Teachers TV: Secondary SEN - Language and Inclusion

At Mulberry School in London the inclusion of a group of girls with severe and complex needs is highly valued not just for its own sake but also for the communication challenges and opportunities it presents to their mainstream peers.

Three girls from the Discovery Group visit a local primary school with three mainstream pupils to tell a story to a Year 2 class. Atiyya and Anisa’s former teacher talks about how their presence in her class helped develop the receptive and expressive language skills of other pupils in the class.

Teachers from the Learning Support Group share the knowledge they have built up working with the Discovery Group with mainstream teachers like Kishan Bhatt and Sally Butler. Kishan believes the emphasis he places on promoting scientific language has made a real difference to the less able students in his Year 9 class. Sally Butler organises group work in her Year 9 English class very carefully so that pupils of all abilities are challenged effectively.