand out or feel different, don’t pity or patronise them, or put them on a pedestal

Dr Karen Horridge, Paediatrician (Chair, British Academy of Childhood Disability) writes that “this report has the potential to make a positive difference. If everyone who reads it reflects on their own attitudes and practices and uses the Disability Matters resources to help them positively change, that would be a good outcome.” “It is up to each and every one of us at every level in our society, disabled and not disabled, friends and families, professionals, service providers and volunteers, to take responsibility. We must rise to the challenge to be better informed and to examine and improve our own attitudes towards disability and disabled people, so that everyone

QUICK LINKS Educational Psychology Service SEND Information Advice & Support Service Statutory Assessment Service Essex Local Offer

Provision Guidance Up-to-date version of the Provision Guidance Toolkit and guidance on its use

SENCO Bulletin Archive To view previous issues of the SENCO Bulletin

Special Educational Needs (SEN) and Additional Educational Needs (AEN) Provider Services 2017

can enjoy a meaningful, inclusive welcome wherever they choose to go and whatever they choose to do in our communities. Positive, can-do attitudes cost nothing, but can make the world of difference.” _________________________________________________________________ Gym Trail … Do you have children in your school with motor co-ordination difficulties; children who appear accident prone or ‘clumsy’ or children who have difficulties in carrying out tasks involving handwriting? The answer must surely be YES! Many of these children would benefit from following a programme of activities to develop their fine and gross motor skills without feeling like they are being given more ‘work’. Some Essex primary schools are effectively using Gym Trails as an intervention to do just that. Many schools refer to Gym Trails on their school website, within the SEN Information Report (as part of their ‘offer’), and may be targeting some of the school’s Pupil Premium funding to resource the provision (eg as a before school activity).

Felmore Primary School

Information about Gym Trails is available here. If you would like to learn more about setting up, managing, and assessing effective Gym Trails in your school, there is a forthcoming course (presented by Specialist Teachers PNI, and involving Physiotherapists and Occupational Therapists) at Southview School, Witham on 2 February (1.00 to 4.00 pm). For ideas on developing fine and gross motor skills, take a look at our Pinterest boards .

_________________________________________________________________ Listening and Attention (Week 3: Universal strategies) …

This half term’s SLCN focus is attention and listening. Week 3: Universal strategies Why is it important? Strategies to support attention and listening are useful for all children. However, they are particularly important for children who have difficulties in this area. Children spend a significant amount of time listening in a classroom environment, therefore, it is crucial that universal strategies and provision are incorporated into quality first teaching.

Specialist Teaching and Preschool Service The service’s ‘Request for Involvement’ form can be found on our Primary Sector page SEN Training Bookings for the advertised SEN Training Programme Enquiries about the SEN Training Programme www.EESforschools.org

SENCO updates 30 January 1.30 – 4.00 Saracen Head, Great Dunmow 31 January 1.30 – 4.00 Clacton Golf Club 2 February 9.30 – 12.00 Epping Forest College 7 February 9.30 – 12.00 and 1.30 – 4.00 Chelmsford City Football Club 8 February 9.30 – 12.00 Wat Tyler, Basildon 9 February 1.30 – 4.00 Marks Tey Hotel

Special Educational Needs (SEN) and Additional Educational Needs (AEN) Provider Services 2017

Top Tips Teach with the classroom door closed Children need to hear the speaker’s voice with minimal competition from background noise. Consider other noises within the classroom; eg speakers not turned off, projector noise.

• You must be heard clearly, all the way to the back of the room. • Your voice should be louder than anything else the child will be tempted to

listen to.

Focus of attention Consider where the children are sitting in relation to you and where their focus of attention needs to be e.g. can the child see the book and your face? Can they see the board? Can they see their peers in order to participate in class discussions?

Be an interesting speaker To hold any audience’s attention, the person speaking needs to:

• Show enthusiasm • Vary pitch and intonation • Use body language to emphasise points • Accentuate important themes by saying them with emphasis • Draw listeners in at random to reiterate or react to what was said.

Speak slowly and pause between thoughts Children listen more effectively when the speaker slows down. Use “verbal bullet points” to frequently revisit the main learning.

Keep it short Information needs to be given in short chunks, with repetition and time for processing. Break directions down into single instructions where necessary. Listening partners Children, who are having difficulty transferring from ‘hands on’ activities to stopping and listening, may need extra practise. You could:

• Pair them with listening partners who can remind them what to do

• Group the children into an even mix of ‘good listeners’ and those with listening difficulties

• Praise the good listeners, commenting on what they did that was good. This will enable the children who are still struggling to observe and hear what they need to do.

• Do not listen for them! This creates learned dependency on adult support. Useful Link Noisy classrooms have an impact on all children’s ability to listen and attend and, therefore, learn. This video considers the impact of noisy learning environments. An acoustic checklist can be a useful way to consider changes that could be made to the physical classroom environment to aid attention and listening.

Next week: Targeted support - developing active listening skills _________________________________________________________________ Teaching for Neurodiversity … Dyslexia Action along with The British Dyslexia Association, Helen Arkell and

Forthcoming training events (Spring 2017) Gym Trail 2 February Southview School, Witham Ofsted Compliant 24 February 9.30 – 12.30 Chelmsford City Football Club Person centred planning (One Planning) 28 February 9.30 – 3.30 Marconi, Chelmsford Softly, softly 1 March 9.30 – 12.30 Ivy Chimneys Primary, Epping Numicon 8 March 9.30 – 4.00 Newport House, Chelmsford Training requests for whole school or school-based events should be made using the School Request for Involvement form, and emailed to the appropriate area team: Mid Braintree team

North-East Colchester team

South Basildon team

West Harlow team

Prompt key listening Help children to be aware of when they need to make a particular effort to listen by using a visual cue, eg pointing to your ears or using a visual prompt.

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Patoss are currently providing ‘Teaching for Neurodiversity’ training for teachers and support staff.

This training aims to provide valuable quality assured information about dyslexia and other SpLD in the classroom. All the information covered in the live events in 2016 is supported by downloadable training materials, to enable education staff to cascade their knowledge to colleagues in their particular education setting. A series of 3 free one-hour webinars covering all the materials delivered in the live training events started last week, but there is still time to register for session 2 and 3 on 26 January and 2 February respectively. The 3 sessions comprise:

Part 1: Seeing the whole picture - this session introduces and discusses the purpose of the Teaching for Neurodiversity training. It focusses on learner profiling and introduces a number of case studies as examples. Part 2: Understanding neurodiversity - the second session discusses definitions of neurodiversity and specific learning differences (SpLD), particularly emphasising how different SpLD co-occur. It introduces a combined checklist for neurodiversity/SpLD and discusses how this can be used in schools and other educational settings. Part 3: Classroom support strategies - the final session suggests a range of easy to implement strategies to help in making the classroom or learning environment more accessible to all learners. The training materials include checklists to give an overview of behaviours, and then suggest that focus is just on those cells where ‘sometimes’ or ‘often’ are highlighted. Checklists are given for printing out and for use with Excel, and also come as combined SpLD (Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, ADHD, ASD, Dyscalculia, SLI) and for Neurodiversity SpLD for the EYFS, primary, secondary and post-16 age ranges. The checklist and more information are all available from the delegates’ packs here. ___________________________________________________________ Essex Book Festival … Essex Book Festival events run throughout March across Essex and include opportunities to work on creative projects, listen to authors, collect top tips, and complete pages in the Essex Children’s University Passport to Learning Scheme for 5 - 14 years olds.

Many schools in Essex are already validated Learning Destinations for the Children’s University.

Festival brochures are available at libraries, but the , where you Festival websitecan get the latest updates, and sign up for email alerts, also provides a wealth of

Autism Education Trust Training

Bookings for in-school Autism Education Trust training (Level 1 and 2) Information on Autism Education Trust training for Essex schools Good Autism Practice (schools) 1-day course 9.30 – 4.30 2 March Chelmsford City Racecourse Good Autism Practice (EYFS) 2-day course 9.30 – 4.30 21 and 22 February Marconi, Chelmsford 21 and 22 March Marconi, Chelmsford Extending and Enhancing Good Autism Practice 9 March 9.30 – 4.30 Marconi, Chelmsford Leading Good Autism Practice 16 March 9.30 – 4.30 Woodlands Centre, Colchester Introduction to the Autism Progression Framework 28 March 9.30 – 12.30 Marconi, Chelmsford

Special Educational Needs (SEN) and Additional Educational Needs (AEN) Provider Services 2017

Chris Perkins 23 January 2017 Service Manager, Specialist Teaching and Preschool Service On behalf of the SENCO Bulletin Team SENCO.Bulletin@essex.gov.uk

We appreciate feedback on the service we are providing.

information. The box office opens in January, and the organisers suggest that you book early to avoid missing out on your favourites! http://essexbookfestival.org.uk/events/ Look here for Young Essex Events. A small sample of the 90 events on offer are shown below:

Pinterest

Learning Difficulties and Disabilities

Physical and Neurological Impairment Social, Emotional and Mental Health needs Speech, Language and Communication needs

Vision impairments Essex Selective Mutism Interest Group