Transforming outcomes for pupils with SEND isn’t a challenge schools and trusts can face alone, as both the Ofsted framework and the recently published Schools White Paper, Every Child Achieving and Thriving recognise.
“Leaders are committed to and understand their role in the local area partnership strategy to improve the experiences of and outcomes for children and young people with SEND” – The Ofsted & CQC Area SEND Inspection Framework and Handbook.
“The school system must be rooted in partnership and collaboration, so it can achieve higher standards, strengthen professional practice, and deliver better outcomes for children.
We will support schools to be anchors in their communities, collaborating with each other and across public services.” – The Schools White Paper, Every Child Achieving and Thriving
But partnership and collaboration shouldn’t just be a concept that’s written in policy without being lived and breathed on the ground.
Partnership in action
In a talk I delivered to SENCos at the Optimus SEND update events in London and Manchester, I shared a story about a pupil I’d worked with when I was a SENCo and senior leader at a school earlier in my career. It’s one that I think perfectly demonstrates the power and scalability of partnerships.
Bobby (not his real name), a young person with ASC, wanted to attend his local mainstream school, but our support systems were struggling.
Despite having a brilliant, experienced team, we were caught in a “graduated approach cycle of doom”– small wins, tiny cycles, but limited progress. Bobby’s TA built strong relationships, but he spent most of his time in the SEND office, which wasn’t a sustainable solution.
Desperate to find a way forward that worked for Bobby, his parents and the team, I reached out to the Headteacher of a local special school for pupils with ASC. He visited our school, met Bobby, and together we piloted a collaborative approach:
- Bobby spent a term at the special school, receiving targeted support.
- A member of their staff accompanied him on reintegration into our mainstream school.
- In exchange, one of our support staff spent time at the special school, supporting their development
The pilot was so successful that it became formalised through a commissioning agreement with the local authority, allowing up to four placements per year. Over time, this system improved our capacity to support pupils with more complex needs.
Bobby’s story illustrates a key principle: partnership can create self-improving systems, where learning and capacity grow as collaboration continues.
Mechanisms that make collaboration work
Leaders can drive similar outcomes by facilitating partnerships in ways that embed learning across the system:
- Staff exchanges and shared placements: Build capability while addressing individual pupil needs.
- Co-production with families and pupils: Ensure solutions are grounded in lived experience and that parents, carers and children are brought into any decision-making process.
- Cross-school mentoring and networks: Share expertise, reduce isolation and develop consistency in practice.
- Formal agreements with LAs or trusts: Make collaboration sustainable and scalable.
The school’s White Paper makes the case that the SENCo role should be strategic; the SENCo is well placed to work alongside school leaders to build connections, foster partnerships across mainstream and specialist schools to enhance both expertise and impact.
Learning and growing through collaboration
At Supporting Education Group, we see first hand how partnerships drive change, and we encourage learning and growth through partnerships wherever possible. Through initiatives such as our SEG Insights Roundtables, we bring together schools, MATs and specialist organisations to share expertise, explore solutions and co-develop practice.
At our most recent roundtable, for instance, Brenda McHugh from Pears Family School shared how deep collaboration – working not just with young people, but their families and carers too, around them, integrating education, care, and therapeutic expertise – builds capacity across the system.
Businesses from around the group have also drawn on the expertise of trusts to develop crucial training and insight. Best Practice Network worked with The Gallery Trust to form the popular SEND Initial Teacher Training programme.
By pooling expertise, insight and resources, these initiatives create a group of highly skilled SEND teachers who can work across mainstream and specialist settings.
Practical advice for leaders and SENCos
So, what can you do practically now?
Here are a few ways to embed collaboration at a school or MAT level – some of which came out of a conversation I had with Harry Paget-Wall Collins (collaboration in action!)
- Shift from a ‘refer out’ mindset to ‘work together’ across the system
- Consider which local settings could connect to support shared solutions
- Consider which local high-quality specialist settings and alternative provision could support with expert advice and guidance.
- Consider the specialism for an inclusion base in your school and consider where you might need additional support and expertise to ensure effective personalised pupil pathways
- Consider how you can use your expertise to support others recognising that inclusion is now part of Ofsted evaluation, and schools achieving exceptional outcomes will demonstrate how they will support others
The role of the leader in creating spaces for collaboration
Partnership is either enabled or constrained by leadership.
Leaders who are serious about inclusion:
- Create time and space for SENCos and staff to collaborate beyond their school
- Encourage engagement with specialist settings and external partners
- Invest in networks, not just internal systems
- See outward-facing work and training as core leadership practice, not an add-on
This is how individual examples of success, like in Bobby’s case, become embedded, scalable approaches.
When leaders prioritise collaboration, they don’t just solve problems in the moment; they build systems that are better equipped for whatever comes next.
In our next blog, we’ll explore leadership in more detail – particularly what that looks like going forward with the publication of the SEND reforms and Schools White Paper.