He doesn’t make me feel dumb!

February 17, 2025

Dear colleague

I’ve been revisiting the conversations John Tomsett and I had with colleagues for SEND Huh.

All of them, without exception, made the case that all pupils, regardless of their barriers to learning should be entitled to access an ambitious curriculum.

We talked with Saira Saeed, a senior leader with responsibility for safeguarding, SEND and inclusion, about how she supports colleagues to develop the curriculum for pupils with additional needs, she had this to say:

“When it comes to curriculum design, one of the most important things I say to staff is:

‘We want students to have a mastery of your subjects.’

‘We want them to be confident.’

We want them to be experts.’

‘How are you going to make that happen?

What exactly do you need them to learn?’

Then we look at how we’re going to help them learn the content in the curriculum.

I think one of the biggest challenges as a SENDCO is to convey the message that we must not ‘dumb down’ what we want pupils with SEND to know.

It has to be a knowledge-rich curriculum. It has to be aspirational, while also being equitable for everyone.”

Saira went on to say that when she was giving some CPD on how to support children who are looked after, she shared that one of the girls wanted her to tell staff who her favourite teacher was and why.

“When I said the member of staff’s name, there was a look of shock on his face and he just looked at me and said, ‘Did she really say me? I’m her favourite teacher?’

I said, ‘Yes.’

He said, ‘But why?’

Staff were teasing him and applauding him, and I said, ‘You know why?’

She said, ‘Sir doesn’t make me feel dumb.’

That was it.

They can tell when something’s been dumbed down.

They can tell when the curriculum is being compromised for them. Similarly, they know when they’re being given the ‘real deal’, the same aspirational level of challenge as everybody else... “

I will be drawing on research from Daniel Willingham, Julia Sutherland and Jo Westbrook to show that it is possible for pupils, including those with additional needs, to access an ambitious curriculum.

I’ll be taking Gary Aubin’s ‘automatic doors’ approach and show how we can use it to open up the curriculum for all our pupils in geography, history and RE.

The webinars will be live and recorded and each session will include a draft planning unit for KS1, KS2 and KS3.

The webinars are live and recorded and available with an annual subscription to Myatt & Co.

It’s just £150 a year (with a 7 day trial) and you’ll also get access to over 500 CPD films, including the popular primary and secondary subject networks.

Until next time

Mary