Adapting the Curriculum for Pupils with SEND

At Ribbon Academy, we are committed to ensuring that all pupils can access, participate in and succeed within a broad, balanced and ambitious curriculum. We believe that high-quality adaptive teaching is the most effective way to meet the needs of the majority of pupils with SEND. Our approach focuses on removing barriers to learning, presenting content in accessible ways and enabling all learners to work towards the same ambitious curriculum goals alongside their peers.

We recognise that every child learns differently. Through careful assessment of pupils’ strengths, needs and prior knowledge, teachers adapt their teaching to ensure that all children can successfully access learning and make progress. Support is provided through a graduated approach, beginning with high-quality classroom practice and supplemented by targeted or specialist support where necessary.

At Ribbon Academy, adaptive teaching includes:

• Building new learning on pupils’ prior knowledge, experiences and interests.
• Reducing distractions and creating an environment that promotes attention, participation and engagement.
• Presenting information clearly through dual coding, combining visual and verbal explanations to support understanding and reduce cognitive load.
• Breaking learning into small, manageable steps to support understanding and secure progress over time.
• Using modelling and worked examples to demonstrate successful learning processes before pupils work independently.
• Providing scaffolding, including writing frames, sentence stems, word banks and structured tasks, which are gradually removed as confidence and independence develop.
• Using regular formative assessment and retrieval practice to identify misconceptions and respond to pupils’ needs in real time.
• Pre-teaching key vocabulary, concepts or skills where appropriate to improve confidence and readiness for learning.
• Using inclusive questioning techniques and carefully planned pairings and groupings to promote participation and collaborative learning.
• Removing predictable barriers to learning through inclusive classroom design and carefully structured learning experiences.

Teachers continually assess understanding and adapt explanations, tasks, scaffolds and support throughout lessons. Support staff work alongside teachers to provide targeted, timely support that complements high-quality teaching whilst promoting increasing independence rather than dependency.

We strive to ensure that all pupils have equal access to:

• The full curriculum.
• Educational visits and enrichment opportunities.
• Extra-curricular clubs and activities.
• Leadership opportunities and wider school experiences.
• Pastoral, wellbeing and emotional support.
• Appropriate assessment arrangements and access arrangements where required.

Our learning environment is designed to be as inclusive as possible. The school benefits from:

• Level access throughout the building
• Accessible entrances and facilities.
• Disabled toilet facilities.
• A fully equipped hygiene and intimate care room including hoist and changing facilities.
• Sensory spaces to support regulation and wellbeing.
• Specialist equipment and resources where required.
• Reasonable adjustments to support physical, sensory and medical needs.

Children with medical or physical needs are supported through Individual Healthcare Plans, risk assessments and, where necessary, Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans (PEEPs). These plans are developed in partnership with parents/carers and relevant professionals and are regularly reviewed to ensure they remain effective.

Where additional support is required, pupils may access targeted interventions linked to the four broad areas of need identified in the SEND Code of Practice:

Cognition and Learning

Support may include adaptive classroom strategies, targeted literacy and numeracy interventions, Sounds-Write phonics intervention, Kinetic Letters, Dandelion Readers, Nessy, Plus One Maths, Power of 2 Maths, White Rose Maths resources and personalised support informed by ongoing assessment, pupil progress and specialist advice where appropriate.

Communication and Interaction

Support may include Speech and Language Link screening and intervention programmes, Speech and Language Therapy recommendations, Colourful Semantics, structured language interventions, vocabulary pre-teaching, communication support strategies, social communication activities and advice from specialist professionals to develop speech, language and communication skills.

Social, Emotional and Mental Health

Support may include nurture provision, Zones of Regulation, social stories, Lego Therapy, Place2Be, Place2Talk, emotional wellbeing interventions, sensory regulation strategies, adult mentoring, pastoral support and advice from external emotional wellbeing and mental health services where appropriate.

Sensory and/or Physical Needs

Support may include sensory regulation strategies, adapted learning environments, access to quiet and sensory spaces, fine and gross motor skill interventions, Kinetic Letters, specialist equipment, environmental adaptations and programmes developed in consultation with Occupational Therapy, Physiotherapy and specialist support services.