With more schools reflecting on the offer they have for children who are becoming more and more classed as the ‘inbetweenies’, it has made me reflect on my own practice, somewhat 10 years ago when I was a SENDCo developing an Internalised Alternative Provision (IAP).
Outsourcing provision for some schools is not the right answer, for many reasons including school’s values, location of provision and cost, therefore more schools are looking to develop and enhance inclusion within their school. Focusing more on an Internalised Alternative Provision which supports their disadvantaged groups equally their mainstream classes, whilst meeting SEMH needs and ensuring their children remain in school. More children with growing SEMH needs are needing further adaptation to mainstream education to close the attainment gap. Schools are looking for a different approach, enhancing their environment as ‘they know what they are doing is not working’. With the rise in suspensions, both internal and external declines in attendance numbers and more parents opting to home school their children, now is the time to acknowledge the need for a change in approach.
Ten years ago, I worked in a small rural school, which had a strong community ethos. Generations of the same families had attended the school, and many staff children attended the school; we were a family. A career change to move from a large town Primary School with elevated levels of deprivation and families claiming FSM (free school meals) was not an easy decision but a step towards gaining more education experience. My passion to work with disadvantaged children meant I was currently well placed but If I was wanting to move further in my career, I needed to gain the experience and deeper understanding of different demographics and cohorts.
I was in for a surprise.
The school I moved to was located at the head of a beautiful village green; the setting was far from removed from the concrete streets and busy roads which had surrounded my previous school.
Due to the location and family community ethos, the school boasted an ideal environment for children who were in care and needed a smaller, more nurturing setting. However, with small schools, this also brought smaller staff numbers and smaller budgets. With the increasing number of children with SEMH needs, a plan needed to be put in place; and fast. We did not have the staff power on the ground to establish 1:1s with every child in need of additional support.
The Cohort: The Purpose
The initial cohort of children were all boys from across Key Stage 2, which presented challenges, with the ages and stages of the children. However, as a school, we knew what we already had in place was not working, we knew we had to do something different and there needed to be a change.
We understood what the purpose of the provision was (the why); we had to ensure the children felt safe with targeted support to fall in love with learning again and to be engaged in what the school had to offer. The engagement of the children was key as well as the engagement and support with and from the parents. The relationship between home and school had to be developed as a strong partnership. Relationships were key with effective communication at the heart of this.
Behaviour incidents needed to be reduced, attendance needed to be increased, and exclusions were to be avoided.
The focus was on closing the gap; but what was the learning at the present time? The correlation between SEMH skills and academic attainment is fundamental to the development and outcomes of the child. Therefore, the priority was to focus on SEMH need and build a curriculum and lessons which supported regulation, whilst making learning engaging and safe.
With this in mind, as well as successfully bringing the cohort together, we needed an effective SEMH assessment tool to track the small steps to progress which the National Curriculum could not do. The Boxall Profile enabled us to assess, monitor and review the SEMH needs of the individual child as well as all of the children within the IAP. By using an SEMH assessment, we were able to set targets to all work to a goal, support the dynamics of the cohort, inform planning and interventions as part of the IAP curriculum and individualised learning.
We knew the why; now we had the how.
This provided the pupils, the staff and the school community with a sense of belonging and purpose for the IAP, which had a shared goal whilst working on much needed SEMH skills. The close relationship between SEMH needs and academic attainment enabled Executive Functioning skills to be targeted as well as self-regulation skills. Meeting the SEMH baseline was imperative before learning could commence.
The IAP Timetable
The timetable was based on short activities; at first, we found the activities needed to be as short as 20 minutes with a clear structure to them. Gradually this progressed to 45 minutes. For some pupils, they needed less than this time; the idea was to make learning achievable and successful in short amounts of time and to build from this. All staff ensured the children and adults ate together and everyone had a role to play in preparing the food, setting the table and clearing away. The focus on home here was important to develop social, emotional, communication and interaction skills. The intention was to develop life skills which would prepare the cohort for independent learning and adulthood.
The children were given opportunities to incorporate play into learning and to socialise with at first, adult direction and guidance. As well as having the opportunity to develop and build regulation through co-regulation, the adult as the safe base and emotion coaching.
The IAP eventually had two cohorts. The first attended in the morning and the second attended in the afternoon. This ensured links with the mainstream classroom remained, peer relationships as well as the relationship with the class teacher. Class teachers remained a part of the Team Around the Child and supported learning by providing plans which informed the adults in the IAP what was being taught in the classroom, and which could be adapted for the IAP. The class teachers were also invited to eat with their children and provide positive reinforcement though celebrating all achievements, including the small steps personal to the child.
The IAP Environment
The safety of the children was provided by the adults and the environment of the IAP. For the children to feel physical, psychological and emotional safety the approach of the adults had to be (flexibly) consistent, relational and restorative. The use of scripts ensured all adults used common language and the routine was repeated which made the environment predictable.
I also believe the flow of the environment and the movement of the children played a vital role in the self-regulation of the children and ultimately the success of the IAP. Sensory sensitivities were taken into consideration with the use of lighting and the volume of noise. Only three natural colours were used in the setting and the displays were personalised to the children to develop their identity, SEMH skills and to give a feeling of ‘home’. The learning displays were used in the ‘learning classroom’ area of the room. The room was zoned to help with the routine of the timetable and so the children were able to use the room collectively as a family to learn but also to regulate. Access to a sink and kitchen area enabled food to be prepared in the room as well as arts and crafts to be taught in the themed curriculum.
Not only did zoning the room support and develop the children’s self-regulation skills, it helped to develop social behaviours. The children were taught through positive modelling from the adults how to conduct themselves when learning, eating and relaxing. The children were able to discriminate between the suitable behaviours when being a part of a group as well as having time alone. Parents found this useful when supporting their children at home by being encouraged by their own children to use the table at dinner times!
The children learnt how to accommodate to others, take turns and consider each other’s needs in a smaller, nurturing environment. And by doing this the children were seeing themselves more positively and how they can positively contribute to a community setting.
We were starting to change their narrative of themselves.
Keeping Parents Informed and Engaged
Parents were informed from the start and were a key part to the Team Around the Child. Behaviour was not the central focus of the conversations when joining the IAP but rather SEMH progress and closing the gaps on attainment by focusing on executive functioning skills and self-regulation.
Parents quickly became on board when they knew their part in the support, and they had a partnership with the school. Many parents had lost their confidence in their own parenting when the phone calls were centred around their child’s behaviour, lost playtimes and incidents. The shift in conversations with a shared goal on working together to close the gaps and attending the IAP in smaller groups was the way forward.
Regular meetings were held to discuss the incremental progress of their child through SEMH assessments and how this could be supported at home. Attendance improved and there was a noticeable improvement on time management from most if not all of the families. We held coffee mornings, where the children made treats to accompany the drinks and carefully served the adults and parents. Parents found the IAP their own safe space and were invited in to gain help for their family, such as filling in forms and printing support.
Time well spent
The curriculum ran on a themed approach which all of the pupils were taught through. Teaching was adapted and lessons differentiated to meet the learning needs and objectives. Over time, progress was being made with English and maths as these were being discretely taught through creative subjects as well as within the routine of the IAP.
The children were feeling cognitive safety; learning was not being seen as a risk.
The IAP was developed for half a term placement with the intention of a graduated reintegration plan back into the mainstream classroom. For some pupils, this was longer. The success of this was communication between all adults, including parents, continually prioritising child / adult relationships, with all staff in the school supporting a relational approach as well as making the reintegration personalised.
The true success was seeing the children happy in school, attending and making progress which could be evaluated. The impact was noticeable on the whole school community, children, parents, and staff.
Slow was the fastest way to make progress.
Key considerations:
· Ensure you know the why; the purpose of the IAP
· Then focus on the how; by using an effective SEMH assessment tool and framework enables the cohort to be grouped, the staff to be placed and the timetable / curriculum to be planned.
· Continue regular meetings with parents – celebrate every small achievement.
· Ensure the relationship with the mainstream class is kept – small interactions make a big difference when planning the reintegration stage.
· Maintain a sense of belonging for everyone, the IAP is not external to the school but a key part to the whole school community. Keep a space on the agenda of staff meetings for the IAP, as well as training for the whole staff community.
· Everyone in the school has to follow the same relational approach; the Team Around the Child is imperative. One adult who is potentially misinformed could undo the work of the adults in the IAP in an instant.
· The environment is the safe base. The room/s used for the IAP need zoning, with careful consideration of an environment between the key elements of home and school.
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Hi I am Helen,
I am an Education Consultant from East Yorkshire. I have been in education for over 20 years as a teacher, SENDCo, Deputy Head and Acting Head. For the past 7 years I have had the role of a LA Specialist SEMH Advisor, before becoming the Director of Iris Consultancy.
I am passionate about driving a more of an inclusive Education System for disadvantaged and marginalised children/young people by developing internalised Alternative Provisions, Alternative Provisions (registered and unregistered) as well as PRUs.
I have worked with IAPs, APs and PRUs across the country in both Primary and Secondary ages; I have also successfully developed my own IAP to prevent exclusion and improve attendance, behaviour and inclusion. Services include consultancy work to set up, develop and run an IAP / AP as well as staff training on IAPS and Relational and Restorative Practice.
contactme@irisconsultancy.co.uk
www.irisconsultancy.co.uk
Helen Hatton