Moulton CEVC Primary School use SNAP-SpLD

Moulton CEVC Primary School is a one-form entry primary school in Suffolk. We have a predominant number of children with cognition and learning as their primary need.

SNAP was introduced at our local SEN hub meeting and, over the last few months, I have assessed 15 children using SNAP SpLD. As a school we make extensive use of the programme in many ways, capturing pupil voice and parent perspective through the questionnaires is a particular strength.

We use SNAP as a starting point for uncovering difficulties that children are facing, for ruling out other difficulties and to identify strengths. It is helpful as a tool to capture the esteem and wellbeing of pupils and track this, and we can begin a dialogue with parents through the initial parent questionnaire. The bar chart provides a user-friendly way of interpreting strengths and difficulties for pupils and parents and we like the way the information pack that can be generated to give ways to help at home. 

SNAP is clear and concise and the outcomes help inform the update of one-page profiles and how the child learns best. Importantly, the outcomes from SNAP help us to make further referrals for diagnosis.

The Pupil Assessment Questionnaires provide a thorough way of obtaining contextual understanding of their difficulties, rather than relying just on direct assessment in a quiet room, and the What I Feel Questionnaires help by uncovering and capturing the pupil’s voice and ways we can adapt classroom practice to suit their self-esteem needs. The Letter to Parents clearly outlines the process and captures formally their permission and the Family Questionnaires give us a good starting point for discussion, especially if the parents hadn’t been aware of a problem to date.

I think the Diagnostic Probes are all appropriate and give a modern way of delivering older methods such as DST-J. However, we use our own school model for planning and review so I have not really used the Plan – Do – Review function. We have used some of the recommended intervention strategies and have found these useful for direction to alternative resources than those we have used in the past.

The Core Profile has been very clear and handy for all parties to have and the School report has helped in providing an easy format for information. I really like the Home Report – this is an excellent way of helping parents with next steps rather than only giving difficulties.

I have used SNAP-SpLD across the two schools I work with and I would thoroughly recommend it to other schools.