Andrew Chadwick was a senior mental health lead at a primary school in Yorkshire and is now Safeguarding, Ambition and Inclusion Lead at Focus-Trust.
Dr Joanna Wood, Andrew’s course tutor, caught up with him a year after finishing his course to see what impact the plan he launched had on mental health and wellbeing provision in his school. He also talked to us about how he had taken his learning forward into his new role across fifteen schools at the trust.
The idea of a Senior Mental Health Lead for schools and colleges was first put forward in the Government’s 2017 green paper on supporting children and young people’s mental health.
Now it’s the DfE’s ambition that every school will have a Senior Mental Health Lead (SMHL) in place by 2025. To support this, a training grant of £1,200 is available until 31 March 2024 to eligible state-funded schools and colleges in England.
In this blog, we take a look at what the Senior Mental Health Lead role entails and why it is so crucial for the success of your whole-school approach to mental health and wellbeing.
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Imogen Barber
We are delighted to announce the launch of a new module designed to help SEND leaders drive more successful improvement initiatives.
The 60-credit Auditing and Leading Improvement (ALI) module equips delegates with the knowledge to conduct a data-driven audit of their SEND provision and lead whole-school improvement projects.
Delegates will create and roll out a structured improvement plan for their setting, with support from a highly qualified tutor, helping prepare them for either internally-driven evaluation or external inspections, such as OFSTED.
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We are delighted to partner with nasen to deliver the Universal SEND Services Programme.
In an ideal world, every learner’s journey through education would be marked by inclusivity, ambition, and unwavering support. Unfortunately, the reality is that many children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) continue to face obstacles in their pursuit of educational attainment and high outcomes. The Universal SEND Services programme’s ambition is poised to reshape the landscape of education, ensuring that all learners with SEND are given every opportunity to thrive both within education settings and beyond.
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Today is Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) Awareness Day!
Did you know that 2 children in a class of 30 have a DLD? This is just one of the many surprising facts about DLD.
Our Speech, language and communication needs (SLCN) module builds understanding of the theories, research and practical skills that can be used to make a positive difference and improve the outcomes for people with DLD and other SLCN. Discover more
Also, please join us in celebrating the collaboration between RCSLT, Afasic, NAPLIC and Speech and Language UK’s who have worked alongside people with DLD and their families to create a new vision for the future. See ‘A vision for Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) for the UK‘ for more information.
Alison Ford – iSENCO
Alison Ford is Head of Inclusive Education & Therapy at The Overseas Family School, a non-selective international K-12 school in Singapore. Completing our International Award for SEN Coordination course while working in her previous setting, allowed her to progress in her career. Alison is particularly interested in Autism, Social Emotional Wellbeing & Mental Health, and Family Support.
What made you choose the Real Training course(s) over other options?
I heard of the iSENCO course through a colleague who had also completed it. He recommended the program and had found it very accessible. I was looking for a flexible online learning course with a view towards completing a master’s. I liked that the iSENCO was a self-paced and stand-alone certification that I could also use to build up credits towards the MEd.
What was your experience of learning with Real Training?
I found the online learning platform intuitive and my tutor was very personable and responsive. The support from others in the program was also valuable as we tried to find our way around. My only suggestion at the time was some collation of the assessments to help me plan my workload and approach to the course at the beginning. Once I had collated and got my head around this myself, I found the tasks much less overwhelming!
How has the course(s) helped make an impact at school?
My final project was an essential part of the service development at my school at the time. I have since moved on to a leadership role at a much larger school and what I learned from the iSENCO forms the foundation of my role now as I lead the strategic development of our whole school provision for therapy and learning support. The iSENCO was a good learning process for me to plan and think strategically, and helped to better inform my role now in a much larger setting.
How has the course(s) helped develop you as an educational professional and what do you hope to achieve with the new knowledge/skills in the future?
I think the iSENCO helped to develop my confidence and expertise in strategic service development. I gained an understanding of what it means to be a leader, the different approaches to leadership and how my own personality and life experience may shape my own approach to leading others. Career-wise, the iSENCO is a good certification to show employers that you have training and experience in leading and maintaining organisational change.
Lastly, what are the top 3 things you are looking to do within your setting, since completing the course?
If you’d like to connect with Alison, you can follow her on LinkedIn. You can find further information about the iSENCO on our webpage.
We are delighted to be exhibiting once again at the Tes SEND Show next month!
Taking place on 13 & 14 October, we will be at Stand 135 alongside our sister companies Dyslexia Action, Educational and Sporting Futures and the Dyslexia Action Shop.
The Tes SEND Show is the UK’s leading SEND show and an annual must-see. In addition to an exhibition, there are free talks, seminars and workshops on all aspects of SEND. We are looking forward to returning and meeting attendees.
Come and chat to us in-person about training courses, apprenticeships and educational resources!
If you’d like to attend, you can register HERE for this free event.
Lucy Wayman – CPT3A
Lucy from Bristol, UK, works as a freelance maths tutor for students not in the school system, she is also a dyscalculia assessor within Constellation Education. Lucy has a special interest in ADHD, ADD and autism. She has recently completed her Certificate of Competence in Education Testing (CCET), and will soon be completing the Access Arrangements course (AAC), for the Certificate in Psychometric Testing, Assessment and Access Arrangements (CPT3A).
What made you choose the Real Training course over other options?
It was a great blend of live online teaching and self-study. Having three full days of group teaching was really useful at raising the issues, meeting other people in the same situation and covering the main features of the course, with the opportunities to discuss and collaborate with other delegates.
What was your experience of learning with Real Training?
The three days of teaching were incredibly enjoyable, and very full on. You really felt like every minute was accounted for and designed with a purpose. I came away from those days much better informed about psychometric testing, clear about the assignments I had to do, and enthused about getting my independent study done.
How has the course helped make an impact at school?
Combined with my dyscalculia training, I feel confident about carrying out psychometric testing, and more importantly, being able to interpret results in a way which will help my students.
How has the course helped develop you as an educational professional and what do you hope to achieve with the new knowledge/skills in the future?
I will complete the rest of the CPT3A course and look to gaining my APC so that I can both assess for exam access arrangements, and assess and diagnose dyscalculia.
Lastly, what are looking to do within your setting, since completing the course?
Review the efficacy of testing that is currently in place and try to streamline the process, while improving usefulness of the tests done.
If you would like to know more about Lucy Wayman, connect on LinkedIn. For more information on CPT3A, click here.
This week, Middlesex University will be hosting their 2023 Graduations. From everyone here at Real Training, we would like to congratulate all our delegates on their achievements.
We would love to share in your celebrations! Share photos of your special day with us on social media by tagging us in your posts and using our hashtag #RTGRAD2023
We look forward to seeing your photos and sharing the celebrations with you!
We are delighted to partner with our ‘Ofsted Outstanding’ sister company, Sporting Futures Training (UK) Ltd on the launch of the Learning and Skills Assessor Apprenticeship. This is a brand new opportunity for primary schools to bring educational testing and assessment in-house.
Apprentices will learn how to use psychometric tests to effectively assess the progress of students and identify appropriate support strategies. Being able to better interpret test results will improve understanding and communication about individual learning needs, both internally and with external agencies, allowing the apprentice, and their colleagues, to respond to these needs more efficiently.
The apprenticeship offers free training as it can be funded through the Apprenticeship Levy at no additional cost to schools. (The government contributes 95% of training costs for a Non-Levy organisation).
Registration is open with the first cohort due to start in September 2023.
A brief overview of the apprenticeship:
Interested in learning more about this opportunity to develop valuable skills in educational testing and assessment? Read additional information about the Learning and Skills Assessor Apprenticeship.
