SEND - Ambition and Access in Geography / History - Gray's Farm Primary Academy

SEND - Ambition and Access in Geography / History

Ambition – What are we aiming for children with SENs to achieve in this subject? 

Access – What amendments are made to the subject in order to help children with SENs to achieve?

We need to be ambitious about what our children with SEN can achieve and not believe their ability is ‘fixed’ for every subject. Yes, we should take into consideration their barriers to learning but we shouldn't let these limit their opportunities - just because they find reading difficult, it doesn't mean that they won’t be able to interpret Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics or read a map.
  • A spiral curriculum (revisit and revise) - At the start of your lesson, you should be revisiting the vocab and keys facts you have learnt. This will give children with SEN more time and opportunities to understand the concepts and vital knowledge they need to access the learning. 

  • Visual word maps - Create a visual word mat for your children with SEN. These can be used to pre-teach new vocabulary prior to the lesson, to help children visualise the concepts they are using in class and to help with spelling and writing activities. You could give these children the challenge of learning the meaning of a small number of words and test them throughout the week. 

  • Check in - For children with SEN, a history/geography lesson can be overwhelming with all the new information they are given as well as trying to comprehend ideas that may be very alien to them. Try to spend a few minutes with these children, discussing what they do understand and explaining any language, facts or ideas they are finding challenging.  

  • Working walls - Have vocabulary, images and facts displayed on working walls and refer to these regularly. Encourage children with SEN to use these if they are unsure in lessons.