Creating a supportive learning environment- eg ‘help box’ with appropriate resources in each classroom; folders in classrooms (on tables) containing resources such as word mats; using off- white paper (not black text on white paper); colour coding/ dyslexia friendly environment; working walls and purposeful displays (eg key vocabulary); prompts/ reminders/ ‘to do’ lists; seating selection; visual cues and timetables; timed rewards and consequences; changing visuals (eg Smart boards – changing images, clips, texts and colours); brain breaks.
Differentiation- eg task sheets; providing PowerPoint printouts; timers; breaking down skills; understanding of ‘small steps’ approaches; targeted questions at different levels.
Scaffolding of work- eg task plans; word banks; sentence starters; writing frames.
Promoting independence- eg scaffolding; timers; visuals; sharing expectations; work pitched at pupils’ level; effective deployment of support staff; offering mediation at a lower level first before increasing, where necessary (See Getting Help column).
Staff approaches- eg peer observation, joint planning and support (eg triad delivery model); chunking verbal instructions.
Multi-sensory teaching methods.
Repetition of concepts and skills - eg pre-teaching vocabulary; address misconceptions the same day; retrieval practice (last session/ last week/ last topic/ last term); bridging new content and skills with prior learning (eg ‘where have we seen this before?’)
Provide staff and peer feedback that is specific, clear and accurate; which focuses on improvement from previous work; and which supports effort and perseverance.
Arrange relevant training for staff from external support services, where needed.
Staff awareness of the the learning hierarchy to support their understanding of the stages involved in developing a skill and identifying which stage pupils have reached/ where additional support to progress may be needed:
Fluency (practice phase and becoming familiar with the task; starting to focus on speed as well as accuracy (eg identifying sounds more quickly and automatically). Individuals will make different rates of progress).
Use effective assessment and monitoring tools to identify all pupils’ learning levels and track progress, eg:
Establish good links with home to support learning, eg:
Further assessment of need through observation, collating assessment data, and gathering the views of staff, parents/ carers and pupils, following a graduated approach and assess-plan-do-review-learn cycles.
Awareness of pupils who may benefit from additional support at the acquisition and fluency stages of the learning hierarchy (eg strategies such as pre-teaching of key concepts/ vocabulary and increased repetition and over-learning with opportunities to revisit concepts more frequently).
Facilitate learning activities in smaller and targeted groups, in limited distraction environments where possible.
Individual and/ or small group interventions with appropriate pre- and post- measures to evaluate progress (examples of specific Literacy and Numeracy interventions are suggested below); good starting points for finding out about evidence- based interventions, programmes and approaches are:
Different pupils will require different types, levels and intensity of adult mediation (approaches and strategies used to support during tasks and activities) to maximise their learning of specific skills and to promote increased levels of independence. The focus of mediation may include:
Modes of mediation may include:
Mediation should begin at the lowest level needed for the pupil; some will need to begin at a higher level than others. Mediation progresses from higher to lower levels as follows:
Use appropriate assessments to identify difficulties early, establish a greater understanding of the pupil’s needs and inform appropriate referral to other services.
Over rehearsal of information to enable pupils to progress through the hierarchy of learning (see General section) eg Precision Teaching (PT) intervention. PT intervention is suitable for those who struggle with working memory difficulties and retaining information and is used as an intensive 1:1 intervention.
Higher levels of mediation during tasks (see Getting Help).
Obtain and record pupil’s views through pupil voice activities.
Obtain and record parental information and views through questionnaires, parents’ evenings, assemblies and social media forums.
Use of plan-do-review-learn processes to monitor progress and plan individual support.
Create individual education plans (IEPs) or similar and adapt termly, with progress against targets routinely reviewed by the Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENDCo), relevant staff and child/ parents/ carers.
Ensure that any Teaching Assistants (TAs) involved with the pupil understand the purpose of the IEP or group plan and support the pupil to achieve their targets.
School staff, SENDCo, parents/ carers and pupil to continue to liaise on a regular basis – a minimum of three meetings with parents within a 12-month period.
Refer to external agencies for further support around learning and factors which may impact children’s progress (eg Educational Psychology Service (EPS), Speech and Language Therapy (SALT) service, Ethnic Minority and Traveller Achievement Service (EMTAS), Learning Support Service (LSS), Primary Inclusion Team (PIT)).
Target Setting:
Joint objectives planning and target setting involving other agencies as needed; reports should feed into provision map.
Where a child has an EHCP:
Employ strategies to develop pupils’ metacognition and self-regulation (i.e. the ability to monitor, direct and review their own learning, through explicitly thinking about their own learning, setting goals and evaluating progress) and executive function skills (these are a set of skills and mental processes that develop throughout childhood and adolescence, which support pupils to self-regulate, initiate, attend to and persevere with activities successfully).
Explicit teaching of metacognitive strategies, following the seven-step model:
Organise and structure classroom talk and dialogue, including ‘Socratic talk’, talk partners and debating.
Teacher modelling of own thinking and understanding at a whole-class level (eg modelling self-talk when preparing for a task, making mistakes or monitoring reading comprehension).
Provide sensitive levels of challenge and mediation based on the pupil’s needs, promoting independence as a learner where possible.
Whole-class input using visual and auditory cues to support attention and listening.
Reduce load on working memory –break instructions down into chunks, offer repetition and visual cues. Use whole-class initiatives which also improve memory and recall skills (eg Talk for Writing).
Use of visual organisation strategies at a whole- class level - structured task plans, writing frames or use of colour coding system [red- task done; amber-current; green-to do], and visual timers.
Use of visual displays and posters for key information in the classroom.
Provide examples of the expected outcome of a task (‘What a good one looks like’ [WAGOLL]).
Use of multi-sensory learning opportunities and access to concrete apparatus across the curriculum (eg cubes, counters, number lines, spelling or word mats).
Use of spaced learning (content/topics which are taught and revisited at spaced intervals) at a whole-class level.
Teach and model working memory strategies (information rehearsal, chunking information, use of visual imagery, and creating narratives/stories to remember information).
Use of frameworks and mnemonics, displayed visually, to support pupils to plan and review their work (eg Plan, Organise, Write, Edit and Review- POWER; Capitalise, Organise, Punctuate, Spell check- COPS).
Targeted observation of pupils’ executive function skills in the classroom, including: self-regulation/ inhibition control, working memory, sustained attention, task initiation, planning/prioritising, organisation, time management, persistence and flexibility.
Use of observational data and targeted assessment to clarify strengths and needs (eg Working Memory Rating Scale (WMRS)/ Automated Working Memory Assessment).
Promote dialogic teaching, which emphasises classroom dialogue through which pupils learn to reason, discuss, argue, and explain.
Further promote and embed metacognitive talk when working in smaller groups (i.e. explore thinking around a task, how to plan, prepare and use strategies to approach a task with pupils and ways to monitor levels of understanding).
Use of technology and ICT-based resources to support planning, organisation and retention (eg voice activated software, talking tins/post cards, Clicker 8).
Provide explicit instruction and targeted goal- setting with individual pupils/groups around key skill areas (eg self-organisation or basic time management).
Use clear, visual organisation aids on an individual basis (eg task boards).
Small group interventions to develop targeted skills (eg access to small group sessions to practise attention and listening skills, working memory: Cogmed /Jungle Memory). Complement computerised interventions with strategy-based practice within the classroom, explicitly highlighting strategies used to recall/ retain information.
For pupils with complex needs, assess key skills and engagement through structured observation (eg using The Engagement Profile and Scale) in order to create personalised learning pathways.
Access to targeted intervention (eg practising self-organisation skills, or supporting working memory, Cogmed, Jungle Memory, Lucid Memory Booster), based on clearly identified needs with pre/post measures to monitor progress and impact. Bridge intervention strategies into the general classroom environment.
Access to individualised intervention, linked to IEP targets, based on the principles of distributed practice and overlearning (eg daily Precision Teaching), with support to apply learning in context.
Use of individualised strategies, embedded within daily provision, to support pupils’ rehearsal, recall and organisation of information (eg voice recorders, comic strip apps, video).
For pupils with complex needs, assess key skills and engagement through structured observation (eg using The Engagement Profile and Scale) in order to create personalised learning pathways.
Access to targeted intervention (eg practising self-organisation skills, or supporting working memory, Cogmed, Jungle Memory, Lucid Memory Booster), based on clearly identified needs with pre/post measures to monitor progress and impact. Bridge intervention strategies into the general classroom environment.
Access to individualised intervention, linked to IEP targets, based on the principles of distributed practice and overlearning (eg daily Precision Teaching), with support to apply learning in context.
Use of individualised strategies, embedded within daily provision, to support pupils’ rehearsal, recall and organisation of information (eg voice recorders, comic strip apps, video).
Use of evidence-based approaches to teaching literacy (eg Education Endowment Foundation Improving Literacy in Key Stage 2 guidance report).
Collaborative learning and peer tutoring approaches (eg Paired Reading, Cued Spelling).
Reading buddy/ peer support/ joint learning.
Kagan Structures and mixed-ability groups.
Class literacy programmes which can be differentiated for individuals eg: Achieve 3000 (KidzBiz3000 for KS2) – a family of online literacy interventions to improve reading, writing and critical thinking skills.
Whole class engagement with an appropriately pitched non-fiction text about a particular issue each day (reading, answering questions, giving opinions and linked writing task).
Ensure that Literacy skills are embedded throughout the curriculum (eg SMSC lessons).
Assessments of skills to inform support and intervention plans, eg whole school dyslexia screen and SALT assessments; bench marking with in-depth assessments (eg York Assessment of Reading for Comprehension YARC).
Peer support (eg Year 6 – teaching younger pupils). Pair up lower attaining pupils to read with younger peers in the school.
Resources to support literacy skills for individuals/ small groups, eg reading and spelling squares, TTS resources.
Targeted ‘basic skills’ time work and small-group support for pupils struggling with Literacy skills eg:
Use of structures to support engagement and motivation (eg incentive boards, work then reward format).
Access to technology and interventions such as:
Online learning software that the pupil can access without adult support eg IDL, Dyslexia Gold).
Interventions to develop literacy skills, based on principles of repetition and over-learning, with support to generalise skills (Precision Teaching, Toe by Toe).
Specific assessments - Dyslexikit, Sounds Write, Bearing Away/ Bear Necessities, Raven’s assessment.
More specialised interventions, Reading Recovery - a short-term (12-20 weeks) early intervention programme, aimed at the lowest-achieving 20% of KS1 readers, and delivered by a trained Reading Recovery teacher.
Use of evidence-based approaches to teaching Mathematics (eg Education Endowment Foundation Improving Mathematics in Key Stages 2 and 3 guidance report).
Collaborative learning and peer tutoring approaches (eg Paired Maths– an approach where a ‘tutor’ and ‘tutee’ jointly work on Maths questions using a framework of understanding the question, finding an answer and finishing the question by reflecting on what they have done and linking to previous learning).
Ensure that Mathematical skills and learning are embedded throughout the curriculum (eg SMSC lessons).
Use of appropriate assessments to identify strengths and areas of need, in order to target intervention. This may include standardised assessments (eg Sandwell Numeracy test) as well as formative, criterion-referenced and curriculum- based assessments such as Precision Teaching baseline probes.
Peer support (eg Year 6 – teaching younger pupils).
Small group interventions to develop numeracy skills, eg:
Very small group/ paired/ individual interventions to develop numeracy and underlying skills, eg:
More specialised interventions, eg:
Numbers Count 1 – a specially trained teacher gives individuals or small groups at least 3 x 30 minute lessons for a term. Sessions are planned for individuals based on initial assessments, with a focus on number and calculation.
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