Ensure the Top Tips for an inclusive learning environment are in place as part of Ordinarily Available Provision. 

Create a supportive learning environment- e.g. ‘help box’ with appropriate resources in each classroom; folders in classrooms (on tables) containing resources such as word mats; using off-white paper (not black text on white paper); colour coding/dyslexia friendly environment; working walls and purposeful displays (e.g. key vocabulary); prompts/reminders; ‘to do’ lists; seating selection; visual cues and timetables; timed rewards and consequences; brain breaks.

Differentiation- e.g. task sheets; providing PowerPoint printouts; timers; breaking down skills; understanding of ‘small steps’ approaches; targeted questions at different levels.

Scaffolding of work- e.g. task plans; word banks; sentence starters; writing frames.

Promotion and encouragement of independence - e.g. through scaffolding; visuals; sharing expectations; work pitched at the young person’s level; effective deployment of support staff; offering mediation at a lower level first before increasing, where necessary (see Getting Help column).

Staff awareness of the learning hierarchy to support their understanding of the stages involved in developing a skill, identifying which stage young people have reached and where additional support to progress may be needed:

• Acquisition (being introduced to a task. Focus is on accuracy and getting it right, rather than speed or use of concepts to problem solve).

• Fluency (practice phase and becoming familiar with the task; starting to focus on speed as well as accuracy. Individuals will make different rates of progress).

• Mastery (task is fully learnt and feels like ‘second nature’; the learner has developed a level of proficiency which is not affected by new learning or periods of time without practising the skill).

• Generalisation (mastered task is now used in other situations; with instruction, the learner applies the skill with novel materials or under different conditions. Learning is less prescribed, and reinforcement can take place through everyday experiences, enabling simple problem solving).

• Adaptation (the mastered skill is fully generalised, and the information can be used in novel ways and for more complex problem solving. Specific instruction in complex or new situations is not needed and the learner can ask themselves what skills or knowledge they might need to solve the problem).

Staff to be aware of the standardized assessments and other types of direct work that may have been completed with a young person alongside the strategies and links that will have been provided within the reports.