I believe in inclusion and I often wonder if we’re providing the best possible academic progress for our SEND learners within mainstream schools. Do we have enough time to spend with them? How can we improve their progress regardless of sets, or mixed ability classes? How can we teach them to the best of their abilities within overcrowded classes, struggling budgets and other daily difficulties?

I consider myself lucky - I am a SEND specialist teacher who has worked at a special school and is now working in mainstream. It’s given me a different perspective and an opportunity to compare and apply various approaches, techniques and views into my teaching practice. The majority of strategies I’ve learnt from specialising can be easily adapted and adjusted to meet our pupils’ needs in mainstream schools. Here are my 10 tips to support your SEND pupils better.

Guest blog by Tom Oates, Nurture teacher and pupil premium coordinator at Joseph Norton Academy. @JNA_Tom

Guest blog from Sally Franklin, MITA project coordinator & NASENCo lecturer UCL, Institute of Education. @MITAproject  

The evidence is clear: poor teaching assistant deployment has a negative impact on attainment; effective teaching assistant deployment can have positive impacts.

A ‘perfect storm’ is brewing in SEND which means that schools can no longer accept the status quo with regards to their teaching assistant deployment. Schools in England employ more than 380,000 teaching assistants and the average school spend on teaching assistants is about £200,000 per year.