Shape Coding: The innovative use of a specialist approach in an inclusive primary school to help every child succeed in writing

HODO DIRIR AND MARYUM QURESHI, CYRIL JACKSON PRIMARY SCHOOL, UK JULIAN GRENIER, EDUCATIONAL CONSULTANT, UNIVERSITY SCHOOLS TRUST, UK In her foreword to the Education Endowment Foundation’s report Special Educational Needs in Mainstream Schools, Professor Becky Francis argues that teachers should ‘prioritise familiar but powerful strategies, like scaffolding and explicit instruction, to support their pupils with SEND’ (Francis, quoted in Davies and Henderson, 2020, p. 2). In this case study, we consider something akin to a reverse approach: using a specialist approach for children with SEND (special educational needs and disabilities) to improve whole-class teaching and learning. Shape coding Cyril Jackson Primary School is an inclusive, inner-city school serving an under-resourced neighbourhood. The school has a language resource provision for up to four children with developmental language disorders (DLDs) in every year group.  Research evidence suggests that children