The event, held at the Mercure Great Danes Hotel in Maidstone recognised schools and settings that have achieved accreditation through the Balanced System® Scheme for Schools and Settings (S4SS).

The accreditation uses the Balanced System® framework to help schools and other settings improve how they support children with SLCN.

The celebration marked a milestone in a five-year transformation project led by Kent County Council (KCC) and NHS Kent and Medway Integrated Care Board (ICB), aimed at enhancing SLCN support across the county. Staff from accredited schools were presented with certificates in recognition of their achievements and shared their experiences and successes.

Hester Mackay, Professional Lead Teacher for the Balanced System® at KCC, said the celebration day was an opportunity for settings to share their experiences and learn from each other.

She said: “The day was about bringing everybody together so they could share the amazing work they’re doing and inspire each other.

“We want to use the wealth of knowledge that we have in these accredited schools and settings to inspire other people and give them the confidence and support they need to go on to better meet SLCN.

“Some of the schools and settings have had their accreditation, and maintained it, for more than 10 years which is outstanding. We have continued to grow the number of accredited schools and settings as part of the Kent wide transformation for SLCN, so this is the starting point of shared good practice across the county.”

This programme is one example of the improvements made in services for children, families and schools since the last SEND area inspection. The Balance System ® was referenced in the last report in 2022 and KCC now has more robust evidence from both professionals and parents of the impact of this groundbreaking programme.

Putting it into practice

Rebecca Hughes, assistant head teacher at Temple Hill Primary Academy in Dartford said since joining the Balanced System ®, the school has noticed “a huge improvement” in its universal offer.

She explained: “The universal offer in early years used to be quite strong, whereas now we can see it consistently throughout the whole school.”

Briary Pre-School in Herne Bay joined the Balanced System® three years ago and has been using a number of different strategies to strengthen its approach.

Carol Smith, manager and SENCO at Briary Pre-School, said: “We are a charity pre-school with high levels of SEND and children coming through with delayed speech and language. When we joined three years ago, it was a critical time for us to work as a whole team to do the best we could and make an impact on children’s speech and language before they went to school.

“We have seen children who are pre-verbal being able to use subtle gestures like face watching and sharing joint attention; we have seen language develop through strategies we have used such as a vocabulary word flower, Makaton signing and communication boards.”

Suzanne Legge, from Newington Community Primary School, which is finishing its second year following its accreditation said: “The primary area of need in our school is communication interaction and has been for a number of years with speech and language a need predominantly in Key Stage One.

“For me it was about bringing a whole school approach and that is fundamentally what the Balanced System® gave our school.

“All our early years staff are Makaton trained, they have intensive interaction which is done at a universal level so children coming into school who are pre or nonverbal, by the end of reception are speaking.”

When asked what advice she would give to schools earlier on in their accreditation journey, she said “it needs to be a whole school approach” as “speech and language runs through the core of everything we do.”

A Vision for the Future

Marie Gascoigne has been developing the Balanced System® framework for approaching 20 years.

It is widely used by commissioners and therapy service providers and has been adapted into a school-focused accreditation scheme delivered by Better Communication CIC.

Marie explained: “We wanted to produce a framework that allows everybody to work to the same outcomes. We have taken that from a top-down level and made a version that is suitable for schools and settings to work through in their own contexts.

“Schools follow the 'understand, plan, do, review' cycle, starting with an understand phase where they look at their provision and map what they have. They make a whole school or setting plan and then show how support is making a difference to children, families and staff.

"I have been speaking to a colleague who started in the very first cohort in 2015 and has now been accredited twice because they found the process so powerful. That staff member has now been given a full-time role supporting SLCN in their school.

“What we are also finding is that the impact evidence being collected is showing how support for speech, language and communication is supporting all children with meaningful day to day activities, including learning, interacting with others, and sharing how they are feeling."

A standout moment at the event when the accreditation certificates were being handed out, was a montage video with quotes from children and families about the support put in place.

One parent said: “I now give my daughter plenty of warning time along with visuals. It has made such an impact at home, my daughter is now ok most of the time when I ask her to get dressed, brush her teeth… “

Another parent said: “I learned communication strategies, such as giving my son processing time to express himself.  I have found I am now able to come home and start conversations with my child about their day and experiences at school in ways I couldn’t before. This has improved our relationship massively and his attendance has now massively improved.  He is now reaching his learning potential.”

Some children have also shared the ways they feel supported. One child said: “I like the comic strips because I get to write down my feelings instead of trying to explain them, which I find hard to do. I also like to draw the faces on the people within the comic strips to show whether I am happy or sad.”

Another child explained: “I don’t really like to tell people when I have hurt myself or if I am struggling, I sometimes find it too hard but using the cards and just being able to point to the pictures when the adult asked me a question was much easier.”