When Systems Struggle: How CodeBreakers® Can Bridge the Gap for SEND Pupils
A recent Tes Magazine article (Read here) casts a stark light on a painful truth in our education system: over 80% of school leaders say pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) are not getting the support they need. With a profound shortage of specialist placements, many children remain in mainstream environments not designed for their complex needs, leading to increased distress and disengagement.
Worse still, 98% of headteachers report they simply don’t have the resources to fully support their SEND students. The system is overwhelmed, and the cracks are growing wider.
Paul Whiteman, the union’s general secretary, said “Right now too many schools have children who should be getting specialist support who are being let down by the lack of capacity and availability of places in the specialist sector. Schools are desperately trying to do their best for those pupils, but without access to the specialist help they need their hands are tied,” he said.
My concern is: children can’t wait. And neither can the staff doing their best to hold it all together.
The TES Magazine states that headteachers in mainstream schools have responded to a survey indicating that, supporting children with complex needs without the required funding is driving them into deficit budgets, and they are finding it “almost impossible” to recruit the staff to support pupils. The article continues, Mr Whiteman said: “We are not opposed to the government wanting mainstream schools to be inclusive, and school leaders take this duty really seriously. But they need more funding, resources and specialist staffing to be able to support their students appropriately and effectively.
The Crisis Behind the Classroom Door
This isn’t just about policy, it’s about people. It’s about the child quietly internalising the message that they don’t quite belong, simply because the current structure hasn’t been designed with them in mind. It’s about the teacher or TA who sees the struggle but feels powerless without the right tools. It’s about exhausted school leaders trying to stretch budgets that simply won’t go far enough.
The emotional toll is immense. The time to act is now and the solution must be accessible, adaptable, and effective.
CodeBreakers® was resource born out of both experience and empathy. Designed to support children with dyslexia and literacy difficulties, CodeBreakers® doesn’t just deliver content. It enables schools to deliver a quality resource quickly to children of all ages who are struggling with literacy development.
It can be implemented immediately, by the very people who are already with the children every day: Learning Support Assistants (LSAs), Teaching Assistants (TAs), and dedicated class staff.
A Practical, Doable Way Forward
Some of the most powerful aspects of CodeBreakers® are its accessibility, efficient use of staff time and measurability:
- Quick to implement: Schools can begin using the programme in as little as one to two days.
- On-demand training: Staff receive a rich, self-paced training course that not only walks them through the practical delivery of the programme but also deepens their understanding of dyslexia itself. It helps staff to understand why they are delivering specific learning tasks and how it supports the struggling learner.
- No specialist background needed: In our pilot study and from feedback from schools currently using CodeBreakers®, we have found that TAs and LSAs are more than capable of delivering the programme with confidence and competence on completion of the training.
- Multi-sensory and structured: The materials are intuitive, engaging, and designed to meet children where they are building confidence from the ground up.
- Reduced planning time, more teaching time: The curriculum is completely prepared with baseline tests to identify clear gaps in knowledge for all ages, directly linked to quality workbooks, following a systematic synthetic phonics programme which is cumulative and structured, with multi-sensory techniques. Prepared lesson plans to match workbooks, means staff can quickly and efficiently record student responses to the programme.
- Measurable: A complete programme, with ample opportunity for overlearning that is consistently laid out, means staff can measure student responses and quickly identify repetitive areas of strength and difficulty. With consistent delivery, measurable progress can be identified and recorded with the baseline tests.
This isn’t about adding more to already full plates. It’s about making what we do more effective, allowing already skilled staff to add their experience and knowledge to a measurable programme, with a curriculum that is completely mapped out with baselines tests, prepared workbooks and lesson plans. CodeBreakers® was developed with TA/HLTA/LSAs in mind, knowing they are at the frontline of delivering intervention sessions.
While I agree that broader reform is needed, CodeBreakers® represents a vital shift whilst waiting for these changes to be made. It acknowledges the reality many schools are facing and offers something immediately actionable. If you’d like to know more and explore our resources please contact us.
