I am the SENCo and Deputy Head at Staincliffe CE ( C ) Junior School which is a large (360) junior school with a make-up of mostly Muslim children. English is not the first language for more than 90% of our children and so it is not always straightforward to assess for special educational needs. We have approximately 19% on the SEN register and an increasing number of EHCP applications to make. I purchased SNAP-SpLD and SNAP-B after a visit from an outside agency (PRU) assisting with my referral of a pupil for their EHCP – the contact from the PRU recommended it and showed me how SNAP was used. I thought it looked very beneficial for our school.
I have pinpointed certain children with needs, SEMHD and behavioural issues, and have used SNAP with these children as a diagnostic profiling tool. I really like it. I’ve used both SNAP-SpLD and SNAP-B. The Diagnostic Probes in SNAP-SpLD are particularly useful for me as SENCo for a more in-depth profile of different areas of need. I really like the Core Profile and the way it gives the key areas and the SMART targets. I find this useful to talk through with the teachers and agree on which areas to concentrate on. It helps to provide staff with ideas and strategies for interventions to put in place and it helps me with information when I’m putting together IEPs and requests for statutory assessment. It’s an easy document to use to show the ideas of techniques for parents to try at home and for class teachers to try in school.
Sometimes it can be difficult to engage parents, especially if there is a language barrier, but parents seem to like the visual profile SNAP gives and it helps to have that to talk about. The pupils I have worked with like the ‘What I Feel’ questionnaire and the interactive probes so it has been helpful in engaging the pupils and finding out what they are feeling.
So far, I have used SNAP with a small number of children, although that is increasing now. I found it very useful with a child new to the school where I had no background information and needed to assess his strengths and where he would need support. When I have time, I would like to train other members of the team to use it.
I have recommended it to other schools in my cluster - it’s simple, accessible for anyone to use, gives SMART targets to move towards and is helpful for putting evidence together for my support plans and EHCP referrals.