At Queensmill School we know that each one of our young people is starting their learning from an unusual point due to their autism and attendant special educational needs.
We recognise that our young people will have somewhat spikey profiles, having preferences and aptitudes in certain areas, and that they struggle in other areas. As a school we are committed to excellence and have an ambitious vision for each and every one of our young people. We know that life and learning in general can be very difficult for them, we endeavour at all times to present the curriculum to them in a way that they can understand and make use of, and we celebrate every small step of progress that they make. We want to empower our young people to manage their own autism and to be able to learn as independently as possible. We know that our pupils benefit from a well-ordered and positive environment and this is what we provide for them. We know that our young people progress at different rates and we therefore individualise the curriculum for each child in order that pupils can realise our high expectations of them, despite their starting points.
We also appreciate that key to learning and progression for our young people is remaining in a ‘calm-alert’ state at school and regulation and understanding of the impact their autism has on them as an individual. To support the development of these key skills Queensmill School uses the SCERTS (Social Communication, Emotional Regulation, Transactional Support) framework to guide teaching and learning and target setting on autism. This coupled with the schools strong autism knowledge and practice is highly effective in helping young people self-regulate, communicate effectively and understand the world around them.
Targets are set termly for each young person in collaborate between the class team, Speech and Language therapists and Occupational Therapists, with targets in the following areas:
- Joint Attention
- Symbol Use (including verbal receptive and expressive communication)
- Self-Regulation
- Mutual Regulation
All class teachers, lead assistants, HLTAs and therapists have undergone extensive SCERTS training which means that the framework and principles found within are applied consistently across all of our school settings.
For further information about SCERTS please visit their website using the link below:
www.scerts.com