Improvement cycle

Some children need something additional to high quality inclusive teaching in order to achieve success. It is this that we term 'intervention'. The National Strategies advocate a systematic approach based on three waves of teaching and intervention:

Wave 1: High quality inclusive teaching supported by effective whole-school policies;

Wave 2: Wave 1 plus intervention designed to increase rates of progress and put children back on course to meet or exceed national expectations;

Wave 3: Wave 1 plus increasingly personalised intervention to maximise progress and minimise gaps in achievement.

The waves model provides a useful management tool to support curriculum planning, inclusive teaching and personalised approaches to address diverse needs. It provides a common language that emphasises a curriculum response which can reduce the need for highly individualised strategies.

These materials aim to encourage and support leading teachers and schools in taking a more strategic approach to managing intervention, focusing on whole-school development. The overall framework used is the school improvement cycle.