The rationale for and impact of the school’s provision and support panel
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Context and background to the effective or innovative practice
The governing body and senior leadership team recognised the rapid changes in the complexity of pupil needs attending Ysgol St Christopher’s School. The implementation of the ALNET Act 2018 and the curriculum for Wales meant that the school needed to quickly develop its support for pupils’ wellbeing as well as staff’s professional learning to manage these challenges.
The senior leadership team were very aware of the implications of the education reforms and wanted to ensure that specialist support and guidance was available to all staff to support them through the changes.
The head teacher wanted to empower staff to ensure that they had access to timely specialist advice and guidance to meet their pupils’ needs in their class. Setting up the wellbeing team, enhancing internal provision and organising a support panel ensures that staff can request additional advice, support and guidance in a constructive way. As a result, pupils receive timely support and interventions and subsequently this has strengthened referrals to outside agencies once all the school’s internal support has been exhausted.
The school is now in a strong position to support pupils, parents and staff as the pupil cohort changed significantly and the implementation of the education reforms.
How did we do it?
In 2019, the appointment of a new headteacher led to a re-structure of the senior leadership team in the school. The initial focus was on developing a universal wellbeing team to support the school community. The team was built around a family liaison officer, attendance and engagement lead and a health care co-ordinator. This has subsequently been enhanced to include a mental health co-ordinator. The universal team work together well to provide families with the first contact at school. They respond to attendance difficulties, queries about school, issues in classrooms and work closely with new families as they settle into school.
In 2021-2022, the wellbeing team expanded to include specialist practitioners to support our pupils and staff at school. This included the appointment by school of a speech and language therapist, assistant educational psychologist, behaviour analysists and occupational therapist.
The school facilitates an internal provision and support panel on a monthly basis that is chaired by the headteacher. School staff can refer to the provision and support panel to request additional support and guidance as they plan to meet their pupils’ needs in class. The provision and support panel brings the specialist team together to discuss all referrals, appoint a lead professional to support staff and to discuss additional strategies to support. The specialist team work closely with staff, pupils and families to assess our pupils, provide advice and model how best to meet needs. The provision and support panel also supports referrals to outside agencies to support, as needed.
What impact has this had on provision and standards?
The introduction of the universal and specialist wellbeing team and its co-ordination through the provision and support panel has had a very positive impact on pupils, families and staff at school.
Opportunities to discuss and share ideas as well as bespoke professional learning facilitated by the specialist wellbeing team mean that staff feel more confident in planning for and meeting the needs of pupils with a range of complex additional needs. Being able to access this support and modelling of strategies in a timely manner is building staff confidence and skills to meet the needs of a changing cohort at Ysgol St Christopher’s.
Pupils have benefitted from timely and specialist support in an environment that they feel safe in. A particular focus has been updating pupils’ communication and learning profiles prior to leaving the school, meaning that transition is smoother and progression is better planned.
Parents and carers have regular access to the team, providing them with further support and modelling strategies to use at home.
How have you shared your practice?
Ysgol St Christopher’s School has worked with other secondary schools in Wrexham to share their specialism, advice and support.
The school regularly holds information evenings for parents and carers where the wellbeing team lead and facilitate information and informal session based on feedback from our families.