Welcome to our mid-week round-up of Alternative Provision and SEND news across the South West and beyond, the first of this half term.
Below you'll find summaries and links of what's been in the news recently, the latest thinking and some of the great training links we think you'll find useful. Grab a coffee and take 10 minutes to get updated and through the midweek hump.
Redefining Ofsted inspection reports with inclusion in mind
Sir Martyn Oliver has said that schools should not fear harming their results and should consider their inclusivity, meeting the needs of all local children at the recent Confederation of School Trusts conference. He warned that Ofsted would be likely to mark down schools deliberately restricting their admissions or intakes. In response, Daniel Kebede from the NEU has called for investment in staffing, training and access to specialist services. If you are extending your approach and looking for special services please do get in touch.
Read more about Sir Oliver's intentions to change Ofsted report cards here
IRCT: Institute of Recovery from Childhood Trauma
IRCT Best Practice Forum on creating environments for recovery from childhood trauma, aimed at professionals working with children, takes place on 22nd November. The forum aim is to explore the topic from a range of perspectives including research, practice, theory and experiences. You can book tickets for the forum at Eventbrite
SEND Strategies in the Primary Years
If you didn't get to Georgina Durrant's fantastic webinar this week, SEND Strategies in the Primary Years, you can still get a copy of her recent book of the same name. Georgina's book explores strategies that you might put in place prior to a child's diagnosis of a SEND need and includes advice on how students can be impacted by autism, PDA, ADHD, dyslexia, DCD, dyscalculia, sensory processing difficulties, SLCD and more. We highly recommend a read for both our primary and secondary colleagues. Grab a copy.
What to expect when working with Next Steps
Our service is, of course, designed to meet the needs of the varied students that we work with. But did you know it's designed to meet the needs of schools and LAs just as much? We keep schools updated with session reports, attendance data monitoring, safeguarding monitoring and more. We've recently integrated Microsoft Teams with schools to keep inclusion leads and attendance leads informed with up to the minute info on their students' attendance.
Once you've sent us a referral form, we offer a complete onboarding process with parents. We start with a relational learning plan put together by our Relational Learning Lead, then book in the support you've requested, liaise with families and organise everything from timetables to curriculum.
We can offer flexible, bespoke packages for students:
- with attendance difficulties
- with SEMH
- at risk of exclusion
- on EOTAS packages
- on Section 19 packages
- who have been permanently excluded
FIND OUT SOME MORE...
1. Take a look at our website’s about us page where you can learn more about how we can work together with you and your community.
2. Find and follow us on LinkedIn
3. Book a meeting with us
Until next time, take care,
Sarah
Director, Next Steps Education
Want to get more updates like these? Stay informed and sign up to get our weekly AP & SEND Briefing in your inbox every Wednesday.