June 2025 update
Every teacher needs to know how to meet the needs of complex and vulnerable learners in their classrooms. Whole School SEND is a national organisation that brings together schools, colleges, organisations and individuals who are committed to ensuring that every child and young person with SEND can maximise their potential. There is now a dedicated London regional team delivering the DfE’s Universal SEND Services contract. All CPD and resources below are free for schools to access.
Responding to greater complexity of need:
You may have heard about Whole School SEND Professional Development Groups – they offer an unrivalled space for teachers and school leaders to provide peer-to-peer reflection, challenge and support. Each group is facilitated by a Whole School SEND Regional Leader, who empowers SENDCos and school leaders to make significant improvements to individual practice as well as to the development of strategic, inclusive provision for all children and young people in their setting. Email Matt McArthur or Rebecca Gonyora if you would like to be part of the next group, or if you would like us to deliver one specific to your Trust.
Online learning
Whole School SEND has delivered many webinars over the last few years, and these are all available on our Youtube channel or our website with associative resources.
A series of 20 online SEND CPD units have been published to help school practitioners to develop inclusive practices. They are really accessible for staff to engage with directly, or for SENDCos to take and share during staff meetings. Topics include:
- Creating an emotionally safe environment
- Creating a socially safe environment
- Creating a physically safe environment
- An introduction to speech, language and communication needs (SLCN)
- Identifying and supporting speech, language and communication needs (SLCN)
- Supporting the development of speech, language and communication skills
- Creating an environment that supports speech, language and communication
- Understanding behaviour as communication
A series of live discussion webinars that complement the unit content will also run throughout the year, with sessions tailored to Primary and Secondary / FE. Anyone is welcome to join in, although it is recommended that some work on the modules has already taken place to help contextualise learning, share experiences and further develop understanding. There is limited availability for these sessions, so early registration is recommended.
Autism Awareness and Inclusion
These ‘Train the Trainer’ webinars are designed to introduce leaders, SENCOs, and inclusion teams to Autism Awareness and Inclusion training, which they can then disseminate to teachers and support staff. These webinars are aimed at colleagues in Primary, Secondary and College settings. There is limited availability for these sessions, so early registration is recommended.
Resources
We have produced many resources over the last few years, and now have a large catalogue available to everyone at no cost. The school SEND Review Guide and the teacher Reflection Framework offer schools and teachers a structure to review how well they optimise learning for pupils with SEND, and to plan ways to improve. We would particularly recommend that all teachers download their free copy of the Teacher Handbook: SEND,. This has been developed as a resource for teachers to use over time as they embed inclusive practice in their classrooms, and complements the SENDCo Induction Pack, which provides SENDCos and school leaders with all of the information essential to their role in one, highly accessible document. We would also highly recommend the suite of Condition Specific videos - short 10 minute training videos created to provide helpful pointers, techniques and advice on inclusive teaching strategies.
If you would like to find out more, you can join our community of members.
Kind regards,
Amelie Thompson, Rebecca Gonyora and Matt McArthur
Regional SEND Leaders
London region
