2nd April 2010

• Sheffield takes part in pilot project

  Achievement for All is a new pilot project which aims to improve outcomes for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), and Sheffield is one of ten local authorities in England taking part.

  The project will run between September 2009 and September 2011 at 51 primary and secondary schools in Sheffield, as well as Talbot special school.

  The project will collect data from pupils with special educational needs (i.e. children on School Action, School Action Plus or Statements) in years 1, 5, 7 and 10. In the second year of the project, pupils with SEND in other years will also take part, but they will not be tracked.

  The project has three main aims:

  1) To improve educational attainment and progress
  This will be done through better assessment, tracking, and interventions.

  2) To get parents more involved in their child’s education
  This will be done by training teachers to hold termly “structured conversations” with parents.

  3) To improve wider outcomes
  Schools will be required to focus on two of the following areas:

  Sheffield will receive a total of £2.7m of additional funding to deliver this project. This money will go towards:

  Most of the funding will be given directly to schools, but some will be held back centrally. Schools will have to account for their spending to the Local Authority, and will be required to collect data on a number of indicators, such as: termly attainment for English and mathematics, parental engagement and confidence, wider outcomes (e.g. attendance, participation in extra-curricular activities), and changes in staff attitude and school ethos.