Rising demand for specialist provision in mainstream education is national headline news, but the growth in the number of children with needs and the increasing complexity of those needs is not new, and in the end the solutions will be found locally.
In Peterborough, data from schools and the local authority shows us that by 2027, our secondary school will receive its first intake of high-needs students. By this, we mean students for whom a special school would previously have been sought for secondary.
Knowing this, we are taking proactive and strategic steps to prepare. These are already paying off for our current cohort and over time will build our capacity to meet more complex needs.
Information sharing
Using data analysis of increase over time, we can predict the growing amount of EHCP funding year-on-year.
Though this is an estimate based on previous years, the trends provide a good indication of the level of need the secondary should expect. Sharing this information with staff along with national and local data on trends in the main presenting needs ensures they understand the growth.
In turn, we use the school’s provision map to review and update the SEND register, and increased staff understanding of reasonable adjustments informs how they plan and deliver lessons accordingly.
This database will also record the Assess, Plan, Do, Review (APDR) information for students who require specific support (see below).
In the meantime, our information sharing at transition is now focused on the provisions each individual child has required in primary to thrive, alongside recorded information such involvement from specialist professionals.
Teacher training
This information sharing also informs our training priorities for the next three years as the level of need rises.
All our secondary teaching staff have already received training on the statutory obligations EHCPs set, the provision map, identifying possible speech and language needs and engaging with the SEND register to ensure it is accurate.
The SEND team at the school have identified the provisions they will run in 2025-26 and are ensuring skills audits and a training programme are in place for the staff who will deliver these specific interventions.
Teaching assistant training
For teaching assistants to deliver such interventions to a high standard, they need time to plan, prepare and debrief lessons. Baseline assessments and end-of-intervention sessions are critical in continually adapting interventions to ensure only the most effective are in place.
We use the new EEF Effective Deployment of TAs document to ensure leaders at all levels consider the impact of interventions. Omitting PPA for TAs inevitably impacts on workload for others who then have to support, plan and address issues that will arise through lack of quality planning time.
Our teaching assistants also attend high-needs primary classrooms to understand first-hand the types of need the secondary will receive over time.
Assess, plan, do, review
With almost 300 students requiring accommodations, the school is taking a pragmatic approach to the APDR cycles. It is not realistic for 300 documents to be completed to a high quality, or for staff to read and process so many.
Therefore, the school’s new deputy headteacher for curriculum is working with our SENCo to ensure the reporting cycle follows the code of practice with parent feedback three times annually for most students.
Curriculum and capital
Our relentless focus on high-quality teaching ensures that the vast majority of ‘do’ strategies are in place for all students, regardless of need. Meanwhile, our curriculum options to support progression to key stage 4 are under review, which includes considering unit awards and functional skills.
The school is also already planning for the investment it will need to make to add continuous provision, a robust life skills offer and the purchase of a primary model curriculum.
In due course, the school will advertise for a high-needs teacher who can deliver precise pre-teaching and scaffolding to allow students to attend mainstream lessons for at least some of their week.
Rising need may be headline news today, but there’s no reason for it be breaking news to our teachers when it comes to their classrooms.
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