Introduction

Welcome to your April Lead Inclusion School newsletter. We hope you had a restful Easter break and are feeling ready for another action-packed term. We wanted to take this opportunity to thank you for completing your termly reporting before you finished for Easter. This information is really useful for us to share with our funders to showcase the brilliant work you are doing in your county. In this newsletter, we will share some of the key stats from the information you shared.

ACTIONS

Save the date: Engagement Model training with Alex Revens from Belmont School

We wanted to pop this date in your calendars for some training/CPD around the Engagement Model that a number of our Lead Inclusion Schools are testing in a PE context as part of Inclusion 2024. We are lucky enough to have Alex Revens from Belmont School in North London deliver the training for this group. Alex is the SEN Lead for an Additionally Resourced Provision that is attached to a mainstream school. Alex is also a SLE (Senior Leader in Education) for Autism, and he will be sharing his learnings and insight from using the model at his school.

Many of you may have already listened to Alex’s podcast where he discusses how the school have used the Engagement Model in their setting to liberate the intrinsic motivation of his pupils. Here is the link again in case you haven’t listed to it.

To join his session, please follow the link below:

• Topic: Alex Revens - Engagement Model
• Time: Wednesday 04 May 2022, 4-5:30pm
• Format: Zoom Meeting
• Meeting ID: 892 5351 7878
• Passcode: 552310

Commonwealth Games Inclusive Sports Programme

As you may be aware, as part of Inclusion 2024 a number of our Lead Inclusion School colleagues are using inspiration from both the Winter Paralympic Games and the Commonwealth Games to deliver a programme of Inclusive Sport Festivals. Ken Black has been working with Carina and number of young people from Chadsgrove School in Worcestershire to create a suite of activity cards and video resources linked to both Winter Paralympic Sports and para sports that are part of the 2022 Commonwealth Games. There is also a guide to help schools deliver festivals using these fantastic resources. All the resources can be found here. Please promote share to any schools and/or SGOs within your networks.

ASK Research Partner School Survey

ASK Research, the external evaluator for Inclusion 2024, have developed a partner school survey that they would like all Lead Inclusion Schools to send out to all the schools, SGOs and others you have delivered any form of CPD to as part of Inclusion 2024, since September 2021. These will be the schools whose details (URN) have been added into the Spring Termly Data Collection along with other ‘partners’ who are not schools and for whom you do not have URNs for (e.g. SGOs and Active Partnerships).

You will receive an email from ASK Research with the link to this survey after the Easter Holidays. We want to reiterate that whilst this shouldn’t be an onerous task for you, it will provide us with extremely valuable insight on the impact of the inclusion work. This will be critical as we shape the offer for next year to have the best possible impact for practitioners and ultimately young people. The idea is to give all of the ‘partners’ that the Lead Inclusion School programme works with the chance to tell us what difference this input and support has led to.

UPDATES

Microsoft Teams

As a team, we are exploring the possibility to move to Microsoft Teams and will start to phase over in the next few months with the intention of having fully moved across to Teams by the start of the next academic year.

Files from the OneDrive will be transferred to Teams to ensure everything can be found in one place. We hope this switch will also give you more opportunities to keep in touch with one another and share good practice all year round. An additional benefit to moving to Teams is that we will have unlimited storage space, and all the files you need will be easily found with the files section on the channel.

More instructions and updates on this introduction will come through the newsletters in the coming months. If you do have any hesitations on this switch, please contact Theo ([email protected]).

Termly Reporting

We would like to say a big thanks for the Spring Term Reporting you all submitted earlier this month. Once again, this network is leading the way with near perfect completion across all of our pieces of work. The data highlights the incredible work and impact this network continues to have for young people with SEND, and teachers and school staff around the country. Despite the ongoing challenges within schools, engagement levels, connecting our work with your local networks, was extremely high. We have attempted to pull out some of the highlights that you contributed on this infographic.

RESOURCES

New activity cards deliver inclusive, challenging, and fun PE sessions

Activity Alliance, the Home Nation Disability Sports Organisations, and Youth Sport Trust have released a series of Inclusive PE activity cards to improve PE and school sport for young disabled people. The cards are jam-packed with fun games and activities, and support teachers to ensure their PE sessions are inclusive and accessible for all school pupils. The activity cards cater to all age groups and school development stages, offering 25 games and activities, including warm-ups, fundamental skills, striking and fielding skills, invasion games, and net, court and wall games.

Download the new inclusive PE activity cards from the Activity Alliance resources page.

EVENTS

SHOUTaboutSEND 5K & Inclusion Festival

SHOUTaboutSEND is an inclusive event for all ages and abilities to come together and celebrate all things Sport, SEND and Inclusion.

The SHOUTaboutSEND event includes a 5k/2.5k sensory circuit so whether you are looking to set a personal best, take up a fitness challenge or simply have lots of fun, this is the event for you. This year, in addition to the 5k, we will also have an event village showcasing a variety of inclusive sports opportunities and a mixed ability rugby match - Derby Bucks vs Bradford BumbleBees.

Building on the great success of our inaugural event in October 2019, we are looking to promote and develop opportunities for young people and adults with additional needs to take part and compete in sporting events, and gain meaningful employment.

St Martins, St Andrew's, and partners are actively trying to raise aspirations and showcase the great potential our students have be that in sports, academic study and employment. Students are taking the lead in the organisation of this event as part of our innovative curriculum and will be supporting event logistics, leading on marketing and also designing, making and selling merchandise for the event. A pop-up of our exciting new cafe venture in the city will launch at this event.

This inclusive event is open to individuals, schools, clubs (mainstream & SEND) and all ages from beginners through to elite athletes.

To register for the event, follow this link: 

• Date and time: Saturday 14 May 2022, 10:30am-13:00pm
• Location: Derby Rugby Club, Haslams Lane, Derby, DE22 1EB

SHARING PRACTICE

Youth Sport Trust guide to the Government’s SEND Green Paper

Vicci Wells, Youth Sport Trust Head of Sport and SEND Inclusion, provides a round up on the release of the Government’s SEND and AP Green Paper.

MATP in Buckinghamshire

Rachel Hutchinson,our inclusion lead at Alfriston School in Buckinghamshire, has written a blog sharing how she has implemented MATP within her school and county. The blog is available to read in OneDrive.

Durham Trinity School – Active 30 Yoga

Durham Trinity School were featured in local Active North East which is by Active 30 Durham doing a yoga session. You can view the session and have a go yourself here.

STORIES

The Wheelchair Skills College

Using a wheelchair can prevent anyone accessing opportunities because of barriers that are put in front of them. Supporting young people to build confidence and independence early on will give them the best chance to access those opportunities as they grow up.

After 15 years of using a wheelchair, Pete Donnelly has set up The Wheelchair Skills College with the aim of teaching skills to wheelchair users of all ages and ability levels.

Last month, Pete delivered a wheelchair skills training session to 6 young people at Marjorie McClure School in Bromley, London.

The two-hour session started with basic skills of pushing forwards and backwards, then moved on to the more advanced skills of one-handed pushing and how to change a tyre.

Kate Petty, Head of Physical Education, told us “The session was brilliant. I honestly don't think there could have been any improvement. My students learnt so much and this past week, I have seen them moving around more confidently and independently. It gave us an opportunity to remind staff members that we do not always need to jump in and help a student to move around the school and I have heard the students reminding staff that they can do it themselves.”

Wheelchair skills can be tailored to all ability levels with a focus of building confidence and independence, whatever that looks like on an individual level.

If you this is something that you’d like to find out more about or book a session for your students, then email Pete ([email protected]).

CP Teens UK and partners host fun and action packed ‘Have A Go’ Day on Saturday 19th March 2022, Sheffield

27 children and young people with physical disabilities had a glorious day in the spring sunshine in Sheffield on Saturday 19 March 2022 trying out various disability sports.

The ‘Have A Go’ Day, hosted by the charity CP Teens UK and in partnership with CP Sport, WheelPower, Limb Power, and Dwarf Sport UK, provided a fun-filled day with a variety of disability and adapted sports for people to try. It was held at Sheffield Hallam University’s Athletics Stadium and was funded by Sport England.

One of the sports on offer was Frame Running. Frame Running is a Para Athletics event for people with Cerebral Palsy and other neurological conditions effecting balance & coordination. A three-wheeled frame is used with a seat and a chest plate, which provides support and stability. Paralympian Sophie Christiansen CBE came along to support the event and had a go herself at the dynamic and exhilarating sport of Frame Running. Tully Kearney, MBE and CP Sport Ambassador, was also in attendance to try out some new sports away from the swimming pool.

Other sports available included Wheelchair Racing, Adapted Cycling, Seated Throws, and Boccia.

Ellie Simpson, Founder of CP Teens UK, said, “It has been great to see all of the smiling faces today and the sense of achievement our participants have clearly gained from this event. As a charity we are absolutely passionate about promoting, providing and delivering opportunities for people with physical disabilities, especially social opportunities, and sport is one of our key focus areas and tools to enhance & transform lives”.

Jen Basford, Head of Delivery at CP Sport, said, “We thoroughly enjoyed seeing everyone taking part in the Have a Go Day organised by CP Teens UK. With a range of different athletics disciplines and sports to try, there was something for everyone. We have had enquiries since asking how to get involved further. Congratulations to CP Teens UK for providing such a successful day and even organising the brilliant weather! Thank you to the participants, their families and PA’s for coming and providing such a lovely atmosphere.”

For more information, visit the following websites:

• CP Teens UK
• CP Sport

Video content of the day can be found here. Please credit CP Sport.