Next month, Prospects Education will be launching a brand new set of awards to support schools in parental engagement, special education needs and disabilities (SEND) provision and encouraging best practice with teaching assistants. AwardPlace (
www.awardplace.co.uk), the dedicated awards division of Prospects Education, offers three awards that support and accredit schools for outstanding non-curricular provision.
The Leading Parent Partnership Award (LPPA) gives schools a coherent framework to deliver effective parental engagement from early years to post-16. Through the LPPA, schools can meet a number of longer term success criteria, such as improved pupil progress, punctuality, attendance and behaviour alongside increased parental involvement in school life.
In response to increasing numbers of SEND pupils who need support in mainstream education, AwardPlace also offers the SEND Inclusion Award (SENDIA). Providing a framework that recognises outstanding SEND provision in schools, SENDIA helps schools establish their strengths and weaknesses, prioritising areas for further improvement and development.
The Best Practice with Teaching Assistants Award (BPTAA) helps schools evaluate and recognise the valuable role of teaching assistants in pupils’ achievement. BPTAA helps schools to work more effectively with their teaching assistants to support pupils’ attainment and wellbeing.
Schools can start a free trial of any of the three awards on the AwardPlace website. Each award can be undertaken through one of two different approaches: Adviser-led or School-led.
The School-led approach is an independent approach to achieve the award. Coordinators create their own action plan for the school and are responsible for driving it forward, collecting evidence to meet the award objectives. The school can contact a designated award coach by telephone or email for additional guidance.
The Adviser-led approach is a supported approach where the school is assigned an Adviser. The Adviser will conduct an initial visit and a mid-way interim visit with the school, and support the school’s journey through the award process.
Rachel Grant, Head of Awards and Resources said: “This is a tremendously exciting time to be launching new school improvement awards that focus on vital non-curricular provision. We believe self-evaluation is a more powerful agent for change than inspection, and we know school leaders value and trust the experience that our advisers bring to the award process.”
For further information about AwardPlace, please visit
www.awardplace.co.uk.