What Every Inclusion Lead & Director of SEND Should Prioritise This Autumn–Winter

Strategic SLCN Planning for Multi-Academy Trusts As autumn and winter progress, the pressures on Multi Academy Trusts increase: new cohort data becomes clearer, pupil communication needs emerge more sharply and the impact of seasonal... Read more

Preparing for Spring Term (January) : A SENCO’s Practical Guide

Why this matters in January The start of the academic year is often focused on September, but January marks the return from Christmas break, new intake, transitions (e.g. Y6 → Y7 mid-year, in-year admissions) and a chance to review... Read more

Blending Colourful Semantics and Shape Coding: How Two Powerful Approaches Came Together

Over the years, many schools and speech and language professionals have used Colourful Semantics (developed by Alison Bryan) and Shape Coding (developed by Susan Ebbels) to support children’s understanding and use of... Read more

What’s going on: The EHCP / SEND reform shake-up

“EHCP” means Education, Health & Care Plan. This is a legal document in England setting out what support a child or young person (0-25) with special educational needs or disabilities (SEND) is entitled to. Recent changes /... Read more

What every Inclusion Lead/Director of SEND should know this Spring?

Read the very latest summary on DfE and Ofsted agenda’s In this more difficult SEN climate where MATs are having to provide services that were once available from the LA including Speech and Language Therapy, these are the questions... Read more

Help! I have a Y7 Needing an EHCP

As someone working in middle and secondary schools, I was by no means the first person to have come across a child yet I was often the first one to do anything about getting an EHCP. Does this sound familiar? It certainly was to me and... Read more

Who Should Be On My SEND Register?

Sounds like a simple question doesn’t it? To be on the SEND register, a student should have SEND. In practice however, things are not always this black and white. As a SENCO, you need to manage a range of (often competing) demands... Read more

The “Ten Minute Template”

How to Streamline your EHCP requests. “I’ve spent two whole days on this”“It’s taken me hours to collate all the evidence and format it into the Local Authority’s form”“I have to wait until I’ve got two terms of... Read more

SEND Review: Right support: Right place: Right time

Click on the link below to read the article on Lorraine Petersen's... Read more

How can I improve my child’s speech sounds with home schooling?

Ten top tips to improve your child’s speech at home:- Make a list of the sounds your child is confusing  eg they say ‘tea’ for 'sea’ so 's' is confused.  They say ‘Jojjy’ for ‘lolly’ so 'l' is confused.Make sure they... Read more