[senco-forum] music and SEN now withdrawal groups

I cant really comment about secondary (I'm a primary SENCo) but I

Hear, hear, Kate.

Exactly what I did at my last school where we taught small group  
Literacy every day for Year 1 pupils who needed the support. So we put  
in the foundations which the children were then able to build on. Some  
children after a term of this withdrawal were able to return to the  
class Literacy and work with the rest of the class, others needed a  
longer time.

I think Inclusion is a misunderstood term. I always think of it as a  
social thing, they are included in a social group with friends doing  
non-academic subjects with them, but being taught what they actually  
needed and would benefit from at other times.

Cheers,

Liz Curtis
Year 1 teacher
Northumberland

On 23 Apr 2008, at 18:02, Kate Barnes wrote:

> I cant really comment about secondary (I'm a primary SENCo) but I  
> have never understood why children are required to "stay in"  mixed  
> ability English lessons in the name of inclusion.
>  This is called "quality first teaching" in primary and is an  
> entitlement for all. Any SEN provision is supposed to be additional  
> and therefore outside the Literacy hour. All the problems of  
> timetabling described at Secondary apply.
>  Looked at logically, why waste a child's time in a lesson which  
> howver well differentiated and whatever support is available will  
> still not be accessible/ relevant for much of the time. (If it is  
> then it wont be for your high achievers). This differentiation will  
> require a huge amount of teacher time and TA support. At the end of  
> which the child probably has not done the basic phonics they need,  
> and has instead learnt about different styles of poetry, when they  
> cant write 3 sentences correctly!
>  I know that it can be better than this, but this is the day to day  
> reality in many busy primary schools.
>  Why not just do the obvious, take a group of children out of  
> Literacy to do Literacy in a smaller group at the right level.  
> Follow the class text type, but spend time on IEP targets and basics  
> as needed. Most kids enjoy change of scene/teacher and more varied  
> and practical activities possible in this setting. Work in the same  
> books so all work can be seen. We do this twice a week  in KS2 and  
> find it works well. Kids have a chance to shine and are not  
> constantly reminded of what they cannot do. Leaves them free to  
> enjoy/suffer PE, music etc like the rest of their class - now thats  
> what I call inclusion!
>  Kate (rereading this and getting wondering if she should don a hard  
> hat!)
>  David Wilson <davidritchiewilson at btinternet.com> wrote:
>  I just wanted to point out that there is a plethora of
> professional literature about Music as a therapy and a
> curriculum subject for learners with SEN. A while ago
> I collected over 200 Music/SEN references here:
>
> http://www.specialeducationalneeds.com/InclusiveCurricula/musenbiblio.doc
>
> David Wilson
> Harton Technology College, South Shields
> http://www.specialeducationalneeds.com/
>
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