Inclusive practice: one trust’s approach to SEND education with Ambition Institute
The growing numbers of pupils with a complexity of special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) is a challenge for educators across the country.
In the face of this, Forward as One Church of England Multi-Academy Trust is taking decisive action to further strengthen its inclusive practice through collaboration and inclusion by design.
The trust has embraced ‘inclusion by design’, which focuses on proactively creating conditions that support all pupils to access the same learning.
It’s a concept identified in Ambition Institute’s Leading Trust Improvement: SEND programme as one of the levers that can make the biggest impact in improving trust-wide SEND provision.
Lauren Gardner, Trust and Inclusion Lead at Forward as One works in close collaboration with SENCOs, senior leaders and staff who are all deeply committed to this work. “As a trust we really want to make sure that we are doing everything we possibly can to meet the needs of all of our children”, Lauren says.
At Ambition Institute, we support teachers and school leaders at every stage of their careers, helping them to keep getting better.
We are a charity providing training and professional development based on the most rigorous research and evidence about what really works. Together, we’re shaping the future of education to give every child the best start in life.
Our programmes, including the NPQ for SENCOs, are designed to equip educators to tackle the challenges they face. Our approach is based on sound evidence of what really works, providing practical tools to make an even bigger impact, in the classroom and across the school.
Discover more about Ambition Institute here.
The importance of effective special educational needs provision
We know that pupils with special educational needs and disabilities have some of the largest attainment gaps. At age five, children receiving special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) support are already one year behind their peers (EPI, 2023).
This growing need for specialist provision mean that leaders of SEND play a vital role in the success of schools. By championing inclusivity and implementing quality SEND provision in schools, leaders can ensure all pupils have equal opportunity to access education, ultimately improving pupil outcomes.
In recognition of the need to develop expertise around SEND provision, the government has introduced the NPQ for Special Educational Needs Co-ordinators professional development programme.
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