Stage 3: Grow
Growth Support
How is it going, what has changed, and what do we decide this term?
A termly strategic review of the growth plan with the head and, where there is one, the trust, as a provision builds to full capacity. Cohorts shift, expectations change and the staff team grows, and the design only holds if someone looks at it each term.
Growth Support
Inclusion base
How is the base going, and what do we decide this term?
Before the visit I read your records and register. On the day I spend half a day watching the base run and talking to staff. Then the review: what has changed in the cohort, the expectations and the staff team, what is working, the challenges, and where to change course.
Scope and limits
Not coaching and not an inspection. I do not advise on where an individual pupil is placed, though I do help you decide who a provision is for and its entry and exit criteria. I give no architectural, structural, fire safety or door hardware advice: the brief says what the provision has to do, and your architect, fire safety adviser and estates team decide how to meet it.
Each term
- The records and register, read beforehand
- Half a day watching it run and talking to staff
- What has changed, and what is working
- The challenges, and where to pivot
- Decisions for this term
What you will have at the end
- A short note with three priorities
- A follow up call
- A growth plan that moves with the provision
Growth Support
New special school or alternative provision
How is the school growing, and what has to be true before the next step?
The same termly review, with a monthly call, in the first year when the roll, the staff team and the cohort change fastest. The growth plan sets out the roll year by year, the team that goes with it, which pupils come when, and what must be true before each step. Each term the review tests that against what is happening.
New special schools usually keep it until full capacity, two to three years.
Each term
- The roll, staffing and cohort against the growth plan
- Half a day or more watching it run
- A monthly call to catch problems early
- What must be true before the next step
- Decisions for this term
What you will have at the end
- A short note with three priorities each term
- A growth plan kept current
- A follow up call
Questions
Questions people ask.
Is this coaching or an inspection?
Neither. It is a termly strategic review of the growth plan with the head and, where there is one, the trust: what has changed, what is working, what is hard, and what you decide this term.
What happens on the day?
Before the visit I read your records and register. On the day I spend half a day watching the provision run and talking to staff. Then we review. You get a short note with three priorities and a follow up call.
How long does it last?
It is bought a year at a time and renewed each summer, with a term's notice. New special schools usually keep it until full capacity, two to three years.
Where does the growth plan come from?
From the brief if you had one. If you buy Growth Support on its own, the first term starts with writing the growth plan with you, within that term's days.
Can a base buy just one review?
Yes. A base can buy a single First Year Review: 2 days, £1,600, fixed.
Let's talk
Twenty minutes is usually enough to know whether this would help.
If it would not, I will say so, and point you to free support instead.
Book a 20 minute call (opens booking page in a new tab)