Ofsted inspections in schools for pupils with SEND: three top takeways…

We recently had the privilege of interviewing Jade Collinge Long — a PSHE lead working in a Complex Needs School for children and young people from Early Years through to Year 13 — about her experiences of teaching PSHE and recent Ofsted inspection.

Here are three of our top takeaways…

1. Demonstrating the diversity of pupils' needs…  Jade prepared a selection of work and evidence from each of the ‘pathways’ / different types of learners in her school. These included photographs, personal learning goals and topic books for PMLD learners. For more formal classes, exercise books and lesson activities were provided for the inspector.

2. Be prepared — have your PSHE file up-to-date: Jade included an action plan in her PSHE folder, with - clearly denoted areas for development and actions, including:
   - PSHE policy (and other, related policies),
   - Learning walk assessments
   - Details about staff training undertaken
   - Examples of PSHE planning from across different ‘pathways’
   - Samples of pupils’ work
   - Our Planning Framework for Pupils with SEND, which had been adapted to suit the needs of learners
   - Medium- and long-term plans
3. Use data from pupils Education and Health Care (EHC) Plans to inform PSHE curriculum planning. Consider how the PSHE curriculum can support pupils with the barriers to learning that they may experience. Where in your PSHE provision are pupils learning about how to keep safe and developing the skills and understanding which take into account their known vulnerabilities and personal learning needs?

You can read the full interview transcript here.