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Nasen is passionate about improving the quality of special needs provision in the UK. Let's work together to help everyone achieve.
Nasen is passionate about improving the quality of special needs provision in the UK. Let's work together to help everyone achieve.
Westminster Education Forum -Thursday, 26th January 2012
It was interesting to attend an event that featured many contributors to Special magazine in the audience. There was lots of discussion around future SEND provision which we will cover in Special magazine but three points from the day really stuck out:
The need to construct services having listened to what the children themselves want in their future and form a clear picture of what skills these children will require to meet their aims.
We have a current statementing situation where success for the LA and success for the parent aren’t always seen as the same thing. How will ‘Next Steps’ ensure that parents and LAs aren’t pitched at opposing ends of the statementing process?
Finally we need more reassurances that Academies will improve rather than erode the currently quality of provision from pupils with SEND.
Sean Stockdale – Editor Special magazine
The Annual Conference in Northern Ireland certainly proved to be a very well attended event by delegates from all parts of the province. Newly qualified teachers, more experienced colleagues, SENCO’S, parents, carers, classroom assistants and young students embarking on new careers, attended a range of seminars linked specifically to working with children in both primary and post-primary Education.
The keynote speaker, Jo Douglas, opened the Conference and shared her views and expertise on the whole Spectrum of Autism and specifically highlighted the situation in Northern Ireland where children are being diagnosed with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), at quite an alarming rate.
Jo highlighted the everyday challenges that young people with a diagnosis face and encouraged everyone working and supporting them, to not only embrace the challenges, unique strengths and learning styles of children diagnosed with an ASD but to look at the challenges and to turn them into an opportunity to make a difference in their lives, in whatever capacity they are working.
‘Creating ASD friendly environments’, ‘Celebrating Asperger Syndrome’ and ‘Developing Social Skills and Independence skills in young people with ASD’ were top of the Conference agenda and proved popular with all delegates who later chose to attend either primary or post-primary seminars where the emphasis lay in ‘understanding and meeting the needs of young people with an ASD’. The Conference programme also provided an opportunity for all delegates to share and access special resources available through Learning NI – C2K.
The Conference was supported by Learning Space NI www.learningspaceni.co.uk who provided us with a tremendous display of products specifically designed to meet and support the needs of young people with ASD in addition to a superb portable sensory room which demonstrated the new age of technology in a very sensory-sensitive way and intrigued delegates.
Information on nasen NI’s next event is available here: http://www.nasen.org.uk/nasen-ni/
Valerie Steenson
nasen NI – President
It was a pleasure to see Sal McKeown at BETT 2012 and we both listened with interest as Michael Gove outlined his plans to alter the curriculum. Other than learning that we must now refer to ICT as ‘Computer Science’ there was nothing about how we can use ICT to help students with additional needs. Luckily Sal was able to address this issue during her BETT Inclusive ICT seminar where she explored some of the practical ideas in her new nasen book: Brilliant Ideas for Using ICT in the Inclusive Classroom to a packed audience. Sal did have several copies hot off the press but these quickly disappeared. However you can find out more and purchase a copy at: http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415672542/
Congratulations to Jean Gross who received a CBE in the New Year’s Honours List for services to education. Jean has worked with nasen over a number of years and we are delighted that her efforts have been recognised at a national level.
Jean has written a roundup of her work as Communication Champion which will be published in March Special.
Readers of Special will be well aware of Oak Field school in Nottingham and its’ head David Stewart. Both I and Lorraine paid another visit to the school to share current SEN practice with professionals visiting from China. In the morning after an impromptu question and answer session David gave the visitors a tour of his school highlighting pieces of assistive technology, unique school features and even included a preview of his latest Christmas production. In the afternoon Lorraine held a seminar exploring current special needs provision and possible implications from the SEND Green Paper. The delegates were suitable impressed by the range of provision on offer and showed a keen interest in the policies that underpin current UK provision. They were especially keen to see the wider implication of inclusion policies and how this impacts on schools.
Nasen would like to thank everyone at Oakhill who made us feel so welcome.
Sean Stockdale – Editor Special
On Monday the 12th December nasen was asked to give evidence on the Response to Children’s Commissioner’s School Exclusion Inquiry
Nasen feels very strongly that we need to look beyond media headlines of being hard or soft on discipline and consider how best to reduce exclusions. There are a number of schools which nasen has previously highlighted whom do not exclude any pupil, yet work with the most challenging children and young adults. By considering their student’s needs, curriculum, staff training and allocation of resources they are able to ensure that everyone is able to achieve. With early intervention and personalised planning implemented with the proper rigour children who are indanger of being excluded can be successfully integrated.
With 304,000 fixed term exclusion in 2008/09, do we want to run the risk of today’s excluded children being tomorrow’s rioter?
Nasen’s response to the inquiry questions can be found here:
http://www.nasen.org.uk/response/
Lorraine Petersen OBE
Multi-sensory environments(MSE) have been used very successfully in our special schools for many years. Often the perception is that you have to have a room with very expensive equipment to offer light, sound and sensory stimulation. The cost of such equipment and the inability to find a dedicated room to use within a school has meant that many schools have decided this is not for them. With this in mind nasen asked Christopher Davies to write a book exploring MSE that don’t require a massive outlay.
Christopher fully appreciates the time demands on school staff and has tried to offer support and guidance that will enable teachers to create stimulating, multi-sensory environments. Whilst working with teachers he has learnt that the three key barriers to establishing multi-sensory environments are time, cost and usefulness. Within the pages of his book Christopher offers really practical examples of how to remove those barriers in order to create useful environments quickly and cheaply.
Christopher talks about creating the “wow” factor as students first enter a room in order to inspire and excite the learning experience. This book, whilst offering practical solutions, will also offer a whole new world of sensory experience for all students.
Be prepared to be ‘wowed’.
Lorraine Petersen, CEO of nasen
To order a copy or for more information visit: http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415573306/
The shift from a writing assessment test to teacher assessment has left some colleagues worried that Year 6 teachers will be forced to gather vast swathes of evidence to back up their level judgments. In the Independent Review of
Key Stage 2 testing, assessment and accountability – Government Response, this issue is addressed with the Government’s position stated as:
We share the concern of Lord Bew and his panel that a shift towards teacher assessment should not increase teachers’ workload. We realise this is a view shared by many head teachers and teachers. We want to ensure this is not the case. Teacher assessment of writing composition should be based on the ordinary written work completed over the course of Year 6, which teachers will already assess. Teachers should not be required to produce additional written work or assessment ‘portfolios’ purely to support teacher assessment.(Page 9).
Nasen is obviously keen to ensure that teachers are not sidetracked from providing quality provision for all pupils.
Sean Stockdale Editor, Special
Visit the SEN Information Point on stand SN15 which is once again hosted by nasen, the UK’s leading association for encompassing all special and additional education needs. Visitors can seek advice, discover the latest research findings and CPD opportunities, have questions answered and be pointed in the right direction of the exhibitors or resources relevant to their needs.
SEN Zone at BETT
The SEN Zone at BETT continues to be the largest, most comprehensive gathering of educational ICT providers for special needs in the UK. Visit the SEN Zone for all the latest information focused on new techniques, new information and new resources for those committed to helping every child reach their full potential. Located within the zone, Learn Live will offer dedicated SEN seminars, workshops and learning sessions exploring a wide range of issues, featuring expert speakers and practitioners.
SEN Theatre at BETT
For rich continuing professional development opportunities in SEN, visit the SEN Theatre located on the ground floor at Olympia.
The dedicated SEN Theatre houses a broad range of sessions run by expert practitioners, associations and companies dedicated to SEN. Seminars focus on key issues and topics to equip those leading the education of SEN learners with the skills and information they require.
Please check www.bettshow.com
Having begun to digest the information in the document, the following points have already stood out:
Boys two and half times more likely to have statement at primary school and three times more likely at secondary school
Pupils at school action plus seven times more likely to receive fixed term exclusion and twenty times more likely to have permanent exclusion
73% of looked after children have identified SEND
Most common primary needs for those with statement were autistic spectrum disorder and moderate learning difficulties
We have used this information to feed into the nasen Live programme, and it will be interesting to see how the new SEND White Paper will seek to tackle these recurring issues.
Lorraine Petersen, CEO nasen