Ofsted Inspections – Good Schools – SEND

In this series of articles, we look at Ofsted inspector's comments regarding 80 schools which were deemed to be "good" overall. In this article, we'll have a look at comments relating to pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities (also known as SEND). The Ofsted Inspection Handbook (as of September 2018) states: Inspectors will consider the progress of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities in relation to the progress of all pupils nationally with similar starting points. Inspectors will examine the impact of funded support for them on removing any differences in progress and attainment. The expectation is that the identification of special educational needs leads to additional or different arrangements being made and a consequent improvement in progress. For groups of pupils whose cognitive ability is such that their attainment is unlikely ever to rise above ‘low’, the judgement on outcomes will be based on an evaluation of the pupils’ learning and progress relative to their starting points at particular...
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