Strathmore School - Greycourt

At Strathmore School we aim to provide a happy, safe, supported and structuredenvironment in which each member of our learning community will flourish. As anorganisation, our school strives to meet both the educational and care needs of everyindividual within a climate of friendship, trust and opportunity for development. We bring aculture of experience combined with contemporary understandings to provide a learningenvironment in which appropriate ways of working are planned for each individual.

Each child and young person is special and important. We know thatour pupils learn and thrive with real and meaningful partnerships withour families and carers. We recognise your role in the lives of ourpupils as being vital in supporting their education and developmentand we strive to take your views and their wishes into account whenmaking decisions. We are very pleased to be able to offer theservices of our family support worker, Anna Hunter, to build evenstronger relationships and we warmly invite you to participate insome of the activities we have available.Over the last year our parents and families have enjoyed meetingtogether to chat over a coffee, established friendship groups, set up awalking group and a parents'/families' choir.

At Strathmore we are proud of our inclusive, multisensory and motivating approach to teachingCommunication, Language and Literacy. We believe that by truly knowing and understanding ourpupils, we are able to deliver an appropriate curriculum for each individual. Our aim is to supportevery student to independence.

As the children develop, they have access to different reading and writing routes based on apersonalised learning approach, in line with their development. With support from OccupationalTherapy, the students develop the skills required to write. Word processing programmes such asClicker 6 have had a positive impact on the pupils’ ability to write expressively in sentences, orlabel pictures with nouns if they are unable to write using pens or pencils.

In 2015 16, we carried out extensive research on learners who were not making progress with aphonics approach to reading. Because not all students are be able to verbally pronounce soundsand blend, we knew we had to explore other ways to support the early reading skills. After havingresearched a variety of different approaches, we decided to trial the published ‘HandleTechnique’. This is a reading strategy that uses sight reading of whole words to build vocabularyand comprehension; pupils are shown images of interest with individual words that gradually fadeover time, eventually leading to the pupil reading whole sentences.

Each teacher plans their Communication, Language and Literacy lessons to cater for their classgroups. For some pupils, a multiskilled lesson can be most effective e.g. having a range ofactivities to access within the session based on different aspects in Communication, Languageand Literacy (guided reading, reading for pleasure, writing, communication, listening, speaking).Other class groups or individuals benefit from a discrete hour of writing, an hour of reading etc…twice or three times a week. All pupils receive the recommended amount of Literacy/Englishteaching.

As a school, we continue to develop our approaches in teaching Communication, Language andLiteracy in line with statutory guidance and latest researchbased advice. We improve ourteaching and learning through copious observation, reflection, trialling new ideas andcollaborating with other SEN and mainstream professionals. We are very lucky to be able to drawupon our wealth of experience as a team and make very specific, personalised assessments totrack pupil progress. Our therapy team provide excellent guidance and work in conjunction withthe class team to integrate Speech and Language Therapy into all learning.

The Children and Families Act, introducing major reforms to the SEN system in England, comes intoforce on 1 September. The Act changes how children and young people’s special educationalneeds (SEN) will be identified, assessed and met, and will shape the future of a generation ofchildren with SEN. The Bill aims to transform the system for children and young people with SEN byplacing families at the centre of decision making. It sets out requirements that education, healthand care services should work together to provide coordinated support across all areas of a childor young person's life.

Educational and medical staff work together as part of the interdisciplinary team, which isdesigned to meet the wide-ranging needs of pupils in the school’s care. Liaison with therapists is akey role for teaching and support staff, and this takes place via formal meetings andappointments as well as through less formal discussions.

The Speech and Language Therapist is concerned with the management of disorders of speech,language, communication and swallowing in children and adults. The therapist will diagnoseproblems in these areas and develop individual therapy programmes in order to maintain andimprove pupils’ abilities. Therapy might be carried out with the therapist on a 1:1 basis, in class aspart of a communication session or in pairs or small groups. Programmes may include strategiessuch as PECS (Picture Exchange Communication System), Intensive Interaction, special dietary orfeeding requirements. The therapists as well as well as the school's Makaton trainer can alsoprovide training for staff and parents.

The Prevent strategy is not just about discussing extremism itself, which may not be appropriate forall Strathmore children. It is also about teaching children values such as tolerance and mutualrespect.
The school will make sure any discussions are suitable for the age, ability and maturity of thechildren involved.