Adaptive Teaching: primary staff meeting series

SWIFT are collaborating with nasen (National Association for Special Educational Needs) to design a series of staff meetings across the academic year to support primary schools to embed adaptive teaching.

The first session (online) will be for those leading SEND within school to set up and make the training most effective for your staff. Thereafter five sessions will be run online and delivered live into your staffroom every half term. The benefits to you will be:

• Nationally recognised, expert training delivered online direct to your staff.
• Gap tasks to explore practical approaches in the classroom.
• Training is carried out in normal staff meeting time 3.45-5.15
• Your staffroom is the online break out room.
• No travel or supply costs.
• No preparation time for your staff training
• Value for money
• Staff not in school that day (e.g. job shares) will be able to attend remotely

The training will be run by Sam McFarlane from nasen and will cover:

4 November 2025

Leadership of Adaptive Teaching and supporting pupils with SEND

Overview of programme and how leaders can interact to support their staff and deliver a school improvement priority around SEND

• SEND Context and data: national and local data sets
• Contextual pressures on classroom teachers
• Rationale and motivation for adaptive teaching
• Inclusive education / high aspirations / teacher workload
• Framing and ethos- Language and culture of teaching pupils with SEND

• Programme overview
• Supporting the programme - Gap task support – variety of modes and styles
• Selecting pupil groups for research / gap task focused work
• Keeping learning momentum / using reflective cycles to learn think together (Gibbs reflective cycle)

Whole staff sessions:

18 November 2025

High Quality teaching / Quality first teaching for pupils with SEND

• 5 a day Education Endowment Foundation / flexible grouping / cognitive and metacognitive strategies / explicit instruction / AT / Scaffolding
• Maximising Learning for everyone
• Inclusion by Design and principals of Universal Design for Learning (CAST)
• Practical applications across phases and subjects
• Gap task preparation

20 January 2026

Meta cognition and strategies

• Learning to learn- Developing learning resilience and independence
• Teaching explicit meta-cognitive strategies
• Planning, monitoring & evaluating
• Model the language and methods of problem solving
• Using talk for learning
• Promoting organisation, resilience and independence
• Gap task preparation

10 March 2026

Scaffolded and motivational learning for pupils with SEND

• The what and why of scaffolding learning
• The design of learning and resources

- Cognitive load theory

- Dual coding of visuals and resources

- Pupils’ understanding of how the world is represented / stages of representation

• Practical strategies for scaffolding learning hints and tips
• Multi-sensory learning ‘hands on brains on’
• Gap task preparation

5 May 2026

Part 1: Using flexible grouping

• What is flexible grouping
• Supporting learning with flexible grouping
• Styles of flexible grouping
• Reflection task – identify styles of flexible grouping within personal teaching and learning style. What is the impact?

Part 2: Using technology to support learning

• What is AT and why is this important to in the learning environment?
• What AT is available in the classroom?

- Microsoft 365 inclusive solutions to learning barriers

- Voice recording apps and equipment

- Communication aids

• Weaving AT into the classroom

- Provision of opportunities to develop skills

- How can AT work across the class

- Exploring the barriers to implementation

• Preparation for gap task

30 June 2026

Part 1:Working with support staff

• Context of Teaching Assistant role

- Benefits / challenges

- Research context

• Reflection current practice with TA/support staff
• Effective TA support
• How can teachers work more effectively with TAs/support staff (pedagogical role)

- Team teach

- Parallel teach

- Station teach

- Assist teach

- Observation support

Part 2: Pupil voice and parent/carer engagement

• Person centred practice
• Understanding pupils’ personal experiences

- Research model Bronfenbrenner

• Including pupil and parent/carer voice in the decisions and practice
• Practice strategies and approaches for pupil voice
• Practical strategies and approaches for parent/carer voice

Training Lead

Samantha McFarlane is an Education Officer with the National Association for Special Educational Needs (nasen).

Sam has worked for many years as a teacher and SENDCO in mainstream settings. Sam then utilised her knowledge and strategic skills as a team leader for a local authority SEN education service. She led on strategic SEND support for mainstream schools, early years and alternative provisions across the authority.

Sam is a qualified assessor for dyslexia for both school age children and adults.

Since joining nasen, Sam has worked on various projects including developing training for school support staff, writing and delivering training for schools with a focus on developing inclusive practice and is currently developing and writing content for the new SENCO National Professional Qualification.

Costs

Pupils on roll are based on numbers in Reception to Y6

up to 120 pupils on roll: SWIFT Member Schools £395 / Non-member schools £595

121-210 pupils on roll: SWIFT Member Schools £495 / Non-member schools £695

211 or more pupils on roll: SWIFT Member Schools £595 / Non-member schools £895

NB Your school will need to have SWIFT membership for 2025/26 to qualify for the member price.

The number of schools is limited to 10.

Priority will be given to SWIFT Members on a first come, first served basis – book early to avoid disappointment!

Please note: Payment is by INVOICE ONLY. Please select invoice as the payment method at check out.

SWIFT Partner providing course (including invoicing) is Harbour Schools Partnership.

You will receive a confirmation of booking from Eventbrite. All further correspondence will come from jo.turnbull@sw-ift.org.uk; please ensure you check your junk mail box and approve the email to ensure you receive important event details.

If you are unable to attend on the day, or are sending someone else in your place, please let us know. Please be aware that failure to cancel your space can incur a cost to your school.

• More than 21 days to date of event: Full refund available (minus £25 admin fee)
• Between 20-7 days to date of event: 50% refund available (minus £25 admin fee)
• 6 days or less to date of event: No refund available (plus £25 admin fee)

Should a training course recruit insufficient numbers to make it viable, we reserve the right to cancel the course, without penalty, giving minimum notice of 24 hours.

Full Terms and Conditions are available HERE.