Statement on Inclusive Pedagogy at Cardinal Wiseman Catholic School

At Cardinal Wiseman Catholic School, teachers have committed to making the following adjustments in lessons to support students whose Special Educational Needs disadvantage them pastorally:

1. Provide a calm and safe environment.
2. Attune use of voice and gesture.
3. Increase waiting time, for answers from students who find it difficult to concentrate
4. Speak at an appropriate pace, using facial expression to support the messaging.
5. Consider use of language when teaching, such as vocabulary, short sentences, pauses, checking understanding, personalising questions, and avoiding ambiguity.
6. Use visual supports to structure and organise the learning environment; for example, labels, images, lists, task break-down prompts, and timetables.
7. Mitigate the sensory overload in classrooms, particularly for students with diagnoses or traits of autism.
8. Find out all you can about the learner’s background, to help you understand what they might be trying to communicate through their behaviour.
9. Pay attention to small social or learning behaviours and praise these immediately - ‘It’s lovely to see that you are looking at me, and are ready to start your maths’ or ‘Thank you for being so kind when you picked up that pencil and put it back in the correct place’.  It is likely you will get more positive behaviour as a result
10. Ensure that the expectations of our Culture for Learning are made clear to students with SEND, and are taught and rehearsed with reference to the Wiseman virtues, (including the use of ‘show me STARs’).
11. Avoid learners becoming ashamed or embarrassed by what you say.  (This may trigger a negative behaviour response.)
12. When responding to behaviour difficulties try to stay calm and not raise your voice.  This will let learners know that you are managing your own emotions and are not losing control.
13. Be confident to notice small misdemeanours and quietly comment on these.  This will reduce the likelihood of situations escalating.
14. Ensure a warm tone and a relational element in how you approach students, which will be particularly important for students with attachment needs linked to previous trauma.
15. If a student’s response to a Teaching Assistant becomes disruptive, direct the TA to work elsewhere briefly, and give the student discreet advice in a warm-strict tone on how to respond to the TA, before reinstating the support.
16. To avoid discussions with students with ADHD becoming rapidly about behaviour difficulties, front-load communication with them with academically-focused comprehension checks.
17. When reading aloud is to be done in class, direct students with ADHD to do this more frequently to help them concentrate, and direct students with language difficulties (or high-need EAL) to do this when appropriate.
18. Provide additional supportive prompts when students with ADHD struggle with concentration, before issuing ‘off-task’ or ‘effort’ marks.
19. If a student identified with ADHD, SEMH, or autism is carrying a stress ball and it does not distract anyone from learning, allow them to hold/ use this appropriately.

At Cardinal Wiseman Catholic School, teachers have committed to making the following adjustments in lessons to support students whose Special Educational Needs disadvantage them academically:

1. When students might find the cognitive load excessive, ensure they are able to access key takeaways from the lesson, which should be identified by the teacher in advance and displayed for students with MLD, (along with important instructions).
2. Anticipate misconceptions before lessons.
3. Consider providing instructions at a more basic language level for students with MLD, (possibly by repetition), without adjusting the higher language level for higher ability students.
4. Complement direct instruction with real-life, physical or visual examples to support students with MLD.
5. Direct students with MLD to take notes (possibly on mini-whiteboards) on key takeaways when involved in extended listening.
6. Prioritise students with SEND for regular comprehension checks, (including by circling the room), going to them earlier in the lesson when possible, and directly after tasks have been set/ started.
7. Control the pace/quantity of new information, to ensure students are not cognitively overloaded, (particularly those with MLD).
8. Increase waiting times for answers from students with MLD.
9. Carry out regular on-the-spot formative assessment of individuals with MLD.
10. Use mini-whiteboards to ensure visible participation, with appropriately pitched questions.
11. Provide additional scaffolding at different points in the lesson, including questions to model/ build towards extended written responses from students with MLD.
12. Model example responses live, (e.g. using non-examples/examples that need improving).
13. Supportive prompts should progress from generic to specific, before modelling or correcting, (e.g. ‘where could you find the answer to that question?’, would be tried before ‘Turn to page 4’).
14. For students with high levels of MLD or whose EAL is a significant barrier to learning, make opportunities to have them out words syllable by syllable, particularly for new vocabulary.
15. Make routine use of visuals (including diagrams) to support explanations.
16. Ensure that slides (& instructions) are shared with Teaching Assistants in advance of the lesson, and take feedback from the Teaching Assistants afterwards on their role and how students responded.
17. Communicate frequently with Teaching Assistants during the lesson, directing them as needed, including to such support activities as reading aloud, following reading with a finger, feeding back on behalf of anxious students, (though this should be monitored), and repeating/ simplifying/ reducing information and explanations.
18. To ensure accountability/ participation of high need students (including those with EAL) during Turn-and-Talk activities, establish a routine of them reporting back a partner’s answer when they are unable to generate ideas independently, (and issue ‘Eloquent and Truthful’ merits to both, when the answer is reported to the class comprehensibly).
19. When the overall lesson content presents excessive cognitive load on students with MLD, teachers will consider the use of task boards to help chunk the overall direction for them.