Welcome to another year of frenetic activity on the policy front. Last year saw the opening of the first Special Academies and this year heralds the start of Special and Alternative Provision Free Schools. Time will tell how these developments contribute to wider opportunities and increased provision for pupils with SEND.

As the government’s follow up to the SEND Green Paper, (which seems to be suffering from the same amount of slippage as the Green Paper itself), has yet to appear, the main news is to do with training opportunities.

National Scholarship Scheme

The first tranche of teachers awarded one of the new National Scholarships have been announced. Of the 2,000 applicants, 280 were for the priority areas of English, Maths and Science, and 391 for SEN teachers, which was the other priority area. It’s encouraging that this was more than the other 3 subjects put together.

Autism Training

On Thursday 26th January, I attended the launch of the Autism Education Trust’s (AET) Training materials, which are being developed by ACER (Autism Centre for Education and Research) at the University of Birmingham. Level 1 materials are being piloted at the moment and Glenys Jones, a leading light in the field of autism, gave us an update on Levels 2 and 3. AET Training Hubs have been created as a vehicle for delivering the training. These are:

London                        Ambitious about Autism (formerly Treehouse School)

                                    The Bridge Training & Consultancy Centre, Islington

South East                    The National Autistic Society

East Midlands               Leicestershire County Council

                                    NORSACA & Nottinghamshire CC

West Midlands             Birmingham City Council          

North West                  Oldham Local Authority

It is hoped to develop at least 2 more Hubs to cover the remaining areas. Further information is on the AET’s website: www.autismeducationtrust.co.uk

SLD, PMLD and CLDD Training

Meanwhile, the online training being developed as a result of the Salt Report and the CLDD Research Project, is nearing completion. These are being developed at 4 levels, rather than 3. There will be 16 modules, each with a different focus, including: typical and atypical child development, the legislative context, the curriculum challenge, developing inquiry-based practice, quality of life, emotional well-being and mental health, and interfacing with neuroscience.

Arising out of the work led by Barry Carpenter on complex learning difficulties and disabilities (CLDD), if you’re intending to go to The National Forum for Neuroscience and Special Education’s first Conference: ‘Myths, methods and making a difference,’ which is being held on 10th February at the Institute of Psychiatry in London, do allow enough time to get there.

Having just made the trek to view the facilities for the conference, it took more time than expected, due to the cancellation of a train from Victoria station to Denmark Hill and then finding the station was in the midst of redevelopment, causing the exits to be somewhere different from the map. Anyone still hoping to go but not yet booked in may be able to grab one of the remaining places, as the conference has been moved to a larger venue within the Institute of Psychiatry.

This will be a rare chance to hear Ute Frith, who will give the opening speech. To check out further details, go to: www.ssatrust.org.uk/ssat/Pages/EventDetail.aspx?eventid=LAN1015108.

or book with Natalie Eccles on 01902 796067 at The Schools Network (Natalie.Eccles@theschoolsnetwork.org.uk).

In the next SEND Blog, due out in mid Feb, I will give you an update on the  meetings of:

·        the Special Education Consortium (SEC)

·        the Joint Unions on SEND issues (31st Jan)

·        NAHT’s SEND Committee (7th Feb)

Hopefully, by then, the Next Steps to the Green Paper or a White Paper may have put in an appearance.

Rona Tutt