Debbie commenced the session with an interactive quiz to see how much we all knew about SEN and Inclusion in Hertfordshire. This was not only a lively beginning but also revealed some fascinating facts that caused quite a stir!

Justin and Debbie presented each of the four key themes in the SEN / Inclusion Strategy that was published last year and highlighted a key aim from each one:

1. School Effectiveness and Inclusion, is to ensure that the framework for evaluating school effectiveness reflects SEN and inclusion as a key to raising standards for all. Justin highlighted the use of the inclusion tool as a prerequisite for all schools’ Joint Annual Review Visit.
2. Support and Training, is to ensure that all those with responsibility for the education of children and young people are sufficiently confident, committed and skilled to meet a diversity of needs. Justin raised the issue of recruitment and induction arrangements for new staff as a particular area of concern.
3. Resourcing, is to ensure that funding for special educational needs is transparent, equitable and supports early intervention. Debbie updated the conference on the Inclusion Strategy status of the current review of funding which is looking at the balance of funding delegated to schools and retained centrally.
4. Meeting Needs Locally, is to ensure that children and young people are educated within their local community school wherever possible. Justin spoke of the importance of developing specialist provision within the local authority so that as many young people as possible are educated within Hertfordshire.

With the work of the SEN / Inclusion Strategy continuing unabated this year, these are definitely exciting times to be working in this field in Hertfordshire.

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Susan and Alison provided a challenging and optimistic presentation on developing teaching that is free from ability labelling and ability focused teaching.

The Learning without Limits project set out to understand and document approaches to teaching free from ability labelling. This approach is based on a mind set that teachers can transform all children and young people’s capacity to learn through the choices they make.

The focus is on the potential for change, that what happens and what we do now can change things for the better in the future. Susan and Alison emphasised the empowering nature of education and how teachers can influence the conditions for learning, leading to an enabling environment and removing the ceiling on what can be expected from children in the future. Relationships and a sense of belonging to the group were one of the key components of this approach. Also the approach that everything that happens in the classroom has an effect on what happens in the future

In the workshop following the presentation delegates shared examples of when they had been given a label and how this had affected their self esteem, often negatively, but sometimes had spurred them on to prove the label wrong.

Alison went on to answer questions about the challenges in bringing about change in her own school, which, previously having been in an Ofsted category, had recently been judged as outstanding. She emphasised the importance of involving everyone in re-visiting the school’s vision and involving everyone in “living the dream”. This is an ongoing journey in which the relationship between values and practice is given prominence.

One of the main points from the workshop was around how language can influence perceptions, for example “monitoring” in Alison’s school is replaced by “establishing a dialogue about teaching and learning”

Hart, S. Dixon, A., Drummond, M.J. and McIntyre, D. (2004) Learning Without Limits, Open University Press

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This practical workshop was delivered by Norma Powell, Helena Marks and a parent of a child with autism in a mainstream school.

This session followed a keynote speech on the importance of storytelling by telling a story of the difficulties that can be faced by school staff and parents when communicating regarding a child's special educational needs and practical ways to help.

A parent spoke about the importance of getting the right level of communication and of the “foreign language” aspect of talking with education and health professionals. She described the experience of fighting for provision, of not always being listened to and of the potential isolating effect on the family of coping with the child's needs at home.

Norma and Helena led activities to explore the importance of mediation, enabling school staff and parents to actively listen to one another and share a problem-solving approach to working together for the child or young person.

Norma then described how their school had initiated a parents’ group to facilitate sharing experiences in a non-threatening environment. She attended as SENCo but the parents ran the group themselves. Parents felt less isolated and gained support from each other and for their children.

Helena also provided a very useful pack of information for parents and on developing parent partnerships.

For further information please contact the Parent Partnership on 01992 555847 or

• www.hertsdirect.org/parentpartnership

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Nicola gave a lively and thought provoking presentation on the power of story telling and that rather than being an optional extra, stories are fundamental for our emotional and psychological well being. Stories are both life saving and life affirming. She argued that in developing a curriculum the starting point needs to consider pupils with the most complex needs rather than starting from a “mainstream “perspective and then “adapting” for “special educational needs”.

Nicola demonstrated how through telling, listening to and experiencing stories we are able to imagine, take risks, dream, be inspired and entertain. Indeed they help us to give a sense of who we are and enable us to engage and empathise with others. Nicola went on to explain that narrative is a crucial skill in developing friendship as it involves sharing anecdotes. There is also a strong association between narrative skills on entry to school and academic progress.

Nicola cautioned against labelling some children as “poor narrators” without taking into account that different cultures have different approaches. Delegates were also reminded that narratives need not depend on reading and writing, but have emerged from an oral tradition and can be transmitted through art, drama and music.

Actively listening to children and young people was a theme that was often returned to during the two day conference and in Nicola’s presentation we had an example of how story telling can be a creative way in ensuring this happens. It also touched on another theme of the conference - developing emotional literacy.

• www.storytracks.com

Grove, N (2005) Ways into Literature Fulton

Park, K. (2005) Interactive story telling Speechmark

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Jan gave an overview of important initiatives and good practice in developing effective inclusion in Hertfordshire for children and young people experiencing social, emotional and behavioural difficulties (SEBD).

One example was given of the highly successful work of primary support bases (PSBs) sited in mainstream schools. Experienced staff provide short-term on-roll support in the base and extended roll support in other schools for children at the greatest risk of exclusion. The effect has been to reduce exclusions to zero in areas where a PSB has been operational and is well established. Jan described the greater challenge in effecting change to reduce the number of exclusions in secondary schools but with some good news practice developing. One motor project for young people in KS4 with statements for SEBD has enabled them to gain accreditation in motor repair and employment. KS4 Learning Centres are developing in each of the 14-19 areas. These Centres will provide a personalised curriculum and an opportunity to gain vocational skills before

moving on to college or work.

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Diane gave a really lively and engaging introduction to learning without labels. Delegates appreciated the opportunity to work in groups around web diagrams based on the key features of effective assessment. Photographs of children learning were used to illustrate the importance of ipsative assessment, valuing our progress against our own previous best.

Delegates were asked to share with the group something that they were good at, that no one else in the group might know. Contributions included, being good at Cribbage, being able to recognise common birds, being a counsellor and being able to play the oboe. This made participants really think about giving children the opportunity to share all the things they can do, not necessarily related to the school curriculum. This illustrated how labelling ourselves and others can limit learning rather than promote it, as can an overemphasis on writing competence.

Diane told us about a child who had informed his teacher he wasn’t ready to undertake a particular assessment task. The teacher responded by saying, let me know when you are ready. The child felt he was ready the next day and completed the activity! This emphasised the importance of encouraging and actively promoting children taking responsibility for their own learning.

Only by doing this can we encourage life long learners. As Diane said at the start of the workshop, “Assessment is an attitude rather than something you have to do.”

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Hooked and ready to go, is how delegates felt leaving Hannah’s inspirational workshop!

Hannah gave an insight into the use and benefits of the SEAL resource pack. This resource is for all children and needs to be taken on as a whole school initiative.

As its title suggests, the resources address the social and emotional aspects of learning, such as self-motivation, self-awareness and empathy and can be used throughout the primary years; including Foundation Stage. There are half- termly themes to be introduced; with whole school assemblies and accompanying staff development materials for each theme – reinforcing the message of whole school approach and hopefully whole school confidence!

The SEAL framework can be incorporated into a school’s PSHE curriculum, and particularly inspirational was the theme entitled, ‘Going for goals!’ It was easy to see how these materials would support the involvement of children in personalised target setting, monitoring and getting.

Some of the benefits that have arisen from the pilot scheme in schools who have been using the framework for two years include:

• Improved behaviour
• Increased attainment, as well as achievement
• Greater social cohesion
• Improved attendance

Hannah is continuing to offer county training for the SEAL materials, but hurry, as people were signing up before they left the room! For further information on the SEAL programme please contact Hannah East at Hertfordshire Development Centre on 01582 830320.

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Important and helpful information was provided by the Careers Service on making work experience successful.

The Service recommended that preparations for work experience should start in year 9. An important part of a students individual learning plan would be support and preparation such as CV writing, presentation and interview skills - particularly important for students with personal, social, emotional needs and/or disability. Where the placements were most effective the student chose the work placement themselves increasing ownership and commitment.

Information on CRB checks was provided (see guidelines sent to schools in December 2004). Schools need to ask employers for advanced CRB check certificates and send them to Herts Careers Service. Employers need to be willing to have CRB checks for any supervisors of students on work experience. This will be the person who is responsible for the health and safety of the student and is a legal requirement.

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Schools are finding that there is an increasing need for continuing professional development for teaching assistants (TAs) so that there is a structured career path for them to follow.

In his workshop Mike explained how to access the following accredited courses:

• DfES 4 day induction course
• Cache VQ level 2 certificate
• NVQ 2 and 3
• STA

and how the NAPTA profile fits alongside these.

Mike then went on to explain the changes that are coming into effecting from April 2006 regarding the routes to becoming an HLTA. A very useful session from the soon to be titled ‘Adviser for TA training and development’ who coined the

memorable phrase – “HLTA, not a qualification, not a role”!

For more information please visit:

• www.thegrid.org.uk/leadership/workforce/

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Being emotionally literate reflects the degree to which we are able to recognise, understand, appropriately express and handle emotional states in ourselves and other people.

‘A healthy school actively seeks to promote positive emotional health and wellbeing and helps pupils understand their feelings and build their confidence and emotional resilience and therefore their capacity to learn’. (DfES 2005)

In the past two years Marriotts School in Stevenage have planned and delivered emotional literacy programmes to students with additional needs. The school have been delighted at the responsiveness of students in terms of their positive engagement and transference of skills taught beyond the intervention programme.

If you would like to find out more about this programme and share in the teams experiences please contact Mrs Margaret Crennell or Mrs Lorraine Jones on telephone number 01438 351801.

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Mike ran a very informative workshop that clearly and concisely went through:

• The national and local overview
• The revised Hertfordshire Strategic Action Plan
• The setting up of the Strategic Area Partnership Groups (SAPG)
• Funding issues
• The challenges ahead

The key themes from this session were partnership and collaboration. In future, one institution will not be able to meet all the needs of all students aged 14 - 19, therefore joint planning and collaboration is vital to ensure that the needs of all students can be met within an area. Currently, provision for 14 - 19 is patchy, whilst most students do well, a significant minority’s needs are not met and the challenge is to work towards truly inclusive 14 -19 provision.

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New technology demonstrated was the CPS Voting System. The good news is that this voting system can be loaned from Hertfordshire Development Centre for a trial period and comes complete with handsets, two receivers and the necessary software. To find out more contact the ICT Advisers or read one school’s experience:

• St.Lukes_voting system trial

Worth visiting is the following website, which shows how to adapt tools and settings on your computers to make them more accessible to all pupils:

• www.abilitynet.org.uk/myway/

The site also provides information sheets with easy to follow instructions:

• www.abilitynet.org.uk/content/factsheets/Factsheets.htm

Finally download a free text reader – Natural Reader from:

• www.naturalreaders.com

Clicker 5 is proving to be a very versatile programme and its new ‘show me’ onscreen help is really worth knowing. From the home page go to: create new grid set, choose a template file and double click to open it, double click ‘show me’ then click to create. There are 8 collections from templates you can choose from: book making, classifying, labelling, phrases, picture banks, sentence builder and word banks.

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All PE lessons will include pupils with a wide range of abilities. The STEP framework offers a format to help adapt activities so that all young people can achieve success and fun in physical education and school sport.

S = space – where is the activity happening?

T = task – what is happening

E = equipment – what is being used?

P = people – who is involved?

By changing any one or several of these elements you are able to make the task more accessible to those who are experiencing difficulties or more challenging for the more able. For example, consider the type of equipment and each type can be varied by size, colour, weight, shape, texture, height, environment, play surface, indoor/outdoor.

The STEP framework can also be used within selecting and applying tactics, making the decisions pupils have to make simpler or more challenging. For example decision making can be made easier if the space is made larger to give more time, is made smaller to help with the application of the skill, is exclusive to one person to give them as much time as possible.

Visit the Youth Sport Trust – A brighter future for young people through sport website:

• www.youthsporttrust.org

One of their success stories are the TOPS programmes. These have been designed with the aim of delivering high quality PE and sport to all young people, regardless of ability. The new phase of TOP Play (4 -9 years) and TOP Sport (7 – 11years) is linked with the QCA units of work, the National Curriculum for Physical Education 2000 and the Foundation Curriculum. Also greater continuity has been achieved with Top Start (3 – 5years) and the later TOP Skill. TOP Sportsability (all age groups) creates opportunities for young people with disabilities to enjoy, participate and perform in physical education.

For more information contact the Local Authority Scheme Manager and Hertfordshire’s PE Adviser Bev Hannibal
Email: bev.hannibal@hertscc.gov.uk

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This successful project involves part–time access during which groups of pupils from Green Side visit Camps Hilll or vice versa. During these occasions pupils participate in shared lessons/activities which require collaboration and/or social interaction. The project was initially run for two terms after which it was evaluated.

This link project has been seen as a success by all involved in it. For the pupils with SLD and ASD, it has widened their experiences of life and friendship, enabling opportunities to interact with a group of peers with whom spontaneous interaction may not have been possible. For the mainstream pupils it has gone some way towards creating a group of young people who have become more tolerant, caring and who like to advocate for those young people who may be unable to do it without help.

The implications of this success are that this vital and valuable experience should continue. The hard work involved in creating and maintaining an effective link between an SLD and mainstream primary school has many benefits some of which are ‘captured’ by the pupils themselves.:

‘Coming to Greenside has done more than I think I would learn. It has really boosted my confidence with people who have different needs than me.’

‘I have learned to respect others who are not the same as us. I hope people respect them as they respect us.

‘I have learnt that we are all different. We teach them and they taught us sometimes. I also learnt that there are all different ways of teaching.’

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Connexions provide information, advice, guidance and support for 13 -19 year olds and this is extended to 25years for young people with a learning difficulty and/or a disability.

A Connexions Conference is an annual process to identify young people in Years 8, 9 and 10 who may need additional help in their transition through and from school. It is arranged by the Connexions Co-ordinator and/or the Connexions Personal Adviser. The Connexions Conference can be a single meeting or several separate meetings with forms being passed around the relevant staff for their input. Contributions from school staff e.g. SENCo, Inclusion Manager, designated teacher for LAC and CP, pastoral heads and multi-agency e.g. EP, EWO, ESC, outreach worker, CSF worker.

The Connexions Conference is a process that provides a base of information to aid further discussion and to plan appropriate packages of activities. There are three levels of support: Level One intensive sustained support for those with multiple problems, Level Two in depth guidance for those at risk of disengaging and Level Three information, advice and guidance on career/learning/employment/personal development.

Connexions can help to identify which lead professional is best placed to meet the young person’s needs and who needs more intensive support, either individual or small group and who in KS4 might benefit from extended work experience or a more flexible curriculum.

• Connexions in Hertfordshire

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