SEND advice and guidance

Devon SpLD (Dyslexia) Service

The Devon SpLD (Dyslexia) Service is provided by a team consisting of four qualified and experienced specialist SpLD (Dyslexia) teachers, who all work part time (total 1.8 teachers) across Devon.

We offer assessments and consultations to support, advise and guide schools and parents of children with severe and persistent specific literacy difficulties. We offer a variety of regular training opportunities through the Primary and Secondary Dyslexia Network meetings, as well as ongoing CPD opportunities for all staff in Devon schools.  See below for upcoming dates.

Who do we work with?

We work in partnership with schools, staff, individual children and their families.

What do we do?

We enable staff to meet the needs of pupils with SpLD (Dyslexia) including:

  • High-quality teaching
  • Targeted group interventions
  • Individualised learning
  • Whole-school development, consultancy and training.

Direct engagement with parents and carers is always facilitated in partnership with school staff.

How do schools access the service?

Primary and secondary settings

Support from the SpLD (Dyslexia) Service for school aged children (Year 1 onwards) continues through Devon’s referral process:  Request for access to SEND support. To access our Service, the SENCO must ensure that the referral meets our eligibility criteria outlined in: Eligibility Criteria 2025-26.

Devon’s graduated response

The graduated response tool has been developed to support Devon schools. The tool outlines some of the practices and adaptations that are part and parcel of Quality First Teaching (QFT): the inclusion of all pupils in high-quality everyday personalised teaching.

Training opportunities with the Devon SpLD (Dyslexia) Service

Network meetings

  • Primary network meetings

    All SENDCos, Assistant SENDCos and teachers who lead on Dyslexia at their school are invited to attend the Primary network meetings, run termly by:

    Rebecca Hughes rebecca.hughes@qe.devon.sch.uk and
    Ossian Pleasance ossian.pleasance@qe.devon.sch.uk

    Spring term 2026

    • Tuesday 3 February, 1.30pm – 3.15pm

    Summer term 2026

    • Tuesday 19 May, 1.30pm – 3.15pm
  • Secondary network meetings 

    All SENDCos, Assistant SENDCos, Assessors and teachers who lead on dyslexia (or severe literacy difficulties) in their school are invited to attend. The meetings are run by:

    Deborah Lynch  deborah.lynch@qe.devon.sch.uk

    Spring term 2026

    • Tuesday 10 February, 1.30pm – 3.15pm

    Summer term 2026

    • Tuesday 19 May, 1.30pm – 3.15pm

Drop in sessions

These sessions intend to provide SENCOs and HLTAs with support and advice on issues related to those pupils experiencing severe and persistent difficulties with literacy. The 15 minute sessions need to be booked in advance. 

Online training courses

If you would like to attend one of the courses listed below, please contact ann.atherton@qe.devon.sch.uk

  • Assessing Pupils Struggling with Literacy – required training in order to refer pupils to the SpLD Service (2 full days) – online

    A course for primary SENDCos and their assistant SENDCos. These courses run from 9.30am to 3.00pm, and are via Zoom. Cost: £85 per person (online).

    Spring term 2026

    • Tuesday 13 January and Tuesday 27 January
    • Tuesday 10 March and Tuesday 24 March

    Summer term 2026

    • Tuesday 21 April and Tuesday 5 May
    • Tuesday 9 June and Tuesday 23 June

    This course will enable SENDCOs to identify students with Specific Learning Difficulties and will give them the tools to support such students. Since January 2020, any SENDCos wishing to refer students to the Devon SpLD (Dyslexia) Service must have completed the course.

Morning courses

All morning courses are aimed primarily at Teaching Assistants, but teachers and SENDCos are also welcome. They are held via Zoom, on a Tuesday morning, from 9.30am – 12.00pm, and are currently free of charge.

Autumn term 2025

Spring term 2026

If you would like to attend one of the courses listed above, please email ann.atherton@qe.devon.sch.uk

HAST 2  (Helen Arkell Spelling Test 2) Training

Using the HAST 2 for referral to the SpLD Service.  Delivered by Rebecca Hughes and Deborah Lynch – please email Deborah.lynch@qe.devon.sch.uk to secure a place on the training.  Training on the use of this assessment is available, free of charge, on:

  • dates coming soon

For any further information, or to book a place on any of the above courses, please do not phone QE directly in order to make contact with the Devon SpLD (Dyslexia) Service since staff are often out and about visiting Devon’s schools. Please contact us at devonspld@devon.gov.uk

Through years of hands-on teaching experience, specialist teachers from Devon’s Specific Learning Difficulties (Dyslexia) Service have observed that a purely phonics-based approach does not meet the needs of every child in developing effective literacy skills. This is often particularly true for those students who have a specific learning difficulty (dyslexia) and have weak phonological awareness and often poor working memory skills. For these pupils, it is essential that a whole word approach to literacy (including visual support and a focus on morphology, etymology and orthography) is employed in addition to catch-up phonics.

The phonics programme a school chooses for catch-up provision should be a Systematic Synthetic Programme (SSP), as for beginner readers. However, for older pupils who are still at the earliest stages of learning to read and spell, schools will need to explore a more age-appropriate version of the school’s present SSP or consider following an alternative SSP that is aimed at the pupil’s age group, as well as targeted teaching that develops spelling and literacy through morphology, etymology and orthography (please see ‘The Writing Framework’ 2025: page 7, 42,45,82).

The phrase ‘fidelity to the programme’ suggests that schools should adhere to the school’s SSP programme’s specific systems and terminology so as not to confuse pupils by mixing material from different SSP programmes across different classrooms (The Reading Framework, 2023: page 47). ’Fidelity to the programme’ does not exclude the use of morphology, etymology and orthography for supporting reading (The Reading Framework, 2023: page 63, 70, 105) or spelling:

‘The guidance considers the challenges of the complex alphabetic code in English and recommends developing pupils’ knowledge of orthography, morphology and etymology when appropriate, to help them to spell accurately.’

The Writing Framework, 2025: page 7

Decision Spelling

The Devon SpLD (Dyslexia) Service is delighted to endorse the Decision Spelling programme designed and written by our advisory teacher, Ossian Pleasance.

It is intended to be used for all learners from Year 2 to Year 6 and is a provision for whole class, small groups and 1:1 teaching. It follows the National Curriculum and because it employs a dyslexia-friendly approach, many of those pupils who struggle to spell accurately have found it extremely helpful to embed the skills needed to spell confidently.

The focus on etymology, vocabulary, and morphology in a multi-sensory way, captures the pupils’ interest and encourages them to engage enthusiastically with an area of the curriculum that can be challenging for many. For further information, please see: www.decisionspelling.com

Contact

In order for schools to access the Devon SpLD (Dyslexia) Service, the school’s SENCo will need to firstly check that the referral meets our eligibility criteria and then complete a  request for access form to SEND support. 

For further information please see the following links:

Further Information

Devon SpLD Service Referral Policy (September 2025)