Introduction

We hope you have had a good month back at school despite all of the challenges you have faced since returning. We want to thank you for all of the work you are doing to continue delivering within your schools and county.

ACTIONS

YST Conference Awards dinner invite

Just a reminder to reserve your free place at the YST Advocacy Networks Fringe Event and Awards Dinner, please click here. The registration survey will also give you the option to register for YST Conference if you would like to attend on both days. It is taking place Wednesday 02 March 2022, the day before our Conference 2022: Inspiring Changemakers, at the Coventry Building Society Arena, Coventry. As a valued partner this will be a great opportunity for us all to celebrate what has collectively been achieved over the past year.

Termly Reporting Questions

We have added a few additional questions to the spring term collection of data, this is to help us with some of the external evaluation we are required to report on. The questions that we would require you to report on can be found on the OneDrive here.

FA CPD Workshop-Save the Date

Please hold the Monday 28 March, 3.30pm to 5pm, for an FA CPD workshop focusing on the new Avengers Shooting Stars resources which has been designed for girls with SEND. The CPD will be delivered by the FA just for the Lead Inclusion School network to support the rollout of these resources in the summer term.

FA Opportunity

In support of its strategic objective to create equal opportunities for girls to play football, The FA is looking to speak to representatives from primary and secondary schools to understand the relationships they have (or don’t have) with local football clubs / organisations. Prior research has identified the importance of club-school links in creating opportunities for girls to play football and The FA is keen to understand how these links can be established and any barriers to overcome. The FA is looking to speak to schools who do and don’t have links in place with clubs. Working with an external research agency, The FA is inviting teachers / leaders to take part in a 45-min interview in January / February 2022, either individually or jointly with a club representative where links exist. All who take part will be given £40 as a thank you and the feedback will be invaluable in informing how The FA can support clubs and schools further.

If you would like to get involved and are interested in talking to SEND settings who have or haven’t had success making links with clubs, please contact Chris Barnham Research at [email protected].

UPDATES

Top Sportsability Training Package

Please find the new Top Sportsability training package by following this link to the OneDrive.

This package includes:

• Email template to send to contacts about Top Sportsability and how to access training to suit their needs (editable)
• New flyer to send to contacts about Top Sportsability (editable)
• A one-page interactive document to share with contacts that signpost them to Top Sportsability and the different areas of interest
• Short ‘Intro to Top Sportsability’ recording/webinar to share with contacts
• Virtual or Face to Face training resource – PowerPoint slides with presentation matrix in the notes section of each slide
• Email template to send to contacts after Top Sportsability training with links and how to access further inclusive training (editable).

A special thanks go out to the amazing Niamh for putting this excellent package together. We hope you all benefit from using the content.

Autumn Termly Reporting

We would like to say a big thank you for the Autumn termly reporting that you have just completed. Again this network is leading way with near perfect completion rates 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’ve all contributed to on this infographic. The information you provided has been shared within both the DfE and Sport England reports that were submitted in January.

Inclusive Sports Programme website

We wanted to share with you the new webpage for the Inclusive Sports Programme which is hot off the press. Here you’ll find the videos and activity cards for the four Winter Paralympic inspired sports. We’ll be adding a festival guide very shortly, along with the Commonwealth Games inspired Sports around Easter time. Just a reminder that the Winter Paralympic Games start on Friday 04 March, and these resources are a great way for young people to engage with the games in a practical way.

PUBLICATIONS

TWS Sports Podcast

We are excited to share a sports podcast hosted by autistic children from Tettenhall Wood School in Wolverhampton. The podcast is set to give their students the opportunity to develop key skills such as communication, social skills, confidence and more. Each week they chat to a sporting guest from around the world. Tune in and join them on an amazing journey. The guest list is already exceptional, you can listen to the podcast on Spotify here.

Whole School SEND CPD offer

As you’ll remember back in September and October, we were lucky enough for Whole School SEND to join us at a couple of the Connecting Changemakers Conferences. As discussed, a lot of their work aligns closely with the Lead Inclusion School network, and I know many of you were interested in connecting with your regional reps. They also have a comprehensive CPD offer which we can signpost schools and practitioners to. If you haven’t done already, please contact Amanda Wright (National Coordinator) [email protected] to connect with your regional reps. 

Below are some other useful links for your information:

• Join the Member Community: https://www.sendgateway.org.uk/register
• Email us: [email protected]
• Follow on Twitter: @WholeSchoolSEND

Why outdoor physical activity and play have a fundamental role in children’s development

Our Head of Sport & SEND Inclusion, Vicci Wells discusses why outdoor physical activity and play have a fundamental role in children's development in the latest issue of SEN Magazine. Read more on page 58-59: https://senmagazine.co.uk/sen-online/sen116/#p=58.