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Hertfordshire County Council

SEND Specialist Advisory Teams training offer

Essential training for teachers by teachers. 

“To empower children and young people with SEND to learn, thrive, and achieve through the provision of high-quality training.”

Our Specialist Advisory Teachers can support your school with:

Courses

Our training courses outline devised interventions and how you can deliver them. They all come with a full pack of resources that you can start using right away.

Courses planned for this term: 
  1. Inference Detectives. Find out what inferential comprehension difficulties are and what skills children need. Learn about the KS2 reading expectations regarding inference, how to implement the Inference Detectives programme and review progress.

  2. Understanding and assessing persistent literacy difficulties (for primary schools) - email us to book. Understand the key factors impacting on early literacy development​, and how persistent literacy difficulties may present in the classroom​. Know how to use assessments to identify characteristics of persistent literacy difficulties, and which strategies or interventions to use.

  3. Using Diagnostic Literacy Assessments to Identify a Pupil's Strengths and Needs for Target Setting (for Teaching Assistants) - email us to book. Learn how to carry out diagnostic assessments in word reading, phonic knowledge, spelling and phonological awareness. Identify strengths and needs from the assessments to inform target setting and intervention teaching, and understand how diagnostic assessments fit into the 'assess, plan, do, review' cycle.


If you are interested in these training courses, or want to discuss a bespoke option, please email cognitionandlearningteam@hertfordshire.gov.uk.

Whole school training

We also offer whole school training options.

  • Whizzy's Words - 2
    Phonemic Awareness and Phase 2 Phonic Intervention for children in Years 1 - 3 who are not yet blending or segmenting sounds in consonant-vowel-consonant words.

  • Forward with Phonics
    Phonemic Awareness and Phase 3 - 5 Phonic Intervention for children from Year 2 upwards, who have not made progress despite catch up using the school's systematic synthetic phonics programme.

  • UCAN - 2
    Number Assessment and Intervention which targets Reception to Year 3 number objectives and focuses on counting, place value, addition and subtraction.

  • How to be Inference Detectives
    Intervention targeted at children in early KS2 who can decode at Year 3 - 4 level but struggle to make inferences when reading.

  • Strategies for children with Writing Difficulties
    Provides a toolkit of ideas, strategies and resources for primary school staff to support children who are still at the early stages of writing or who require adult support to complete a written task.

  • Understanding and assessing persistent literacy difficulties including dyslexia (available from April 2025).

  • Bespoke options. Discuss your schools' needs with the Cognition and Learning Team, or tailor the topics above to your school's exact needs.
  • Diagnostic training

Pricing

Pricing for Cognition and Learning Team's whole school training options
 Activity Price
Half day training (e.g. inset day) £550
Full day training (e.g. inset day) £1000
1 hour Twilight training £200
Follow up session to discuss impact of training and next step recommendations for the school (per hour) £150
Consultation with SENCO/ class teacher (per hour) £150


If you are interested in the whole school training offer or want to discuss a bespoke option, please email cognitionandlearningteam@hertfordshire.gov.uk.

Information:

Our qualified specialist teachers hold:

  • OCR Accredited Level 5 Certificate in Dyslexia; Literacy Support and Intervention
  • Level 7 Diploma in Teaching and Assessing Learners with Dyslexia, Specific Learning Difficulties and Barriers to Learning

"Brilliant and jam packed with practical activities without high costs for the school"

- SENCO (Strategies for children with writing difficulties course)

Vision Impairment Team

The Vision Impairment Team offer the following invite only courses:

Invite only courses

Early Years Vision Impairment 

The course provides staff supporting children with vision impairment in early years settings with an introduction to vision impairment (VI), outlining the impact of VI upon development, and provides practical advice and strategies to promote a young child’s access to their play and learning.

Effective Access for Children and Young People with Vision Impairment

This course provides staff working with children and young people with vision impairment in Year 1 and above with an introduction to vision impairment, the impact upon learning and development, and provides practical advice and strategies to promote access to the curriculum and inclusion.

Resource Modification and Access for Children and Young People with Vision Impairment

Find out how to modify curriculum materials (text and diagrams) for learners with vision impairment. Find out how to use Bookshare, learn techniques for supporting in class and understand shortcut keys.

Advanced Drawing Using Microsoft Office for Children and Young People with Vision Impairment

This course leads on from the Resource Modification and Access workshop and is designed for the attendees who wish to learn more advanced modification techniques to support access (please ensure you have attended the Resource Modification and Access workshop before booking onto this workshop).

How to support Children and Young People with Vision Impairment in Physical Education

The course provides staff supporting children with vision impairment in physical education (PE) with an introduction to vision impairment (VI), outlining the impact of VI upon access to PE and provides practical advice and strategies to promote inclusion.

If you do want to enquire about attending training for your setting, please email: Priya.Patel@hertfordshire.gov.uk

Information:

The Vision Impairment Team is made up of:

  • Qualified Teachers of Children and Young People with Vision Impairment (QTVI)
  • Qualified Habilitation Specialists of Children and Young People with Vision Impairment (QHS)
  • Lead Access Specialists
  • Access Specialists
  • Early Years Vision and Tactile Development Specialists
  • Specialist SEND Technician

"Absolutely brilliant. Thoroughly enjoyed the session. Expertly delivered and high quality advice and resources. I learnt not only about visual impairment, but how to use the applications to benefit all students as well."

- SENCO (resource modification and access course)

Deaf and Hearing Support Service (DHSS)

DHSS offer the following invite only courses:

  • Annual training for school staff who have deaf children on the DHSS caseload. 
  • Bespoke training for secondary schools to support deaf learners.

If you do want to enquire about attending or receiving bespoke training for your setting, please email:

dhssreferrals@hertfordshire.gov.uk

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