What is ‘TAPPAS’?

The ‘Team Around the Pupil Parent And Setting’ – TAPPAS is a group of professionals that supports schools and families in the wellbeing and additional learning needs of children and young people.  The team includes an educational psychologist, specialist teacher, speech & language therapists, an occupational therapist, nursing and primary mental health workers and school counsellors.

The team of professionals attached to a cluster of schools is a revolving team who see the schools and families on a regular basis providing practical early help and support.

This includes:

  • Consultation and planning meetings, which are held in all Pembrokeshire Schools termly where specialist teams and schools discuss ‘wrap around’ support and intervention relating to individual children and young people. (TAPPAS 1)
  • Cluster wide forums for schools are termly and provide an opportunity to develop collaborative working between schools and agencies to build capacity as well as solution focused, proactive approaches for children and young people with additional learning needs.  (TAPPAS 2)
  • Cluster wide forums for families which are held termly and provide opportunities for families to network and meet with specialists for advice and support. (TAPPAS 3)

Key Principles of TAPPAS:

  • Supporting schools and families in the early identification of pupils with ALN and the implementation of interventions and tracking of pupils;
  • Working in partnership with schools and families to identify professional development needs of staff and supporting clusters of schools in implementing an appropriately tailored programme;
  • Working in partnership with families to support their child’s needs within the home.

Consultations and Planning

The consultation and planning meetings (TAPPAS 1) is key to raising aspirations and educational achievement for all pupils, including those with ALN.  Termly TAPPAS school meetings provide the opportunity to identify areas where the school are stuck and require additional support to ensure the needs of the children and young people are met.

An annual meeting is held with the cluster head teachers and the inclusion service senior management team to discuss common themes emerging and to review the TAPPAS team to ensure it remains fit for purpose and where identified, to realign to meet the changing needs of ALN across the cluster of schools.

Cluster Wide Forums

Listed below are some of the activities that take place through the cluster wide forums (TAPPAS 2):

  • to develop a network for support staff and ALNCOs that provides professional development as well as sharing good practice
  • to facilitate drop-in surgeries and consultations for a range of agencies
  • to plan for the transition of Year 6 pupils at SA and SA+
  • to develop approaches for monitoring and evaluating outcomes for pupils with additional learning needs and considering future steps.
  • to consider common themes arising from Schools and families and provide bespoke support for professional development.

Cluster Wide Forums for Families

The Team around the Pupil Parent and Setting meet in each cluster of schools on a termly basis.  The team of professionals:

  • provides a network for parents, facilitating peer to peer support.
  • facilitates consultations from the local team of Educational Psychologists, Therapists, Advisory Teachers and Parent Support Officers
  • upskill parents through advice, support and coaching from specialists and professionals
  • considers common themes arising from schools and families to support ongoing early help.

What are the benefits for ALNCOs?

“As a new ALNCo it’s given me lots of confidence”.

“Loved having resources modelled for me”.

“It has been good to find out more about the work of different agencies”.

What are the benefits for families?

“Excellent service. So lovely to meet everyone. Great information”.

“I feel supported and reassured”.

“Good to have chance to meet different professionals in one evening. Should have these sessions more often”.

Capacity Building

Instead of always working with individual children and young people either in the context of an assessment or in the delivery of individual programmes, staff also assist schools and families to develop their skills and encourage the use of a wide range of useful resources.  For most children and young people, it is recognised that their needs will be met in their Local Community School, it is therefore essential that schools and families feel supported and able to provide the right environment to do this. The teams are also there to identify those more complex youngsters whose needs require a more intense programme of support, through a package of specialist provision.