It is acutely ironic that 2020, a number associated with complete clarity of vision, is a year of unmatched confusion when it comes to looking into the future. 

Given the unprecedented nature and scope of the restrictions imposed in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, nobody can claim any expertise in knowing what happens next. 

However, it can be stated with certainty that the organisational and logistical challenges associated with the relaxation of lockdown will be enormous. 

Local government will be faced with a fiendishly difficult task in overseeing and implementing measures introduced by Whitehall. 

Speech, Language and Communication Needs (SLCN) are prevalent issues found within many children’s disabilities or difficulties. Whilst they make children more vulnerable to abuse, conversely abuse also makes children more prone to developing SLCN needs. The key to addressing this challenge is to intervene as early as possible.

The crucial role cyber security plays in student safeguarding by Sonia Blizzard, managing director of Beaming, the business ISP 

Specialist schools increasingly rely on the internet and online resources. Edtech is brilliant at offering students the tools they need to learn in a way that suits them. 

Connectivity is also important for SEND educators, from recording and reporting detailed performance data to sharing content and collaborating with students. Any downtime in the availability of IT services only creates more disruption, that directly impacts students. This means it is vital that schools take all the steps they can to keep their systems, people and data safe and secure from cyber attacks. 

The online educational publisher Twinkl and the EPSRC UK Robotics & Autonomous Systems Network (UK-RAS Network), have joined forces to launch a national School Robot Competition and celebrated on Thursday 13th February with an out-of-this-world event.

The competition invites classes and school groups to design space exploration robots using a specially created application or online. 

The launch fittingly took place beneath the 80ft-long Blue Streak Rocket at the National Space Centre in Leicester. A group of students aged 8 to 11 from nearby Mellor Community Primary School and Forest Lodge Academy were invited to meet robotics experts from the UK-RAS Network and try out the app, which was designed and created by Twinkl for the competition.

January to June is a key time for school recruitment and for roles working with people with special needs and disabilities as the New Year is often when management teams turn their eye to planning for the next academic year. But how do you make your SEND teacher application stand out from the crowd at a time when everyone is looking for a new job? We caught up with professionals in SEND recruitment to ask their tips on how to write successful job applications for these types of roles.

Start with the basics

Kelly Woollard is the lead SEND consultant at Clarus Education, one of the UK’s largest education recruitment companies. She deals with hundreds of teaching job applications every week and has the following advice. 

Enabling a mobile campus at Orchard Hill College, article from Paul Fisher, Technical Consultant at Parallels

Orchard Hill College in London is an Ofsted Outstanding specialist college with six learning centres across London and Surrey where students with learning difficulties and disabilities over the age of 16 can access a range of specialist vocational programmes from animal care and catering to digital media and more. 

In order to provide a modern working environment and up-to-date working experience, the college’s team of lecturers and staff—around 300 people—need to be able to remotely connect to their work computer desktops, and access all their applications, from anywhere in the college or at home, and on any device they choose.

New Year is traditionally a time to look ahead and consider the future, even if it falls halfway through the year from a teacher’s perspective. Nevertheless, this New Year also marks the beginning of a new decade, making it an opportune moment to stop and think about what trends might emerge in the education sector. 

Through our ongoing work with schools and teachers we have been able to put together a picture of four pervasive themes that educators agree will top the agenda in 2020 and beyond.

1.    Return of Bring Your Own Device

Winston Poyton, education, charities & commercial product director at IRIS Software Group discusses the best way for schools to engage parents of children with SEN.

Fear of the unknown can make points in the education journey such as a new teacher or starting a new school an anxious time for pupils with SEN and their parents. 

At these times, a school’s natural response is to provide parents with plenty of information so they can help their children adjust to the new environment. 

In these ‘technologically rich’ days, parental communication can happen at the click of a button. This means that schools can often be competing with a plethora of other social media and marketing messages to get important, specific information through to families.  

Woolton-based Abbot’s Lea School has been honoured with an international school award from the British Council.
 
The Foundation International School Award was bestowed to Abbot’s Lea for showing a commitment to embedding international awareness and understanding within the specialist school. 
 
The foundation level recognises schools that are embarking on an international journey and are introducing the concept of internationalism, embarking on an international partnership and have conducted at least one international classroom activity.
 
This recognition supports the school’s vision of becoming an International Centre of Excellence for Autism education, research and professional development.

Winnie the Pooh, Harry Potter, ‘maths dancing’ and LEGO will be among the wide variety of subjects introduced during the 80 original talks and workshops, at an annual national maths conference.