Preparing to Practice: NPQSENCO Cycle 1 Practice Activities Select two of the following six activities to submit to your leadership mentor. Choose an activity based on your areas of interest and the results of the diagnostic review undertaken at the start of the course.
Statutory guidance Activity 1: Enact statutory guidance In her practice piece, Enact Statutory Guidance, in the Statutory Framework study pack, Julie Gawn explains how she supports senior leaders to ensure staff and governors enact statutory guidance by preparing and maintaining an accessible and detailed SEN Information Report and SEN Policy and contributing to the Accessibility Plan. Read Julia Gawn’s practice piece, paying attention to what she says about her role and the input from other leaders in preparing the SEN Information Report, SEN Policy and the Accessibility Plan. Look at your own school’s SEN Information Report, SEN Policy and Accessibility Plan. In some schools these form part of a single document. Meet with a senior leader or SENCO in your school to discuss the process for preparing and maintaining the SEN Information Report, SEN Policy and Accessibility Plan.
How are leaders engaged in the process?
What are the challenges for leaders producing detailed and accessible documents to meet the statutory requirement?
What action could be taken to improve the process of preparing and maintaining the documents?
Submit a summary of your response to your leadership mentor (maximum 200 words).
Activity 2: The local offer The SEND Code of Practice explains the SENCO’s role in working with other agencies and specialists and contributing to the local offer for the effective provision for pupils with SEND. Identify any gaps in the local offer or areas where your school needs more support than it provides. Make a note of the contacts or sources of support for the areas you have identified.
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What is your school’s contribution to the local offer?
What action could leaders take to increase the value of the school’s contribution to the local offer?
Submit a summary of your response to your leadership mentor (maximum 200 words).
Activity 3: SEND Code of Practice – duties for schools Read sections 1 and 6 of the SEND Code of Practice, which set out the principles of the code and the duties for schools. Look at your school’s SEN Information Report and SEN Policy.
How does the content of the report and policy reflect the principles of the SEND Code of Practice?
How does the content of the report and policy meet the requirements for schools set out in the SEND Code of Practice?
Submit a summary of your response to your leadership mentor (maximum 200 words). DoH & DfE (2015) SEND Code of Practice: 0 to 25 years
Implementation Activity 4: A robust diagnostic system In the self-study pack lesson Make the Right Choices on What to Implement, Katie Pritchard explains how she used a range of internal and external data sources and triangulated data to ensure she could confidently diagnose a need for implementation.
What can you learn from the case study about using a robust diagnostic process?
How can you ensure the reliability of data and evidence you use to inform your own implementation project?
Submit a summary of your response to your leadership mentor (maximum 200 words).
Activity 5: Collective understanding of the core components The EEF’s A School’s Guide to Implementation includes guidance on identifying and prioritising the core components or ‘active ingredients’ of a project. Read the guidance on pages 28 to 39, paying attention to the case studies and examples.
What key learning can you take away from the case studies?
How will you apply what you have learned to your own project planning?
Submit a summary of your response to your leadership mentor (maximum 200 words). EEF (2024) Schools’ guide to implementation report
NPQSENCO Cycle 1 Practice Activities
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Activity 6: Professional development The EEF’s A School’s Guide to Implementation includes guidance on supporting implementation with professional development on pages 38 to 43. Read the guidance, paying attention to the recommendation to reinforce initial training with expert followon support. Consider the implications of this for implementation activity in your school.
How will you apply what you have learned to your own practice?
Submit a summary of your response to your leadership mentor (maximum 200 words). EEF (2024) Schools’ guide to implementation report
Contact us +44 (0) 117 920 9200 npq@bestpracticenet.co.uk bestpracticenet.co.uk
NPQSENCO Cycle 1 Practice Activities
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