Engagement work: Special and PRU sector update – autumn 2020
This report summarises the findings from engagement phone calls made to maintained special schools and PRUs between the end of September and the latter part of October 2020. This report is based on the information discussed during remote meetings with headteachers and senior leaders as well as findings from stakeholder surveys. The main focus for each discussion was the wellbeing of pupils, staff and senior leaders and either how schools were promoting learning or providing support for their vulnerable learners. In the context of special schools and PRUs, all learners are considered vulnerable. However, we have retained the use of this term for reasons of consistency and to facilitate reference to our findings in other sectors. Proportions relate to the sample of schools with which we have had contact.
This report has been informed by evidence from the following sources:
- Remote meetings with headteachers and/or senior leaders responsible for specific areas
- Findings from surveys for pupils, parents, governors, school leaders, teachers and support staff
Key findings
Promoting wellbeing of learners, staff and leaders
Leaders report that they have continued to focus primarily on supporting pupils’ wellbeing and attitudes to learning since September. They describe how staff have worked creatively to enhance the learning environment and provide nurturing experiences. They plan activities that allow pupils to discuss their anxieties and feelings in a safe and supportive environment.
Most leaders of special schools report that pupil attendance has improved throughout the term with only a very few pupils shielding at home due to significant medical risks. In many PRUs, leaders report that attendance rates were high at the start of term but have declined since then. In most settings, leaders report that pupils have responded well to adjustments to minimise the risk of infection such as changes to movement around the building, adherence to social bubbles and to staff wearing protective personal equipment (PPE).
Nearly all leaders across both sectors confirm that maintaining staff wellbeing has been a key priority since the start of the period of school closure. The majority of leaders refer to the challenge in managing ongoing patterns of staff absence.
Nearly all leaders of special schools and PRUs report the significant challenges they have faced since September. Many leaders express significant concerns about the sustainability of provision and capacity of the school and wider staff group to continue working in this way indefinitely.
Promoting learning
Many leaders confirm the challenges they faced when schools and PRUs closed in developing a model of distance or blended learning that met the widely differing abilities and needs of all pupils in the school. Many referred to the difficulties parents and carers faced in supporting their children’s learning at home, either because of the complexity of their children’s needs, a lack of skills to support learning, including digital skills, or restricted access to information and communication technology (ICT) equipment. Generally, settings have adopted a mix of ICT platforms combined with physical packs of learning resources that best reflected the ability of pupils and their families to engage with them.
Since September, many leaders have focused on the assessment of pupils’ current levels of achievement, with particular focus on literacy, numeracy, behaviour, social interaction, and independence. In many settings, staff are taking a gradual approach to assessment and to re-introducing previously established approaches to learning to reduce pupils’ anxieties.
Most leaders across both sectors describe how staff use this information to adjust pupils’ individual learning programmes to allow for additional interventions and support for pupils. For example, leaders in most PRUs confirm that the results of baseline assessments indicate most pupils’ literacy and numeracy levels have declined. In many special schools, leaders report pupils’ levels of independence skills have regressed, particularly in regard to their personal care skills.
In many special schools and PRUs, leaders report that COVID-19 related health and safety considerations have restricted access to important aspects of the setting’s curriculum. For example, special schools have curtailed opportunities for pupils to practise independence skills in the community and PRUs report less access to work-placements and vocational training opportunities with external providers.
Staff in special schools and PRUs have engaged in relevant professional learning since March that has prepared them for pupils’ return to school. Leaders report that planned professional learning opportunities this term have a strong focus on supporting staff and pupils to engage with blended learning approaches. In many special schools and PRUs, staff continue to adapt resources and develop blended learning approaches based on their evaluation of what worked well during the initial period of school closure. However, in a few cases, the use of online platforms is at a very early stage.
Supporting vulnerable pupils
Generally, across all settings, statutory reviews and assessments have continued since March 2020. This is because education staff and specialists across most external agencies have maintained communication through digital platforms. Many leaders report that more professionals attend planning and review meetings than ever before.
Leaders report that, in the majority of cases, parents are content with these virtual reviews and engage well in them. However, in a minority of cases, leaders note that parents have not accessed online meetings or dislike not being able to see the staff who work with their children face-to-face.
In a minority of cases, leaders of special schools report difficulties in providing the full range of interventions for pupils as set out in their statement of special educational needs. This is particularly so for pupils with profound and multiple learning difficulties who have not always been able to access provision delivered remotely. In addition, because of social distancing restrictions, therapeutic interventions such as hydro and rebound therapy cannot take place in many settings.
Specialist staff from many external agencies have now resumed face-to-face appointments and therapeutic interventions with pupils in special schools and PRUs. This positive development is helping to support vulnerable pupils to return to their setting, especially those pupils with significant medical and emotional difficulties.
However, many leaders state that a few services continue to offer only virtual consultations and have provided limited interventions to pupils since March. In special schools, for example, a few leaders report difficulties when staff from external agencies wear PPE that is unfamiliar to pupils or practise different ways of working to comply with their own social distancing measures. Similarly, many PRU leaders express concerns that psychologists and local authority counselling services are still not seeing pupils face-to-face as they did previously. They believe that this is hampering pupils’ development in key areas and slowing progress against targets in their individual education plans (IEPs).
Across all settings where the recruit, recover and raise standards (RRRS) funding had been allocated, leaders note the wide variation in the amounts distributed across different sectors and schools in Wales. Many express concerns about the potential impact of the sum they had provisionally received. In a majority of special schools and PRUs, leaders report that they intend to use the funding to contribute to the appointment of an additional staff member to deliver bespoke intervention packages in areas such as literacy, numeracy, and wellbeing.