The summer break is nearly over, and the return to school is just around the corner. For teachers and students alike, it can bring both excitement and anxiety. However, with the right strategy, you can hit the ground running and ensure you and your learners are well-prepared to overcome any obstacles that may arise.
When implementing a suitable strategy this year, it’s important to keep government guidance in mind so that you can adhere to certain stipulations regarding teaching and learning, safeguarding, inclusivity and various other factors.
“Appropriate and well-judged adaptations help pupils to overcome the most significant barriers to learning, particularly for those who are disadvantaged and/or who have SEND.”
Therefore, let’s take a look at five valuable back-to-school tips you can implement for the next academic year to support your learners.
1. Establish routines early
Getting back into a regular routine is vital, especially for learners with special educational needs or disabilities (SEND). Therefore, ensure your learners are well-adverse to wake-up times, breaks, homework and meal times. This can help reduce stress and anxiety whilst implementing a solidified strategy for learners so they can tackle each day at a time. This can also be very useful for year 7s handling the transition from primary to secondary school, too.
2. Create a dedicated study space
When returning to school, learners can be restless, encounter behavioural problems or be handling mental health challenges that need addressing. Therefore, it’s a good idea to create a dedicated study space where learners can go to focus on work or just reset to get ready for their next lesson. This can mitigate any worries relating to peer pressure or any distractions they may be struggling with.
3. Encourage open dialogue
For many learners, schools can be a time where they can acquire respite from any home problems they may be experiencing. Therefore, it is important that they can feel safe, secure and welcome to discuss with you the problems they are having with their school or home life without any fear of judgment. Taking a trauma-informed approach should be utilised to ensure any delicate details are handled respectfully and sensitively.
4. Organise and plan ahead
Ensuring that a strategic plan is implemented is crucial if learners are to excel this academic year. Make sure to have appropriate, suitable, and most importantly, personalised learning pathways for pupils so they can understand where they need to improve and develop. It’s also good to ensure that deadlines and specific outcomes are outlined so learners can identify their positive destinations and what can be attained.
5. Prioritise health and wellbeing
Ultimately, the health, wellbeing and safeguarding of learners should be paramount, whatever their circumstances. Coinciding with encouraging open dialogue, it’s important to prioritise the overall wellbeing of learners. This can be done through regular reviews and meetings with learners and parents, to ensure everyone is working in unison to achieve a common positive goal.
Implement the most appropriate solution for learners
Some learners may struggle with mainstream education and, therefore, require a more tailored approach to their education. In some scenarios, avenues like DfE-accredited providers of online education, such as EDClass, can provide powerful transformations for learners in different settings that suit their specific needs.
By implementing personalised learning pathways for learners, we can then ensure that a bespoke package is provided for them to hit the ground running in mainstream education. For some learners, mainstream is inaccessible, and they require learning from home or a different setting. By providing the most appropriate solution, we can then empower them to achieve their educational potential.
“Another significant strength of EDClass is the provision of carefully considered individualised schemes of work. Known as ‘learning pathways’, these take account of, and build on, the curriculum each pupil was following in their registered school prior to joining EDClass. This includes any specific exam syllabuses. As a result, when pupils return to mainstream education, they are well prepared to reintegrate into lessons.”
If you’d like to learn about how EDClass can deliver a more personalised approach for some of your learners and help them smash this next academic year, get in touch by calling 01909 568338, sending an email to mail@edclass.com or booking a free online demonstration here.
