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Introduction
Prospect
Bank School, in the Leith area of Edinburgh, caters
for 55 primary age pupils with a range of special educational
needs from all parts of the city. These special needs
include moderate learning difficulties, communication
impairments, autistic spectrum disorders and some behavioural
difficulties.
The
staff team comprises of 6 full time teachers, 3 part
time teachers offering music, art and PE, Head teacher,
4 nursery nurses, 4 full-time auxiliaries, a janitor,
a clerical assistant, a cook, 2 dining assistants, a
team of school cleaners, 2 part time occupational therapists
and 2 part time speech and language therapists. The
school doctor and nurse offer regular support. This
large team of adults works with parents to meet the
wide variety of needs of the children. Parents and staff
use home-school diaries to maintain day-to-day communication
and good partnerships. A strong Parent-Staff Association
provides valuable support for all. To meet the needs
of our children, all staff have developed an inclusive
approach to working together; classroom teams - teachers,
nursery nurses and auxiliaries - share planning of day-to-day
activities, therapists and classroom teams work together
to help children achieve their individual targets, support
staff and teachers share training opportunities. Participation
and partnership underpin every aspect of the adults'
work, thus modelling collaboration for our pupils. Visitors
remark on our positive ethos and welcoming atmosphere
(see Picture A).
Pupil
participation and inclusion
We
recognise that all our pupils have the potential to
develop and to participate in a wide range of developmental
activities. Our challenge is to optimise every opportunity
for increased real participation. The greater
the difficulties and disabilities that children have,
the more important it is to identify and create imaginative
ways of them really actively engaging in learning and
interacting socially. Without such a focus, it is all
too easy to collude unwittingly in increased dependency
and negative behaviours. Three aspects of our work illustrate
how we have made progress:
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developing
peer support for pupils with behaviour difficulties,
allowing all to participate in learning without
undue disruption |
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using
snack time as an opportunity for communicating,
choice making and participation |
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working
together with our fellow cluster primary schools
to participate in an inclusive residential experience
for the Class 7 / Primary 7 pupils |
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| Picture
A: Our school badge depicts our pleasant
building and grounds, a happy welcoming
wave and children and adults working closely
together. |
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This
is the second of our four Case Studies for this session. We
continue with our theme 'Overcoming Barriers to Participation',
important to all schools, from nursery through to high school.
In some schools, some areas of the curriculum and the way they
are taught or the way the school is organised may present barriers
to full participation. In others, moves towards greater participation
may be hard to implement because they necessitate changes to
existing practices among pupils and staff. Some pupils, too,
can bring particular challenges to school staff promoting the
participation of all their pupils.