An outward facing school

Alistair Crawford currently leads the outward facing offer for St Martin’s and St Andrew’s Schools in Derby. Prior to this, he worked in a range of specialist schools across the East Midlands as a teacher and senior leader. 

As an experienced Specialist Leader of Education and School / Multi-Academy Trust reviewer Alistair has supported many schools and colleagues to develop their SEND provision and improve outcomes for young people with additional needs. 

A big passion for Alistair is raising aspiration for the amazing young people we work with and he is currently working with a range of national partners to support pathways to employment and participation in elite sports. Alistair is a member of the regional team for Whole School SEND ( EMSYH), Co Chair of the National Network of Specialist Provision (NNSP) and is currently the Specialist lead for Oak National Academy. 

To get in touch or to find out more information, please contact Alistair on alistair.crawford@stmartins.set.org

Please see our X feed below.

Early Career Framework

The ECF was designed to make sure early career teachers focus on learning the things that make the most difference in the classroom and their professional practice.

The core induction programmes include high-quality development materials, underpinned by the ECF, which will support early career teachers to develop the essential knowledge and skills to set them up for a successful and fulfilling career in teaching. Schools have an opportunity to take advantage of the benefits of the ECF early by using the core induction programmes published here, in whichever way that best suits them and their early career teachers.

Supporting and nurturing teachers through the early stages of their career has always been central to our work as a school and teaching school. We are particularly passionate about ensuring that all teachers from ITT through to senior leadership receive positive training and experiences providing them with the knowledge and confidence to support learners with SEND.

‘Every teacher a teacher of SEND’ 

‘Every leader a leader of SEND’

We continue to work closely with the Education Development Trust as they rollout the Early Career Framework (ECF). As a central team facilitator a number of regional teaching schools we have supported with the design of ECF materials particularly focussing on strategies to support students with SEND and will continue to support and lead regional / national training and events.

To find out more, please visit - https://www.educationdevelopmenttrust.com/providing-the-support-early-career-teachers-need
 

NPQ SENCO

We are proud to have contributed to the development of the new NPQ SENCO with Alistair Crawford being a member of the Expert Reference Group. In addition both Alistair and colleagues across the school team are working with a variety of providers to support and design curriculum and materials for when the award becomes statutory in September 2024.  For more information, please click here.

Oak National Academy

We have been honoured to support the work of Oak National Academy and to collaborate with amazing teachers and leaders from across the country on the Specialist Curriculum offer.

The Oak offer has over 600 specialist lessons and resources including video lessons, activity cards and a host of downloadable materials that can be edited and personalised to best meet the needs of individual learners.

Please find links below that share more detail about Oak’s offer including a blog and webinar sharing how families and professionals might engage with and use the lessons and materials.

Alistair Crawford continues to work with Oak National Academy as Specialist lead supporting inclusion across the mainstream curriculum and overseeing further developments of the specialist offer.

The Specialist team at Oak would love to hear your feedback and learn more about how students, families and School’s are engaging with the lessons and materials.
Specialist Lessons: https://classroom.thenational.academy/specialist
Specialist Curriculum for 2020/21: https://www.crowdcast.io/e/making-the-most-of-oak-2
Please get in touch by emailing – alistair.crawford@thenational.academy

Derby Priority Education Investment Area - PEIA

St Martins School is proud to be a key partner in Derby’s Priority Education Investment Area.

St Martins are proud to lead and collaborate on a number of projects through the PEIA working with all schools across the city (mainstream and specialist).  A particular focus of this work is to raise aspiration and support pre, early & developing readers and also to improve attendance for the most vulnerable learners across the city.

We are proud to share that learners from our school helped design the PEIA logo and have made significant contributions to PEIA board meetings.

Whole School Send

Alistair Crawford is an established member of the Whole School SEND regional team for EMSYH leading on a number of projects to connect and develop our regional and national community of practice.

WSS is a consortium of partners hosted by the National Association for Special Educational Needs (Nasen) and funded by the DfE to support schools in England to prioritise SEND. WSS have been awarded the SEND Schools’ Workforce Contract until March 2025. The contract has four key aims which are to;

•    Drive education institutions to prioritise SEND within their CPD and school improvement plans including facilitating greater links between mainstream and special schools.
•    Equip schools to identify and meet their training needs in relation to SEND.
•    Build the skills of teachers working in mainstream and special schools and of SENCOs and teachers of classes of children and young people with sensory impairments by promoting best practice.
•    Identify and respond to any gaps in the training and resources available to schools.

Do something amazing today! Be inclusive and support nasen and Whole School SEND click here to join the Community of Practice.

The WSS Consortium is made up of organisations from across the sector and some of the partners include; the Teaching Schools Council, pdnet, Achievement for All, EQUALS,NASS, Real Group and the Driver Youth Trust.

“It’s a huge honour to be a part the excellent Whole School SEND regional team. I look forward to growing our community of practice and connecting colleagues across the region and beyond. The students and schools I work with both inspire and energise me on a daily basis, I look forward to working with you all in this exciting new role and serving the region to ensure our young people receive the very best education and opportunities.”  Alistair Crawford

To get in touch with Alistair regarding Whole School SEND, please email him at: drsl2.north@wholeschoolsend.com