Best practices for setting up internal AP in your school
The landscape of alternative provision is always shifting, and one of the areas seeing the most significant surges in interest has to be around internal alternative provision.
From increasing demand for AP placements (and subsequent capacity constraints) to tightening budgets and rising suspension rates, more schools are looking to bring provision in-house for a variety of reasons. It’s a move highlighted by the Education Endowment Foundation’s recent research into internal AP, which seeks to understand schools’ approaches and outcomes. As internal provision grows, so does the need for clear practices to follow, as evidenced by increasing talk across sector press.
Of course, while internal AP may be growing, it’s not new. At Academy21, we’ve had the privilege of working with numerous schools developing their own on-site provision offering. Haybrook Academy in Slough, for example, uses our online alternative provision as part of its successful Apollo unit — a “rewarding” move which Julia Holder, Head of Apollo, says is helping to “give young people confidence so that they’re able to go out into the world.”
As such, we’ve seen first-hand how internal alternative provision has evolved and worked to help schools develop successful strategies and best practices that all schools can benefit from on their IAP journey.
What is internal alternative provision?
Internal alternative provision is a school-based approach to supporting students who are struggling to engage with their education. Known by many names (inclusion unit, isolation, on-site provision, and more), it also comes in myriad formats, but typically involves a dedicated space within the school site where pupils can receive intervention that helps them get back into the mainstream classroom.
That being said, distilling IAP into a single definition does it a disservice, because one of the strengths — and challenges — of internal provision lies in how much it can vary. While there are several key best practices every school should follow, even the best examples of internal AP all have a slightly different way of doing things.
Why set up internal AP?
No matter how you plan on running your IAP, however, most schools are looking to create one or both of the following solutions:
- A proactive measure for students in need of early intervention, whether due to increasing absence, disruptive behaviour, or other indicators
- A stopgap and lifeline for students who may otherwise be at risk of permanent exclusion
IAP isn’t necessarily a one-to-one substitute for external provision settings, and many young people can still benefit enormously from specialist programmes. However, one of the key strengths of internal alternative provision is that it keeps your students on the school site, which can help to facilitate a more seamless reintegration process when the time comes. For many schools, this makes it a valuable tool in the inclusion arsenal.
Fully internal AP vs. hybrid
As useful as internal AP can be, schools must take numerous factors into account during the set-up process, including:
- Resources, both physical and financial
- Staffing and specialist training
- Curriculum development and delivery
- Quality assurance and monitoring
- Timelines and other constraints
In scenarios where some of those factors can be daunting, there is an alternative approach that many of the schools we work with are using with great success: hybrid provision, combining in-person IAP elements with an online curriculum delivered by a partner like Academy21.
Is hybrid right for your school? To work that out, define your aims from the outset. Are you hoping for a rapid solution to help the students who need it now — one that keeps students on site, aligns with your school’s inclusion philosophy, and makes reintegration a smoother process for all involved? If so, hybrid on-site AP could be quicker, more cost-effective and efficient way for you to get the task done.
At Academy21, for example, we can set your students up with online alternative provision within days, and all they need for access is a computer or laptop with an internet connection. With hybrid provision, your pupils can access a core curriculum with qualified teaching online while your staff work on providing a supportive environment that helps students transition back into the classroom.
Internal AP: 9 best practices to follow
The variable nature of internal AP is great because it means you can tailor your provision to your school’s unique context and student body, but the huge range of examples out there can make devising an initial strategy challenging.
To help you focus your efforts and get the most out of your IAP from day one, I’m sharing the key best practices we’ve gathered over years of experience in education, across the provision sector, and with the many schools we partner with at Academy21.
Weave internal AP into your overall approach
Successful internal alternative provision can’t be an island. For the best outcomes, it needs to be part of your school’s overall inclusion strategy.
While your students using IAP may be physically separate from their peers, weaving your provision into a whole-school approach (for example, aligning it with existing early interventions and support mechanisms you use) ensures that every student is receiving the right support when they need it.
A whole-school philosophy of inclusion can also improve your provision unit’s perception among students who may be referred, their classmates, their families, and even your teachers and staff. A positive impression helps to secure buy-in from all the key stakeholders involved in a student’s referral, so make sure you frame your IAP as part of a holistic solution to emphasise its value and potential.
Develop your staff with specialist training
Staff are at the heart of any successful education, including alternative provision. Whether you’re reassigning your existing teachers or bringing in new talent, you’ll want your IAP staff to be more than just supervisors. With the right specialist training, your students can instead be supported by teachers and assistants who understand behaviour management, crisis de-escalation, mental health first aid, trauma-informed practices, and more: all key areas that can be invaluable on an internal inclusion unit, where challenges can be unexpected and different day to day.
Naturally, developing this expertise in-house can be resource intensive. This is where a hybrid approach with online provision can be particularly beneficial. When you partner with Academy21, for example, you can rest assured that their students are learning from qualified, experienced, subject-expert teachers — all without any recruitment or training needed on your part. In turn, you can focus more of your resources on training your on-site staff in the specific skills needed to support your pupils’ needs.
Get the right curriculum focus
Since the aim of internal AP is to ensure students can access their education, curriculum will arguably be one of the most important considerations. Your IAP pupils will need to stay roughly in line with what their peers are studying in preparation for a return to the classroom, but, you’ll also need to strike a delicate balance between academics and intervention.
If you’re not addressing the social, emotional, and mental health (SEMH) needs or personal difficulties that may have led a student to require alternative provision, you may find that they continue to struggle after reintegration. The right equilibrium, therefore, will typically include core curriculum subjects along with a mix of interventions like group therapies, one-to-one support sessions, vocational learning, or targeted workshops.
Many of the schools we work with at Academy21 use our online alternative provision for just that. We offer a flexible choice of core curriculum subjects across Key Stage 3 and 4 aligned with national curriculum standards (alongside Key Stage 2 and 5 provision from our sister school, King’s InterHigh). With the academic foundations covered, schools can then use the rest of the day for those crucial complementary activities online. At Haybrook College, for example, students complete their Academy21 lessons in the mornings, freeing up time for other pursuits.
Choose a space that feels connected
The physical environment of your IAP can significantly impact both the success of your programme and the student experience. While a portable cabin or out-of-the-way classroom may sometimes be the only spot available, always consider how you can keep your students feeling connected.
Calmness and comfort are crucial, but a factor that’s just as important is the psychological impact of removing students from their usual classroom environment. Many students referred to IAP feel a sense of rejection or isolation, and that can hinder their progress as well as their willingness to reintegrate. As such, choosing a classroom that’s within the school building (and the usual vicinity of students) can be a big help.
Remember that connections can also be figurative. If you do need to use a distant location for your IAP, consider maintaining that connection through decoration, visits from mainstream staff, displays of school news, and the like. The goal is to create an environment that feels like an extension of the school, rather than a place of exile.
Focus on building relationships
On-site provision affords your staff a unique opportunity to develop meaningful connections with students who have been referred. This close interaction, which isn’t always possible while the child is still in the mainstream classroom, can help you to get to the root of their struggles and work collaboratively to develop personalised strategies for success.
Relationship-building also allows staff to become mentor figures in a student’s transition back to the classroom. When students feel like they have someone “on their team,” they often have an easier time reintegrating and using their coping mechanisms successfully. Remember, too, to build those relationships with families. A parent or caregiver’s support at home can be instrumental to a student’s success with internal alternative provision.
Consider a staged approach to reintegration
Internal and hybrid alternative provision can make reintegration far more seamless than other alternatives, so it’s worth putting extra focus on developing your reintegration strategy. Many schools adopt a structured and phased approach (operating in termly or half termly blocks, for example) with set goals for each period of the provision. A pupil may access IAP for one or two blocks, return to the classroom part-time for a following block, and then transition back into a full timetable.
In general, gradual reintegration has proven successful for many of the schools we’ve worked with. Our provision at Academy21 can be adapted as needed, with flexible contracts for schools and adjustable lesson times. As such, schools are able to use us as part of bespoke reintegration plans or phased approaches with no stress or hassle.
Don’t forget about the ‘before’
Just as important as the ‘after’ stage, reintegration, is the ‘before’ stage: referral. You’ll need to think about what happens before a student joins your internal alternative provision early on, as this will inform various elements of your strategy. So, take time to review and refine your methods for spotting students in need of early intervention.
Which indicators will you use to determine whether a student could benefit from your IAP? Will your provision cater to any behavioural challenges or SEMH needs in particular? These are all key questions you’ll need to answer to determine your approach, whether you decide to use internal AP as an upstream solution for interventions, a short-term respite, or anything in between.
Implement data-driven quality assurance
The success of your internal AP will be felt in a deep and tangible way by everyone involved, but quantitative data is still crucial — and it needs to be robust. Comprehensive systems tracking student progress, engagement, and outcomes allow you to improve your provision over time in evidence-based ways. Alongside maximising the impact on students, these improvements will also be crucial when it comes to saving on budget and resources.
Implementing these systems can be one of the most difficult parts of setting up provision within your school, and may be one of the key reasons to look at a hybrid approach. At Academy21, we ensure stringent safeguarding across our school and provide schools with detailed daily monitoring and regular progress reports. It’s a level of insight valued by our partners, as highlighted in our recent Ofsted report: “Schools value the quality and frequency of the information they receive.”
“Academy21 works closely with placing schools. Each pupil has a school-based mentor and child protection representative. Academy21 provides them with daily information about each pupil’s attendance, engagement and progress in lessons… In conversation, one official told inspectors, ‘I am confident that they wouldn’t take on a new pupil if they couldn’t meet that pupil’s needs. They are not in the business of setting up a young person to fail.’”
Tailor your approach to your school’s needs
While we see all of the above best practices in place at the most successful internal AP settings, it’s crucial to remember one of the cornerstone facts of alternative provision, which is that one size doesn’t always fit all. Alongside setting the right foundations, effective IAPs also tailor their strategy to address the unique challenges and needs of their school community. This could mean, for example, including a free breakfast club for students referred to your provision if you feel that related societal concerns could be influencing struggles in the classroom.
That adaptability and personalization is something that’s key to our philosophy here at Academy21. We pride ourselves on creating a form of alternative provision that can adapt to both unique contexts and unique student needs. From adaptive and inclusive teaching to bespoke timetables and optional support additions, we believe that flexibility is crucial in guiding each young person to thrive.
Key takeaways
Implementing effective internal AP certainly requires close thought, but it’s a rewarding endeavour. The key to success lies in an approach that is both holistic and data-driven, with a focus on quality and outcomes across all key areas.
If your school is considering an in-house approach to supporting students in need of alternative provision, get in touch with us at Academy21 to learn more about whether a hybrid solution could be the right move for you.
