Jules

The phrase ‘leadership and management’ can seem daunting. I have no doubt that simply hearing those words is enough for some educators to decide against progressing up the career ladder. Whether you are considering taking on a leadership role for the first time or are already a leader or manager, it is a constant learning process. It is vital to reflect regularly on your experiences, positive or negative. Anyone who works in Early Years is aware of the power of reflections for staff, children and their families. It is a word I use a lot, reflect. It is a thread throughout this article and throughout my practice. Reflection is a skill. On a personal level this is a hugely important part of my character, to reflect and be the best version of myself in everything I do. This includes my professional role. I have been a manager for nearly 6 years and part of a management team for over 8, across age ranges from 0-11 including nursery, pre-school, and wraparound provision. I have opened new settings and closed settings too, but I am still evolving. Each role is different, the structure of the staff team, the cohort of children and the socioeconomics of the area may all differ but irrespective of this I believe there are some basic guiding principles that remain the same. First and foremost, you HAVE to spend time in the room regularly. Whether this is in ratio or not. I prefer a mixture of both - time in the room in ratio (then you can't get distracted and dragged elsewhere) and time in the room out of ratio. But regardless of whether it's in ratio or not, spending time with your colleagues and children and their families is what matters the most. Why is time in the room important? As with the majority of key decisions in Early Years over recent months, this in part links directly to the Early Years Foundation Stage 2021 reforms. I suspect most people reading this will already know that as part of the reforms it is down to individual settings to design their curriculum - what they want children to learn and when in addition to the emphasis continuing to be on the setting to decide their pedagogy - how they are going to educate children and deliver their curriculum. Whilst it is important that the development of both the curriculum and pedagogy is a whole team approach, it's also important to remember leaders and managers are part of this team too. The curriculum is an ongoing evolution. The intent, the way it is implemented and the impact will need to be constantly reviewed and adapted. The curriculum in your setting will directly influence your provision, the layout, the resources included within it. To analyse the effectiveness of your provision, how the children engage with it and whether it supports the children to build the skills you have laid out in your curriculum then you need to be on the ground, witnessing this first-hand. Leaders and managers also make decisions daily which have a direct impact on the day-to-day experiences of the staff, children and their families. It can be easy to make changes based upon the intent of your ethos and attempt to evaluate the implementation and impact of these changes from afar, but I would argue you can't get a true understanding if you haven't seen it in action. We acknowledge that children engage in the most meaningful learning when it involves first-hand experiences so why, as adults would that be any different? Without those first-hand experiences of the changes you have planned you can quickly become disengaged from the process and your team. When reflecting on anything in life it is preferable to try and see things from the view of others. This applies to Early Years too. Being an effective leader requires the ability to consider the experiences of others in comparison to your own. With this in mind, ask yourself these questions: what is it like to be a child / member of staff in the setting? How does your daily routine impact their experience? Another reason for leaders to be involved in the day-to-day practice within in the room is to help ensure the needs of all children are being met. Especially children with learning differences. Enhancing and adapting your provision, routines and practice to best support all children is a collective effort. When evaluating the impact of support provided to children with learning differences, it is usually the role of the child's key person and the settings SENCO, however I would also say to all leaders / managers that if neither of those roles are yours that you should be involved too. I ensure I am involved in all such evaluations. There are a couple of reasons for this but the main one is accountability. What do I mean by accountability? The role of a leader / manager in any industry comes with great responsibility and with that also there's accountability. You are ultimately accountable for the safety of both your colleagues and children and ensuring the children are properly supported and make developmentally appropriate progress. Therefore, it is only natural to want a first-hand understanding of this. What about supporting your colleagues’ well-being and development? Leaders / managers are not just responsible for progressing the development of the children and supporting their well-being, they also support the well-being of the whole team. This can take many forms and as with every aspect of Early Years there is no blanket approach that will fit every setting and every team. On social media there are so many wonderful and calming staff spaces and ideas to support staff well-being in addition to so many CPD opportunities beyond the usual mainstream providers. Unfortunately, some settings, like mine (privately-owned but based in a school) do not have the space available which we can use to create our own calming staff area but that doesn't mean there aren't other ways to support their well-being and professional development. In my setting I try to instil a calming and natural aesthetic. As many inspirational leaders point out, staff often spend the majority of their lives in work, so it is essential to ensure your environment is comfortable and meets the needs of your colleagues too. Despite not having a staff space we can call our own in our setting, I have created a CPD library for staff in an area of the room too high for the children to access (it is on Instagram if you want inspiration.) Even simple ideas such as having a coffee machine, a treat box or a sharing library for books that aren't related to CPD are just some ways to help staff feel valued and unwind. Furthermore, as a leader / manager you must always be ready to listen. Your team must feel you are approachable. I understand that staff are given the opportunity to speak to managers in private roughly every half term during supervisions when their well-being and training needs etc are discussed. I do, however, consider this to not be enough. If a colleague is struggling with their mental health, personally, professionally or both, would you really want them to wait weeks before sharing this with you? I certainly wouldn't. Instead, I would want my colleagues to feel they can ask for a chat any time they want. Whether they want this to be during the working day or even before or after it. We are here for them as well as the children. It is also crucial that we as leaders and managers also look after ourselves. I do admit that this is a flaw of mine, I am terrible at prioritising my own mental health and well-being. It can be hard to take time for yourself, especially when you are so focused on improving the outcomes and experiences for your colleagues, children and their families. But you are just as important, even though there might not be a leader above you in your setting who is able to look out for your well-being. How can you help to embed the ethos in your setting? The answer to this question links directly to the purpose of this article. Spend time with your staff and children. This is the most powerful way to embed your ethos. By choosing to do this you can model how you envisage it will work in practice. To help further you should observe the interactions in your setting, the interactions between staff members, between staff and the children and how the children interact with their peers. These interactions will enable you to understand how successful you are being at creating the desired experience for your colleagues and children. They will also clearly demonstrate if your ethos is building on your children's knowledge and skills and if they are making progress. The other critical impact that spending time in the room can have on how effectively you are able to embed your ethos is the opportunities for immediate analysis and discussion it provides. It is becoming more widely accepted that for children, the most powerful learning takes place 'in the moment', when engagement is highest and learning is scaffolded and built on there and then, not planned for a week’s time. I firmly believe that is exactly the same for adults. With this in mind, observing practice and being in the room means leaders / managers can reflect and have those discussions as a critical friend 'in the moment' when it is most relevant. I hope over the course of this piece I have provided some useful tips on why I believe spending time in the room on a regular basis is absolutely essential for all leaders and managers and that I have highlighted the huge scope of the role we undertake. Reflecting on our practice and the impact of it is so important - for every aspect of Early Years and we as leaders and managers are no different. But finally, I hope I haven't put any future leaders / managers off accepting the role. While the responsibility is vast, the rewards it brings are far greater.

In the last 18-month period, our lives, our work, family life and routines have all changed. We have all been shaken in some way or another. We have been united, however in our love for the outdoors. From pensioners to pupils, our green space has been invaluable. It is a place where we have found comfort, joy and safety. The science has said we are safer outside and this has been the guidance for schools too. This lends itself to taking the learning outside for the whole day and using science to engage our pupils. Whether it is to learn about habitats, animals, life cycles, plants or seasonal change, the outdoors can provide bountiful resources, that are free, and on our doorstops, quite literally. Teaching science outdoors is a great way to learn. It is also fun and memorable We could be investigating who lives in our local space, by closely observing a specific space for an amount of time. Making short notes as Darwin would have done in his notebook, we can then try to identify the minibeast, birds or other animals we see. Figure 1: Children with learning differences observing closely and being aware of a range of habitats We could also go on a nature walk and collect seeds, leaves, and twigs. These could be sorted based on a criterion. They could also be used to make a piece of artwork or collated as a journey stick. These cross curricular links are a way to add more science to your week, with as little stress as possible. Using one hour to teach two subject areas. Children often do not feel that they are working and learning when we are outside, as they are so used to the classroom environment. The freedom of taking the learning outside is something we can all relate too. Figure 2: Creating a piece of artwork as you walk through a green space The school timetable is bursting at the seams, it has been for years and now there is the added weight of ‘recovery planning’ and ‘catching up’. Cross curricular planning helps to add in some of the subjects in case they are being neglected or to teach them for a bit longer. It also allows for more time to be spent on subjects. Take for example, burying a broken plant pot or plate and then asking the children to be archaeologists and take part in a school dig. They can then explore patterns, shape, materials, touching upon history, geography science, and be working outdoors. Creating links between subjects deepens our knowledge of the learning. That is the idea of immersing yourself in a topic for a period of time. Consider any period of history, there were usually inventions and progress that was made. Sometimes the progress or regression can lead to a great discussion: for example, believing that the world was flat. This leads to a debate and then learning about the earth tilting on an axis, Why is there day and night?, and the science around this. The same can be said for discussions around Evolution, Gravity, and other forces. Sometimes cross curricular links can be as simple as growing vegetables from seed and then cooking with them. Here the nurturing, caring and responsibility for one plant, one growing space, can be beneficial to many or to a small group. Those skills around growing, nurturing, caring and feeding are very much based around our PHSE curriculum. Owning a plant, a space, allotment, windowsill, albeit shared, is a huge deal for young and old. Having a space to call yours has been vital these past two summers. It helped us with our sanity through the first National Covid lockdown in 2020. Those key skills of having a responsibility, communicating, working together, sharing, pride and teamwork are all key when growing as well as personal skills for life. Figure 3: A gardening club working together at lunch time. Once you start growing, children begin to consider other fruits and seeds, for example, what would happen if we planted the seeds from a pepper? Can I grow a tomato plant from the seeds? Lots of investigations, data, observation over time - so lots of science. Couple that with the harvested produce and then what to do with it - using the produce for food technology. Part of the design and technology curriculum teaches pupils life skills which can be shared at home and at any age. Making a simple salad or a pumpkin pie, using fresh produce you have grown - how fab! And it’s schoolwork! It is learning, and it is based in the English national curriculum. Figure 4: Harvesting produce- happy faces Science is a core subject. Not news for some people but it is worth remembering. Our children should be aware of the nature around them in the form of trees, plants, habitats, materials and animals. Taking in a science trail around the playground, the perimeter of the school grounds or along the road outside of school, is a way of focusing in on a specific area of science - be it light, materials, sounds, plants or animals. Encouraging children to use their senses, really look and listen. Make notes or try to retain as much as they can. Discussions around why a specific material is used for a bench, for flooring, for the lamppost, for the shed? All these are very valuable conversations and make the pupils aware of their surroundings. There is overlap here with geography and drawing out key features of their locality. Mapping skills and learning about directions and why certain trees and animals live where they live. The learning is very connected. Learning outdoors is not a new idea. There are numerous websites and lesson plans dedicated to this and even annual Outdoor Classroom days, the next of which is on 4th Nov 2021. Looking at the structure of trees, leaves, taking bark rubbings and creating pieces of art whilst sat outdoors - bliss. Through the art lesson, you can reinforce, revisit and sometimes extend science learning by discussing leaf patterns, trunk sizes, measure tree heights, or the width and age of a tree. Textures and colours can all help create a story or poem and also help with describing the nature around them. Pausing and reflecting on what is around us is a great activity for all ages. Listening to birdsong and seeing different birds and being able to identify them based on their distinguishing features is both great science learning and very good for our wellbeing. Figure 5: Adults listening to birdsong Climate change is very much in the news at the moment, with the COP24 summit in Glasgow. In terms of the primary curriculum, climate change does not fall neatly into one subject. It is very much a part of science, geography and PHSE as well. Measuring pollution, whether in sound, air, or water quality can be done using data loggers, water testing kits and diffusion tubes. The collecting and analysing of data also involve mathematical skills. A simple activity like placing sticky back tape in various parts of the school environment and then observing them after a period, allows us to see what pollutants have stuck to it. This is a simple way of showing young children how particles can be carried in the air, and we breathe in that air too. Links can also be made here to recent events reported in the news, like changes in weather patterns in terms of temperature, rainfall, and also variations in the lengths of seasons. Social media and often the news are now more frequently sharing videos of whales, dolphins and other sea life, losing their way and swimming into shallow waters. Where are the whales meant to be going? Where do they live? Why are we seeing more beached whales? Using research from secondary sources or by interviewing zoologists and marine biologists, pupils may want to find the answers to these questions or others of their own. Figure 6: Measuring PH levels in the river water In recent times, the world has had a huge focus on science. It has raised the subject to the forefront. It is our job now to keep it at the forefront of our teaching and ensure pupils are exposed to science regularly, making links with other subjects, everyday life, and their local area. Science is about connecting us with the world around us, and it is a very relevant subject because it is happening all the time. As you read this, your heart is pumping around your body, and you are using one of your senses to read. Many schools will tell you that they lack resources or have no resources, but the biggest science resource that we have, that is readily available, is the outdoors, and we could be using it weekly if not daily in our teaching and as human beings in our daily life. All our primary articles have been moved to Tapestry.info. You can read them and lots of other articles there.

The need to understand more about speech, language and communication development and making this a core focus of CPD is frequently discussed within the Early Years. As we move to work in Key Stage 1, the focus on this essential area of development often lessens. Shifting our focus away from speech, language and communication skills as we begin to focus more on formal learning, literacy, maths and knowledge is a false economy. For all children, there is still a great need for us to understand more about speech, language and communication development. Although, for many children, the basic skills are in place as they leave the EYFS, they still have so much to learn. To name just a few, narrative, negotiation and the language skills surrounding problem solving need to develop way beyond the basic level of skill which will have been established by the age of 5. Non-literal understanding, allowing children to understand and then use humour, sarcasm and metaphors, also develops within this next phase of Education. Understanding more about the speech, language and communication skills children still need to develop between the ages of 5 and 7, can allow us to think specifically about the opportunities we create for our children. These opportunities could be created within the learning environment, our planning and the games we play. For example, if we are making some play-based learning available to children within our learning environment, we can make more informed decisions about what we add to the environment and how we might evolve the opportunities over time. This is because we have a greater understanding of the correlation between the purpose of the opportunities we make available and the skills we are wanting to facilitate in our children. Although understanding more about this crucial area of child development has applications for all children aged 5-7, it becomes even more important when a child presents with skill gaps. Many children leaving the EYFS will continue to present with some or all areas of speech, language and communication at an earlier stage of development than would be expected for their age. This is known as delayed development. The more we know, the easier it is to establish which area or areas of a particular child’s development are delayed and which are not. Even more essentially, understanding more about the order of speech, language and communication development, allows us to establish what a child can do, moving away from just describing what they cannot. It is from the child’s level of success that we must work from as we set next steps and facilitate progression. Developmental Language Disorder can be easily missed within the EYFS and it is often between the ages of 5 and 7 that children with disordered patterns of language development begin to stand out a bit more. As the other children’s higher-level skills develop, especially with social communication, inference, prediction and non-literal understanding, it becomes apparent that these skills are not as automatic for some children. It is essential that, if we work in this age bracket, we know more about this so that we can spot Developmental Language Disorder and not confuse a child’s issues with behaviour, lack of listening or rudeness. As our expectations with reading comprehension, problem solving and creative writing rise quite quickly and significantly, it is essential that we understand the impact that disordered patterns of development may have. Understanding pragmatic development/social communication is essential if we want to know how to support a child who is not mixing with or struggling to socially engage with the other children. Pragmatic issues are often the core root issue, with many children struggling with Personal, Social and Emotional Learning. Understanding more about speech, language and communication development links in very strongly with Ofsted’s agenda with, as they term it, ‘The lowest 20%.’ It becomes very difficult to decide and talk about what this group of children need if we do not understand more about child development and what the barriers to learning and progression are for this group of individuals. Building a Skill Profile for children who are causing us concern and who need and deserve a little more thought is often the best place to start. From this point, we can then think about what each child needs and decide how we might achieve that. At this point, our thoughts often turn to interventions alongside some Quality First Teaching Strategies. More often than not though, we will reach for isolated Intervention Programmes or follow a pattern of giving these children more of that same, but simply in smaller groups. Although there is nothing intrinsically wrong with Intervention Programmes, it is essential that we understand what the gaps are that need closing. Otherwise, we are trying to fix a problem that we haven’t understood ourselves. We also need to think about what we do outside of that Intervention Programme. How can we support closing the gap within our interactions, within the opportunities we create within our learning environment, etc? Understanding more can also help us to understand that more of the same, is not always the best way to ensure progression. For example, visual discrimination issues will impact on a child’s ability to retain graphemes, especially similar, confusable ones or to move on to di- and trigraphs. Issues with sequential auditory memory are often the root cause of children not being able to blend. Although a strong and consistent SSP is crucial, we will be much more effective if, alongside, we identify and tackle these barriers rather than ignoring them. Not only is this more likely to facilitate progression, but it is also a fairer and more empowering approach to take when children are finding things tricky, no matter how many times you repeat the same thing. Issues with auditory memory and sequential auditory memory may also be the hidden reasons why a child can’t hold a sentence, remember what to do when they get to the table, struggle with problem solving and reading comprehension. Issues with semantic development/vocabulary skills may also be the hidden reason why certain children struggle with inference, prediction, generating ideas of things to write about and why they still tend to take everything that is said or read literally. Understanding more about the links between these core skills and the things we are trying to teach and ensure progression with can make things a lot less frustrating when a child can’t do something. Most importantly, it allows us to understand why this might be the case and what we need to do about it. Knowing more about the specific nature of different children’s skill gaps and the incremental skills that need to be facilitated to close the gaps, will allow us to think about the exact Quality First Teaching Strategies we need to put in place for different children. It also allows us to begin to embed interventions into our interactions, our planning, the learning environment and the speaking & listening games we choose to play. This means that ‘interventions’ become more frequent, are less labour intensive, more sustainable and are woven into what the child is learning and communicating about already. Often, we turn to isolated Intervention Programmes as they seem easier, particularly when we don’t have the knowledge or confidence to embed our own. Understanding more about speech, language and communication development can also really support us when we need to work with Outside Agencies. Deciding which children need referring elsewhere is greatly supported the more we know. The extent of the mismatch between a child’s stage of development and their age, along with disordered patterns of development would be the main factors that would indicate that a referral might be needed. Understanding more about this area of development also allows us to avoid over referring as we begin to feel more confident about these decisions and being able to set next steps for children ourselves. Multidisciplinary working also becomes more two-way, the more we understand about speech, language and communication development. It allows our referrals and reports to contain more specific detail and offers clarity to our thoughts about what a child can do well and what they find more difficult. A greater level of knowledge also allows us to interpret reports from Speech and Language Therapists, Educational Psychologists, etc. Most fundamentally, it allows us to understand what their assessment findings mean to a child’s learning and what we need to put in place for that child. To find out more about Launchpad for Literacy, visit the website. All our primary articles have been moved to Tapestry.info. You can read them and lots of other articles there.

Considering I had no intention of becoming a teacher, it’s very interesting how almost all of my experience as an educator has been spent supporting children with Special Educational Needs. Despite having considerable experience working with young people through various roles, this baby faced 22 year old had no prior experience working with children who had special educational needs. What’s more, I had never worked in a typical school setting. I had supported young people through sports and youth work but never in a school setting so my first role as a one-to-one for a non-verbal autistic child was a life-changing induction. In the early days of my career, I had supported autistic children and children with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) and SEMH (Social Emotional and Mental Health concerns). I loved every minute of it. I loved the relationships I developed with my students, my contribution towards their academic success and my influence on their wellbeing. It made me aware of the barriers to learning and the lack of understanding teachers had regarding these barriers. Ultimately, it opened my eyes to the lack of support both students, teachers and families received in mainstream schools when supporting children with complex needs. These revelations inspired me to pursue the SENCO qualification very early on in my teaching career but my first and most crucial decision was to first secure a teaching position in a special school for children with SEMH (Social, Emotional and Mental Health issues). A strange but well-informed decision for a Newly Qualified Teacher. Unlike mainstream schools, there isn’t a statutory requirement for specialist schools to have a Special Educational Needs Coordinator. Some may argue this makes very little sense considering a school exclusively for children with SEN requires a coordinator even more than a mainstream school. Fair point. However, when you understand the roles and responsibilities of staff in SEN schools you realise there is a shared responsibility for the provision of children with SEN. When this is the case, there is an acceptance that everyone is a teacher of children with SEN. This is how it should be. The responsibilities of middle and senior leaders more often than not include an area of responsibility that a SENCO would typically do. For example, the head of school may arrange and facilitate the annual reviews and the head of departments may liaise with external agencies like the speech and language therapists or the educational psychologist service. Despite the shared responsibility of the SENCO role amongst various staff at my school, I made the decision to apply for my National Award in Special Educational Needs Coordination (NASENCO) in my first year of teaching. As If I didn’t have enough on my plate. I devised a 5-year plan for my teaching career and highlighted the NASENCO as the professional development necessary for the roles I wanted in the future. It was an unusual decision because, as I mentioned earlier, my school did not have a SENCO and had functioned for 25 years without a formal SENCO in place. Furthermore, I knew the training would provide me with research, strategies and resources that could be applied to an environment lacking in fresh ideas. With my mind very much made up, I enrolled onto the postgraduate course and qualified as a SENCO in my second year of teaching. Whilst training to be a SENCO, I conducted a research study that focused on an area of improvement for the school. I focused my research study on the poor engagement of parents in their child’s learning and the poor communication between the school and its parents. The research process and its findings presented an opportunity to create a solution to a problem that could improve pupil outcomes. The following year, I used the findings of the research to create a parental engagement initiative that was named “Coffee mornings”. Parents came into school to share ideas and concerns whilst eating biscuits and drinking tea. It was perfect. It’s been a number of years since I took on the challenge of being a SENCO in an all through specialist school. There are 80 children altogether across Key stage 1 – 4 and each and every student has an Educational Health Care plan. In one way, you can say my role is made easier because my students arrive at my school with educational health care plans so no assessments are needed. However, there are 80 students that still require the very best service and to do this, you need everyone on board, playing their part. A huge part of my role is ensuring that the need of every child is being met and the necessary provisions are in place to meet those needs. One of the best decisions I made was to buy in to Provision Map created by Edukey. This allowed me to list what provisions we had available to our children and create the ones we needed according to our children’s needs. The obvious provisions are one-to-one support, mentoring, speech and language therapy etc. Then there are some provisions that are a lot more niche and bespoke such as Lego therapy, music therapy and bereavement counselling. The provision map tool allowed you to list these provisions on a database, assign relevant provisions to each child and review the success of these provisions. A dream. My personal expectation for senior leaders is a high level of teaching ability and a clear understanding of learning. This is no different for me as a SENCO. I’ve been fortunate to spend 5 years of my teaching profession educating children with SEN and I’m currently teaching a year 6 class. My experience and qualifications make me somewhat of an expert in my field – one who can and will get better of course. I use my skills and knowledge to support my teaching assistants and colleagues in areas of teaching and learning and behaviour for learning. This is by far my favourite part of being a leader – the empowerment of others. This can be as simple and as organic as conversations in the corridor and it can be as formal as CPD training delivered by myself or by an external agency. As a class teacher myself, I’m never too far removed from my teachers and I embrace leading by example and setting the standard I expect from others. Class teachers have the opportunity to team teach with me and I make myself available to support them in their planning and resourcing. But it’s not all about the teachers. The silent and underappreciated heroes of our great profession are the teaching assistants. Being a former teaching assistant, I can appreciate the contributions made by our TAs when it comes to supporting children with SEN. I’m also aware that unlike teachers, TAs do not get the same level of support in their professional development. Line managing TAs to teach intervention groups is one thing. It’s important and it’s very well needed but it’s the role of a manager. Recognising the strengths of your teaching assistants and putting them forward for training that will benefit the students, the school and their career is another thing entirely. That is leadership. In September, I will begin my new role of Assistant Head in a mainstream community school as Head of Inclusion. I believe my experience as a teacher and SENCO in an all through specialist school will make me well placed to support the school’s aim in being inclusive. Unfortunately, in many mainstream schools, there is far too much pressure on the SENCO to ensure high quality education for children with SEN in the school. This is what they will be judged on and rightfully so but there should be a shared responsibility of all staff in a school to create an inclusive environment for its children with SEN. I’m looking forward to supporting my SENCO, teachers and teaching assistants in making this possible. I’m looking forward to spotting talent within my staff and empowering those who are struggling and I’m looking forward to strategically planning for the provision of all children across the school, particularly those groups who are far too often excluded and marginalised. I was under no illusion that the role of a SENCO would be hard but the wisdom I’ve gained and the lives I’ve affected has made it well worth the journey. All our primary articles have been moved to Tapestry.info. You can read them and lots of other articles there.

Context Following the murder of George Floyd in 2020, the world began to reflect on itself. Institutions began to reflect on the structures and systems they had in place, and many had to ask themselves if they are truly representative and this included the Education system here in the UK. There were questions about whether the curriculum was reflective of our students and whether the staff body including those in leadership reflected the student body. Of course, these questions have been asked before – but they were brought to the forefront by the unfortunate killing of an innocent Black Man and the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement. An opportunity arose to make a real transformation of the education system as we know it. Many of my staff and students began to ask uncomfortable questions. Working with older children who often have access to what is happening in the world meant that I had to prepare for some tough and difficult conversations about why even if Black Lives Matter, it still means that all lives matter and the importance of having Black and ethnic minority teachers. My experience The phrase representation matters has gained traction over the past year. For some it is because they want true change, for others it is a form of tokenism with no real intention behind it. For those that fall into the category of the latter, they don’t seem to understand the value and importance of having representation everywhere, most importantly in the education system. Now I want you to take a moment and to ask yourself three questions 1. Growing up – were you ever the minority in your class? 2. Growing up – did you have teachers that looked like you? 3. How did the above make you feel about your education and what you can achieve? For me, I was always the minority in the classroom, and I rarely had a teacher that looked like me. On reflection, I had about two Black teachers growing up and one Asian. I have never had a Black or ethnic minority headteacher. Personally, this meant that teaching was never seen for me as a profession that I aspired to as I never actually got to see myself represented in the profession. When I got to college, I had two Black teachers. Two Black teachers who changed my outlook on life and outlook on education and how I could succeed. Now, I could only imagine that impact as a 5- or 7-year-old girl. I am now a teacher of much older students, those who have navigated through much of their education already, many of whom have formed a stereotype of what a teacher or headteacher looks like, many of whom have ruled out teaching as an option because they can’t see themselves represented in the teaching and staff body. This is worrying and I have often asked myself what the solution could be. The only way we can change this is if we feed representation into every stage of the education system, including early years and primary school. A more culturally diverse education system can only do good, it can only bring together a diverse amount of thought, ideas, and experiences to create an education system which truly values all. Why is representation important Diversity is important in education. Students need to be able to see themselves in their teachers. Now, this isn’t to say that White teachers can’t bring value to Black and Brown students – they absolutely can. I had many White teachers who made a positive impact on my life. But there is something about having a teacher that you can see yourself in. BAME teachers give minority ethnic students a chance to see what academic success looks like and it also gives them something to aspire to. For children, to see an adult which looks like them possess great qualities and an abundance of knowledge will of course leave them feeling inspired. It provides hope and something to aspire too. You can’t be what you can’t see. This is also extremely important for White students. It helps to dismantle stereotypes and helps them to see the beauty of diversity for themselves. It also exposes them to different cultures and different views of the world. This is so valuable to students, especially if we are preparing them for the wider world where they will interact with people from all walks of life. But this can’t stop with teachers in the classroom. School leaders also need to represent their students. Headteachers and senior leaders must also be diverse. For BAME students, seeing school leaders that reflect them is empowering and it also helps them to aspire to reach those positions. Diversity vs Inclusion Despite all the positivity around diversity, it’s important not to confuse diversity with inclusion. Having a diverse teaching workforce is great but to see the full impact, your institution must strive for inclusion. Inclusion is giving all your staff equal opportunities and to ensure all staff feel comfortable and valued in the workplace. Only then will you see the real impact of diversity in education. All staff should be able to have an input on policy and curriculum if there is truly going to be an education system which values all. I believe that this is something which children should be exposed to from a very early age. Primary school is a time of curiosity and asking questions. If students are engaged in diverse and inclusive environments from this stage in their lives, it means that this will become their norm. When they move through their lives, they will be able to question if certain environments they are in are not inclusive and they can work towards creating this in their own institutions. What can you do? So, let’s think about how you can make change to have a real diverse and inclusive setting for your staff and students. What I am not suggesting is that tomorrow you begin an overhaul of the curriculum, begin to recruit only BAME teachers and hope that this will bring change. Instead take small steps towards a more diverse environment: · Training – it is important to raise awareness and tackle unconscious bias and stereotypes that both staff and students may hold. · Celebrate diversity in schools. Ensure that all holidays are celebrated and recognised · Use images/resources that reflect students. When delivering lessons think about the pictures you use and the names that are used. Can you use the name Emmanuel instead of Harry? Do you typically use images of white people – can you change this? · Get support – my organisation like some others support schools in creating diverse and inclusive environments · Commit to long lasting change for the right reasons. Don’t engage in diversity for diversity’s sake The push towards a diverse and inclusive education system is not easy but it’s worth it. Rhia is founder and CEO of Black Teachers Connect. All our primary articles have been moved to Tapestry.info. You can read them and lots of other articles there.

The tagline on my website is “With the right knowledge and a little creativity inexpensive items can become effective tools for inclusion”. I wonder if perhaps there should be a reflection of this, that without the right knowledge it does not matter how much you spend on amazing sensory resources they are unlikely to have much effect. A good parallel to draw would be with mathematics, if we bought oodles of gorgeous maths resources and handed them to children how much would they learn? It’s likely that they would learn a bit. Perhaps if we had a bit of knowledge as we chose the resources, and the resources were especially well chosen, they’d learn a bit more. But ultimately there would be a limit on the understanding they could develop simply by being handed objects. And yet this is often what happens for children who have been identified as having sensory needs. Gorgeous sensory resources are purchased from glossy catalogues, perhaps they are identified in these catalogues as being for children with learning disabilities, or for autistic children, so we know we have bought the right stuff. The advertising promises that the resource will help the child calm down. We give it to the child. They like it. But a week down the line, two weeks down the line, could we really say it made a difference. In my work I constantly challenge people to reflect and question the given knowledge around them. So, let’s do that here. With just one simple sensory resource. Let’s explore how much there is to know about something so apparently simple. My resource of choice for this article is the settle jar. You will have seen these in one form or another, like an old-fashioned snow globe these jars are full of glittering particles that swirl around when agitated and then gradually settle to the bottom. They are beautiful! We buy one. We pay a bit extra for a particularly beautiful one. We give it to the child. They shake it and pause to watch the particles settle. Is that the calm we were sold? For starters if we model behaviour the effect will be more pronounced. Come alongside the child. Fix your gaze on the particles. Take a deep breath in through your nose and slowly steadily release it through your mouth. You may want to prompt the child to copy you but often there is no need. Our bodies are designed to fall into sync with the bodies of those around us, so you being calm will support someone who is trying to be calm. (For an insight into an opposite approach watch fly on the wall ‘documentaries’ following traffic police to witness very excited police officers yelling CALM DOWN at very agitated suspects – I’m not sure there is anything less calming!) Repeat the breath cycle seven times. Aim to be so calm yourself that the child cannot help but be overwhelmed by the calmness you are exuding. This alone can make a big difference in many settings, but there is more we can consider. For example: Why was it in the catalogue in the section ‘toys for autistics’ after all what is so autistic about glitter in a jar? Well perhaps it is a reference to the heightened visual processing many autistic people experience, perhaps the autistic child is better able to perceive the glitter? But surely that wouldn’t merit placing it in this section. I wonder what would happen if you rang up the catalogue producers? My guess would be they say that in their experience these products get used with children who are autistic. That’s a bit of a loop isn’t it? They’re sold to autistics, so they get used by autistics. But! There is a reason why resources like this can be especially pertinent to autistic children, and indeed to other neurodivergent people. And that is that often people who are diagnosed with a neurodivergent condition, for example autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or foetal alcohol spectrum disorder, often have problems with their executive functioning and with their interoception. Interoception is your ability to perceive your internal sensations. And it is these internal sensations that inform us of how we are feeling. If I know I am feeling stressed I can walk away from the situation that is causing me to feel stressed and avoid conflict. If I am getting stressed but I do not know I am getting stressed I am likely to remain in the situation and stumble into that conflict. A simple settle jar can be a great way to help someone externalise and habituate their emotional regulation. The need to externalise and habituate coping strategies is something I talk about in greater detail in my online course Exploring the Impact of the Senses on Behaviour. But in essence if you cannot do it instinctually internally, as is likely for people who face difficulties with their executive function and their interoception then you have to learn how to do it externally (externalise it) and you have to remember to actually do it (habituate)! This often gets likened to driving a car with a faulty fuel gauge. If you drive a car with a working fuel gauge you are unlikely to run out of fuel as you’ll notice and fill up when the gauge indicates you’re running low. However, if the fuel gauge is not working in order to avoid running out of fuel you’ll develop strategies such as counting how many miles you’ve driven or trying to remember to use a dipstick in the fuel tank before you set off. The better you get at applying these strategies the less likely you are to run out of fuel. Here is how I would use a settle jar to support a child to regulate their emotions and feel calm: I would show them the jar at a point in time when they are able to focus and engage and would link it to emotions. “When you get angry you feel all agitated inside” I would show the feeling of anger and frustration on my face and shake the jar. “And you want to calm down.” I would place the jar on the desk breathing out a big breath as I did so. Incidentally the linking of the downward motion of the particles to the instruction to calm down can be helpful to autistic children who are more prone than others to taking language literally (why is calm down? Why isn’t it in another direction? Calm left, calm diagonally, calm up?) I would complete some cycles of calm breathing (in through the nose for a count of 3 or 4, out through the mouth for a count of 5 or 6). If the child understood Makaton, I would partner this with the sign for calm which is beautifully reflective of the process and involves the signer placing their hands in front of their body with their palms facing down, one at chest height one at hip height, and then rotating them in a downward motion. So, it is as if the one at chest height presses down until it is at hip height and the one at hip height is lifted to become the one at chest height. Ongoing I would make reference to the jar as I informed the child of their emotional landscape. It can seem counter intuitive to tell someone how they are feeling, but many children are not aware of their emotions until they are super big. So, I might make a point when I see the child sitting reading a book of saying “I can see you are really calm and still, like the settle jar is calm and still” and indicating the undisturbed jar. On another occasion when the child is becoming agitated, I might tell them “I can see you are getting a bit upset and annoyed” and shake the jar to draw the parallel between their internal state and the external representation of that in the jar. I might also tell them how I knew what they were feeling. “I knew you were calm because you were still, your breathing was slow and deep, your shoulders were dropped” Letting them know the external markers you used to understand their emotional landscape gives them the option of using them too if their internal sensing isn’t working too well (if their fuel gauge is playing up). Moving forwards, I might offer the child the jar at moments when they needed to calm down. Or I might ask them to tell me how they feel by manipulating the jar to indicate their emotional state. Ultimately what I would hope to gift the child in doing this is a way out of distress. So that when they felt the unpleasant sensation of anger, they could go to the jar, shake it and take a pause to watch the glitter settle, breathing deeply as they did so, and reach that place of calm where a resolution to whatever the problem was might be easier to get to. It’s a skill many adults could use too. I might also find that the child is able to use the jar to express their emotion to me. Where before rage might have been expressed through behaviour, if they can come to me and shake the jar hard and hand it to me, that can be extraordinarily powerful. Then that simple jar becomes a way of them saying “please help me”. With the right knowledge and a little creativity inexpensive items can become effective sensory tools for inclusion! To make your own settle jar select a container with a watertight lid. Depending on who you are sharing this resource with you may opt to choose plastic over glass, and to superglue the lid closed rather than just screwing it on tight. Add a few tablespoons of clear glue to the jar and fill with warm water. The glue thickens the water so that your particles do not fall too rapidly, and the warmth of the water will help to mix the two together. Add in some glittery particles. Fix the lid in place. Shake and away you go. Tip: Use glitter glue tubes, squeezing one or two into a jar load of water gives you both the clear glue and the glittery particles in one fell swoop. You can find Joanna on Facebook , Twitter and Linkedin where you can ask questions about your own situation. Joanna also has a website www.thesensoryprojects.co.uk where she is currently curating free resources for lockdown.

Recently my colleague, Luke Rolls, co-edited Reimagining Professional Development in Schools (Routledge, 2020), the second book in a new series inspired by the vision of our school to truly connect research with practice. In the first chapter (Rolls and Hargreaves, 2020), the authors share the endurance and courage of a cross channel swimmer, Sarah Thomas, as a metaphor for the challenges that educators face each day. Sarah swam the English Channel four times without stopping. This unbelievable feat is compared to the ‘wavy seas’ of education and the challenges that educators, both teachers and teaching assistants, overcome to teach each child every day and every school week of the year. They comment that educators’ ‘true stories are usually invisible, untold and unmeasured’. This is not the case, though, of the professionals mentioned in the Reimagining Professional Development book and in this article; stories that must be heard in order to change the deficit narrative so common in our education profession. The unusual thing about this book is that TAs are mentioned as central partners in the work of schools and Chapter 9 was actually co-written by me, a teaching assistant. One thing I know for sure is you can only write about continuing professional development if you have actually experienced it. Unfortunately, so many of my teaching assistant colleagues in other schools say they are not included in professional learning because of school budget constraints. With a population as big as Iceland (UCL, 2020), the teaching assistant community represents a vast resource that needs to be mobilized to support teachers and school leaders if we are serious about realising the ambitions we all have for our children. This is a great opportunity for me to describe how one school, The University of Cambridge Primary School (UCPS), is rewriting the narrative of continuous professional development for all educators, including TAs. Our story goes back to the end of a very busy term in December 2018, when our Head Teacher, James Biddulph, shared with us a quote from Maya Angelou: ‘Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better’. With the words of Dr Angelou replaying in my head and thoughts of the newly founded Chartered College of Teaching (which was founded to support leaders and teachers), I approached Dr Biddulph and Dame Alison Peacock to ask about establishing a Teaching Assistant Twilight Network of professional development. However these twilight sessions would not be exclusively for Teaching Assistants (TAs). They were open to anyone who was willing and able to engage with research informed and practitioner professional development. Dreams came to fruition on the 22nd March 2018 when we welcomed Nancy Gedge to UCPS. Nancy had recently released a book, Inclusion for Primary School Teachers (2016) and had developed impressive practices that included all children. It was great to welcome many educators from the local area to our first session. Nancy was able to share her wealth of inclusive knowledge as a teacher and mother of a child who has special educational needs. These sessions aimed to increase the knowledge and pedagogical practices of teaching assistants in supporting children’s social, emotional and academic development and wellbeing. They also came to represent the beginning of a learning community sharing its collective knowledge, understanding and strategies to support vulnerable children in different settings across Cambridgeshire. Over the years, schools seem to have fallen into a pattern of over reliance on teaching assistants (Webster, 2019, p. 85) to support children who have been identified as having a special educational need. From my own experience, it is often TAs that constantly support children with additional needs; a practice that does a disservice to both the child and the member of staff. It is somewhat puzzling that while teaching assistants are so rarely mentioned in any government guidance, they are expected to achieve so much. And do so with little professional development support. As teaching assistants, we might question whether we are considered in terms of being babysitters and as ‘extra pairs of hands’ to help the teacher? Or are we, or rather can we be, partners with teachers and school leaders and external experts in education, in enabling the very best learning for all children? Thanks to a group of researchers, there is a wealth of evidence out there, which suggests the best way to deploy teaching assistants and how to move children from adult dependence to independence. Currently this CPD is being offered to schools via the Maximising the Impact of Teaching Assistants team (http://maximisingtas.co.uk/). At UCPS, we have invested in these CPD opportunities and reaped the rewards: our teaching assistants, who we call Learning Coaches, are empowered with knowledge and skill to support children, and to assist them to be independent learners – no matter what their learning need. Paula Bosanquet is a regular visitor to UCPS and her research informed ‘scaffolding triangle’ (Bosanquet et al, 2016) has become an embedded part of our practice. It is through this support to our Learning Coaches that I believe we shift away from adult-dependent children towards celebrating their independence with them. In 2019, after the publication of Including Children and Young People with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities in Learning and Life: How far have we come since the Warnock Enquiry-and where do we go next? (Webster 2019), we evolved our approach away from standalone sessions to a more coherent professional development programme. Collaborating with two special schools, one in Cambridge and the other in London, we decided that for the academic year our twilight sessions would concentrate on research informed inclusive practice. Over the year, we welcomed researchers, charities, practitioners and experts, all passionate about advancing a vision of education that would serve all children. To model this aim, they were not the only visitors who attended; parents were also welcomed. One memorable session, led by Matthew Parker who specialises in ADHD, was particularly poignant. Not only did he help the attendees to understand the neuroscience of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and how best to support learners in the classroom, he stayed on to spend a considerable amount of time talking with parents, suggesting how to help their youngsters at home. Another standout session took place one cold evening in November when Liz Elks from ELKLAN drove all the way from Cornwall to provide a short but impactful one hour of professional development. In attendance was a head teacher from a local primary school and her team. Liz’s dedication in sharing her expertise led to 3 of our teachers and 6 Learning coaches going on to complete their level 3 ELKLAN qualification. In return for the goodwill of others that we have benefited from, we similarly share our professional development programme, which we are able to offer free online for all educators to access (http://unlockingresearch.org/). A small ripple within the wavy sea of education, attempting to help all children, everywhere. The recent release of a hard hitting government report Special educational needs and disabilities Report (2019) suggests that the timing has been prescient. This publication echoed a similar narrative to that of Webster’s book and the CPD session he delivered for us. The report lays out clearly that the number of children with SEND is increasing alongside a corresponding pressure on teachers and schools. And that a lack of training for school staff means, more than ever, schools urgently need expert advice from other professionals (House, 2019 p.17). So how are the government planning on meeting the needs of learners with SEND and a workforce trying their best to educate all children in challenging circumstances? While there has been years of talk and discussion within political debate of the systemic structural issues in SEND provision, this appears to have been accompanied by very little action. Has any insight been sustained since Warnock suggested founding a Research Special Educational Staff College (Warnock, 1978) in the late 70s? A glimmer of hope comes in this most recent report in the mentioning of developing Regional SEND focused training Hubs. A training hub for the future, a hub recognising the contribution made by all of the adults who work in schools, regardless of their title. With the right implementation, therein could be an educational legacy that this government could proudly provide and commit to for children across the country. What is in no doubt is that educators work tirelessly trying their best to educate and care for the children in their schools. Surely it’s about time, and especially in light of the loss of learning experienced during the global pandemic, that all educators, especially teaching assistants, become viewed as part of the educational process and profession. Fortunately for me, I work at a primary school that offers a different approach and in so doing suggests the possibilities of how much more can be done. Maybe together with my colleagues at school and UCL, we can raise the profile of teaching assistants so that they are professionally recognised for the vital role they play in supporting our future generations.

What are the Cherry Garden Branch Maps? A new assessment tool developed by the namesake school (an outstanding specialist school in London for children with severe and complex support needs). The maps organise key milestones that you would expect to find in a typically developing child from birth to 5 years, with additional bridging branch maps for a level expected in Year 1. The aim is to provide practitioners with a straightforward overview of a child’s current level and support them to set appropriate next steps. What makes them different to existing assessment models? The maps are intended to be child-centred documents that allow for a flexible approach to assessment – moving away from previous models where the expectation would be that a child makes typical ‘linear’ progress. A child’s learning journey can follow its own unique path, and the straightforward organisation of milestones means that adults can see if a child has missed a key step that is holding them back from moving forward. How can using the Branch Maps enhance parental engagement? Cherry Garden School’s initial concept for their assessment system was for an interactive Cherry Orchard that parents/carers could explore to investigate the learning of their child. Once they had completed the writing of the developmental documents, they joined forces with Tapestry to make this idea a reality. Tapestry have brought the concept to life, creating an attractive, interactive orchard that shows multimedia evidence of a child’s learning. How does the Cherry Orchard show progress to parents? There are two key visualisations in the Orchard. For a child whose support needs are less complex/severe, their cherry tree grows and leaves are added as they secure understanding. A parent can click on leaves to see evidence of learning. The tool allows a user to take snapshots at any time to make comparisons in the future. A child will have their own learning tree for each main curriculum area. What about progress for children with the most profound needs? The second visualisation type in the Orchard is a flower. The flower’s interactive petals grow as a child gains understanding, but they also deepen in colour as a child generalises skills. It is important for learners with the most significant support needs that we celebrate this ‘lateral’ progress and help parents to understand the learning that has taken place. A parent can click on a petal to see evidence of learning. Summary The Cherry Garden Branch Maps from Tapestry provide schools with a child centred, flexible approach to assessing children with learning differences, which is proven to enhance parental engagement in a child’s learning. They: · Provide teachers/support staff with key milestones in typically developing young children. · Demonstrate not only linear but also lateral progress – perfect for children with complex support needs. · Enable parents to explore and understand their child’s learning through a unique Cherry Orchard visualisation. If you are a setting that uses Tapestry then you can enable the Cherry Garden framework by following this tutorial. There are also tutorials on the Cherry Garden Orchard, Strand Scores, Cherry Garden Term Progress, and Cherry Garden Targets Progress. For any further tutorials, take a look at our Tutorials Page. You can download the Branch Maps free of charge from the links below: The branch maps must not be used for commercial purposes or included in digital software other than Tapestry. Copyright remains with Cherry Garden School and The Foundation Stage Forum. PSED Branch Map Feb 2022.pd CLL Branch Map Feb 22.pdf CLL and English Bridging Map Feb 2022.pdf MD Branch Map Feb 22.pdf Mathematical Development Bridging Map Feb 2022.pdf PD Branch Map Feb 2022.pdf UW Branch Map Feb 2022.pdf EAD Branch Map Feb 2022.pdf Communication Book Branch Map Feb 2022.pdf Symbol Exchange Branch Map Feb 2022.pdf Transition Branch Map Feb 2022.pdf This document shows how the Branch Maps correlate with the EYFS and P Scales: Cherry Garden Branch Map Assessments Conversions.docx