Plymouth Inclusive Education Transitions (PIET) Team

Supporting pupils with special educational needs in their transition to mainstream school

'In line with the equal opportunities policies, no child will be discriminated against because of disability or learning difficulty.

Developing inclusion is a right for all Plymouth schools because it will increase the choice of lifelong opportunities for a greater number of our young people. It will also change the way that people across the community think about learning difficulties and disability'

(Promoting access and opportunity for children and young people with special educational needs in Plymouth, April 2000)

Who are we and what do we do:

• We are a team of Inclusion Practitioners with an extensive and diverse range of experience and knowledge, supervised by a Project Manager/Senior Educational Psychologist
• We work with a range of special provisions to identify through observation, information gathering and discussion, children for whom mainstream school would offer wider educational and social opportunities
• Make the inclusion into mainstream settings through managed transfers possible
• Early intervention work to prevent exclusion from mainstream primary schools
• Make the smooth inclusion of a pupil into a mainstream school possible by providing regular review meetings and ongoing consultations
• Counsel and support individual pupils within the school setting
• Provide support for parents/carers throughout the transition process
• Liaise with other professional agencies
• Inset training
• Manage ‘Fresh Start’ transitions from one mainstream school to another
• Co-ordinate the participation of special school pupils in mainstream school events and extra curricular activity

The pupil will always be the main concern of all those involved. However, sometimes there may be a delay in the inclusion process due to:

• Parental choice - there are not always places immediately available at the chosen school
• Readiness of a pupil for such a change in their school life
• An alteration in the pupil's circumstances - this may make it advisable to put the inclusion on hold, it is in no one's interest to include a pupil until conditions are favourable
• Any issues which may prevent a successful inclusion, the including mainstream school will notify all involved

Initial transition process

• Team receives referral
• Inclusion Practitioners independently observe child in current setting
• Team informs all concerned of their intention to assist the transition
• Open communication is essential at all stages
• Inclusion Practitioner visits parent/carers at home to discuss process
• Inclusion Practitioner visits child in current setting. Through working on a range of activities the child is prepared for the transition into the new school
• Link with multi-agency teams

Ongoing transition support

• Once the child is ready, the Practitioner takes him/her into the mainstream school for an initial visit. If the child, parents and school are in agreement the visits will increase until he/she is fully integrated
• Through organising regular review meetings the Practitioner keeps all parties informed of the child's progress and helps address any problems

Plymouth Inclusive Education Transitions (PIET) Team withdrawal

• Once the child is managing in the mainstream setting and with the agreement of all involved parties the PIE Transitions Team begin to withdraw support
• If deemed necessary the PIE Transitions Team produce a 'child profile' for the mainstream school to provide information and strategies, to be implemented in their ongoing support of the child
• A monitoring and evaluation process follows

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