In this section you will find the SEND Teaching and Learning Resources Library, and jargon buster. Click on the associated links below for more detailed information.
SEND Teaching & Learning Resources Library
SEND Teaching and Learning Resources Library
“Every teacher is a teacher of SEND pupils”
SEND Code of Practice 2014
This page contains resources and links primarily for teaching staff about a wide range of SEND topics. This is the beginning of a library of free and useful resources and training opportunities. If you would like to suggest some content or contact us about this please page then email: sensection@stockton.gov.uk
Mind-Ed
MindEd is a free educational resource on children and young people's mental health for all adults
Click here to login/register with Mind-Ed
Department for Education (DfE)
Not directly related to SEND but DfE have published a guide:
Reducing workload in your school (links to GOV.UK website)
Practical advice and tools to help school leaders and teachers review and reduce workload.
Organisations
Whole School SEND
Whole School SEND is a coalition of schools and school practitioners, charities, policy influencers, parents and carers and young people. The Whole School SEND Consortium is committed to improving outcomes for children and young people with SEND by networking, collaborating and unlocking the answers that exist within the system. Joining the Whole School Consortium is free. Members become part of a network and mailing list, are the first to hear about news and offers from Consortium partners and be invited to contribute to thinking and practice going forward.
Visit the Whole School SEND website
Nasen
Nasen (National Association of Special Educational Needs) is a charity organisation.
Nasen support thousands of practitioners by providing relevant information, training and resources to enable staff to meet all pupils’ needs. Working with dedicated education professionals, nasen aims to ensure that practice for special and additional needs is both effective and current.
Nasen is committed to providing an excellent range of professional development opportunities by offering the latest news and information, to support practitioners in identifying and meeting the needs of children and young people.
The SEND Gateway
SEND Gateway, an online portal offering education professionals free, easy access to high quality information, resources and training for meeting the needs of children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
Developed by Nasen, the UK’s leading professional association for SEND, the Gateway provides an opportunity for the education workforce to develop new skills and understanding, navigate recent and upcoming reforms to SEN and access resources and training materials from the UK’s leading voluntary community sector (VCS) organisations supporting children and young people with SEN in the age range 0 - 25.
Visit the SEND Gateway website
Council for Disabled Children (CDC)
CDC are the umbrella body for the disabled children's sector bringing together professionals, practitioners and policy-makers.
Their website contains help and resources for individuals, families and professionals across the sectors of education, health and care.
The Alliance for Inclusive Education (Allfie)
Allfie campaigns for the right of all Disabled pupils and students to be fully included in mainstream education, training and apprenticeships with all necessary supports.
Recommended reading:
Resources for teachers and other education professionals
Do you feel your secondary school is inclusive?
SecEd
SecEd is dedicated to supporting secondary education professionals across the UK.
Recommended reading:
SEN best practice articles and case studies
Maximising TA's (MITA)
MITA use research, expertise and training to help schools make the very best use of their teaching assistants.
They provide leading school improvement and professional development services based on internationally-recognised research and guidance. Their team draws together professionals with a range of experiences in research, school leadership, classroom practice, school improvement, developing and delivering CPD, and project management. They are based at the Centre for Inclusive Education, UCL Institute of Education.
MITA produce resources, provide consultancy, and run courses for school leaders, teachers and TAs to help ensure TAs thrive in their role and contribute to improved outcomes for pupils.
Recommended Reading:
Working together to maximise the impact of TAs
Making Best Use of Teaching Assistants Guidance Report
The TA's Guide to Effective Interaction
Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment (CCEA)
Although focussed on the curriculum and educational system in Northern Ireland this website contains lots of resources and videos about supporting children with SEND in education. Resources include practical ideas to help all children be included in sport, such as in this video Every Sport for Everyone - In Action and other video case studies such as "A Window On Special"
Driver Youth Trust
The Driver Youth Trust is a national charity dedicated to improving the life chances of children and young people, with a focus on those with literacy difficulties and who may have SEND, particularly children with dyslexia.
FestABLE
FestABLE is the UK’s first National Festival of Specialist Learning bringing together young people, parents and professionals to debate, challenge, learn and to look for solutions facing young people with disabilities in specialist learning.
New Voices
A new educational conference intended to give a platform to previously unheard speakers from around the UK, putting the voice of experience into the heart of the debate. The Inaugural conference was held in October 2018 in London. This first conference had five overarching strands: leadership, well-being, pedagogy, curriculum and SEND.
Autism Eye
A list of resource providers can be found by visiting the Autism Eye webpage here.
Quality First Teaching
High-quality teaching, differentiated for individual pupils, is the first step in responding to pupils who have or may have SEN. Additional intervention and support cannot compensate for a lack of good quality teaching.” Special Educational Needs and Disability Code of Practice (p99), Department for Education, January 2015.
The need of children/young people for ‘SEN support’ assumes that they are already receiving ‘high quality teaching that is differentiated and personalised [to] meet the individual needs of the majority of children and young people’ (0-25 SEND Code of Practice, section 1.24).
The 0-25 SEND Code of Practice states: ‘Special educational provision is underpinned by high quality teaching and is compromised by anything less.’
Jack joined Swanwick Hall School in Derbyshire three years ago. At first, he struggled with the demands of secondary school and was always in trouble. In this clip Jill, Jack's mother, explains why it is important that class and subject teachers are aware of pupils' additional needs and plan inclusive lessons that take account of those needs. Jill describes the difference that inclusive, high quality teaching has made to Jack's progress and attainment.
The Graduated Response
The SEND Code of Practice Paragraph 6.44 states that “Where a pupil is identified as having SEN, schools should take action to remove barriers to learning and put effective special educational provision in place. This SEN support should take the form of a four part cycle through which earlier decisions and actions are revisited, refined and revised with a growing understanding of the pupil’s needs and what supports the pupil in making good progress and securing good outcomes. This is known as The Graduated Response”.
In short, every child or young person who has been identified as having SEN should have their needs identified, their desired outcomes agreed and provision made that will enable the child to reach these outcomes. The child’s progress should be reviewed regularly. This is a four step cycle known as assess, plan, do, review or The Graduated Response.
The Graduated Response starts in the classroom. Teachers are continually assessing, planning, implementing and reviewing their approach to teaching all children. However, where a possible special educational need has been identified, this process becomes increasingly personalised and intensive.
The responsibility and accountability for the progress of pupils with SEN lies with the class or subject teacher.
Jargon Buster
We will try and avoid jargon where we can or explain terms where they appear. We have used the IPSEA (Independent Parental Special Education Advice) jargon buster as the basis for our lists which will explain some of the words you may come across. We will be adding to the lists using feedback from families,children and young people.
Think Local Act Personal
Think Local Act Personal is a national partnership of more than 50 organisations committed to transforming health and care through personalisation and community-based support.
Think Local Act Personal (opens a link on the Think Local Act Personal website)
They have prepared a Care and Support Jargon Buster
Think Local Act Personal (opens a link on the Think Local Act Personal website)
The Care and Support Jargon Buster is a plain English guide to the most commonly used social care words and phrases and what they mean. The definitions are plain English rather than legal, and were developed and tested by a steering group that included people who use services, carers, representatives from local authorities, information providers and key stakeholders from across the social care sector.
Council for Disabled Children jargon busters
Children and young people with SEND meet complicated language all the time. CDC jargon busters explain policy and health jargon in clear, simple terms:
Tell us about jargon
If we have used jargon or phrases and words that you don't understand or are not plain English, you can email us: sensection@stockton.gov.uk
For our Jargon Buster list please click here (this opens as a pdf in a new window)