ABSTRACT
A key principle of the new Code of Practice is that all children with special educational needs (SEN) should have access to high quality universal provision which meets their needs and ensures opportunities to engage in activities alongside their peers. Universal provision sets out the basic expectations relating to effective inclusive practice which should be in place to ensure that a setting is prepared for children with additional needs and supports staff to meet the needs of all children. The information that was collected in the questionnaires identified teachers’ knowledge about high quality universal provision and how confident they were with using a range of resources which would support all children – but especially those with SEN. Given the SEN Coordinator (SENCO) remit and workload, plotting the school performance figure over time enables SENCOs to supply governors, head teachers and Ofsted, with a headline figure that is an indicator of the school’s performance in the area of universal provision.
