Equals National Conference – Friday 27th June 2025
Friends House, Euston in Central London.

My Independence

Exploring why Independence is a KEY Subject for all learners
of all ages and abilities in all Specialist settings.

Date: Friday 27th June 2025

Venue: Friends House, 173-177 Euston Road, Central London, NW1 2BJ.

Programme

09.00 – 09.45              Registration

09.45 – 10.00              Welcome by Chris Rollings, Equals Chairperson

10.00 – 10.40              Common themes across all Curriculum Pathways by James Waller                                                                                                                               
10.40 – 11.40              Pre-Formal Curriculum Pathway by Mike Sissons

11.40 – 12.00              Coffee

12.00 – 13.00              Informal Curriculum Pathway by Jo Williams

13.00 – 14.00              Lunch

14.00 – 15.00              Semi-Formal Curriculum Pathway by Trish Turner

15.00 – 15.30              Q&A with Peter Imray   

Cost: Only £359 +VAT for Equals Members. Non-members can apply at the non-members rates.

To book a place please email admin@equalsoffice.co.uk

New Development – “How To” extended Training Sessions

Equals is busy working on a new development which involves a series of six recorded CPD sessions, with each session lasting up to 20 mins. All the sessions feature professional video content which helps share best practice from Specialist settings. Initially, the first series will involve Play and relate to informal/more complex learners. This is expected to be available for members to purchase for £300+VAT for all six sessions, later in the Autumn 2024. Non-members can purchase for these for £500+VAT.

This will be followed with a series related to Independence during 2025.

To learn more please contact the Equals Strategic Development Manager;
Paul Buskin using paul@equalsoffice.co.uk or by phone using 0191 272 1222

Moving On To

Accreditation aligned to the Equals Semi-formal Curriculum Schemes of work

Moving on To is a system for validating the real, practical and/or functional progress made by individual students with severe learning difficulties (SLD over the course of their formal educational journeys, whether these be in primary, secondary or further education). 

It is directly related to the » Equals Semi-formal Curriculum which has been written and edited by experienced specialist practitioners. 

The Equals Semi-Formal Curriculum is different rather than differentiated from England’s National Curriculum, or any other national curriculum or common core standards curriculum and at this time it represents a unique curriculum model.

Moving on To

• should be used to indicate the summits archived in the learning journey of each individual
• offers a framework which enables teachers and others to accredit personal, social, work-related and independent living
• is not a curriculum and should not be used as such
• has been designed to indicate potential as much as actual achievement
• does not particularly work on upwardly progressive model
• relies on ipsative assessments

Cost: Registration £119 per school

Certificates

Equals provides a professional certification service for a small charge, whereby a format can be organised for presentation ceremonies for school leavers.

Presenting organisations should go for the highest level archived by the individual at the end of their time at the school/college and they therefore represent ‘leaving certificates’ of achievement.  They should not be used as weekly, monthly or even yearly certificates of achievement.

Certificates cost £2.50 each

Supports Achievements in

• Communication
• Cooking and Food Technology
• Outdoor school
• Shopping
• Travel training
• Thinking and problem solving
• Vocational Skills

For further information or to register your students please contact paul@equalsoffice.co.uk or you can ring Paul on 0191 272 1222

Assessment for all learners working within the
Equals Informal Curriculum designed for those

with Complex Learning Difficulties (CLD)

• There are no assessment or progress norms for Informal Learners,
  therefore assessment for all learners experiencing CLD will therefore,
  of necessity, be individualised and ipsative.

• The learner is where the learner is. We have to work with them where they are,
  and though we cannot leave them there, knowing where they are now,
  is an essential first step.

• Stretch and challenge are hugely important, but first of all each learner must be
  engaged, and that engagement must be active, rather than passive. 

• The nature of ‘work’ is highly likely to be different to that understood to be
  appropriate for neuro-typical learners of the same chronological age.

• We are not trying to change the leaners, we are trying to facilitate
  and enable their growth.

Members: £50 when purchased with the informal curriculum.
Non-Members: £125 when purchased with the informal curriculum.

*Schools can only purchase this if they hold a licence for the
Equals Informal Curriculum Schemes of Work.

To place an order for the Informal Assessment please
email admin@equalsoffice.co.uk or you can ring using 0191 272 1222

For further information or to place and order please contact paul@equalsoffice.co.uk 

• Download Order Form

In-Person – An opportunity to visit an Equals Exemplar Support School

This is an opportunity to visit an Exemplar School and spend time with senior leaders and in classrooms. The purpose of this day is to increase the understanding of a Informal and/or Semi-formal Curricula as well as being able to ask about assessment, planning or any other aspect of teaching and learning that you are interested in.

The Exemplar Schools involve specialist schools, where either Equals has provided additional consultancy over the past 2-3 years or where they are demonstrating best practice. They have been observed implementing Curriculum Schemes of Work well in their own school. These schools have provided presentations to Equals Members’, via Regional Curriculum Conferences over the past 36 months.

They are able to articulate how their curriculum:

• can be implemented
• how it works with other processes such as Mapping and Assessing Personal Progress
• And to demonstrate the impact.

For further information please contact the Equals Strategic Development Manager; Paul Buskin using paul@equalsoffice.co.uk

Costs from £89 which goes towards expenses such as lunch/refreshments etc.

Further development days are being organised for Spring 2024 for the following schools.

• Brackenfield School in Nottingham on the 14th November 2024
• Canolfan Addysg Y Bont in Anglesey, North Wales on the 28th November 2024
• Dee Banks School in Cheshire on the 16th October & 11th December 2024
• Fairview School in Perth, Scotland
• Kingsbury School in Lancashire on the 26th November 2024
• St Ann’s School in London
• Sunningdale School in Tyne & Wear on the 18th October 2024 &
  14th February, 21st March and 16th May 2025
• Wren Spinney in Northants.

For further information or to learn how to book a place please contact the
Equals Strategic Development Manager; Paul Buskin using paul@equalsoffice.co.uk

Would you like to learn more about the Equals Curriculum and Assessment materials?

The Equals Curricula and Ofsted.

Paper 1.

Engaging with the Ofsted phone call and opening discussions

This is a short ‘advice’ paper to schools already (or considering) working with any of the Equals ‘different not differentiated’ curricula such as the Pre-Formal (PMLD) Curriculum, the Informal (CLD) Curriculum or the Semi-Formal (SLD) Curriculum.

The main basis for this advice is founded on discussions with former SEND lead HMIs such as Nick Whittaker and Maxine MacDonald-Taylor and the latest Ofsted information on SEND in the EIF (Education Inspection Framework) which is held in a webinar video released on 10th November 2022. This is entitled ‘Ofsted inspections in special schools’ and can be accessed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=279-kf1R_hY

Equals is actively seeking discussions with the new lead HMI for SEND (Kathryn Rudd) and will keep schools informed of any new developments.

The first thing to say is that preparation for Ofsted will include informing the visiting Inspectors that your school is not working with the National Curriculum for all learners, and some schools may well extend that to not working with the National Curriculum for any learners. Most SLD specialist schools will have a very small handful who might be, or are well on their way to being, fluently literate and/or numerate. The first thing to establish during the initial telephone conversation however, is that you are running a ‘different not differentiated’ curriculum model based on the Equals multi-tiered curriculum pathways, for most of your learners.

We also strongly advise that your SEF clearly and unequivocally states the case. There is no statutory obligation to have a SEF, but it is an excellent opportunity for your school to go into some detail about what you do and most importantly, why you do it. In other words, you can go some way towards answering the first of Ofsted’s Three Is of Intent, Implementation and Impact. Don’t hold anything back and don’t leave the Inspector(s) expecting to see one thing and actually seeing something else when they arrive. Like all teachers, Ofsted Inspectors need to prepare, and if you’re preparing them for the wrong things, this will cause difficulties which can easily be avoided.

It is likely that the Inspectors will have heard of the Equals Curricula, but it is also quite possible that they have not. Do not however, assume that Inspectors, even HMIs, will have a deep and meaningful understanding of any of the Equals Curricula in detail. Senior leaders should therefore have a sound understanding of the pedagogical justification for not teaching the National Curriculum and must be able to talk the talk! The point about this is, that ‘walking the walk’ (teachers being super-confident in their ability to understand and teach the various ‘subjects’ in the various Equals Curricula) will take time – at least two and quite possibly five years. Ofsted will not expect all teachers to be perfect, but SLT and teachers must know and believe in the reasons for change. Equals can offer practical support in this process – talk to Paul Buskin at Equals if you are interested in exploring this further.

Change is always problematic, and curriculum is the most fundamental change that a school can envisage. However, having a clear understanding of why you’re changing is a necessary pre-requisite and all stakeholders, leaders, teachers, governors and parents need to be able to hold a conversation on this. When faced with Ofsted, senior leaders must be the most knowledgeable of all and should be able to hold their line in any academic discussions that might arise.

Your main lines of ‘talking the talk’ might be

1. That you hold very high ambitions for all of your learners. Ofsted talk a lot about having ‘high ambition’ for those with SEND, though they do not say exactly what they mean by this, since it is up to each individual school to talk this talk, according to the school’s individual circumstances. In Equals terms, the school is demonstrating high ambition for all by adopting a curriculum model which seeks to enable each and every learner to be the best they can be and do the best they can do, regardless of their disabilities.

It is strongly recommended that school leaders, teachers and governors spend time with the Basic Principles sections of at least the four core Semi-Formal Curriculum ‘subjects’ of My Communication, My Play, My Independence and My Thinking and Problem Solving, as well as Basic Principles sections of the Informal Curriculum and the Pre-Formal Curriculum, assuming your school also houses learners with PMLD and CLD (Complex Learning Disabilities). Reading these through and discussing the issues with colleagues will help to ground the theory, and understanding the theory is a really important first step. It is also really important that new staff (and new governors) are encouraged to do the same as they begin their work with the school.

2. That you’re not trying to cure the learning disability by constantly teaching knowledge and skills to pupils (such as in a Systematic Synthetic Phonics programme) when the pupils are consistently and over time, unable to progress. Those with PMLD and SLD learn differently to neuro-typical, conventionally developing learners, and if the learn differently, we ought to teach them differently and teach them different things (Imray and Hinchcliffe, 2014; Imray and Colley, 2017). The Curriculum Imperative, a chapter from this latter book which goes into some detail about learning differently is obtainable from direct request to Sarah Binns at Equals via sarah@equalsoffice.co.uk  

3. That you’re basing your curriculum on the fact that there is no research evidence, anywhere in the world, that indicates that fluency in literacy and numeracy is possible from a position of established profound, complex or severe learning disability. There is quite an amount of research about marginal gains being possible with intensive support, but none that states that short term marginal gains can be maintained over time. There is also quite an amount about ‘catch-up’ being possible for some with SEND, but none which says that all with SEND can achieve such success. The latest on research into SLD and PMLD is reviewed in Imray P, Kossyvaki L and Sissons M (2023) Evidence-based practice: the use and abuse of research. Support for Learning. 38 (1). You can obtain a free download of this article at https://nasenjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1467-9604.12438

A separate short paper on Deep Dives into Reading, Writing and/or Mathematics will also be made available at www.equals.co.uk over the next month or two.

Peter Imray

8th March 2023

Bespoke Online Sessions

Equals can provide bespoke online sessions with groups of 4-5 schools, where their Curriculum and Assessment needs are similar for a more in-depth session for any Equals members that currently hold licences, have maintained their Equals membership and have at least attended some of the online CPD sessions which are free for members for multiple schools/and an in person regional event/development day.

New from Sept 2022 –
Assessing & Recording Progress
within the EYFS

A new EYFS resource to support assessment
and recording in the Early Years Foundation Stage

An interactive learning journal designed specifically for children with complex and profound learning needs.

These materials reflect the key principles of the revised EYFS; reducing time spent on recording and recognising the importance of qualitative data and practitioner knowledge in order to provide high quality assessment for learning.

• Records progress from the start of each child’s unique learning journey and keeps the child at the centre of the process
• Emphasis on personalised strengths and significant characteristics of each child in order to capture progress without the use of checklists or excessive data
• Provides useful links to support the transition beyond EYFS
• A celebratory document that can be shared with parents, carers and child.

Contents

An Introduction and Guide to Using the Materials

• My Communication & Language Development
• My Physical Development
• My Personal, Social & Emotional Development
• My Cognition & Learning and EYFS Characteristics

Skills Maps

• To Support Observational Assessment and Recording

An Interactive Learning Journal

Cost

£50 for Independent Schools, £60 for Equals Members and £75 for Equals Non-members

• Download Order Form

To order these materials please email admin@equalsoffice.co.uk

To learn more about these new materials from Equals, please contact paul@equalsoffice.co.uk
and previews can be provided via online sessions using Zoom or Teams.