Great Expectations: Leading an Effective SEND Strategy in School

A selection of essays from leading educationalists and school leaders with a track record of improving outcomes for children and young people with additional needs, highlighting the significant role that school leaders play in shaping effective practice in SEND. Based on the SEND Review Guide, a national self-evaluation framework part-funded by the DfE and authored by David Bartram and Vijita Patel, downloaded by over 3000 schools, the book is divided into eight sections: Leadership; Teaching and Learning; Working with Pupils and Parents; Identification and Assessment; Monitoring and Tracking; Efficient Use of Resources; Developing Provision; Improving OutcomesEach section includes 3-4 essays. The opening essays offer a broad national perspective on the focus area, authored by a leading educationalist. The following essays, authored by school leaders from a range of educational settings including secondary, primary and special schools, highlight practical examples of how they have improved outcomes for this group of pupils, often in particularly challenging contexts. There will be a strong focus on impact of the approach.

As a specialist SEND consultant, David has visited and worked with over three hundred schools working collaboratively with London Challenge, the National College and the Department for Education (DfE). Between 2009 - 2017 David led on SEND at the London Leadership Strategy, a not-for-profit organisation run by serving headteachers. David is author of the SEND Review Guide, a national peer-review framework that has now been downloaded by over 3000 schools. As part of this project, David wrote and delivered the SEND Reviewer training to over 200 SENCOs and senior leaders.David has sat on a number of SEND consultations at the DfE and gave oral evidence at the Public Bill Committee on the Children and Families Bill. He has supported a number of local authorities and multi-academy trusts with the development of their SEND provision including Academies Enterprise Trust (AET), Oasis, United Learning, CfBT, Ark and Future Academies. David has also spoken at a number of SEND conferences including The Academies Show, NASEN, TES SEN Show and international conferences in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, India, South Africa and Poland. David has published a number of articles on effective SEN provision and wrote the SEND training materials for Teaching Leaders. He is also part of the Mayor of London's Education advisory team. David has led outstanding SEND provision in London schools for over fifteen years and in 2013 his department at Lampton School won the Inclusion Award at the National Business Education Awards. David was awarded an OBE for Services to Education in the 2016 New Year's Honours list.