SEND
Twinkl: More Than Just
Worksheets Twinkl has been providing teaching and learning resources for more than 10 years. As the company moves into the edtech space, journalist SAL McKEOWN tells us what’s new.
Twinkl makes worksheets for primary schools - that is the perception of many educators. In fact, they have a much wider reach, from parents to occupational therapists to adult educators. The company has libraries of worksheets, and once a school has membership, they can select and print to their heart’s content.
I caught up with them at the recent TES SEND Show. I discovered that Twinkl is moving into the field of edtech with ARI - an AI assistant that helps teachers generate content for lesson plans and quizzes, write SMART targets for learners or a script for a school play. Think of the hours that will save. However, ARI AI does more exciting things. Imagine getting a child to talk to Henry VIII. They could ask questions such as: ‘How did you feel when your older brother died?’ or ‘Were you disappointed when you first saw Anne of Cleeves?’ Schools with Twinkl membership have access to ARI AI free of charge.
Twinkl has added a new Twinkl Symbols app to its existing Twinkl Symbols platform. Many schools use BoardMaker, PECs or Widgit symbols. These are often used with AAC Communication devices or for early years literacy or to provide information in public settings such as hospitals. Twinkl has employed graphic designers and specialist SEND educators to create attractive colourful symbols. These will be appropriate for children in early years’ settings through to EAL learners in a workplace. The new Twinkl Symbols app is freely available to all users, while the Symbols Web Tool and Resources library are available to subscribers.
Twinkl has already symbolised some of the most popular resources such as the Great Fire of London, adjectives for descriptions, classifying materials and Ancient Egypt. Teachers can make their own grids from scratch or personalise existing content for individual students or groups. Useful templates let staff create quick activities. For example, they can use a Now and Next screen to keep learners on track. It could work as a stripped down to do list or it could provide a simple visual timetable. A picture of toys will remind children to put them back in the play corner and a picture of a book serves as a visual prompt for story time.
You can change background colours, text size and put in photos. This may be more appropriate for early years and children with cognitive delay. Why have an outline of a black cat when you can put in a photo of a child’s pet? You can lock down the board so that children cannot delete items or make inappropriate additions to the vocabulary or learning objectives. You can also email or AirDrop the boards to families to reinforce the learning at home.
Twinkl has been working with OT on sensory circuits resources and emotional regulation. These materials could ensure a consistent approach to dealing with children’s anxieties at school and at home. The technology is in place. Now we need to see how schools are benefiting from this impressive range of resources
For more information visit
https://www.twinkl.co.uk/ November 2024
SEND requires major reform and investment
In the wake of the recent SEND report from the National Audit Office (NAO), Councillor Alex Dale, Chair of local authority fair funding campaign group, f40, shares his thoughts on the SEND system.
We are heartened to receive this report because it clearly states many of the issues that we have been raising around rising demands on the SEND system and a lack of resources, funding and provision to meet those needs, which is failing everyone, especially children.
For those local authorities and schools that receive among the lowest funding, the issues are even greater. We do need a whole system overhaul, but we also need fairer funding to ensure all children have access to the same opportunities and resources, regardless of where they live. The current SEND system is unsustainable. We agree that we need to invest in mainstream schools and ensure they are better supported to provide SEND provision. While there will always be a need for specialist provision for some children with the most complex needs, we need to work hard to improve confidence in parents that our mainstream schools are able to meet the needs of the majority of children who require extra help.
To achieve this, we will need to better balance the accountability schools have across both their academic achievement and their inclusive practice, along with policy reforms to enable local authorities and schools to create a welcoming environment for all children with SEND.
And we must also invest in early intervention so that children are given additional support as soon as problems first arise. The sooner we can help them, the better their outcomes will be.
f40 is asking that school and SEND funding is levelled up across England, and that Government clears the huge deficit SEND budgets that have developed among local authorities in England in recent years through no fault of their own. We need to reset with a whole new approach, and we can’t do that with enormous debts that are threatening to topple so many councils.”
The National Audit Office report concluded: • Following the Children and Families Act 2014, there have been significant increases in the number of children identified as having SEN, particularly those with education, health and care (EHC) plans specifying a need for support in more expensive settings.
• Since 2015, demand for EHC plans has increased 140%, leading to 576,000 children with plans in 2024. There has also been a 14% increase in the number of those with SEN support, to 1.14 million pupils in school. These changes have increased the cost of the SEN system.
• Although DfE has increased high-needs funding, with a 58% real-terms increase between 2014-15 and 2024-25 to £10.7 billion, the system is still not delivering better outcomes for children and young people or preventing local authorities from facing significant financial risks.
• DfE estimates that some 43% of local authorities will have deficits exceeding or close to their reserves in March 2026. This contributes to a cumulative deficit of between £4.3 billion and £4.9 billion when accounting arrangements that stop these deficits impacting local authority reserves are due to end. As such, the current system is not achieving value for money and is unsustainable.
• DfE has been implementing its 2023 plan for system improvement, but there remain significant doubts that current actions will resolve the challenges facing the system. None of the stakeholders we spoke to believed current plans would be effective.
• The government has not yet identified a solution to manage local authority deficits arising from SEN costs, and ongoing savings programmes are not designed to address these challenges.
• Given that the current system costs over £10 billion a year, and that demand for SEN provision is forecast to continue increasing, the government needs to think urgently about how its current investment can be better spent, including through more inclusive education, identifying and addressing needs earlier, and developing a whole-system approach to help achieve its objectives.
Read the full report here:
https://www.nao.org.uk/reports/support-for-children- and-young-people-with-special-educational-needs/
www.education-today.co.uk 29
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