Visual Supports Toolkit is a complete, ready-to-use pack for secondary classrooms (S1-S4 / Years 7-11) that helps teachers put visual supports in place quickly and consistently. It includes a 12-slide staff briefing, 12 editable board templates, a four-week rollout plan, an 8-page pupil workbook and a staff knowledge check with marking scheme. It is written for mainstream classrooms, ASN and SEND bases, and whole-school CPD.

Visual supports such as timetables, now/next boards and help cards make information visible and predictable. This pack gives you the materials to set them up, teach pupils to use them and plan to fade them as independence grows. The design is deliberately age-appropriate, with clean layouts and a friendly mascot, Wren, rather than primary-style clip art.

What is included

Staff resources

• Staff guide presentation (12 slides, PowerPoint and PDF) with speaker notes: what visual supports are, who benefits, principles, choosing a format, setting up, teaching the system, consistency, pitfalls, fading, frameworks and next steps. Suitable for a 20 to 30 minute staff meeting.
• Unit plan: a four-week rollout with learning intentions, success criteria, session outlines, differentiation and assessment evidence.
• Staff knowledge check (16 marks) with full marking scheme and grading bands.

Pupil resources

• 12 editable board templates (PowerPoint and PDF): Now/Next, First/Then, visual timetable, step-by-step task strip, choice board, help cards, social story template with a worked example, noise and talk level signs, class expectations poster, weekly planner and task tracker. Dashed picture boxes let you add your own photos or symbols.
• Pupil workbook, My Supports, My Say (8 pages, Word and PDF): pupils identify what helps them, choose a format, design a board, plan their day, create a help signal, write a social story and review whether it is working.
• Seven Wren mascot images (PNG) to use on your own materials.

Designed for real classrooms

All text is editable. Boards print in colour or black and white, on A4 or A3. Guidance on symbol licences is included, so you can use your own symbols or a licensed set with the right attribution. The workbook can be scribed, dictated or drawn.

Frameworks

Wording is neutral so it can be used across the UK. The staff guide refers to the SEND Code of Practice (England), the Additional Support for Learning (Scotland) Act 2004, GIRFEC and the Equality Act 2010. Please check your own school and local authority policy. This is general information, not legal advice.

By the end of the programme staff can choose, set up, teach and review a visual support, and pupils can explain what helps them and use a support independently.

Part of the Steady Steps with Wren series. A free starter set is available in my shop.