Dear Colleague,

Supporting colleagues who teach pupils with SEND (in both special and mainstream settings) is a key part of our mission. PSHE education plays a vital role for these pupils — rehearsing and embedding the practical skills and understanding they need to lead independent and fulfilling lives and enjoy safe and healthy relationships.

That’s why we couldn’t be more excited to share the first of our updates dedicated to supporting those of you who work with pupils with SEND! Subscribe using the button below to continue getting SEND specific news, updates and insights from our diverse and inspiring community of PSHE teachers. Also see the opportunity below to pilot new SEND relationships education lessons from the NSPCC.

Issue #1: new case study and lesson piloting opportunity

Foreword from Karen Summers, PSHE Association Subject Specialist & SEND champion:

Welcome to our first dedicated newsletter for PSHE leads working with pupils with SEND. We're excited to feature contributions from across our community of members — recognising and celebrating effective practice to inspire you in the classroom. 

One of the joys of my role is getting to meet with PSHE leads one to one to problem solve areas of concern together. And it was during one of these 1:1 sessions  that I met Lizzie Colvin and learned of her dedication and commitment to her pupils. I hope you enjoy reading about her insights and approaches below.

Keep flying the flag for PSHE education in your schools and get in touch if you have any questions or queries — we're always happy to help! Also check out our next Effective PSHE education in SEND Provision CPD if you want support delivering PSHE education, including practical ways to demonstrate pupil progress and expectations re inspection.

Frontline interview: 3 things we learned from Lizzie Colvin...

We had the privilege of interviewing Lizzie Colvin — a PSHE lead working in a secondary setting for boys with SEMH. Hear about her experiences developing and raising the profile of PSHE in her school.

Three of our top takeaways…

• Tune into your pupils' needs… Lizzie has a great understanding of her pupils’ social and emotional needs, which enables her to tailor the content of her lessons accordingly and ensure pupils get into the right headspace to learn.

• Recognise the importance of pupil voice: Lizzie made extensive use of our gathering pupils’ views lesson plan, creating a booklet to help set her pupils’ expectations about upcoming lesson topics in terms of the three W’s:

  • What is being taught?
  • Why is it being taught?
  • When will it be taught?

• Think outside of the box: Consider how you can engage pupils in their learning journey so that they can recognise the value of PSHE for their own lives. Assessment is more than just ticking boxes or hitting targets, as Lizzie rightly points out in our interview.

If you teach pupils with SEND in either a special school or mainstream setting and would like to share your experiences, then we’d love to hear from you. Submit your response via our questionnaire here.

We’re hoping to feature a selection of these in future issues, to showcase best practice principles for safe and effective PSHE.

Lesson piloting opportunity

We’re working with the NSPCC to develop 6 new SEND lessons for their 'Talk Relationships' programme. The NSPCC are looking for schools to teach and provide feedback on the initial drafts of these lessons, exploring: kind and unkind behaviours, online friendships, personal space and boundaries, private and public, consent and sharing nudes.

Who we’re looking for: Teachers of secondary aged (11+) pupils with SEND in special education settings

Timescales: The lessons will be ready to trial at the end of this month (November), with a one-hour online focus group taking place in January to hear feedback.

How to take part: Email schools@nspcc.org.uk with the subject: Talk Relationships SEND Pilot and include the following details:

• Full name
• Email address
• School role
• Name of your school
• School post code.

The NSPCC will then send a schools agreement for you to sign in order to take part.

Please note: We can only offer this opportunity to a limited number of our members and spaces will be allocated based on region, pupil profile and a range of other factors.

We hope you enjoyed this first issue. Remember to subscribe for future updates and keep an eye out for our next issue.

Best wishes,

The PSHE Association team