The EfL SEND Community

When your school, college or setting invests in Evidence for Learning, you also join and gain immediate access to a rapidly growing nationwide and international community of SEND leaders and practitioners.

EfL is used in more than 700 specialist SEND schools, colleges, alternate provisions, inclusion units and SEND provisions throughout the UK and a growing number around the world. It’s also used in hundreds of mainstream schools and settings. Consequently there’s an incredible wealth of SEND and early years expertise and experience among the EfL community and oodles of inspiring practice and innovation building around the use of Evidence for Learning, – especially in developing inquiry-based holistic, learner-centred approaches with engagement at the core.

To capitalise on this, we host regular regional EfL SEND Leadership Networking & Development Days around the UK. These events, which are held throughout the year in the NW, NE, W Midlands, E Midlands, SW,  London and the Southeast, bring together school leaders, lead practitioners, SENCos and teachers from schools across each region. They are a unique chance to catch up and hear what schools are doing generally in terms of curriculum and assessment – and in particular how they are adapting to the new EIF.

Here’s an example of one of the recent regional events to give you an idea of the format, content and the networking opportunities:

EfL Midlands SEND Networking and Development Day (Sample)

Within the EfL SEND Community there are also a growing number of special interest groups, working groups and research/collaborative projects. For example, there are projects and groups focusing on Post-16 and Post-19 provision for SEND learners; developing pedagogies, curriculum and assessment for SEMH (Social, Emotional and Mental Health); provision for SEND learners in mainstream schools.

Many schools have built new and lasting partnerships with other schools that they’ve encountered and met through one of the EfL regional meetings.

If you’d like to learn more and discuss how Evidence for Learning might help you and your school on your journey, please get in touch.

Unique Collaborative CPLD Opportunities

Online Communities of Practice

We have private groups on LinkedIn and Facebook where colleagues and peers can discuss and share thoughts, ideas, experiences, resources and learning on these crucial matters of learning, development and education provision. The groups are also an opportunity to connect people and help you to build a network that can support you on your own important journey over the coming months. Communities of practice if you will…

Facebook Group: Recovery Curriculum

We’ve set up a private facebook group at:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/recoverycurriculum

or search for “recoverycurriculum” in the Facebook app.

https://www.linkedin.com/groups/12399451/

The EfL Activity Library

The EfL Activity Library is a great way to leverage the expertise and experience across the EfL SEND Community. It allows schools to quickly and easily share Activities with each other. In addition to creating their own Activities inside EfL and adapting existing ones from your school’s resource base, your teachers can browse the EfL Activity Library for useful Activities that have been developed by the EfL SEND Community of schools.

They can import activities and then adapt and if appropriate, personalise them before sharing with families/carers and learners at your school.

• Massive savings on workload time and effort
• Share best practice, while still allowing the necessary adaptation and personalisation of activities where appropriate.

The EfL Activity Library allows us all the opportunity to benefit from the shared expertise and experience that exists within the community of nearly 400 SEND schools, colleges and settings that are now using Evidence for Learning.