OFSTED Compliant SEND Provision Review for
Senior Leadership Teams and SENCOs in mainstream Primary and Secondary Schools
Updated: December2015
Introduction
This document is not statutory, nor is it a paperwork exercise to complete prior to an expected visit by OFSTED. It is designed to support Senior Leadership Teams(SLT) and Special Educational Needs Co-ordinators (SENCOs) to monitor the effectiveness of the whole school provision, funding and monitoring arrangements for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). It is intended to be a working document (produced in Word, all boxes can be enlarged or reduced, questions can be deleted or added to as you see fit) and should fit into the school’s cycle of development, monitoring and evaluation. Page/paragraph numbers refer to the August 2015 version of the Section 5 School Inspection Handbook:
NB: text in italics is intended as a prompt, not to be used as a checklist for inclusion.
Four key judgements are used as a framework for this document in order that SLT/SENCOs can ensure the provision and management of SEND in their school is Ofsted compliant:
- Effectiveness of leadership and management
- Quality of teaching, learning and assessment
- Personal development, behaviour and welfare
- Outcomes for pupils
OFSTED will look for evidence of:
- accurate information about individual pupil attainment, in particular progress that they make from their starting points
- the identification of pupils who are making less than expected progress and/or are unlikely, on current performance, to make expected or higher attainment
- arrangements to be in place for these pupils to increase their progress and raise their attainment
- regular and accurate monitoring of the progress that these pupils have made
- rigorous moderation of the assessment of pupils’ attainment and progress, linked to teachers’ performance management and teachers’ standards
- effective support arrangements to show that the rate of progress has increased and the ‘gap’ is narrowing
- regular review of the quality of support arrangements with respect to pupils’ outcomes, and changes made where they are not effective
- a curriculum that is broad, balanced and meets the needs and interests of pupils, as well as promoting high levels of achievement, good behaviour and successful progression to the next stage of education, training or employment
- a curriculum that promotes the pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development and their physical well-being
- engagement with parents, carers and employers, including those who find working with school difficult, to help them to understand how children and learners are doing in relation to the standards expected and what they need to do to improve
- effective arrangements for safeguarding children and learners to be in place
- leaders to demonstrate effective use of additional funding (including pupil premiums), measuring its impact on outcomes for pupils, and for governors to hold leaders to account for this
- leaders and governors to have a deep, accurate understanding of the school’s effectiveness, informed by the views of pupils, parents and staff.
Evidence for Inspection:
- Ofsted will take a range of evidence into account when making judgements, including published performance data, the school’s in-year performance information and work in pupils’ books and folders, including that held in electronic form. However, unnecessary or extensive collections of marked pupils’ work are not required for inspection
- Ofsted does not expect performance and pupil-tracking information to be presented in a particular format. Such information should be provided to inspectors in the format that the school would ordinarily use to monitor the progress of pupils in that school (Para 28, p12)
- Inspectors will use a considerable amount of first-hand evidence gained from observing pupils in lesson, talking to them about their work and scrutinising their work (Para 153, p45).
This Provision Review documenttakes account of the legal requirements, including the SEN Code of Practice (2014) and the SENCO Regulations (2009), which clearly define the roles and responsibilities of SLT/SENCOs in determining the strategic development of SEND policy and provision. The document supports the evaluation of the impact of the previous year’s developments and the plans for raising the achievement and reducing gaps in success for individuals or cohorts of those with SEND.Although an awareness of trends over three years may be very useful, the focus is on current progress from pupils’ starting points and how they are being prepared for the next stage in their education.
Contents of this provision review document:
Section 1:Legal requirements
Section 2:Effectiveness of leadership and management
Section 3:Quality of teaching, learning and assessment
Section 4:Personal development, behaviour and welfare
Section 5:Outcomes for pupils
Section 6:Summary
Section 7:Appendices
Section 1 - Legal requirements
Does the SEN Information Report, as defined in the Code of Practice (6.79), appear on the school’s website?Does it address all required points (Code of Practice 6.79)?(as set out in Appendix One: Information Report Guidance)
Is the language accessible?
Is there evidence of involvement of all stakeholders?
What are the arrangements for making and recording any changes to the information that occur during the current academic year?
How do you share information about your school’s delivery of support for SEN with new parents?
Does the whole school SEN Policy reflect the SEND reforms (see Appendix 2: SEN Policy Guidance) or has time been allotted to revise the existing policy?
Who is/was involved in drawing up the policy?
SENCO / SLT / Middle
Leaders / CT / TAs / MDAs / Govs / Parents / Pupils / Others
The Code of Practice (Para 6.2, p 92) explains the concept of best endeavours: ‘this means doing everything they can to meet children and young people’s SEN’. The Code of Practice (para xix, p 16) directs schools to the Equality Act (2010) which sets out their legal obligations towards disabled children and young people.
Have the requirements of the Equality Act (2010) and the Code of Practice (2014) been considered by the SLT and a policy drawn up to show how the school plans to make sure that it supports equality and works to overcome socio-economic inequality?
Reasons for not having done so (if applicable):
Planned course of action:
Has the school considered consulting representatives of disabled groups/
charities about the steps the schools plan to take?
If so, how has their advice been incorporated?
Give examples of ‘reasonable adjustments’ made to support pupil access to the academic and wider curriculum. You may like to include parental and/or pupil views of the impact of these. (See appendix 3: Equality Act: Reasonable Adjustments)
How does the school decide which level of the graduated approach is appropriate for individual pupils with SEND? (eg Use of Essex Provision Guidance Toolkit)
How often is the school’s SEND list reviewed and updated?
Numbers of pupils receiving a graduated approach by Key Stage in the current year
Yr / Yr / Yr / Yr / Yr / Yr / Yr
G / B / G / B / G / B / G / B / G / B / G / B / G / B
Additional intervention and support (AIS)
High need (HN) non-EHCP
EHCP/Statement
How does this compare with school data over the past 3 years? (Terminology has changed – an estimation can be made using the previous SA/SA+/Statement gradations.)
Looking at a 3 year trend, how many children no longer require support that is ‘different from or additional to’high quality teaching in the classroom? (This point may be difficult for KS1 schools as Foundation Stage terminology has changed – we suggest looking at ‘Development Matters’ to identify trends over time.)
Section 2 - Effectivenessof Leadership and Management
Please note: Some aspects of the leadership and management issues are addressed in later sections e.g. legal requirements, pupil outcomes, quality of teaching, learning and assessment, personal development, behaviour and safety.
Is the SENCO a member of the senior leadership team?If not, how does the school ensure that the Senior Leadership Team is fully aware of issues relating to SEND?
‘Inspectors will seek evidence of the impact of those responsible for governance’ (para 143, p40).
How does the school ensure that governors are sufficiently well-informed to be able to challenge and support the school in providing for the pupils with SEND?
‘Inspectors evaluate the experience of particular individuals and groups, such as pupils for whom referrals have been made to the local authority (checking how the referral was made and the thoroughness of the follow-up), disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs, looked after children, those with medical needs and those with mental health needs. Inspectors must look at a small sample of case studies about the experience of these pupils’(Para 167, p 51).
How do external services contribute to the removal of barriers to success for pupils with SEND?
Eg:
- Specialist Teachers
- Speech and Language Therapists
- Voluntary organisations
- Private organisations
- Educational Psychologists
- EWMHS (formerly CAMHS)
- School Nurse
- Other (please specify)
External service / Impact
How do you ensure that any training/services are delivered by appropriately qualified and experienced people?
How does the school ensure that external agencies receive pertinent information in order to support the procedures around reviewing the provision for specific pupils?
eg
- Parental permission
- paperwork
- timely invitations to meetings with parents/staff
- release of key staff for liaison
Does the school regularly enable parents to provide their views on the SEND provision provided to their children? (See para 152, p45 and para 154, p45.)
If so, how?
eg
- parent questionnaires
- records of parent views on individual pupil paperwork
- involvement in ‘one planning’ approaches/meetings
Does the school have any arrangements in place to develop/increase the engagementof parents in the education of their children with SEND?
Yes/No?
Activity (eg home learning evenings, demonstration of IT programmes, PTA mtgs etc) / Impact (include relevant data)
‘Inspectors will use….. first hand evidence gained from……talking to them(pupils) about their work’ (para 153, p 45).
How does the school enable the pupils with SEND to offer their opinions and express their views?
Strategy / Impact
How does the school know whether pupils with SEND feel that they are well supported to make progress? NB explore reasons for any negative comments (qualitative data may be useful here eg classroom observation).
Strategy / Impact
Looking at the three year trend, what changes can be identified?
Section 3 – Quality of Teaching, Learning and Assessment
List how the quality of both teaching and learning of children with SEND is monitored in all aspects of the curriculum and across key stages:(eg learning walks, drop-ins, observations etc)How are the children with SEND being supported with literacy and maths development across all subjects?(Paras 156-160, p 46-7.)
Is the targeted SEND provision being generalised in the day-to-day classroom? How do you know?
What evidence does the school have to demonstrate that the targeted SEND provision is being applied in lessons?
Possible sources of evidence:
- Teaching and Learning policy
- SEN policy
- assessment policy
- marking policy
- work scrutiny
- provision map showing links
- learning walks
- classroom observation
- pupil voice
- planning scrutiny
- PSD descriptors
- peer assessment
What impact are the strategies for generalisation having on outcomes for pupils in the day-to-day classroom?
Do you notice any particular trends across specific year groups or cohorts?
‘Direct observations in lessons will be supplemented by a range of other evidence to enable inspectors to evaluate the impact that teachers and support assistants have on pupils’ progress’ (para 153, p45).
‘Inspectors will consider: information from discussions about teaching, learning and assessment with teachers, teaching assistants and other staff’ (para 154, p45).
How are TAs deployed and how can the school show how effective this support is by drawing on quantitative and/or qualitative data?
Type of support / Impact (include relevant data) / Cost - £££ or hours
How confident is your staff in writing person-centred outcomes?
Are there plans to provide/source staff training on the ‘one planning’/person-centred approach?
If yes, what are they?
If no, provide a timeline of planned activities for all members of staff.
‘Inspectors will make a judgement on the effectiveness of teaching, learning and assessment in schools by evaluating the extent to which:
- the teachers’ standards are being met
- teachers and other staff have a secure understanding of the age group they are working with and have relevant subject knowledge that is detailed and communicated well to pupils’
In judging the effectiveness of leadership and management, ‘inspectors will consider:
- the quality of continuing professional development for teachers at the start and middle of their careers and later, including to develop leadership capacity and how leaders and governors use performance management to promote effective practice across the school.’ (Para 138, p38).
- staff awareness and understanding of particular learning needs and the nature of barriers to learning increased
- planning and teaching clearly shows differentiation
- TAs involved in planning
- targets are aspirational
- use of questioning and discussion to assess the effectiveness of teaching and promote pupils’ learning
Training / Impact on pupil progress (include relevant data)
Section 4 – Personal Development, Behaviour and Welfare
‘Inspectors must make a clear written judgement about behaviour and a separate clear, written judgement about personal development and welfare….’ (para 162, p 50).
What are the 3 year trends for punctuality, exclusion and unauthorised absence data for pupils with SEND?(RAISEonline currently separates this for you).Whilst bearing in mind the changes in the way that persistent absence is calculated (now 10%), comment on changes in your PA data over the past 3 years. Are your absence rates for pupils with SEND declining? (remember to look at data both with and without that which relates to any pupils with significant medical conditions or other reasons which affect their attendance).
How do these figures compare with whole school trends/figures? (For separate KS1 and KS2 settings be aware that RAISEonline data is for primary schools so data may be skewed).
What strategies have been used to reduce absence for pupils with SEND?
Eg
- learning mentors
- promotion of partnership working with parents/carers
- learning support/resource centre within the school
- alternative curriculum arrangements
- behaviour support and re-integration services
- pastoral support programmes
- multi-agency working
- breakfast clubs
Strategies / Impact related to pupil outcomes (include relevant data)
What are the 3 year trends for bullying and/or other discrimination (including cyber bullying and misuse of social media) involving pupils with SEND?
What strategies have been used to reduce these?
Eg:
- mentors
- pastoral support
- incident logs
- absence records
- specific PSHE programmes
- pupil/parent surveys
What evidence is there that the pupils with SEND feel safe within and outside of the classroom?(see separate DfE document:
Possible sources of evidence include:
- case studies
- observation in the playground and/or in lessons
- pupil voice
- parental opinions
- feedback from external agencies
- pupil reviews
Source of Evidence / How has this been achieved?
If this is difficult to evidence, how is the school planning to address issues around pupils feeling safe?
What was the impact of any behaviour management training in the previous year? / Cost and/or resources?
What strategies have been used as a result of the training?
Strategies / Impact (be specific with data)
When was the school’s behaviour policy last reviewed?
Does the policy include a statement regarding the management of low level disruption?
Who is involved in reviewing the policy?
SENCO / SLT / Middle
Leaders / CT / TAs / MDAs / Govs / Parents / Pupils / Others
How do you ensure a consistent implementation of your behaviour policy across the whole staff? How are you monitoring this?
What safe-guarding, PREVENT, FGM and mental health awareness training has been organised by the SLT over the year?
Delivered by whom?
For whom?
How does your safe-guarding policy ensure equal opportunities for pupils with SEND? (eg strategies in place to enable pupils with SEND to express their views)
What opportunities are provided for spiritual, moral, social and cultural development, including British Values?
Opportunity / Impact
What opportunities are provided to develop self-confidence, self-awareness and pupil understanding about how to be successful learners?
(eg peer-to-peer assessment, growth mindset, visit notes, scaffolding approach to learning)
Opportunity / Impact
How are you ensuring readiness for the next phase and effective transition to, from and within your setting?
Section 5 - Outcomes for Pupils
In order to make a judgement about the quality of education provided in the school, inspectors will make a judgement on academic and other learning outcomes for pupils by evaluating the extent to which they progress from their different starting points (para 170, p54).
What does the analysis of a range of data indicate about achievement, progress, value added and trends over time for pupils with SEND?(Para 182, p56, but see para 174, p55 and para 184, p56). (This is a joint task for the SENCO and SLT - Refer to appendix 4 for possible sources of data. Particular emphasis is placed on the impact of the teaching of literacy and mathematics across the range of the school’s provision (para 156 – 160, pp 46 -48)). Possible issues for consideration when identifying trends:- stability figures (previously known as ‘turbulence’) and reasons for children leaving/joining
- details of priority admissions
- SEN profile of newcomers
- ‘how effectively leaders use additional funding, including early years pupil premium where applicable and measure its impact on narrowing gaps in children’s outcomes (para 190, p 60)
- ‘how quickly disadvantaged children, and any groups that areunderachieving, are catching up’ (para 190, p 61)
- Impact of IPRA funding (where applicable).
- AIS and HN interventions,
- provision maps
- ICT policy
- transition planning
- provision as outlined in Statement/EHCP
- medium term plans/rolling programmes of study
- Access Plan
- Register of extra-curricular activities
- The use of person-centred tools and systems (Code of Practice 1:1) in relation to personal development, behaviour and welfare and to the quality of teaching, learning and assessment
What does analysis of the SEND data compared with non-SEND within the school tell you about the impact of:
-high quality teaching differentiated for individual pupils (CoP 6.37)
-specialised programmes eg ‘additional to/different from’ provision? (Ofsted para 138, p 39)
(Look closely at pupils with SEND who are also in another vulnerable group. This may be context based, eg in some schools it might include pupils with EAL, in other schools EAL provision may mean that pupils are not vulnerable to underachievement.)
Which planned initiative/s from last year had the most impact on raising the achievements of children with SEND?(See appendix 5 for possible sources of evidence)
Initiative / Impact (include relevant data)
How do you share and learn from ‘best practice’ within your school?
Looking at the past three years, what changes/trends have there been in the provision noted above?
Provision / Impact (including relevant data)
What will be the main areas for improvement in raising achievement of children with SEND in the coming year? Link to quality of teaching, learning and assessment and/or personal development, behaviour and welfareof pupils as appropriate. If there is a development plan attached to this document, this section need not be completed.
Area of improvement / Estimated costs/resources needed
Section 6 - Summary